The morning of Sunday, 25 May came as a rude awakening for Sierra Leoneans when, in the early hours, a band of soldiers seized power and claimed to have brought the civilian administration of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to an abrupt end. Sierra Leone is once again in the grip of another coup d’etat, the third in five years. The coup, which is yet to materialise, will, if it succeeds, also cruelly bring to end the recent return to power of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) after nearly thirty years in the wilderness.

The coup makers were engaged in a gruelling battle with Nigerian troops guarding the State House but finally managed to gain control of this key national symbol by mid afternoon. Both sides used anything from machine guns to mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

A spokesman Corporal Gborie announced on radio, which had been seized by the rebellious soldiers, that President Kabbah had

fled to neighbouring Guinea. He warned the Nigerians not to interfere because it was "an internal matter". The soldiers also demanded the release of RUF leader Foday Sankoh to join them to end the war, and also called on both Captain Solomon Musa, the former Deputy NPRC Chairman and General Maada Bio, the last military Head of State, to return home and join their government. Orders went for all senior government officials including ministers to hand themselves in at military headquarters. A dusk to dawn curfew was imposed on the city. Gborie also announced that the kamajohs - the local hunters’ brigade - had been disbanded. "No more Kamajohs, no more civil defence groups. We are the national army. We have to fight for this country" he said.

Sierra Leone’s new military rulers have called their government The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). It is headed by Major Johnny Paul Koroma as Chairman and Head of State.

Breakdown of law and order …..

The coup unleashed a wave of lawlessness and devastation, unprecedented in the memory of most citizens of the Capital. Public buildings and private property were set ablaze and came tumbling down into rubble.

The country’s Central Bank building was completely destroyed as was the Treasury and The Secretariat. All were allegedly torched in an orgy of destruction. Affluent parts of the city were combed by looters and raiders. Systematically private homes and their occupants were invaded and cleaned out bare. This level of violence was maintained for nearly three and half days.

Throughout the following day the clattering of small arms fire and the thundering of heavy machine guns kept the inhabitants of Freetown locked away in their homes.

Earlier, the soldiers entered the high security Pademba Road Prison and, according to one report, as its inmates filed past, they handed them rifles and asked them to join their own ranks.

The prison precincts had been invaded in order to free alleged attempted military coup plotters who were already facing trial in court..

But another report, said to be that of an eye witness, quoted her as saying "They had some lorries standing by to which some prisoners were ushered into and they sped away. Other prisoners took advantage of the commotion to escape."
 

Reactions at home …..

The coup was universally condemned as unwelcome, unnecessary and unjustified by all civilian, religious, professional and trade union organisations. Despite several appeals by the new governors, the civilian population has remained indoors while a climate of civil disobedience and defiance appears to be gaining ground in an atmosphere of total breakdown of law and order.
 

And abroad …..

The putsch was greeted with world wide condemnation, ranging from International bodies including the UN, OAU, the Commonwealth and ECOWAS to key Western Governments, such as UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and other western countries who have been the country’s most generous benefactors in helping to alleviate the punishing effects of the civil war. Said Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku: "The days are now past when new military regimes would have any place in the councils of the Commonwealth."

Sierra Leone’s emissaries abroad including its Ambassador to the UN, Mr James Jonah, and to the US Mr John Leigh, both strongly urged ECOMOG and Nigerian troops to intervene to restore the civilian administration. The global reaction has been one of unanimous hostility and revulsion. But while the South African Foreign Ministry condemned the coup, President Nelson Mandela was not so explicit: "Before we make any firm statement, it is necessary to get a report and not just to act on the basis of what we have seen in the media" he said.
 

Then Kabbah emerges …..

Perhaps the most poignant event throughout the whole episode was the re-emergence of President Kabbah from his refuge in Conakry (Republic of Guinea) to assure his compatriots that he was alive and well. He said he was safe, thanks to his friends and he especially thanked his brother Presidents in the region whom he said were committed to ensure that he returned very soon to be with his people. He appealed to Sierra Leoneans to remain calm and be patient. "I am coming back" he said in a broadcast interview on BBC, "I have not been sitting idly. I have been working so we can remove those hooligans".
 

Pressure mounts …..

Nigerian ships carrying Nigerian and ECOMOG troops were believed to be on their way to the port of Freetown. Nigerian airforce planes were also reported to be landing and taking off. Ghanaian troops were also rumoured to be on their way to Sierra Leone. There are already over one thousand Guinean troops stationed in the country and an even larger number of Nigerians. It is significant however that despite this pressure, including the arrival of three Nigerian gunboats and the landing of an assortment of combat troops from ECOMOG, the coupists have dug in and appeared determined to hold on to their newly acquired reins of power. A US frigate was also on its way to the area.
 

RUF endorses the uprising …..

Foday Sankoh has thrown the spanner into the works from his "house arrest" in Nigeria by urging his troops to join their "brothers of the Sierra Leone military". Following his call there were reports of RUF and other regular soldiers rushing to Freetown , Bo and Kenema to reinforce the ranks of the mutineers. Sankoh said there was no longer a war between them.
 

The new masters ….. who are they?

As we go to press, we hear that a 29-member ruling council has been formed including the new Chairman and self-declared Head of State Major Johnny Paul Koroma. He led a squadron to Sierra Rutile in the December 1994/95 RUF blitzkrieg but pulled back under heavy rebel pressure. Other names that have so far emerged include Captain Edward Kanneh who worked in military intelligence (MIB) but was retrenched by the NPRC, and Captain Paul Thomas who, as the number 2 to Lt Col Tom Nyuma in Kenema, was responsible for logistics.
 

The losers …..

Up to the time of doing this brief reportage, there is no certainty about the coup. But should it become a reality, then the prime losers will undoubtedly be the electorate of Sierra Leone which defied the soldiers when they tried to hold back on returning power to the people. But equally cheated will be SLPP - the party that won both the presidential and Parliamentary race in February and March 1996.

The Party had been in he wilderness where it was systematically relegated during 30 years by the dictatorial policies of the APC under Stevens. Most of its elite were either disgraced, persecuted or hounded out of the country. During twenty of those years, especially after the proclamation of Sierra Leone as a one-party State in 1971, the party only functioned in name thriving purely on the innate loyalty of its supporters who could never accept that the palm tree - the Party’s symbol - could be scorched by the rays of the red sun - symbol of the APC (The point is made that even when the ubiquitous palm tree is set alight during the burning of farming land, it springs back to life after the very first rains.)
 

The casualties …..

In all, according to reports, there have been over 100 deaths and, so far, about 80 or so wounded.

In addition there has been large scale looting and destruction, caused during and since the operation. Virtually all commercial stores and the shelves of every shop in west and central Freetown were pillaged and their contents were carted away by looters, actively encouraged by the "new liberators".

A news report described the situation thus: "The looting has not stopped and there are abandoned wrecked cars lining streets everywhere. They have stolen engines and tyres from some and needlessly wrecked the others by running them into buildings and into drainage ditches. After wrecking one car they simply steal another. They are still going to every house belonging to government ministers and directors and literally destroying them. The Lebanese houses also have been looted and ransacked."

Reports also say that there has been no electricity in the city since Sunday and that there is a kerosene shortage.

Stores belonging to the WHO, AICF, CRS, MSF, Handicap International and the World Food Programme and other UN agencies were all looted bare, as was the Ghanaian Mission.
 

In the Provinces…..

The same scale of looting and pillage was carried out in Bo and according to some reports in Kenema. However, in both Bo and Kenema there were demonstrations in the streets against the coup. The townspeople of Bo, with the support of the kamajohs, defiantly organised a huge demonstration numbering between 5 and 8 thousand and marched in the streets.

There have been violent confrontations already reported between soldiers and kamajohs in the town. One person was reported killed. In Kenema soldiers have been deployed around most of the town. Meanwhile kamajohs were reported to be massing in the South by the Liberian border in preparation to move towards Bo for a showdown with soldiers.

They have also threatened to march to Freetown unless the Nigerian troops restore the civilian government of Kabbah. "We are awaiting word from President Kabbah and we will be in Freetown to help restore order and democracy" they said. They have rejected the AFRC order to disband.

******As we go to press there are fresh reports of more fighting in Bo between soldiers and Kamajohs******
 

You Must Respect Human Rights……

Amnesty International has told the new military authority that they must respect the fundamental human rights of all Sierra Leonean citizens. "No reasons have been given for the arrests of former politicians and it appears that they are held only because of their membership of the government of President Tejan Kabbah….The safety of all those detained by Sierra Leone’s new military rulers must be guaranteed."

Sierra Leone has been plagued by coups for most of its 30 years as an independent nation. The first took place in 1967 after an inconclusive Election that led to the then army chief Brigadier David Lansana declaring martial law and taking control of the country.

Within days he was overthrown by a group of NCOs who were in turn pushed out by another coup. The latter invited, under the leadership of Brigadier John Bangura invited Siaka Stevens into office as the "real winner" of the previous elections. During his reign, Stevens "unearthed" about three attempted coups and he hanged or executed the "plotters" on each occasion, including Bangura who installed him in 1968. His successor Joseph Momoh also had his spate of attempted coups - the most notable of which involved his Vice President, former Foreign Minister, Attorney General and Minister of Finance Mr Francis Minah. He was found guilty and hanged.

Momoh himself was later overthrown by veterans of the civil war led by Captain Valentine Strasser in 1992 but in a palace coup Strasser was overthrown by his right-hand man General Maada Bio. Bio could not stand the pressure of the populace and succumbed to a people’s ‘coup’ which however preferred the ballot box to the gun. This will be Sierra Leone’s fifth Head of Sate in as many years. The inevitable question is, when will it end?
 
 

Focus On Sierra Leone unreservedly condemns the overthrow of the elected government of Sierra Leone. We believe that it is only the verdict of the electorate that can legitimately remove the right of the elected government to govern. That verdict was given, at tremendous risk to themselves, by Sierra Leoneans at the General Elections of February and March 1996. Dr John Karefa-Smart, leader of the largest Opposition group in Parliament, said, when interviewed about the coup as shots went flying around his neighbourhood, that he had been quite happy to oppose the policies of President Tejan Kabbah’s government and he did not believe that just because he did not agree with its policies it had, therefore, to be overthrown. We cannot agree more.

We therefore very strongly urge the coup makers to think again, and take immediate steps to return Sierra Leone to legal, constitutional rule, which must mean the re-instatement of the legally elected government of Sierra Leone. Focus has occasionally disagreed with, and criticised some, or the lack of, policies and drive under President Kabbah’s government. But that is a very long shot from recommending its overthrow as a solution. The soldiers should now quickly lay down their arms, return to barracks and present their grievances which we sincerely hope, in the present circumstances, will be looked at more sympathetically than has hitherto been the case.

One thing is certain: neither the "overthrown" government nor the soldiers who have sought to overthrow it have been paying heed to the advice that this newsletter has frequently laid before them since its inception. But one hopes that lessons will have been learnt on both sides. It is never too late!

©