10/07/2021
In 1991, the Sierra Leone Civil War began.
On 23 March 1991, the Sierra Leone Civil War, an armed conflict that lasted for 11 years (1991–2002), began when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from Liberian rebel leader, Charles Taylor, and the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NFPL), attempted to overthrow former Sierra Leonean president Joseph Momah.
In January 1999, world leaders intervened to promote negotiations between the RUF and Sierra Leone's government. The Lome Peace Accord, which was signed on 7 July 1999, gave Foday Sankoh, the leader of the RUF, the vice presidency and control of Sierra Leone’s diamond mines in return for a ceasefire.
However, RUF compliance with the disarmament process was inconsistent, and by May 2000, the rebels were advancing on Freetown. With help from international forces, the Sierra Leone Army finally defeated the RUF. On 18 January 2002, the newly installed president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared that the Sierra Leone Civil War had finally ended.
The Sierra Leone Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars in Africa. It resulted in more than 50,000 people dead and 500,000 displaced in a nation of 4 million people. The conflict was particularly violent and long because both the RUF and the Sierra Leone government were often funded by ‘blood diamonds’ mined with slave labour.
DidYouKnow that Nigeria was involved in the Sierra Leone Civil War? In March 1993, the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) sent mostly Nigerian troops to assist Sierra Leone's Army in recapturing diamond districts controlled by the RUF.
📝: Ibukun Olokode and Ugonna Eronini.