About Us

Home Page

YSLI Brochure

Sierra Leone History

Members login:

Sierra Leone History

Timeline Brief History Pre - 1990s 1990 to 1999

SL Statistics Stakeholders Relevant Links Current Situation

Please click on one of the links above to view information on the history of Sierra Leone. Also a timeline and chronology of key events is available below. Photos and information is from www.cryfreetown.org. All reserved to them, 2005.

Timeline: Sierra Leone
A chronology of key events

1787 - British abolitionists and philanthropists establish a settlement in Freetown for repatriated and rescued slaves.

1808 - Freetown settlement becomes crown colony. 1896 - Britain sets up a protectorate over the Freetown hinterland. 1954 - Sir Milton Margai, leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party, appointed chief minister. One-party rule 1961 - Sierra Leone becomes independent. 1967 - Military coup deposes Premier Siaka Stevens' government.

FREETOWN: Port city and commercial hub which was settled by freed and rescued slaves in 18th century and became capital in 1961.

1968 - Siaka Stevens returns to power at the head of a civilian government following another military coup.

1971 - Sierra Leone declared a republic, Stevens becomes executive president.

1978 - New constitution proclaims Sierra Leone a one-party state with the All People's Congress as the sole legal party.

1985 - Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh becomes president following Stevens's retirement.

1987 - Momoh declares state of economic emergency.

War and coups

1991 - Start of civil war. Former army corporal Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF) begin campaign against President Momoh, capturing towns on border with Liberia.

1991 September - New constitution providing for a multiparty system adopted. 1992 - President Joseph Momoh ousted in military coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by failure to deal with rebels. Under international pressure, Strasser announces plans for the first multiparty elections since 1967.

RUF rebels waged a campaign of amputation and rape

1996 January - Strasser ousted in military coup led by his defence minister, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio.

1996 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah elected president in February, signs peace accord with Sankoh's rebels in November.

1997 Peace deal unravels. President Kabbah deposed in May by coalition of army officers led by Major-General Paul Koroma and members of the RUF; Koroma suspends the constitution, bans demonstrations and abolishes political parties; Kabbah flees to Guinea to mobilise international support.

1997 July - The Commonwealth suspends Sierra Leone.

1997 October - The United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions against Sierra Leone, barring the supply of arms and petroleum products. A British company, Sandline, nonetheless supplies "logistical support", including rifles, to Kabbah allies.

1998 February - The Nigerian-led West African intervention force Ecomog storms Freetown and drives rebels out. 1998 March - Kabbah makes a triumphant return to Freetown amid scenes of public rejoicing. 1999 January - Rebels backing Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh seize parts of Freetown from Ecomog. After weeks of bitter fighting they are driven out, leaving behind 5,000 dead and a devastated city.

Nigerian peacekeepers: Central role in holding back rebels

UN intervenes

1999 May - A ceasefire is greeted with cautious optimism in Freetown. In hospitals and amputee camps, victims of rebel atrocities express hope that eight years of civil war may soon be over.

1999 July - Six weeks of talks in the Togolese capital, Lome, result in a peace agreement, under which the rebels receive posts in government and assurances they will not be prosecuted for war crimes.

1999 November/December - UN troops arrive to police the peace agreement - but one rebel leader, Sam Bokari, says they are not welcome. Meanwhile, Ecomog troops are attacked outside Freetown.

2000 April/May - UN forces come under attack in the east of the country, but far worse is in store when first 50, then several hundred UN troops are abducted.

2000 May - Rebels close in on Freetown; 800 British paratroopers sent to Freetown to evacuate British citizens and to help secure the airport for UN peacekeepers; rebel leader Foday Sankoh captured. 2000 August - Eleven British soldiers taken hostage by a renegade militia group called the West Side Boys.

Amputee victim: The conflict left thousands of civilians impaired

Disarming rebels

2000 September - British forces mount operation to rescue remaining UK hostages.

2001 January - Government postpones presidential and parliamentary elections - set for February and March - for six months because of continuing insecurity, which it said made it impossible to conduct free and fair elections nationwide.

2001 March - UN troops for the first time begin to deploy peacefully in rebel-held territory.

2001 May - Disarmament of rebels begins, and British-trained Sierra Leone army starts deploying in rebel-held areas.

2002 January - War declared over. UN mission says disarmament of 45,000 fighters complete. Government, UN agree to set up war crimes court.

2002 May - Kabbah wins a landslide victory in elections. His Sierra Leone People's Party secures a majority in parliament. 2002 July - British troops leave Sierra Leone after their two-year mission to help end the civil war. 2003 July - Rebel leader Foday Sankoh dies of natural causes while waiting to be tried for war crimes. 2003 August - President Kabbah tells truth and reconciliation commission that he had no say over operations of pro-government militias during war. 2004 February - Disarmament and rehabilitation of more than 70,000 civil war combatants officially completed.

FODAY SANKOH RUF leader was idolised as a lion by supporters RUF was notorious for mass rape and mutilations during 10-year civil war Sankoh died before being tried by UN-backed war crimes court 2003: Foday Sankoh - The cruel rebel Q&A: Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal

War crimes trials

2004 March - UN-backed war crimes tribunal opens courthouse to try senior militia leaders from both sides of civil war.

2004 May - First local elections in more than three decades.

2004 June - War crimes trials begin.

2004 September - UN hands over control of security in capital to local forces.

Your message is a reflection of your character

back to top

Photos and information is from www.cryfreetown.org. All rights are reserved to them, 2005.