Vol 38 No 23 | SIERRA LEONE Cracking Koroma 21st November 1997 The Freetown junta starts playing for time and recruits more fighters The much-trumpeted Conakry peace accord of 23 October is already falling apart at the seams. Under the accord, Major Johnny Paul Koroma's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council undertook to...
Vol 38 No 21 | SIERRA LEONE Junta versus junta 24th October 1997 Major Johnny Paul Koroma's junta is increasingly personalising what it calls its 'dispute' with General Sani Abacha. In this way, it hopes to divide West African opinion over...
Vol 38 No 19 | LIBERIASIERRA LEONE Taylor's stitches 26th September 1997 Under President Charles Taylor, Liberia has quickly showed symptoms of instability. On 19 July, the day after voting, 'armed robbers' killed Christine Davis, a leading election worker for...
Vol 38 No 15 | SIERRA LEONE Putschists v. putschists 18th July 1997 Under growing military pressure, Koroma still hopes to stop Kabbah's restoration Almost two months after seizing power (AC Vol 38 No 12), Major Johnny Paul Koroma's regime is consolidating and digging in for a lengthy military confrontation with Nigerian-led...
Vol 38 No 12 | SIERRA LEONE Koroma's coup 6th June 1997 It was easy, inept and very bloody. The coup has shattered the hope raised by the brief return of peace and democracy Major Johnny Paul Koroma's 25 May coup d'état (the third change of regime by force in five years) was the most bloody and destructive in Sierra Leone's history....
Vol 38 No 12 | SIERRA LEONE The coup-makers 6th June 1997 Most members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council are little known, being drawn from young, ill-educated and poorly trained junior officers and other ranks. All have benefited from...
Vol 38 No 11 | SIERRA LEONE Mystery militias 23rd May 1997 Two conflicts persist in Sierra Leone, weakening the authority of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (elected in March 1996) and undermining the United Nations' appeal for funds for national...
Vol 38 No 5 | SIERRA LEONE Sankoh sticks out 28th February 1997 The rebels are blocking a new UN plan to get peace efforts moving again Back in the thick of things is Corporal Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front. Three months after signing a peace agreement in Abidjan with President Ahmad...
Vol 37 No 24 | SIERRA LEONE Sankoh signs up 29th November 1996 Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front has been badly damaged, with 'spontaneous demobilisations' in the east. So it was expected to sign the draft Peace Agreement in Abidjan on...
Vol 37 No 22 | SIERRA LEONE Rebel revival 1st November 1996 President Kabbah's shaky democracy lacks cash and the will to settle the war With no friends and no money, President Tejan Kabbah's government is in deep trouble after less than nine months in office. The rebels of Corporal Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary...