General Background
Sierra Leone and Its People
Bankole Kamara Taylor, Editor
Paperback: 178 pages
Publisher: Tropical Books
SIERRA LEONE, officially known as the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest.
Sierra Leone has an area of 27,699 square miles and an estimated population of 6.5 million.
It is a former British colony.
The country has three provinces and another region known as the Western Area. The provinces and the Western Area are divided into 14 districts.
The Western Area or Freetown Peninsula – formerly the Colony of Sierra Leone – is one of the four principal divisions of Sierra Leone, the other ones being the three provinces. It comprises the oldest city and national capital Freetown and its surrounding suburbs.
Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rain.
Freetown is the largest city and the nation's economic centre. The other major cities are Bo, Kenema, Koidu Town and Makeni.
Sierra Leone's official language is English. It's also the medium of instruction in schools.
Mende is the main language spoken in the south, and Temne in the north. Krio – derived from English and several African languages and which is the native language of the Sierra Leonean Krio people – is the main language of about 10% of the population but is understood by 95% of the people in Sierra Leone. But in spite of its common use throughout the country, the Krio language has no official status.
Sierra Leone has 14 ethnic groups. Each of them has its own language and culture. The two largest and most dominant ethnic groups are the Mende and the Temne, each comprising 30% of the population.
The Mende are mostly found in the southeastern part of Sierra Leone, and the Temne in the north and in the northwest. But it is the Mende who have been the dominant group in the political arena for many years in the nation's history.
The majority of the people in Sierra Leone are Muslim. Christians constitute 35% of the population.
Unlike most African countries, Sierra Leone has no serious ethnic and religious divisions and conflicts. People often marry across tribal and religious boundaries.
The country is very rich in minerals. But the minerals have also been a curse, igniting and fuelling conflicts, best demonstrated by the civil war in the 1990s which was partly fuelled by what came to be known as blood diamonds.
Sierra Leone has relied on mining, especially diamonds, for decades to sustain its economy. It's among the 10 leading producers of diamonds in the world, and mineral exports remain the main foreign currency earner.
Sierra Leone also is among the largest producers of titanium and bauxite, and a major producer of gold. The country also has one of the world's largest deposits of rutile. But, despite all this wealth, the vast majority of the people live in abject poverty.
Early inhabitants of Sierra Leone included the Sherbro, the Temne, the Limba and the Tyra, and later the Mende and the Kono who settled in the eastern part of the country.
In 1462, the region which became the country of Sierra Leone was visited by the Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra who dubbed it Serra de Leão, meaning “Lion Mountains.” The country's name is derived from that.
Sierra Leone later became an important centre of the trans-Atlantic slave trade until 1792 when Freetown was founded by the Sierra Leone Company as a home for freed black American slaves. The black American settlers, called the Nova Scotian settlers, had initially settled in Nova Scotia, Canada, with the help of the British after the American Revolutionary War, as a reward for helping the British during that conflict.
The Sierra Leone Company was the successor to the St. George's Bay Company which had been founded to try – in 1787 – to establish a settlement for the Black Poor of London many of whom were Black Loyalists who had escaped and fought for the British during the American War of Independence.
The 1787 expedition to Sierra Leone was made up of 300 of London's Black Poor, 60 English working-class women and an assortment of white officials, clergy and craftsmen to assist in building the colony. There were 411 men, women and children in all.
Upon landing, they founded Granville Town as their base. But the colony lasted for only about two and a half years, reduced to nothing by disease and later abandonment.
The coup de grace occurred in 1789 when the neighbouring Temne people burned the settlement during a dispute between the Temne and the slave traders.
In 1808, Freetown became a British crown colony. In 1896, the interior of the country became a British Protectorate. And in 1961, the two combined and gained independence as one country.
The country was devastated by the civil war which began in 1991 and lasted for almost 10 years. The war ended in 2000 after the embattled Nigerian-led United Nations troops were heavily reinforced by a British force spearheaded by 42 Commando of the Royal Marines as well as several British Army units.
The arrival of the British force, code-named Operation Palliser, resulted in the defeat of the rebel forces and reinstated the civilian government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah which had been formed after the 1998 elections.
Since then, almost 72,500 former combatants have been disarmed and the country has reestablished a functioning democracy.
The Special Court of Sierra Leone was set up by the United Nations in 2002 to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since 1996.
Sierra Leone suffered heavily during the civil war. And it's the third-lowest-ranked country in the world on the Human Development Index and eighth-lowest on the Human Poverty Index.
History
Archaeological evidence shows that Sierra Leone has been inhabited continuously for at least 2,500 years by people from other parts of Africa.
The use of iron was introduced to Sierra Leone by the 9th century, and by AD 1000, agriculture was being practised by coastal tribes.
During that period, the country was inhabited by numerous politically independent native groups. Several different languages were spoken, but there was similarity of religion.
In the coastal rain forest belt, there were Bulom speakers between the Sherbro and Freetown estuaries, Loko north of the Freetown estuary to the Little Scarcies, Temne at the mouth of the Scarcies and also inland, and Limba farther up the Scarcies.
In the hilly savannah north of all of these were the Susu and the Fula people.
The Susu traded regularly with the coastal people along river valley routes, bringing salt, clothes woven by the Fula, good quality iron work, and some gold.
Sierra Leone's dense tropical rain forest largely protected it from the influence of any precolonial African empires and from further Islamic colonisation, which were unable to penetrate it until the 1700s.
European contacts with Sierra Leone were among the first in West Africa. In 1462, Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra mapped the hills surrounding what is now Freetown Harbour, naming shaped formation Serra de Leão. The Italian rendering of this geographic formation is Sierra Leone, which became the country's name.
The history of Sierra Leone as an independent nation began in 1961, although the area had been inhabited for at least 2,500 years. It also has a long history in terms of governance. It began as a colony of freed British and American slaves and in the 1790s, blacks voted for the first time in elections, as did women.
Slavery
By 1495, the Portuguese had already established themselves in the area that came to be known as Sierra Leone. They built a fort that was used as a trading post in pursuit of their economic interests. It was the dawn of a new era – of the slave trade.
The Portuguese were joined by the Dutch and French; all of them using Sierra Leone as an operational base for their trade in slaves.
In 1562, the English entered the slave trade when Sir John Hawkins acquired 300 enslaved Africans whom he sold to other Englishmen.
Freedom from enslavement
In 1787, a plan was established to settle some of London's Black Poor in Sierra Leone in what was called the Province of Freedom.
A number of Black Poor arrived off the coast of Sierra Leone on 15 May 1787, accompanied by some English tradesmen.
The venture was organised by the St. George's Bay Company composed of British philanthropists. They saw the resettlement as a solution that was better than continuing to support them financially in London.
Many of the “black poor” were black Americans who had been promised their freedom for joining the British Army during the American Revolution. But they also included other African and Asian inhabitants of London.
But the resettlement scheme was doomed from the beginning. Disease and hostility from the indigenous people, mostly members of the Temne tribe, nearly eliminated the first group of colonists.
After that, the Sierra Leone Company was – with the help of Thomas Peters – established to find a settlement for another group of formerly enslaved Africans, this time nearly 1,200 Black Nova Scotians, most of whom had escaped enslavement in the United States.
Given the most barren land in Nova Scotia, many had died from the harsh winters there. The survivors were later moved to Sierra Leone where they established a settlement at Freetown in 1792 under the leadership of Thomas Peters. They were joined by other groups of freed Africans and the settlement became the first African-American haven for formerly enslaved blacks.
Although the English abolitionist Granville Sharp originally planned Sierra Leone as a Utopian community, the directors of the Sierra Leone Company refused to allow black settlers to take freehold of the land. Knowing how Highland Clearances benefited Scottish landlords but not tenants, the ex-slave settlers revolted in 1799.
The revolt was only put down by more than 500 Jamaican Maroons who also arrived via Nova Scotia.
Thousands of liberated Africans – many of them rescued from slave ships on the Atlantic Ocean en route to the Americas – were resettled in Freetown. Most of them chose to remain in Sierra Leone. They were from many parts of Africa, but mainly from the western part of the continent. They joined the previous settlers and together came to be known as Creole or Krio.
Cut off from their homes and traditions, they assimilated some aspects of British culture and built a flourishing trade on the West African coast. The lingua franca of the colony was Krio, a creole language rooted in 18th century black American English which quickly spread across the region as a common language of trade and Christian missionary work.
Colonial era
In the early 20th century, Freetown served as the residence of the British governor who also ruled the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and The Gambia colonial settlements. Sierra Leone also served as the educational centre of British West Africa. Fourah Bay College, established in 1827, rapidly became a magnet for English-speaking Africans from different parts of West Africa. For more than a century, it was the only European-style college in the West African region.
During Sierra Leone's colonial history, indigenous people revolted against British rule and Krio domination many times. But the revolts were unsuccessful.
The most notable one was the Hut Tax war of 1898. Its first leader was Bai Bureh, a Temne chief who refused to recognise the British-imposed tax on huts in which the people lived.
The taxation was generally regarded by the native chiefs as an attack on their sovereignty.
After the British issued a warrant to arrest Bai Bureh alleging that he had refused to pay taxes, Bai Bureh declared war on the British in northern Sierra Leone, the Temne stronghold. He had full support from prominent chiefs of other tribes including the powerful Kissi chief Kai Londo and the Limba chief Almamy Suluku. Both chiefs sent warriors and weapons to help Bai Bureh.
Bureh's fighters had an advantage over the vastly more powerful British for several months of the war. Hundreds of British troops and hundreds of Bureh's fighters were killed in the conflict.
Bai Bureh was finally captured on 11 November 1898 and sent into exile in the Gold Coast. And 96 of his compatriots were hanged by the British.
The defeat of the natives in the Hut Tax war ended large-scale organised resistance to colonial rule. However, resistance continued throughout the colonial period in the form of intermittent rioting and chaotic labour disturbances. For example, the riots of 1955 and 1956 involved “tens of thousands” of people in the country.
An independent nation led by Sir Milton Margai
In 1924, Sierra Leone was divided into a colony and a protectorate, with separate and different political systems constitutionally defined for each.
Antagonism between the two entities escalated to a heated debate in 1947 when proposals were introduced to establish a single political system for both the colony and the protectorate. Most of the proposals came from the protectorate.
The Creoles, led by Isaac Wallace-Johnson, opposed the proposals which would have diminished their political power if implemented.
The indigenous people realised the imperative need to form a united front against such opposition to equality. Milton Margai, a member of the Mende ethnic group who was also the leading politician in the protectorate, was able to mobilise forces among the indigenous educated elite and the paramount chiefs in order to neutralise Creole intransigence.
Later, Sir Milton used the same skills to win over opposition leaders and moderate Creole elements in the quest for independence.
In November 1951, Milton Margai oversaw the drafting of a new constitution which united the separate colonial and protectorate legislatures and provided a framework for decolonisation.
In 1953, Sierra Leone was granted local ministerial powers and Milton Margai was elected chief minister of Sierra Leone.
The new constitution ensured Sierra Leone a parliamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations.
In May 1957, Sierra Leone held its first parliamentary election. The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), which was then the most popular political party in the country, won the majority of the seats in parliament. Margai was also re-elected chief minister.
In 1960, Milton Margai led the Sierra Leonean delegation to a constitutional conference in London to discuss the future of Sierra Leone. The main item on the agenda was independence and the meeting was chaired by British Colonial Secretary Ian Macleod.
The delegation included prominent Sierra Leonean politicians: Albert Margai, Milton Margai's younger brother; John Kareefa Smart, Lamina Sankoh, Kande Bureh, Sir Banja-Tejan Sie, Ella Koblo Gulama, Amadou Wurie, Mohamed Samusi Mustapha, and Eustace Henry Taylor Cummings.
Two notable absentees from the delegation were Siaka Stevens, the leader of the opposition All People's Congress (APC), and the veteran Creole politician Isaac Wallace-Johnson. They were under house arrest in Freetown charged with disrupting the independence movement.
On 27 April 1961, Sierra Leone won independence from the United Kingdom. The only other African country which won independence that year was Tanganyika, also from Britain, on December 9th under the leadership of Julius Nyerere who, at 39, was the youngest leader in the world during that time.
Kwame Nkrumah, the president of Ghana, expressed strong reservations about Sierra Leone's independence and regarded the country as a “client state” as much as did most of the former French colonies in Africa with the exception of Guinea under Ahmed Sekou Toure and Mali under Modibo Keita; a point underscored in his book I Speak of Freedom.
Sierra Leone held its first general election on 27 May 1962 and Margai was elected Sierra Leone's first prime minister. His party, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), won the election by large margins.
Milton Margai died on 28 April 1964. Not long after he died, his party suffered internal wrangling as different politicians sought to replace him. The parliament of Sierra Leone held an emergency session to elect a new prime minister.
One of the two leading candidates to succeed Milton Margai was Albert Margai, the finance minister and younger brother of Milton. The other one was Dr. John Karefa-Smart, the foreign affairs minister and close ally of the late Milton Margai.
Albert Margai was elected to be the new leader of the ruling SLPP and next prime minister of Sierra Leone. He was briefly challenged by Dr. John Karefa-Smart, a member of the Sherbro ethnic group, who questioned the younger Margai's eligibility for the SLPP leadership position. But Kareefa-Smart received little support in parliament in his attempt to have Albert Margai stripped of his position as the leader of the ruling party.
Albert Margai Administration
Albert Margai was sworn in as Sierra Leone's second prime minister the same day his brother died at a ceremony held at Sierra Leone's parliament in Freetown.
Soon after he was sworn in, he immediately dismissed Karefa-Smart and several other senior government officials who had served under his elder brother. He saw them as a threat to his administration. Sir Albert appointed Cyril B. Rogers-Wright, a Creole politician, to replace Karefa-Smart as minister of foreign affairs.
Unlike his late brother Milton, Albert Margai was opposed to the colonial legacy of allowing the country's paramount chiefs exercise executive powers and was seen as a threat to traditional rulers across the country. This made him unpopular with the powerful paramount chiefs, most of whom were founding members of the SLPP.
To strengthen support for his reform agenda for the party and the country, he brought into the SLPP leadership and his government younger and Western-educated people. The party was thus divided between the traditionalist and more powerful old guard and the new and younger reform-minded leaders.
As prime minister, Albert Margai opposed Creole domination of the civil service. Many ethnic Creoles lost their jobs in the civil service because of that.
He was highly criticized during his tenure as prime minister and was accused of corruption and tribalism, favouring his fellow tribesmen, the Mende.
During his leadership, the Mende increased their influence both in the civil service and in the army. Most of the top military and government positions were held by Mendes.
Albert Margai also tried to establish a one-party state but got very little support in parliament, even among his fellow SLPP members. He was also strongly opposed by the main opposition party, the All People's Congress (APC), which had become suddenly more popular than the ruling SLPP and ultimately abandoned the idea.
Although the two political parties had national appeal, they were also regionally entrenched and benefited from ethnic loyalties. The SLPP had its biggest support among the Mende and was strongest in the southern part of the country, while the APC was strongest in the north among the Temne.
Three Military Coups, 1967-1968
After the closely contested general election in March 1967, Sierra Leone Governor-General Sir Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston, a Creole, declared the new prime minister to be Siaka Stevens, the candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) and mayor of Freetown.
Stevens was a member of the Limba tribe, the third-largest ethnic group in the country found mostly in the Northern Province. He defeated the incumbent prime minister, Sir Albert Margai, by a narrow margin.
Stevens won the majority of the vote in the northern part of the country, his ethnic stronghold, and in the Western Area including in Freetown. Albert Margai on the other hand won the vast majority of the vote in south-eastern Sierra Leone which was also his ethnic stronghold dominated by the Mende.
Stevens was sworn in as Sierra Leone's third prime minister on 17 May 1967.
But only hours after he took office, soldiers stormed the State House and abducted Stevens at gunpoint. The coup was led by Brigadier-General David Lansana, an ethnic Mende and commander of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces.
Lansana was a prominent supporter of Albert Margai who had appointed him to the top command in 1964. He declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law. He also insisted that the determination of the winner of the election should await the election of the tribal representatives in parliament, mostly from Mende chiefdoms in southeastern Sierra Leone.
On 23 March 1968, however, a group of senior army officers led by Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith, an ethnic Creole, in turn seized control of the government, arrested Lansana and suspended the constitution. They also imposed martial law.
The group of the new military rulers formed the National Reformation Council (NRC) with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman.
In April 1968, the NRC was in turn overthrown by a third group of soldiers who called themselves the Anti-Corruption Revolutionary Movement (ACRM) led by Brigadier-General John Amadu Bangura, a member of the Limba tribe like Stevens.
The ACRM imprisoned Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith and other senior NRC members and restored the constitution.
In his first speech, Bangura urged Sierra Leoneans to stay calm and appealed to the military to respect the constitution and stay out of politics. He invited Stevens to the state house and reinstated him as prime minister in a special ceremony. Stevens fled to Guinea during the crisis and stayed there until he was invited to return to Sierra Leone.
Although Bangura restored civilian rule, he was accused of tribalism in favour of Siaka Stevens, his fellow Limba.
Stevens' government and one-party state
Stevens assumed power again in 1968 with a great deal of promise and ambition. Much trust was placed upon him as he championed multi-party politics. Upon taking power from the military, however, he drove the SLPP from competitive politics in general elections using violence and intimidation. To gain support of the military, Stevens retained the popular John Amadu Bangura as the head of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces.
After the country returned to civilian rule, by-elections were held and Stevens formed an all-APC cabinet. But calm was not completely restored. In November 1968, Stevens declared a state of emergency after some disturbances in the provinces.
He had campaigned on a socialist platform. However, when he became prime minister, he abandoned his pre-election promises and became authoritarian.
Many senior officers in the army were disappointed but none could confront Stevens. Brigadier-General Bangura who had reinstated Stevens as prime minister was widely considered to be the only person who could put the brakes on Stevens.
Bangura was a magnetic and popular figure among Sierra Leoneans. The army was devoted to him and this made him potentially dangerous to Stevens.
In January 1970, Bangura was arrested and charged with conspiracy and plotting to overthrow Stevens. He was convicted and sentenced to death.
On 29 March 1970, Bangura was hanged at the Kissy Road Prison in central Freetown.
In March 1971, a group of senior army officers attempted to overthrow the government but failed to do so. The coup leaders were convicted and executed. Those executed included several senior army officers and some senior government officials.
On 19 April 1971, parliament declared Sierra Leone a republic. Siaka Stevens became president and Sorie Ibrahim Koroma vice president.
During Stevens' tenure as prime minister and later as president, members of his tribe, the Limba, and Creoles had great influence in the government and in the civil service.
Another major ethnic group, the Temne, joined the Mende in opposition to Siaka Stevens' APC government. But after Stevens appointed an ethnic Temne, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma as vice-president, the Temne appeared to have emerged as an influential group in the APC government.
Also, Guinean troops requested by Stevens to support his government were in the country from 1971 to 1973.
In May 1973, general elections were held but the main opposition party, the SLPP, boycotted the elections, alleging widespread intimidation and rigging.
In 1973, Siaka Stevens and President William Tolbert of Liberia signed a treaty forming the Mano River Union to facilitate trade between Sierra Leone and Liberia. Guinea joined the union in 1980.
An alleged plot to overthrow President Stevens failed in 1974 and its leaders were executed.
On 19 July 1975, 14 senior army and government officials including Brigadier David Lansana, former cabinet minister Mohamed Sorie Forna, Brigadier-General Ibrahim Bash Taqi, and Lieutenant Habib Lansana Kamara were executed after being convicted for allegedly attempting to topple president Stevens' government.
Also executed for allegedly taking part in the coup attempt was Dr. Mohamed S. Forna, a popular finance minister under Siaka Stevens who had fallen out of favour with the president after protesting against rampant corruption and Stevens' dictatorial tendencies.
He was a young medical doctor who had practised medicine in Scotland before joining the cabinet when Siaka Stevens first came to power.
Dr. Forna was also the father of Aminatta Forna, a renowned British writer of Sierra Leonian and Scottish heritage. Her mother was Scotttish. Aminatta was born in Glasgow, Scotland, where her parents met, and was brought up in Sierra Leone and the UK. Dr. Forna studied medicine in Scotland.
About four-and-a-half years before he was executed, Dr. Forna wrote a famous letter to Siaka Stevens – who was then still prime minister, not yet president – which partly, if not largely, contributed to his execution. The letter was dated 12 September 1970 and is reproduced here in its entirety:
“Dear Prime Minister,
In 1967 Sir Albert brought this country to the brink of political and economic disaster. All right thinking people realised that Sir Albert's insatiable desire for power and wealth spelt chaos and complete disruption of our social fabric.
What he wanted to impose upon this nation was a one-man dictatorship, shrouded by a fraudulent Republican Constitution that concentrated all powers in the hands of a single person.
In view of this menace to personal freedom and economic stability, I accepted the call to service, and, left what you knew to be a very lucrative medical practice to join the fight against that political monster.
As leader of the Opposition then you spearheaded the fight against this menace. All of us who followed you accepted your profession of a deep attachment to the tenets of democracy and the rule of law. As you also know, when the Military unwarrantedly usurped the machinery of Government and imposed a Military dictatorship on the people of this country, you found me more than willing to risk life and limb to restore Parliamentary democracy to this our beloved country.
It is nearly three years now since we assumed the reins of Government. Over this period I have had the opportunity of working closely with you. Many mistakes have been made during this period but till lately I had assumed that these were mistakes of the head and not of the heart. I now know that I was wrong.
You have revealed an uncanny dexterity at manipulating weak and untutored minds both at Cabinet and Party levels. Your conduct of state affairs is in line with your Trade Union experience, a mixture of trite jokes cajolery and even violence.
The introduction or the continuation of cold and calculated violence into the politics of this country poses a major threat to the social and political unity of this country. You are fully aware of the events I refer to.
The shootings at the Freedom Press with the resultant death of an innocent child have never been investigated to the satisfaction of the thinking public. The wanton destruction of life and property at Ginger Hall during the Freetown City Council elections was as unprovoked as it was unnecessary. As usual the innocent, the very innocent children, were the sufferers. Again the nation has waited in vain for an explanation.
More recent, but no less serious, are the dastardly events at Port Loko. The heinous crimes committed there I put squarely at your door-step. I know, as you do, that you were the evil spirit behind them. I have spared no pains both in and out of Parliament to condemn the use of force and violence as a means to power. This is one fundamental area of disagreement between us.
A Constitutional Review Commission has been set up. It is now at work. In the interval, with you presiding, a so-called National Executive of the APC passed a resolution in favour of an Executive Presidency with all the powers of the state in the hands of one man. You yourself have never hidden your ambition to be such a President.
You set the ball rolling at the meeting I refer to. I vividly recall the continuous tussle between you and Protocol Officers about the playing of the National Anthem for you. His Excellency the Governor-General has on more than one occasion been subjected to serious embarrassment as to the use of the National Anthem when both of you attend the same functions.
This display of infantile vanity may appear trivial, but to me with a trained medical mind, they are the manifestations of a megalomaniac syndrome. It is the top of the iceberg submerged below a sea of personal shyness. This coupled with an insatiable thirst for power can only spell disaster to this country. I now realise that no method will be too mean for you to achieve this goal.
On my return from the USA and Britain I made my views on this matter very clear to you. I made it clear, that should you insist on this course of action and bring a bill to Parliament based on an Executive Presidency I will have no choice but to oppose it with all the forces at my command. As usual with you, the answer to a major issue was not enlightened discussion but the over-used joke.
I have noticed that our differences over financial policy have deepened with time. The Cabinet reshuffle of May this year was precipitated by the refusal of the then Minister of Works and myself to sanction the dumping of six million leones of the taxpayers money in the construction of a rock-filled road less than two miles long. This project, as I indicated in a letter to you, had neither economic merit nor did it stand to ease the traffic congestion which was the pretext for its conception.
Suppliers credit and pre-finance have a limited scope in the public finance of an under-developed country.
Its misuse and abuse led to the near national bankruptcy of 1966-1968. You yourself have condemned the practice in your radio broadcast to the nation.
I have always maintained that pre-financing should be limited to a small area of projects which will contribute to the social well-being of our people. Among this category are the provision of clean pipe borne water and the expansion of our radio services.
In my discussions with World Bank and IMF officials I have indicated our general agreement with them not to engage in unnecessary pre-financing. You yourself have re-assured the World Bank along similar lines.
Recently I have noticed that rejected pre-finance schemes are being dusted and brought to Cabinet without my Ministry being given an adequate opportunity to make its comments on them. During my brief absence on a tour of duty you signed a contract against the advice of my officials for pre-financing the purchase of armored vehicles costing nearly Le700,000.
At a time when soldiers are badly housed I wonder whether your priorities as Minister of Defence are in the right order. The Military were never given an opportunity to say yes or no to this scheme.
Recently you brought forward an elaborate scheme for police and army communication equipment. If accepted, it will cost this nation Le2.8 million. What I find curious is that the communication officers of both army and police put their requirements at Le300,000, roughly a tenth of the cost of your Pye advisers.
The curious combination of an unrelenting drive to an Executive Presidency, armored vehicles to be manned by a specially selected troops primarily loyal to you, indicate that you intend to impose your will on the people of this country.
You have never failed to equate yourself with Sekou Toure, Kaunda or Nyerere. Sierra Leone is a different country Mr. Prime Minister and to be frank you are not a Kaunda or a Nyerere.
In other areas, policies are equally confused. We all know the repeated use of troops and police for the eviction of the stranger elements from Kono, but as the country knows this has become a cyclical exercise. You drive them with fanfare but quietly allow them to return for reasons that you alone can understand,
There is no coherence in Government policy, no definitive co-ordination of Government policies, no firmness in the execution of Government policies.
Your Kono exercise cost this nation Le600,000 extra for the army and police in 1969. The bill for the latest exercise is still to come. In the meantime most of the Lebanese expelled by this exercise have now been allowed by you to return.
If our scanty resources cannot be used to create gainful employment for our people, then, as I have always pointed out to you Sir, we are now witnessing in the form of highway robbery. These are problems that will not be solved by armored vehicles or over-expensive communication equipment.
I have written at length so that the nation will understand. I am painfully aware that my resistance to these schemes has not gratified me to you. Yet I owe it to myself and to my country to do my duty as I see it.
I had intended to attend the very important meetings of Commonwealth Finance Ministers at Nicosia and of World Bank and IMF at Copenhagen, but I am reliably informed of your intention to withdraw my accreditation to these conferences on your return.
The honour of this country is a matter of supreme importance to me and I would not allow you to ridicule this nation now as you have done in the recent past.
Finally, let me warn the nations of the World that should their citizens allow you to embark on a pre-finance spree in the terminal days of your regime this nation reserves the right to disallow these debts in the future.
With all these strains and fundamental differences on principles and policies I realise that my usefulness in this Government under you has reached a low ebb. I cannot sacrifice principles for position, but as I always say, let history be my judge. I therefore wish to tender my humble resignation as from today.
Yours sincerely,
(signed) Dr. M.S. Forna”
It was in the same year, 1975, when Dr. Forna and the other alleged coup conspirators were executed that Sierra Leone also joined the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
In March 1976, Stevens was elected without opposition for a second five-year term as president.
In early 1977, a major anti-government demonstration by students and youth occurred throughout the country against the APC government and deteriorating economic conditions. The police and the army put down the demonstration.
In the national parliamentary election of May 1977, the APC won 74 seats and the main opposition, the SLPP, won 15. The SLPP condemned the election and widespread vote-rigging and voter intimidation.
In 1978, the APC-dominated parliament approved a new constitution making the country a one-party state. The 1978 referendum made the All People's Congress (APC) the only legal political party in Sierra Leone. The move led to another major demonstration in many parts of the country. But again the demonstration was suppressed by the army and the police.
Although Stevens was criticised for being dictatorial and presiding over a corrupt government, he also reduced ethnic polarisation by incorporating members of various ethnic groups into his administration dominated by his party, the All People's Congress.
Momoh's Administration
Siaka Stevens retired in November 1985 after being in power for 18 years but continued to be chairman of the All People's Congress (APC).
At their last delegate conference held in Freetown in November 1985, the APC named a new presidential candidate to succeed Stevens. He was Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh, the commander of the armed forces and Stevens' own choice to succeed him.
As head of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces, Major General Momoh was very loyal to Stevens who had appointed him to that position. Like Stevens, Momoh was also a member of the minority Limba ethnic group which is only surpassed by the Mende and Temne, the two largest and most influential ethnic groups in the country.
Joseph Saidu Momoh was elected president in a one-party parliament as the only contesting candidate. He was sworn in as Sierra Leone's second president in Freetown on 28 November 1985 with Francis Minah, a Mende, as vice president.
President Momoh's strong links with the army and his verbal attacks on corruption earned him much-needed initial support among Sierra Leoneans. But with the lack of new faces in his cabinet and the return of many of the old faces from Stevens' government, criticism soon spread, with people saying that Momoh was simply perpetuating the rule of Stevens who was still chairman of the ruling party, the All People's Congress.
The first two years of Momoh's administration were characterised by corruption, even though Momoh sacked several senior cabinet ministers. He also announced a “code of conduct for political leaders and public servants” in his war against corruption.
But the president continued to face criticism. After an alleged attempt to overthrow him in March 1987, more than 60 senior government officials were arrested, including Vice President Francis Minah who was removed from office. He was convicted for “plotting” the coup and was hanged in 1989 along with five others.
Born on 19 August 1929 in Sawula, Pujehun District which is in the Southern Province and borders Liberia and the Atlantic Ocean, Francis Minah earned a law degree from King's College, London, in the United Kingdom, and served in many capacities as minister of foreign affairs, minister of health, minister of justice and as attorney general under President Siaka Stevens. But he was falsely accused of plotting the coup against Momoh.
Multi-party constitution and
the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebellion
In October 1990, due to mounting pressure from both within and outside the country for political and economic reform, president Momoh set up a constitutional review commission to review the 1978 one-party constitution. Based on the commission's recommendations, a constitution re-establishing a multi-party system was approved by parliament and became effective on 1 October 1991.
By November 1991, political opposition became active again in Sierra Leone. And towards the end of the same month, President Momoh proposed a multi-party presidential and parliamentary election to be held in October 1992.
There was great suspicion that President Momoh was not serious about his promise of political reform, as rule by the All People's Congress (APC) continued to be increasingly marked by abuses of power.
The ruling party was also alleged to have been hoarding arms and planning a violent campaign against the opposition parties ahead of multi-party general elections scheduled for late 1992.
Several senior government officials in the APC administration such as Dr. Salia Jusu Sheriff, Dr. Abass Bundu, J.B. Dauda and Dr. Sama Banya resigned from the APC government to resuscitate the previously disbanded Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Other senior government officials including Thaimu Bangura, Edward Kargbo and Desmond Luke also resigned from the APC and formed their own political parties to challenge the ruling APC.
Then in the last week of March 1991, civil war broke out. It was started by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Saybana Sankoh, a former army corporal and an ethnic Temne from Tonkolili District in northern Sierra Leone. He received military training in Libya together with Charles Taylor, the man who started the Liberian civil war on Christmas Eve, 1989. Taylor invaded Liberia from his sanctuary in the Ivory Coast.
The conflict in Sierra Leone was attributed to government corruption, abuse of power by various governments since independence from Britain almost exactly 30 years before in April 1961, and mismanagement of diamonds and other natural resources by the nation's leaders.
The brutal civil war going on in neighbouring Liberia played a major role in the outbreak of the conflict in Sierra Leone. Charles Taylor, the leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), a rebel group mostly responsible for the conflict in Liberia, helped form the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
Taylor wanted to use the RUF to attack the West African peacekeeping troops in Freetown, Sierra Leone, who were opposed to his rebel movement in Liberia.
The RUF launched its first attack on villages in Kailahun District in eastern Sierra Leone on 23 March 1991. It launched the attack from its operational base in neighbouring Liberia.
The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a crumbling economy and corruption, as well as a demoralised army, was unable to put up significant resistance against the incursion of the RUF.
Within a month of entering Sierra Leone from Liberia, the RUF controlled much of eastern Sierra Leone, including the cash crop production areas of Kailahun and the government diamond mines in Kono District. Forced recruitment of child soldiers was also an early feature of the rebel strategy.
NPRC Junta
On 29 April 1992, a group comprising a colonel and seven junior officers in the Sierra Leonean army, apparently frustrated by the government's failure to deal with the rebels and to pay salaries, launched a military coup which sent President Momoh into exile in Guinea.
The officers were Colonel Yahya Kanu, a member of the Temne ethnic group; Captain Solomon A. J. Musa, Captain Julius Maada Bio, and Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, who were Mendes; Captain Samuel Komba Kambo and Captain Komba Mondeh who were Konos; Valentine E.M. Strasser, a Krio; and Second Lieutenant Tom Nyuma, a Kissi.
Sandy was said to have insisted to his colleagues on the second day of the action that theirs would no longer be a revolt over pay but a revolution to overthrow the APC and the system of one-party politics. He was the only soldier killed during the coup, allegedly by his adoptive uncle, APC member Colonel S.I.M. Turay.
Turay was declared wanted for the murder of Sandy by the NPRC junta but managed to escape to Guinea where he joined the exiled president.
Colonel Yahya Kanu was the very popular commander of the fearless Tiger Battalion which was at the forefront in the war against the RUF during President Momoh's tenure.
The army officers who overthrew the government established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) to rule the country. But Colonel Kanu was not formally declared head of the junta. In an interview with the BBC Focus on Africa programme, he even refused to acknowledge that the revolt was a coup by his men. Yet he was seen as the de facto leader of the NPRC.
Born in Magburaka, Tonkolili District in the Northern Province, Yahya Kanu was a loyalist to president Joseph Saidu Momoh, and his position in the coup is still unclear.
He was first reported by Reuters to have led the coup, but that same day he went on the BBC's Focus on Africa to deny that role, claiming instead that he was attempting to negotiate with the mutineers.
He was imprisoned by Valentine Strasser who eventually took power in the coup. Kanu was later executed in November 1992 by Solomon Musa, Strasser's aide, on a beach near Freetown after being accused of organising a counter-coup with All People's Congress (APC) supporter Bambay Kamara. Also executed was Colonel K.M. Dumbaya.
All three were accused of organising a counter-coup against Strasser, although they had been in jail since May the same year.
Colonel Yahya Kanu had won a reputation as one of the most dynamic battlefront commanders during the war that broke out when RUF rebels crossed into Sierra Leone in 1991 from the part of Liberia which was under the control of Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor.
After the rebels approached the eastern Sierra Leonean town of Kenema in mid-1991, they were pushed back by Kanu's Cobra battalion with the help of Liberian irregular forces, mostly refugees from the late President Samuel Doe's army, who went on to become a component of ULIMO – United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy – one of the largest rebel groups in Liberia. The combined force quickly routed the RUF rebels from the towns of Gandorhun and Zimmi before reaching the Mano River Bridge crossing into Liberia.
But these gains were lost later in the war as control of towns frequently changed hands, something that Sierra Leonean battlefront soldiers often blamed on a lack of resources from the national government in Freetown. This was a major factor contributing to the 1992 military coup in Sierra Leone.
Later, however, Colonel Yahya Kanu was arrested and imprisoned by his junior officers who accused him of trying to negotiate a compromise with the toppled APC administration.
Kanu's arrest divided the army into two rival groups: his Tiger Battalion and Tom Nyuma's Cobra Battalion and their respective supporters.
On April 29, 1992, Captain Valentine Strasser took over as leader and chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) and became Sierra Leone's new head of state. Born on 26 April 1967 in Freetown, he seized power and became the youngest president in the world just three days after his 25th birthday.
He was the leading member of a group of six young Sierra Leonean soldiers who overthrew President Joseph Saidu Momoh.
A close friend of Strasser, 25 year-old S.A.J. Musa who was an officer in Kanu's feared Tiger Battalion, was named vice-chairman of the NPRC.
Many Sierra Leoneans nationwide rushed into the streets to celebrate the NPRC's takeover from the 23-year dictatorial APC regime which they perceived as corrupt.
The NPRC junta immediately suspended the 1991 constitution, declared a state of emergency, banned all political parties, and limited freedom of speech and of the press. The new military rulers also started to rule by decree. The soldiers were given unlimited powers of detention without charge or trial and challenges against such detentions in court were precluded.
The NPRC Junta maintained relations with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and strengthened support for Sierra Leone-based ECOMOG troops fighting in Liberia.
In his first speech as head of state, Strasser reassured the world of meeting his country's obligations to her creditors and made a commitment to the IMF and the World Bank to accelerate the economic reform process started by Momoh's government in 1989 aimed at stabilizing the severely crippled economy. And shortly after that, Strasser negotiated a Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) with the two institutions.
The junta formed the Supreme Council of State (SCS) made up of only NPRC members – the six surviving leaders – chaired by Strasser himself. They also appointed an advisory council of retired senior civil servants and academics chaired by a retired UN administrator Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
These men were all regarded as untainted by the 23 years of alleged mismanagement, corruption and abuse of power by the All People's Congress (APC), a political party whose most prominent personality was Siaka Stevens who died in Freetown four years earlier on 29 May 1988, about three months before his 83rd birthday.
In December 1992, an alleged coup attempt against the NPRC administration of Strasser, aimed at freeing the detained Colonel Yahya Kanu, was foiled. Sergeant Lamin Bangura, a member of the Temne tribe, and some junior army officers of the Tiger Battalion were identified as being behind the alleged plot.
The coup attempt led to the execution of seventeen soldiers, including Lamin Bangura and Yayah Kanu, and some senior members of the overthrown APC government who had been in detention at the Pa Demba Road prison. These included the notorious Inspector General of Police James Bambay Kamara, key former APC ministers, and senior party members.
By mid 1993, Captain Strasser announced a plan to hand over the government to civilian rule by 1996. Dr. James Jonah, who was then Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, was appointed by the NPRC Junta as the chairman of the new Interim National Electoral Commission (INEC) which was in charge of the demarcation of electoral boundaries and voter registration.
In 1994, the NPRC junta proposed a change in the age restriction in the 1991 Sierra Leone constitution which stated that only Sierra Leoneans over the age of 40 are eligible for the presidency, thus excluding Strasser and others in the NPRC.
But in spite of all the excitement about the new military rulers when they first seized power and the people poured into the streets to 'embrace” them as their liberators, the rulers – the NPRC – proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh-led APC government in fighting the RUF rebels.
More and more of the country fell to RUF fighters. By 1995, the rebels held much of the diamond-rich Eastern Province and were at the edge of the nation's capital Freetown.
In response to that, the NPRC hired several hundred mercenaries from Executive Outcomes, a private military company founded in 1989 in South Africa by a former lieutenant-colonel of the South African Defence Force, Eeben Barlow.
Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone’s borders and cleared the RUF from the Kono diamond producing areas of the country. However, captains Tom Nyuma (Secretary of State East) and Komba Mondeh (Secretary of State Defence), who were regarded outside Freetown as the only “fighters” in the NPRC who dared to lead the troops to attack RUF strongholds in the east and in the south, were widely credited with these successes against the RUF.
During that time, corruption had sharply increased within the senior ranks of both the NPRC and the military, and the junta had become divided between S.A.J Musa on one side and Nyuma and Mondeh on the other.
S.A.J Musa had become very popular in Freetown for fighting corruption and enforcing strict discipline in the public service and his last-Saturday-of-the-month city cleaning exercises.
Nyuma, nicknamed “The Ranger,” was seen across the country as the daredevil of the NPRC and the “protector of the East.”
There was great suspicion among the SCS members that S.A.J Musa was planning a coup to topple his friend Strasser whom he accused of being subservient to the wishes of Nyuma and Mondeh.
On 5 July 1995, under pressure from Tom Nyuma, Captain Strasser dismissed S.A.J Musa as deputy chairman of the NPRC and appointed an ally of Nyuma, the Secretary of State for Information and Broadcasting, Captain Julius Maada Bio, to the position.
Musa was arrested by soldiers led by Nyuma's men and was briefly placed under house arrest in Freetown before being sent into exile in the UK.
Senior NPRC members, including Bio (who by now had promoted himself to brigadier), Nyuma and Mondeh (both promoted to colonel), were becoming increasingly unhappy with (still-Captain) Strasser's handling of the preparation for the pending elections, the peace negotiation with the RUF, and the transition to democratic civilian rule.
In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Captain V.E.M. Strasser was ousted in a bloodless “palace” coup led by his NPRC deputy, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio, with the support of several senior NPRC members including both Tom Nyuma and Komba Mondeh.
Bio claimed that Strasser was attempting to unilaterally amend the age restriction in the constitution in order to perpetuate his hold on power.
After being overthrown, Strasser went to the UK.
Return of democracy and civil war
Bio reinstated the constitution and called for general elections.
In the second round of presidential elections in early 1996, Ahmad Tejan Kabba, a Mandingo and the candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), won 59% of the vote. John Karefa-Smart, a Sherbro and the candidate of the United National People's Party (UNPP), won 41%. Bio fulfilled his promise of a return to civilian rule and handed power to Kabbah. President Tejan Kabbah's SLPP party also won a majority of the seats in Parliament.
For years, Sierra Leonean soldiers in the lower ranks were not paid well. They were also denied privileges and benefits. Soldiers were killed in action and no provision was made for their families.
Major Johnny Paul Koroma, an army officer who was a member of the Limba ethnic group like Siaka Stevens and Joseph Saidu Momoh, was allegedly involved in an attempt to overthrow the government of President Kabbah. He commanded government forces who were fighting against the RUF rebels and was arrested in August 1996 for his involvement in the coup attempt in which President Kabbah was to be assassinated. He was convicted and imprisoned at Freetown's Pademba Road Prison.
On 25 May 1997, a group of seventeen junior army officers loyal to Major Koroma overthrew the government and freed him from prison. President Kabbah fled to Guinea.
The coup was led by Corporal Tamba Gborie and Sergeant Alex Tamba Brima. Both were members of the Kono tribe indigenous to the diamond-rich Kono District in southeastern Sierra Leone.
Corporal Tamba Gborie announced the coup on the radio. The young soldiers formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to rule the country and chose Koroma to be the council's chairman and Sierra Leone's new head of state. Corporal Tamba Gborie became deputy in command of the AFRC.
Koroma suspended the constitution, banned demonstrations, shut down all private radio stations and invited the RUF rebels to join the new military government. The RUF leader, Foday Sankoh, became the vice-chairman of the new AFRC-RUF coalition government, hence the country's vice president.
Within days, Freetown was overwhelmed by the presence of the RUF combatants who came to the city in their thousands. 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.
The Kamajors defended Bo, the country's second largest city, and continued their attacks against the AFRC and RUF in south-eastern Sierra Leone.
After 10 months in office, the military junta of Johnny Paul Koroma was ousted by the ECOMOG forces led by Nigeria and the democratically elected government of President Kabbah was reinstated in March 1998.
On 6 January 1999, the AFRC made another attempt to overthrow the government. But it was unsuccessful, neutralised by ECOMOG, mostly Nigerian soldiers who constituted the bulk of the fighting force.
AFRC-RUF fighters went on the rampage and killed about 3,000 people. They also raped women and girls, abducted and conscripted children into their rebel army, tortured and cut off limbs of innocent civilians including children, and destroyed much of the property in and around the nation's capital Freetown.
In October 1999, the United Nations agreed to send peace keepers to help restore order and disarm the rebels. 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.
But in May 2000, when nearly all Nigerian 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 peace keepers were taken hostage as the peace accord effectively collapsed. The hostage crisis resulted in more fighting between the RUF and the government.
The situation in the country deteriorated to such an extent that British troops were deployed in Operation Palliser, originally simply to evacuate foreign nationals. However, the British went beyond their original mandate and took full military action to finally defeat the rebels and restore order.
The British were the catalyst for the ceasefire that ended the civil war. Without them, the country would have been boggled in conflict and the people of Sierra Leone would have continued to suffer indefinitely.
Elements of the British army, together with British administrators and other personnel, remain in Sierra Leone today. They have not only helped to train the armed forces; they also continue to provide security and defence. They also continue to improve the infrastructure of the country and provide financial and material aid.
Tony Blair, the prime minister of Britain at the time of the British intervention, is regarded as a hero by the people of Sierra Leone, many of whom are keen for more British involvement. Many Sierra Leoneans including some leaders even want Sierra Leone to become part of the United Kingdom and have asked the British to “come back and rule us again.”
At least 50,000 people were killed in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war between 1991 and 2001. Thousands had their limbs – even their ears and lips – chopped off by the RUF rebels. And hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. Untold numbers of Sierra Leoneans also became refugees in neighbouring Guinea and Liberia. Some went even farther ans sought refuge in Ghana and even in Nigeria.
In 2001, UN forces moved into rebel-held areas and began to disarm rebel soldiers. By January 2002, the war was declared over. And in May the same year, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was re-elected president.
By 2004, the disarmament process was complete. Also in 2004, a UN-backed war crimes court – Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) – began holding trials of senior leaders from both sides of the war. In December 2005, UN peacekeeping forces pulled out of Sierra Leone.
The most prominent figure to be indicted by the UN-backed court in Sierra Leone was Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, for committing war crimes – including fuelling the war in Sierra Leone – and crimes against humanity in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
He was the driving force behind the war in Sierra Leone; at the very least, one of its major sponsors.
He was arrested in Nigeria where he was living in exile, was taken to Sierra Leone to face charges, and was finally sent to The Hague to stand trial.
Government after 2007
In August 2007, Sierra Leone held presidential and parliamentary elections. However, no presidential candidate won the 50% plus-one majority stipulated in the constitution on the first round of voting.
A runoff election was held in September 2007 and Ernest Bai Koroma, the candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) and ethnically a half Limba and half Temne from the north, was elected president.
It was also in 2007 – on July 19th – when Alex Tamba Brima, one of the soldiers who overthrew President Kabbah, was sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment which will probably be served in Austria or Sweden.
He was tried with Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu and was found guilty – on 20 June 2007 – of crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, rape, forced labour, and the use of child soldiers. His co-defendants were also found guilty as charged.
Their convictions were the first for the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). It was also the first time anyone had been convicted of the international crime of using children as soldiers.
Also, by 2007, there had been an increase in the number of drug cartels in the country, many from Colombia in South America, using Sierra Leone as a base to ship drugs to Europe. It was feared that this might lead to increased corruption and violence and turn the country into a narco state like neighbouring Guinea-Bissau.
However, the new government of President Koroma quickly amended the laws against drug trafficking in the country, updating the existing legislation from those inherited at independence in 1961, to address the problem. It also increased punishment for offenders both in terms of higher, if not prohibitive, fines, lengthier prison terms and provision for possible extradition of offenders wanted elsewhere including extradition to the United States.
Sierra Leone and Its People
Bankole Kamara Taylor, Editor
Paperback: 178 pages
Publisher: Tropical Books