A very different atmosphere this time
Unlike the many secret, divisive and discriminatory meetings he held and addressed in September 1997 during his visit as the special guest of the Commonwealth Conference of that year after his overthrow by the AFRC, this one was as open as open can be. It was also sober, purposive and focused and, in many ways, reflective in the wake of the Lomé Agreement. 
  Also in 1997, ordinary, decent and sensible Sierra Leoneans who spoke about the need for dialogue and peaceful resolution of the conflict with the AFRC and the RUF were excluded and branded as rebels and rebel sympathisers. Then, the organisers - those faceless self-proclaimed supporters of democracy in Sierra Leone - were selective, inviting only their own kind of people. It polarised the state of divide among the London community.
  A so-called conference to work out a 90-day programme to be implemented following Kabbah's restoration was held, organised by sycophants and attended by their clones. That conference turned out to be a complete waste of money and a junket for the collection of per diem allowances by destitute fugitives from the AFRC coup. The organisers, too, who I gathered later became Kabbah's spies and informers on the peace and dialogue protagonists here in London, lined their pockets and were rewarded with high profile jobs by Kabbah on his restoration. They still hold those offices and some of them were present in the hall last Tuesday. As we say in Creole, Nar people dehm way nor get one shame!

Everyone is now a "rebel"
That Tuesday's meeting provided a surreal opportunity for us - I mean those of us who were and (I guess) are still being called "rebels" - to come and celebrate with our "rebel" President and his own "rebel" government and "rebel" Attorney General, their amazing but long overdue about-turn in opting for dialogue and peaceful negotiation.
  I sat at the back of the hall musing to myself as I listened to the surprisingly common sense utterances that fell from the lips of the President and his Attorney General. I just could not believe my ears. In my depths of sheer disbelief, I heard me muttering to myself enquiringly, "But why did they wait till 24 purposeless executions, the January devastation of our capital city and its toll of 6500 dead citizens before realising the folly of their previous policies?" 
  President Kabbah and Mr Berewa all but told us loudly and clearly, and I certainly applauded them all the way, that we the peace mongers were right all the time and they had been wrong to place their faith and trust in the use of violence to resolve the crisis. On the evidence so far, their change of policy does not seem to have damaged them that much. That's because by their definition and logic we - I mean every Sierra Leonean and non-Sierra Leonean - who have advocated dialogue and negotiation with the RUF/AFRC are all rebels.

Monumental lapses
Sadly, the seriousness of this occasion was not matched by the choice of venue or the procedural circumstances in which the meeting was held. For example I noticed three serious and disgraceful lapses at this meeting:

• There was no rendition of the National Anthem by the massed crowds in the hall. No one - not even the chairman - thought of inviting everyone to stand and sing the national anthem. This omission was even more poignant considering we had as our main guest and speaker, the Head of State of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

• Considering the purpose of the gathering, namely the possibility of our destructive war coming to an end, the crowd was not asked, as a mark of respect, to rise and observe a moment's silence to the memory of the dead of this war.

• The final lapse was the absence of any offering of prayers at the start of the meeting.

Drama and the insensitivity of officialdom
There were also three incidents at this meeting that stand clearly in my mind:

• Mr Alhaji Conteh, brother of the late Dr Haj Conteh, one of the undefeated champions of the real SLPP in the days of President Siaka Stevens' persecution of the party, forgot to switch off his mobile telephone. Midway through Kabbah's address the piercing tone of an incoming call rudely interrupted the attentive air inside the hall and there was an almighty yell "Brer turn dat bl....y ting off". Conteh responded defiantly "Oonah f.... off before me!" And it could have ended there but others in the crowd continued to throw insults at him. He, too, responded in kind. There was a breakdown in the proceedings as some people in the crowd tried to calm him down.

• Mr James Jonah entered the fray in a new assumed role of peacemaker. He left the presidential platform and strolled confidently towards where Conteh was seated in a vain attempt to soothe his anger. He was instantly dismissed by Conteh who shouted back at him "Commot befoh me! Nar you don bring all this wahalla nar de country". And with that a humbled Jonah beat a hasty retreat back to his place on the stage.

• Enter Mr James Allie, Secretary to the President. His intervention was, to say the least, typical of the behaviour of Sierra Leonean officialdom. Unlike Jonah who at least had the decency to try and placate the offended Conteh, this guy's instinct was to rush out and fetch a British policeman to eject Conteh from the hall. The officiousness, arrogance and crass stupidity of the man was there for all to see! These guys carry with them such delusions of grandeur and self-importance to the point where they become liabilities to their employers - in this case the President. Allie is one of these guys who have ridden solely on the backs of others to attain the positions they are in. It did not occur to him for example that we were in that very hall to talk about peace and reconciliation between our people. Instead his answer to what was really only a minor scuffle was to replicate their advice to Kabbah to "send in the Nigerians to bomb the bastards [AFRC] out". I tried to catch his attention in the hope of telling him where to get off but he was not within easy reach of me. I know that his action offended most of those who were seated on that side of the hall. People like Allie must be made to realise that there are civilised ways in which we can regulate our differences. Bullying people to fall into line is not one of them! It is cowardly and only breeds contempt for so-called authority.

Interesting asides all around me
The speeches completed, question time was a damp squib. I suppose we could have stayed there till daybreak as there were many who wanted to ask questions. But it was not to be as the meeting ended abruptly.
  From where I sat I heard numerous asides, such as "traitor" from a group of three very anti-Kabbah members in the audience when Kabbah said "Bad bush nor day for troway bad pikin". A lady whispered "Better late than never" when Berewa spoke about their decision to compromise. But others, like the young man who sat three chairs away from me, loudly interjected "So why did you kill the poor soldiers?" Said another "You will regret bringing these rebels into government." Or the man standing alongside the wall "You have given Sankoh and RUF a licence to take government by stealth".
But the one comment that made me laugh was that from the man sitting directly in my line of sight, who occasionally blocked my view of the President as he spoke. "De man nor bad" he said "nar dehm bad people dehm way dey wit am done pwell de country." (Translated: 'The man himself is not that bad. It's those evil people around him that have ruined the country'.)

It was a fitting comment to an eventful evening indeed.