The Sierra Leone Company administered Sierra Leone from 1787 – 1807. In 1807 Sierra Leone was declared a British colony.
British abolitionists and anti-slavery activists settled Freetown as a sanctuary for freed slaves. They brought with them a blend of North American and Caribbean traditions, established a flourishing Creole culture that emulated European life and dominated the native population. In the nineteenth century, Freetown became the administrative headquarters for British West Africa, comprising the Gold Coast (now Ghana, Nigeria and the Gambia. British rule was not always peaceful. Sierra Leoneans waged a series of revolts against the British, and by 1951 they had succeeded in securing a decolonization and exit plan for the British.
In 1953, Sir Milton Margai, a Mende medical doctor from southern Sierra Leone, was appointed Chief Minister, marking the beginning of the independence process. Sir Milton’s Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) led the country to full independence from Great Britain in 1961.
Sir Milton Margai died in 1964 and his younger brother, Sir Albert Margai, succeeded him as Prime Minister. When Sir Albert attempted to establish a one-party political system he met fierce resistance from the opposition All Peoples Congress Party (APC) led by trade union leader Siaka Stevens.
Stevens won the 1967 election, but was prevented from taking office by a military coup. The following year a counter coup led by commissioned officers overthrew the government. They set up the National Redemption Council (NRC) led by Colonel Juxon Smith. In April 1968 noncommissioned officers overthrew the NRC government. They returned Siaka Stevens to power.
Stevens ruled from 1968 to 1985. His regime was notorious for corruption, state sponsored violence and greed. He declared Sierra Leone to be a one party state in 1978. By the time Stevens retired, the country was bankrupt and government agencies had been stripped of everything from vehicles to office furniture.
Stevens’ handpicked successor was Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh. He was unable to reverse the country’s decline. Momoh’s government failed to pay civil servants, police and schoolteachers. Fuel oil and gasoline could not be imported in sufficient quantities, the cost of transportation skyrocketed, and Freetown suffered frequent blackouts.
In 1990, as part of Sierra Leone’s commitment to the Economic Community of West African States, Momoh allowed the ECOWAS Military Observer Group (ECOMOG) dominated by Nigeria to set up bases in Sierra Leone to intervene in neighboring Liberia’s civil war. This action infuriated Charles Taylor, leader of the largest armed faction in Liberia and eventual Liberian president (now exiled in Nigeria). Taylor punished Momoh by funding and training a group of disgruntled Sierra Leoneans called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). RUF rebels soon crossed the border, looting villages in Sierra Leone and murdering, raping, and torturing civilians.
Sierra Leone’s rebel war began in March 1991 when Foday Sankoh, the RUF leader, launched his attack against the Momoh government from Liberia. Over time Sankoh’s rebels abducted thousands of boys and girls forcibly drafting them into rebel ranks and then forcing them to kill their parents. The boys became rebel fighters and porters. The girls became sex slaves and wives to rebel commanders and fighters.
In 1996 the Strasser junta held elections and dissolved itself. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a civilian and former Sierra Leone Ambassador to the United Nations, was elected president using the slogan “Give A Hand.”
International diplomats, especially the British, hoped Kabbah could lead Sierra Leone back to peace and democracy, but after many years of official corruption the Kabbah Government faced a seemingly impossible task.
With 40% of the population living in refugee camps and dependent on international aid, Kabbah announced his plan to rebuild Sierra Leone. His success depended on foreign and regional diplomatic initiatives. The Organization of African Unity, ECOWAS, Great Britain, the United States and the UN attempted to negotiate a peace agreement with Sankoh, but the RUF leader wanted peace only if he could be president. To protest Kabbah’s election, Sankoh’s rebels began a systematic program of amputating the arms and legs of men, women and children, including babies still in their beds. The rebels bagged the severed limbs and delivered them to Kabbah telling the victims to ask Kabbah for a new arm or leg.
In May 1997, disgruntled soldiers led by Lt. Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma, toppled President Kabbah. Koroma invited Sankoh to join his government. The Kabbah government fled into exile in Guinea.
Rebels and renegade soldiers under Koroma’s command controlled the capital city for nine brutal months threatening to destroy entire neighborhoods if the ECOMOG forces then besieging Freetown on Kabbah’s behalf attempted to enter the city. ECOMOG finally liberated Freetown and returned Kabbah to power in February 1998, but Koroma’s followers and the RUF attacked Freetown again on January 6, 1999. Their attack was driven back.
January 6th is a day of infamy for Sierra Leoneans. More than 5,000 people died. Many of the works in this exhibition portray the terror and slaughter of that infamous day.
In July 1999, a sub-regional initiative led by Nigeria with the participation of President Clinton and Jesse Jackson, spearheaded a peace deal with Foday Sankoh. This time, Sankoh was made Vice-President and given official control of Sierra Leone’s diamond industry. Other RUF rebel leaders received high government positions and amnesty for their crimes. In return, they agreed to disarm.
But the RUF did not disarm. In May 2000, rebels captured 500 UN peacekeepers sent to monitor the peace agreement and seized their weapons and vehicles. This prompted Great Britain to intervene and the United Nations to land a 13,000-man force. Sankoh was captured and imprisoned.
On May 14, 2002, Sierra Leone held a peaceful democratic election monitored by the United Nations, There is now an international court in Sierra Leone established to indict and try the perpetrators of human rights violations and a peace and reconciliation commission to expose crimes committed against humanity.
Foday Sankoh was indicted but died in prison before he could be brought to trial. Johnny Paul Koroma was elected to the Sierra Leone Parliament and in February 2003 attempted again to overthrow the Kabbah government. He failed but escaped capture and fled to Liberia receiving the protection of Charles Taylor. Koroma was indicted in absentia by the international court and is believed by some to be still living in Liberia. Others believe he is dead.
UN peacekeepers and British forces still remain in Sierra Leone today, but in smaller numbers. They are being replaced with a new professional Sierra Leone Army – an army aware of its constitutional responsibility and totally answerable to the Sierra Leone people.
With vast deposits of diamonds, gold, iron, rutile, and bauxite, and with its tropical hardwoods, fertile lands, and coastal waters teeming with marine resources, Sierra Leone should be a wealthy and developing nation. But its wealth has been its curse, providing a fertile ground for criminals, arms merchants, mercenaries and drug dealers.
The world now watches Sierra Leone to see if good governance and a respect for democracy and law can be established and maintained. To this end and to the people – especially the children – of Sierra Leone this art exhibit is dedicated.