Sierra Leone Civil War

Sierra Leone Civil War
Part of spillover of the First and Second Liberian Civil Wars
Date 23 March 1991 – 18 January 2002 (10 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 5 days) Location Sierra Leone Result Commonwealth victory
Belligerents
Sierra Leone SLA (before and after the AFRC)[1] CDF (Kamajors, Tamaboros, Kapras, etc.)[2] Foreign mercenaries [ru]  United Kingdom (2000–2002)  Guinea ECOMOG forces (1998–2000) Executive Outcomes (1995–1996) Supported by:  United States  Belarus[3] UNAMSIL  Bangladesh[4][5][6][7]  India  Pakistan (2001–2005)[8]  Kenya  Russia (1999–2005)  Ukraine (1999–2005)  Nigeria  Norway[9]  New Zealand  Ghana  Jordan[10]  Germany	RUF AFRC (1997–2002) West Side Boys (1998–2000) Liberia (1997–2002) NPFL (1991–2002) Foreign mercenaries [ru] Supported by:  Libya  Burkina Faso
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Saidu Momoh Valentine Strasser Julius Maada Bio Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Samuel Hinga Norman Yahya Kanu Solomon Musa Moinina Fofana Allieu Kondewa Tony Blair David Richards Lansana Conté Maxwell Khobe[11] Vijay Jetley Daniel Opande	Foday Sankoh Sam Bockarie Issa Sesay Augustine Gbao Johnny Paul Koroma Foday Kallay Charles Taylor Benjamin Yeaten[12]
Strength
~4,000 government soldiers and militiamen (1999) ECOMOG: ~700 Nigerian soldiers 6,000 UNAMSIL soldiers, 260 military observers, 4 Russian Mil Mi-24s (1999)[13] ~4,500 deployed into theatre (1,300 ashore)[14]	~20,000 rebels (1999)
Casualties and losses
50,000[15] to 70,000[16] deaths 2.5 million displaced internally and externally[15]

The Sierra Leonean Civil War (1991–2002) 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 almost 11 years, and had over 50,000,^[15] up to 70,000, casualties in total; an estimated 2.5 million people were displaced during the conflict.^[16]

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, organized by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).^[17] By the end of 1993, the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) had succeeded in pushing the RUF rebels back to the Liberian border, but the RUF recovered and fighting continued. In March 1995, Executive Outcomes (EO), a South Africa-based private military company, was hired to repel the RUF. Sierra Leone installed an elected civilian government in March 1996, and the retreating RUF signed the Abidjan Peace Accord. Under UN pressure, the government terminated its contract with EO before the accord could be implemented, and hostilities recommenced.^[18][19]

In May 1997, a group of disgruntled SLA officers staged a coup and established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) as the new government of Sierra Leone.^[20] The RUF joined with the AFRC to capture the capital city, Freetown, with little resistance. The new government, led by Johnny Paul Koroma, declared the war over. A wave of looting, rape, and murder followed the announcement.^[1] Reflecting international dismay at the overturning of the civilian government, Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) forces intervened and retook Freetown on behalf of the government, but they found the outlying regions more difficult to pacify.

In January 1999, world leaders intervened diplomatically to promote negotiations between the RUF and the government.^[21] The Lome Peace Accord, signed on 27 March 1999, was the result. Lome gave Foday Sankoh, the commander of the RUF, the vice presidency and control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines in return for a cessation of the fighting and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force (United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL) to monitor the disarmament process. RUF compliance with the disarmament process was inconsistent and sluggish, and by May 2000, the rebels were advancing again upon Freetown.^[22]

As the UN mission began to fail, the United Kingdom declared its intention to intervene in the former colony and Commonwealth member in an attempt to support the severely weak government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. With help from a renewed UN mandate and Guinean air support, the British Operation Palliser finally defeated the RUF, retaking control of Freetown. On 18 January 2002, President Kabbah declared the Sierra Leone Civil War over.