Sierra Leone: Election Campaign Violence - timeline
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Timeline
- June 2007. The Special Court for Sierra Leone, the war crimes court based in Freetown (the capital), finds three members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- April 2006. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor makes his first appearance before the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the UN-backed war crimes tribunal based in Freetown.
- November 2005. International donors from the Consultative Group pledge US$800 million in aid to Sierra Leone, as the UN prepares to withdraw the last of its peacekeeping troops from the country.
- September 2004. The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) relinquishes responsibility for the last of the country's four provinces to government forces.
- June 2004. The Special Court established in 2002 to judge war crimes committed during the 1991-2001 civil war begins its first trial.
- March 2004. The Special Court (the war crimes tribunal) in Sierra Leone rules that the court's president, UK human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, will stand down from any cases involving defendants whom he had criticised in a book published before his election as president.
- September 2003. The UN Security Council unanimously passes Resolution 1508 (2003), extending the peacekeeping mandate of UNAMSIL for a further six-month period.
- July 2002. UK troops complete their withdrawal from Sierra Leone after a 26-month mission to assist the country's army.
- May 2002. The peace process takes a major step forward with the holding of UN-sponsored presidential and legislative elections and the formation of a new cabinet; the presidential poll is won by incumbent President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
- January 2002. President Kabbah presides over a ceremony marking the end of the UN-brokered disarmament process and declares that “the war is over”.
- May 2001. After two days of talks, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group and the pro-government Civil Defence Forces (CDF, the Kamajor militia) sign an agreement to cease all hostilities.
- September 2000. UK troops launch a successful rescue mission to free six UK soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer held by the renegade West Side Boys (WSB) militia.
- August 2000. The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) declares that it is willing to recommit itself to the peace agreement and disarm its forces, but prospects for peace are dealt a serious blow when the WSB, a militia nominally allied to the Sierra Leone government, kidnap 11 UK soldiers.
- May 2000. The July 1999 peace agreement between the government and the main rebel movement, the RUF, collapses when the RUF abducts 500 peacekeepers belonging to the 8,500-strong UNAMSIL.
- November 1999. In accordance with the peace agreement reached in Togo in July, a new Cabinet of National Unity, including four positions for former rebels, is officially sworn in by President Kabbah.
- August 1999. Over 30 members of a UN team negotiating the release of hostages taken by rebel forces were themselves taken captive in hills close to Freetown.
- May 1999. President Kabbah and the leader of the rebel RUF, Foday Sankoh, sign a ceasefire agreement in Lomé (the capital of Togo).
- January 1999. Savage fighting intensifies on the outskirts of Freetown between rebels of the RUF and Nigerian-led forces of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), supporting the government of President Kabbah.
- March 1998. President Kabbah returns to power, having spent nine months in exile in Guinea following the coup which overthrew his democratically elected government in May 1997.
- February 1998. Nigerian troops from ECOMOG capture the centre of Freetown and oust the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) military regime of Maj. Johnny Paul Koroma.
- October 1997. The UN Security Council unanimously votes to adopt a UK-drafted resolution empowering ECOWAS to impose oil and arms sanctions against Sierra Leone.
- July 1997. President Koroma, who had seized power in a military coup in May, seeks to consolidate his authority when he names his cabinet; Sierra Leone is suspended from the Commonwealth until it returns to democracy.
- May 1997. A military coup forces President Kabbah to flee to neighbouring Guinea, precipitating chaos in Freetown.
- November 1996. President Kabbah and Foday Sankoh, leader of the rebel RUF, sign an agreement to end the fighting which had begun in 1991.
- March 1996. In a ceremony in Freetown, military leader Brig.-Gen. Julius Maada Bio hands authority over to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who won the presidency in the second round of presidential elections.
- February 1996. Multiparty presidential and legislative elections are held, amid violence, to end 19 years of one-party or military rule.
- January 1996. President Valentine E. M. Strasser is ousted by fellow officers in a bloodless coup and replaced as head of state by Brig.-Gen. Julius Maada Bio, the vice-chair of the Supreme Council of State (SCS).
- September 1995. The military government concedes that the rebel RUF has recaptured four villages in the Bo region, south-east of Freetown.
- May 1995. The military government of Capt. Strasser appeals to ECOWAS to broker negotiations between his government and RUF rebels.
- February 1995. The military government led by Capt. Strasser, which by the end of January was apparently unable to exercise its authority outside Freetown, is reported to have hired Gurkha mercenaries to help reassert its control against the RUF.
- November 1994. Under pressure from the country's main religious leaders, the military government of Capt. Strasser is reported to have called on the rebel RUF, led by Foday Sankoh, to negotiate an end to the armed uprising begun in 1991.
- January 1994. Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBC) radio gives prominent coverage to government claims of successes against the rebel RUF.
- May 1992. Capt. Strasser is named as chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), the body which had assumed control of Sierra Leone after a successful coup against President Joseph Momoh in April.
- September 1991. A system of multiparty politics is approved in a national referendum.
- June 1991. Sierra Leonean and Guinean units, bolstered by the arrival in the war zone of Nigerian combat troops, maintain their resistance to attacking forces of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).
- May 1991. Sierra Leone's 3,000-man army finds itself facing an intensifying struggle against forces of the Liberian rebel NPFL.
- November 1987. President Joseph Saidu Momoh declares a state of emergency and introduces a 59-point package of measures designed to deal with an economic crisis.
- October 1985. Maj.-Gen. Joseph Saidu Momoh, the sole candidate, is elected to succeed President Siaka Stevens.
- November 1983. Troops are deployed to the Pujehun area in southern Sierra Leone to quell what the authorities describe as “considerable unrest”.
- May 1982. The first general elections to be held since the introduction of one-party rule in 1978 take place amid violence and alleged irregularities.
- June 1978. Voters overwhelmingly approve the adoption of a one-party constitution, drafted by the ruling All-People's Congress (APC), led by President Siaka Stevens.
- May 1977. In general elections, the ruling APC is returned to power with a reduced absolute majority; elections for eight seats in the House of Representatives (the unicameral legislature) are postponed after the outbreak of violence on polling day.
- February 1977. A state of emergency is declared after protests in January against the economic policies of President Siaka Stevens, allegations of corruption, and demands for the holding of free and fair elections.
- March 1976. President Siaka Stevens is unanimously re-elected by the House of Representatives for a second five-year term in office.
- August 1975. Legislators unanimously approve a private member's motion calling for the introduction of a one-party republican constitution in Sierra Leone.
- May 1973. In general elections the ruling APC wins 84 seats in the 85-member House of Representatives.
- April 1971. Sierra Leone is declared a republic and Prime Minister Siaka Stevens becomes the country’s first President.
- September 1970. Two cabinet ministers resign in protest against proposals to introduce a republican constitution, which would likely result in Prime Minister Siaka Stevens securing a new five-year term in office as president; the government concludes an agreement to take control of Sierra Leone’s diamond mining operations.
- November 1968. Prime Minister Siaka Stevens declares a nationwide state of emergency after widespread violence breaks out.
- April 1968. A military coup returns Prime Minister Siaka Stevens to power.
- March 1967. The APC narrowly wins legislative elections but Siaka Stevens, the APC leader and newly appointed prime minister, is removed from power in a military coup; political parties are dissolved.
- April 1964. Prime Minister Milton Margai dies, aged 68, and is succeeded by his brother Albert Margai.
- May 1962. Prime Minister Milton Margai’s Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) wins more seats than any other party in general elections, the first to be held in Sierra Leone since independence.
- April 1961. Sierra Leone achieves independence from the UK.
- April 1960. At a conference held in London between officials from the UK and Sierra Leone, the UK authorities agree to grant independence to Sierra Leone in April 1961.
- March 1960. Political parties in Sierra Leone agree to form a united front designed to achieve independence from the UK.
- August 1958. Constitutional amendments, designed to grant Sierra Leone increased levels of self-government, come into effect and Chief Minister Sir Milton Margai becomes became the first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone.
- May 1957. The first legislative elections to be held under Sierra Leone’s 1956 constitution result in victory for the SLPP, led by Chief Minister Sir Milton Margai.
- October 1956. The UK authorities approve proposed constitutional amendments in Sierra Leone, including an increase in the number of members of the colony’s Legislative Council (the unicameral legislature).
- June 1955. The findings of an inquiry into riots in Freetown in February, during which 17 people were killed and 84 others were injured, are published.
- July 1954. Sir Milton Margai, the leader of the SLPP, the majority party in Sierra Leone’s Legislative Council, is appointed as the colony’s Chief Minister.
- April 1953. Under recent constitutional changes, Governor-General Robert de Zouche Hall appoints a number of Africans to ministerial positions for the first time in Sierra Leone’s history.
- February 1953. Amendments to Sierra Leone’s constitution, approved by the UK authorities, are published.
- July 1950. The UK authorities publish plans to introduce a new constitution for Sierra Leone.
- May 1945. The UK authorities announce the discovery in Sierra Leone of the largest diamond ever found anywhere in the world.
- November 1943. The UK authorities announce the discovery in Sierra Leone of the largest diamond ever found in the UK colonial empire.
- January 1930. The UK authorities discover and develop a rich diamond field in the Kono region of Sierra Leone.
