The Special Court for Sierra Leona

Abstract

The Republic of Sierra Leone is on the west coast of Africa, bordered on the north and east by Guinea, on the south-east by Liberia and on the south-west and west by the Atlantic Ocean. Sierra Leone suffered a brutal eleven year civil war from 1991 to 2002. In 1991, the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) led by Foday Sankoh took control of the diamond mines of Sierra Leone using mass rape, amputations and other terror methods to control the civilian population. The RUF was backed by Charles Taylor, then President of Liberia who, in exchange for diamonds, provided military support to the RUF. The RUF with Taylor's armed support rapidly gained control of the Eastern portion of Sierra Leone (Taylor headed the National Patriotic Front of Liberia [NPFL] which had instigated the civil war in Liberia). In April 1992, the government of Sierra Leone was overthrown and until 1996 was ruled by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). The leadership of the NPRC was then overthrown in January 1996 and presidential elections held in February with Ahmed Tejam Kabbah elected as the new President. 25 May, 1997 elements of the Sierra Leone Army overthrew the Kabbah government and established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). General Johnny Paul Koroma headed the new government which invited the RUF to form a government alliance with the AFRC. The United Nations, via various measures, re-installed the Kabbah government in 1998. It was not until 18 January, 2002, after the surrender of approximately 45,000 RUF rebels, Kamajor militias and armed gangs, that the United Nations peacekeeping force (led by commander General Daniel Opande) and Sierra Leone President Kabbah formally declared that the civil war in Sierra Leone had ended.