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Sierra Leonean Civil War
The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002), or the Sierra Leonean Civil War, was a civil war in Sierra Leone that began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, enveloped the country, and left over 50,000 dead.Gberie, p. 6 During the first year of the war, the RUF took control of large swathes of territory in eastern and southern Sierra Leone, which were rich in alluvial diamonds. The government's ineffective response to the RUF, and the disruption in government diamond production, precipitated a military ''coup d'état'' in April 1992 by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).Gberie, p. 103 By the end of 1993, the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) had succeeded in pushing the RUF rebels back to the Liberian border, but th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with diverse environments ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are subdivided into Districts of Sierra Leone, 16 districts. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected executive president, president serving a five-year term with a maximum of two terms. The current president is Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is a Secular state, secular nation with Constitution of Sierra Leone, the constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience (which includes freedom of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julius Maada Bio
Julius Maada Wonie Bio (born 12 May 1964) is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier general in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leone from 16 January 1996, to 29 March 1996, in a military junta government known as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). As the candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), Bio defeated Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) in the runoff vote of the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election with 51.8% of the votes to Kamara's 48.2%. International and local observers declared the election free and fair. Bio succeeded Ernest Bai Koroma as president. As the main opposition leader, Bio was a critic of his predecessor president Ernest Bai Koroma and his administration. As president, Bio has overturned most of the policies of Ernest Bai Koroma, whom he accuses of corruption and mismanagement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Bockarie
Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known as Mosquito (2 October 1964 – 5 May 2003), was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civil War for his brutal tactics, which included amputation, mutilation, and rape. He earned the nickname "Mosquito" for his ability to attack when his enemies were off-guard, mainly during the night. During his service in the RUF, he befriended future Liberian president Charles Taylor, and RUF commander Foday Sankoh. When Sankoh was imprisoned from March 1997 until April 1999, Bockarie served as commander of the RUF in his place. Youth Sam Bockarie was born on 2 October 1964 in Koidu Town, Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Bockarie was the son of a diamond miner and he was raised in his hometown of Koidu Town. Following in his father's footsteps, Bockarie dropped out of secondary school to become a diamond miner. In 198 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foday Sankoh
Foday Saybana Sankoh (17 October 1937 – 29 July 2003) was the founder of the Sierra Leone rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which was supported by Charles Taylor-led NPFL in the 11-year-long Sierra Leone Civil War, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. An estimated 50,000 people were killed during the war, and over 500,000 people were displaced in neighboring countries. Early life and career Foday Sankoh was born on 17 October 1937, in the remote village of Masang Mayoso, Tonkolili District in the Northern part of Sierra Leone to an ethnic Temne father and a Loko mother. Sankoh was the son of a farmer. Sankoh attended primary and secondary school in Magburaka, Tonkolili District and took on a number of jobs in Magburaka before he joined the Sierra Leone army in 1956. He undertook training in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In 1971, then a corporal in the Sierra Leone army, he was cashiered from the army's signal corps and imprisoned for seven years at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Opande
Daniel Ishmael Opande (born 18 August 1943) is a retired Kenyan military officer, who rose to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Kenyan Army. Education He is a graduate of the British Army's Mons Officer Cadet School, which he joined in 1963. Opande was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on graduating from Mons in May 1964. Opande is also a graduate of the British Army's Staff College, Camberley and the U.S. National Defense University at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington DC. Career In 1979 he became the first commanding officer of 9 Kenya Rifles, a newly formed infantry battalion. Opande later served as Deputy Force Commander with the United Nations Transitional Assistance Group in Namibia (UNTAG) from 1989 to 1990. Before serving as UNTAG DFC, he had been the Kenyan Army's director of operations. He represented the Kenyan government in the negotiation of the Mozambique peace process from 1990 to 1993. He then was sent to Liberia as the Chief Military Observer of the United Nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxwell Khobe
Maxwell Mitikishe Khobe (1 January 1950 – 18 April 2000) was the Nigerian Commander of The ECOMOG Peacekeeping Force in Sierra Leone and Chief of the Defence Staff of Sierra Leone. Background & education Khobe was born in Zekun, Adamawa State and attended the Native Authority Junior Primary School, Dong from 1958 to 1961 and Native Authority Senior Primary School, Numan, from 1962 to 1963. He later attended the Church of the Brethren Mission, Waka Secondary School, Biu, in Borno State from 1964 to 1968. In September 1969, he enlisted as a soldier and subsequently enrolled in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Short Service Combatant Course 11 from 29 March 1971 until 13 September 1971 when he was commissioned an Infantry 2nd Lieutenant with seniority effective from 29 March 1971. Career After playing a commendable role during the so called Dimka coup attempt of 1976, Khobe was encouraged to apply for transfer to the Armoured Corps as a Captain (which he became in 1977), having ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lansana Conté
Lansana Conté (30 November 1934 – 22 December 2008"Guinea's long-time military leader Conte dies" AFP, 23 December 2008.) was a politician and military official who served as the second , from 3 April 1984 until his death on 22 December 2008. Conté came to power in the 1984 Guinean coup d'état. Early life Born in Moussayah Loumbaya ( |
David Richards (British Army Officer)
General David Julian Richards, Baron Richards of Herstmonceux, (born 4 March 1952) is a retired senior British Army officer who was formerly the Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the British Armed Forces. He succeeded Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup in this role on 29 October 2010. Richards served in the Far East, Germany and Northern Ireland with the Royal Artillery before commanding forces in East Timor and most notably Sierra Leone, where his action without official sanctioning protected Freetown from rebel attacks during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Richards has also served with NATO as a major general, and as a lieutenant general he commanded the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2007 during its expansion across the whole country. Richards became Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces of the British Army in 2008 and held this role until 2009 when he was appointed Chief of the General Staff, the head of the British Army. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, and had served in various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. He is the second longest serving prime minister in modern history after Margaret Thatcher, and is the longest serving Labour politician to have held the office. Blair attended the independent school Fettes College, and studied law at St John's College, Oxford, where he became a barrister. He became involved in Labour politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham. As a backbencher, Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabinet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allieu Kondewa
Allieu Kondewa is a former traditional doctor in the Kamajors tribe and military commander of the Civil Defence Forces in Sierra Leone. He was born in the Bo District and lived served until his arrest and subsequent trial by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Trial and conviction Kondewa's trial began on 3 June 2004 and was tried alongside his fellow ranking members of the CDF, Moinina Fofana and Samuel Hinga Norman. On 2 August 2007 Kondewa and Fofana were convicted of the war crimes of murder, violence to life and mental suffering, pillage, and collective punishments. Kondewa was further found guilty of the war crime of the use of child soldiers. Kondewa was acquitted of related charges of crimes against humanity and the war crime of terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moinina Fofana
Moinina Fofana (born 1950 in Bullom, Bonthe District, British Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean former military commander who was the leading general in the Kamajors militia and director of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) during the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was considered to be one of the leaders of the CDF, like Samuel Hinga Norman and Allieu Kondewa. Trial and conviction Fofana was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. His trial began on 3 June 2004 and was tried alongside his fellow ranking members of the CDF, Kondewa and Norman. According to his indictment, Fofana was the second in command with the CDF to Norman and principally in charge of logistic of the war as the Director of War. On 2 August 2007 Kondewa and Fofana were convicted of the war crimes of murder, violence to life and mental suffering, pillage, and collective punishments. Fofana was acquitted of related charges of crimes against humanity and the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Musa
Solomon Anthony James Musa, also known as SAJ Musa, (born 1966 in Freetown, Sierra Leone – died January 1999) was an important military and political figure in the Sierra Leone Civil War. Overview In late April 1992, the Sierra Leone Army was in disarray. They had not been paid their monthly wages for three months, they were hungry, and morale was very low. Along with around 100 others, Lt. Solomon Musa and Valentine Strasser went to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone to protest against president Joseph Momoh. The situation escalated to a coup, and in the confusion Strasser emerged as chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council, and leader of Sierra Leone. During the four-year reign of the young Strasser, Musa played the role of Strasser's deputy, advisor and henchman. In December 1992, Musa was responsible for the execution of a group of Momoh's supporters, including Bambay Kamara, Yahya Kanu, and Colonel K. M. S. Dumbaya, who were accused of organizing a cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
