II.
Background
Sierra Leone is a former British Colony which gained independence on 27th April
1961 under the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).
In March 1967 Sierra Leone experienced a constitutional crisis due to disputes
over the authenticity of election results. As a result, a series of coup d’etats and
counter-coups destabilized the government until March 1968, when the country
returned to civilian rule under the All People’s Congress (APC) led by Dr. Siaka
Stevens. On 19 April 1971, Sierra Leone adopted a Republican Constitution.
After a period of multiparty politics, in 1978 a one-party constitution was
established. The 1978 constitution was overturned when a new multi-party
constitution was adopted in 1991.
That same year saw the initial attacks by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF),
led by Foday Sankoh. President Joseph Saidu Momoh was overthrown on 29th
April 1992 by junior army officers called "the National Provisional Ruling
Council” (NPRC). The NPRC ruled Sierra Leone until April 1996 when
multiparty Parliamentary and Presidential elections were held. The SLPP, led by
Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, won the presidency.
This democratic period was short lived as the Armed Forces Revolutionary
Council (AFRC), led by Lt. Col. Johnny Paul Koroma, overthrew the newly
elected SLPP government in May 1997 with the latter giving the RUF an open
invitation to enter Freetown and join his government. President Ahmad Tejan
Kabbah went into exile in Conakry, Guinea. The AFRC-RUF coalition remained
in power for 10 months until dislodged by the Economic Community of West
African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) forces under Nigerian command.
The SLPP Government was reinstated in March 1998. On January 6, 1999 a
mixture of AFRC and RUF fighters again re-entered Freetown attempting to force
the Government out of power and civil strife and unrest ensued. The RUF looted
and destroyed much of eastern Freetown before withdrawing after three weeks.
Following an ECOWAS brokered peace accord in Lomé in 19991, an uneasy
peace returned to Sierra Leone.2
The war was officially declared over in 2002. That same year, the Government, as
a result of an agreement with the United Nations, set up a Special Court to
“prosecute persons who bore the greatest responsibility for the commission of
serious violations of international humanitarian law and crimes committed under
Sierra Leonean law”.3 Thus far, 13 people have been indicted out of whom 9 were
prosecuted. The Court went further to set a precedence by convicting a sitting
head of State, President Charles G. Taylor, with a 50 year sentence. The Special
1
The Lomé Peace Agreement was ratified by Parliament by Act No. 3 of 1999, Lomé Peace Agreement (Ratification) Act, found at
http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/1999-3.pdf
2
The 1999 Lomé Peace Agreement provided for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC was
set up in 2002 “to create an impartial historical record of violations and abuses of human rights in international humanitarian law
related to the armed conflict in Sierra Leone, from the beginning of the conflict in 1991 to the signing of the Lomé Peace Agreement;
to address impunity, to respond to the needs of victims, to promote healing and reconciliation and to prevent a repetition of the
violations and abuses suffered.”2 The TRC has completed its mandate, and published a report of its findings and recommendations in
2004. The report can be found at www.sierraleonetrc.org.
3
The Special Court Agreement Act, Act No. 9 of 2002, section 47 found at http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/2002-pdf
4