The incidence of civil war has been observed in all regions of the world from ancient times to modern times. Fortunately, in most areas of the world, civil war has become a declining trend in recent history, but in Africa this trend appears to be increasing. Why has civil war continued to prevail in Africa in an increasingly passive and democratic world? Paul Collier, professor of economics and director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford, asks: "Of course, every civil war has its history: the personalities, the social divisions, the triggering events, the incendiary speeches, atrocities. But is there something more? Are there structural conditions – social, political or economic – that make a country prone to civil war” (Collier, 1). ?To understand better we need to dive into a comparative case, using the success of Botswana and the failure of Sierra Leone By looking at the histories, economies and political atmosphere of each country, we can better understand the reasons behind all these civil wars, often terrible. I would first like to deny that the cases presented in this article are the only reasons behind civil war. There are many factors that play in civil wars, and to say that there is only one reason behind a civil war would be inconclusive. I'm just presenting a possible explanation of the issue at hand. What I have discovered through my research on Sierra Leone and Botswana is that the dominant factors behind the civil war are economic. In a review of the literature, Paul Collier states that there are three factors that greatly affect the risk of civil war: the level of income, the rate of... middle of paper... evidence. A key factor in the success of the RUF was the use of child soldiers. Used to protect diamond mines and destroy villages; child soldiers were recruited by the thousands. The economy soon collapsed and Sierra Leone found itself at the bottom of the Human Development Index. At the end of the 1990s they wanted to start negotiations with the RUF, but each time the corrupt party broke it. Finally in 2000, with the help of British troops and surrounding African countries, the RUF was subdued and in 2002 the end of the civil war was declared. Since then, Sierra Leone has slowly re-established democracy with the APC regaining power. There has been an expansion of exports and GDP has grown at a constant and uninterrupted rate. Transparency International ranked Sierra Leone 146 out of 180 in 2009; this is a declining improvement from 158 the previous year.