📰 Sierra Leone · page 3

Stevens reorganised the country's oil refinery, the government-owned Cape Sierra Hotel, and a cement factory.[80]203 He began efforts that later improved transportation and movement between the provinces and Freetown.204 Roads and hospitals were constructed in the provinces, and Paramount Chiefs and provincial peoples became a prominent force in Freetown.205 Under the pressure of several coup attempts, real or perceived, Stevens's rule grew increasingly authoritarian, and his relationship with some of his supporters deteriorated.206 He removed the SLPP from competitive politics in general elections, some believed, through violence and intimidation.207 To maintain the support of the military, Stevens retained the popular John Amadu Bangura as head of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces.208

After the return to civilian rule, by-elections were held (beginning in autumn 1968) and an all-APC cabinet was appointed.209 In November 1968, unrest in the provinces led Stevens to declare a state of emergency across the country.210 Many senior officers in the Sierra Leone Army were greatly disappointed with Stevens's policies and his handling of the Sierra Leone Military, but none could confront him.211 Brigadier General Bangura, who had reinstated Stevens as prime minister, was widely considered the only person who could control Stevens.212 The army was devoted to Bangura.213 In September 1970, Stevens declared another state of emergency to counter an alleged officers' plot against him.[81]214

Bangura would indeed end up leading a coup against Stevens on 23 March 1971, which failed.[81]215 Bangura and many plotters were executed afterwards, and dozens of other soldiers were arrested and convicted by a court martial in Freetown for their participation in the coup.216 Among the soldiers arrested was an army corporal, Foday Sankoh, a strong Bangura supporter, who later formed the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).217 Sankoh was jailed for seven years at Pademba Road Prison in Freetown.218

Stevens was a close ally of Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré to the point where there was talk of unification between the two countries.219 Shortly after the 1971 coup, Sierra Leone and Guinea signed a defense agreement, and Guinean troops were stationed in the country to protect Stevens' government.220 These troops would remain until 1974.[82]221

In April 1971, a new republican constitution was adopted under which Stevens became president.222 In the 1972 by-elections, the opposition SLPP complained of intimidation and procedural obstruction by the APC and militia.223 These problems became so severe that the SLPP boycotted the 1973 general election; as a result, the APC won 84 of the 85 elected seats.[83]224

An alleged plot to overthrow President Stevens failed in 1974 and its leaders were executed in July 1975.[84]225 In March 1976, Stevens was elected without opposition to a second five-year term as president.226

In 1977, a nationwide student demonstration against the government disrupted Sierra Leone's politics.227 The demonstration was quickly put down by the army and Stevens's personal Special Security Division (SSD), a heavily armed paramilitary force he had created to protect him and maintain his hold on power.[85]228 SSD officers were loyal to Stevens and were deployed across the country to clamp down on any rebellion or protest against his government.229 A general election was called later that year in which corruption was again endemic; the APC won 74 seats and the SLPP 15.230 In 1978, the APC-dominant parliament approved a new constitution making the country a one-party state.231 The 1978 constitution made the APC the only legal political party in Sierra Leone.[86]232 This move led to another major demonstration against the government in many parts of the country, which was also put down by the army and the SSD force.233

Stevens is generally criticised for dictatorial methods and government corruption, but he kept the country stable and from collapsing into civil war.234 He created government institutions still in use.235 Stevens reduced ethnic polarisation in government by incorporating members of various ethnic groups into his all-dominant APC government.236

Stevens retired from politics in November 1985.237 The APC named a new presidential candidate, Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, head of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces.238 Momoh had been loyal to Stevens, who had appointed him to the position.239 Like Stevens, Momoh was a member of the minority Limba ethnic group.240 As the sole candidate, Momoh was elected president without opposition and sworn in as Sierra Leone's second president on 28 November 1985 in Freetown.241 President Momoh appointed his former military colleague and key ally, Major General Mohamed Tarawalie, to succeed him as head of the Sierra Leone Military.242 Momoh named James Bambay Kamara head of the Sierra Leone Police.243 Bambay Kamara was also a strong Momoh loyalist and supporter.244 Momoh broke from Stevens by integrating the SSD into the Sierra Leone Police as a special paramilitary force.245 Under Stevens, the SSD had been a personal force used to maintain his hold on power, independent from the Sierra Leone Military and Sierra Leone Police Force.246 The Sierra Leone Police under Bambay Kamara's leadership was accused of physical violence, arrest, and intimidation against critics of Momoh's government.247

Momoh's strong links with the army and verbal attacks on corruption earned him initial support among Sierra Leoneans.248 With the lack of new faces in the APC cabinet under Momoh and the return of many from Stevens's government, criticisms soon arose that Momoh was simply perpetuating the rule of Stevens.249

The next few years under the Momoh administration were characterised by corruption, which Momoh defused by sacking several senior cabinet ministers.250 To formalise his war against corruption, Momoh announced a "Code of Conduct for Political Leaders and Public Servants".251 After an alleged attempt to overthrow Momoh in March 1987, more than 60 senior government officials were arrested, including Vice-President Francis Minah, who was convicted of plotting the coup and executed by hanging in 1989.252

Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002) and the NPRC regime (1992–1996)

Further information: Sierra Leone Civil War* The brutal civil war significantly impacted Sierra Leone, with internal and external factors contributing to widespread violence. International interventions, notably by the United Kingdom and the United Nations, were crucial in restoring peace.

In October 1990, owing to mounting pressure from both within and outside the country for political and economic reforms, Momoh set up a constitutional review commission to assess the 1978 one-party constitution.253 Based on the commission's recommendations, a constitution reestablishing a multi-party system was approved by the exclusive APC Parliament by a 60% majority vote, becoming effective on 1 October 1991.254 It was widely suspected that Momoh was not serious about political reform, as APC rule was increasingly marked by abuses of power.255

The brutal civil war in neighbouring Liberia corpus played a significant role in the outbreak of fighting in Sierra Leone.256 Charles Taylor, then leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, reportedly helped form the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Saybana Sankoh, an ethnic Temne from Tonkolili District in Northern Sierra Leone.257 Taylor's aim was for the RUF to attack the bases of Nigerian-dominated peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone who opposed his rebel movement in Liberia.258

On 29 April 1992, a group of young soldiers in the Sierra Leone Army, led by seven army officers—Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, Captain Valentine Strasser, Lieutenant Solomon "SAJ" Musa, Captain Komba Mondeh, Lieutenant Tom Nyuma, Captain Julius Maada Bio and Captain Komba Kambo[87]—staged a military coup that sent Momoh into exile in Guinea, and the soldiers established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), with 25-year-old Captain Valentine Strasser as its chairman and Head of State of the country.[88]259 The NPRC junta immediately suspended the constitution, banned all political parties, limited freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and enacted a rule-by-decree policy, in which soldiers were granted unlimited powers of administrative detention without charge or trial, and challenges against such detentions in court were precluded.260

SAJ Musa, a childhood friend of Strasser, became the deputy chairman and deputy leader of the NPRC government.261 Strasser became the world's youngest head of state when he seized power just three days after his 25th birthday.262 The NPRC established the National Supreme Council of State as the military highest command and final authority in all matters and was exclusively made up of the highest-ranking NPRC soldiers, including Strasser and the others who toppled Momoh.[88]263

One of the top-ranking soldiers in the NPRC junta, Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, a trusted ally of Strasser, was assassinated, allegedly by Major S.I.M.264 Turay, a key loyalist of Momoh.265 A heavily armed military manhunt was carried out across the country to find Sandy's killer.266 Turay, the main suspect, fled to Guinea.267 Dozens of soldiers loyal to Momoh were arrested, including Colonel Kahota M. Dumbuya and Major Yayah Turay.268

The NPRC maintained relations with ECOWAS and strengthened support for Sierra Leone-based ECOMOG troops fighting in the Liberian war.269 On 28 December 1992, an alleged coup attempt against the NPRC government aimed at freeing the detained Colonel Yahya Kanu, Colonel Kahota M.S. Dumbuya, and former inspector general of police Bambay Kamara, was foiled.270 Several Junior army officers led by Sergeant Mohamed Lamin Bangura were identified as being behind the coup plot.271 The coup plot led to the execution of 17 soldiers by firing squad.272 Some of those executed include Colonel Kahota Dumbuya, Major Yayah Kanu, and Sergeant Mohamed Lamin Bangura.273 Several prominent members of the Momoh government who had been in detention at the Pa Demba Road prison, including former inspector general of police Bambay Kamara, were also executed.[89]274

On 5 July 1994 SAJ Musa, who was popular among the general population, particularly in Freetown, was arrested and sent into exile after he was accused of planning a coup to topple Strasser, an accusation SAJ Musa denied.275 Strasser replaced Musa as deputy NPRC chairman with Captain Bio and instantly promoted him to brigadier.276

The NPRC's efforts proved nearly as ineffective as the Momoh administration in repelling the RUF rebels.277 More and more of the country fell into the RUF fighters' hands, and by 1994 they had gained control of much of the diamond-rich Eastern Province and were getting close to Freetown.278 In response, the NPRC hired several hundred mercenary fighters from South Africa corpus-based private military contractor Executive Outcomes to strengthen the response to RUF rebels.279 Within a month, they drove the RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone's borders and cleared the RUF from the Kono diamond-producing areas of Sierra Leone.280

With Strasser's two most senior NPRC allies and commanders Lieutenant Sahr Sandy and Lieutenant Solomon Musa no longer around to defend him, Strasser's leadership within the NPRC's Supreme Council of State became fragile.281 On 16 January 1996, after about four years in power, Strasser was arrested in a palace coup staged by his fellow NPRC soldiers led by Brigadier Bio at the Defence Headquarters in Freetown.[90]282 Strasser was immediately flown into exile in a military helicopter to Conakry corpus, Guinea.283 In his first public broadcast to the nation after the 1996 coup, Brigadier Bio said that returning Sierra Leone to a democratically elected civilian government and ending the civil war were his motivations for the coup.[91]284

Kabbah's tenure: government, "dawn of a new republic", the AFRC and end of the Civil War (1996–2007)

Following the 1995 National Consultative Conference at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown, dubbed "Bintumani I", a Strasser-led initiative, the Bio administration initiated another National Consultative Conference at the same hotel, dubbed "Bintumani II".285 It involved both national and international stakeholders, in an effort to find a viable solution to the issues plaguing the country.[92] "286 Peace before Elections vs Elections before Peace" became a key debate topic and this quickly became a point of national discussion.287 The discussions eventually concluded with key stakeholders, including Bio's administration and the UN, agreeing that while efforts in finding a peaceful solution to ending the war should continue, a general election should be held as soon as possible.[92]288 Bio handed power over to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP, after the conclusion of elections in early 1996 which Kabbah won.289 After taking over, President Kabbah immediately opened dialogue with the RUF and invited their leader Foday Sankoh for peace negotiations.[93]290

On 25 May 1997, 17 soldiers in the Sierra Leone army led by Corporal Tamba Gborie, loyal to the detained Major Johnny Paul Koroma, launched a military coup which sent President Kabbah into exile in Guinea and they established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).291 Gborie quickly went to the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Services headquarters in New England, Freetown to announce the coup to a shocked nation and to alert all soldiers across the country to report for guard duty.292 The soldiers immediately released Koroma from prison and installed him as their chairman and Head of State.293

Koroma suspended the constitution, banned demonstrations, shut down all private radio stations in the country and invited the RUF to join the new junta government, with its leader Foday Sankoh as the Vice-Chairman of the new AFRC-RUF coalition junta government.294 Within days, Freetown was overwhelmed by the presence of the RUF combatants.295 The Kamajors, a group of traditional fighters mostly from the Mende ethnic group under the command of deputy Defence Minister Samuel Hinga Norman, remained loyal to President Kabbah and defended the Southern part of Sierra Leone from the soldiers.296

After nine months in office, the junta was overthrown by the Nigerian-led ECOMOG forces, and the democratically elected government of president Kabbah was reinstated in February 1998.297 On 19 October 1998, 24 soldiers in the Sierra Leone army—including Gborie, Brigadier Hassan Karim Conteh, Colonel Samuel Francis Koroma, Major Kula Samba and Colonel Abdul Karim Sesay—were executed by firing squad after they were convicted in a court martial in Freetown, some for orchestrating the 1997 coup that overthrew President Kabbah and others for failure to reverse the mutiny.[94]298

In October 1999, the United Nations agreed to send peacekeepers to help restore order and disarm the rebels.299 The first of the 6,000-member force began arriving in December, and the UN Security Council voted in February 2000 to increase the force to 11,000, and later to 13,000.300 But in May, when nearly all Nigerian corpus forces had left and UN forces were trying to disarm the RUF in eastern Sierra Leone, Sankoh's forces clashed with the UN troops, and some 500 peacekeepers were taken hostage as the peace accord effectively collapsed.301 The hostage crisis resulted in more fighting between the RUF and the government as UN troops launched Operation Khukri to end the siege.302