Foday Saybana Sankoh (17 October 1937 – 29 July 2003) was a Sierra Leonean rebel leader who was the founder and commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, which was supported by Charles Taylor-led NPFL in the 11-year-long Sierra Leone Civil War, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. An estimated 50,000 people were killed during the war, and over 500,000 people were displaced in neighboring countries.
Foday Sankoh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vice President of Sierra Leone | |
| In office 1999 – 17 May 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Albert Joe Demby |
| Succeeded by | Albert Joe Demby |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 17, 1937 Masang Mayoso, Tonkolili District, British Sierra Leone |
| Died | July 29, 2003 (aged 65) Freetown, Sierra Leone |
| Political party | Revolutionary United Front |
| Profession | Rebel, Soldier |
| Ethnicity | Temne (patrilineal) Loko (matrilineal) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Sierra Leone |
| Branch/service | Sierra Leone Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 1956–1971 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Battles/wars | |
Early life and career
editFoday Sankoh was born on 17 October 1937, in the remote village of Masang Mayoso, Tonkolili District in the Northern part of Sierra Leone to an ethnic Temne father and a Loko mother. Sankoh was the son of a farmer.
Sankoh attended primary and secondary school in Magburaka, Tonkolili District and took on a number of jobs in Magburaka before he joined the Sierra Leone army in 1956. He undertook training in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In 1971, then a corporal in the Sierra Leone army, he was cashiered from the army's signal corps and imprisoned for seven years at the Pademba Road Prison in Freetown for failing to inform authorities of an ultimately unsuccessful coup attempt against Siaka Stevens by his former ally John Amadu Bangura.[1]
On his release he worked as an itinerant photographer in the south and east of Sierra Leone, eventually coming in contact with young radicals.
Sankoh and confederates Rashid Mansaray and Abu Kanu solicited support for an armed uprising to oust the APC government. They then traveled to Liberia, where they reportedly continued recruiting and served with Charles G. Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).
Civil war
editOn 23 March 1991, the RUF, led by Foday Sankoh and backed by Charles Taylor, launched its first attack in villages in Kailahun District in the diamond-rich Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.
The RUF became notorious for brutal practices such as mass rapes and amputations during the civil war. Sankoh personally ordered many operations, including one called "Operation Pay Yourself" that encouraged troops to loot anything they could find. After complaining about such tactics, Kanu and Mansaray were summarily executed.
In March 1997, Sankoh fled to Nigeria, where he was put under house arrest and then imprisoned. From this time until Sankoh's release in 1999, Sam Bockarie performed the task of director of military operations of the RUF. During the ten-year war, Sankoh broke several promises to stop fighting, including the Abidjan Peace Accord and the Lomé Peace Accord signed in 1999. Eventually the United Kingdom and ECOMOG intervened with their own small, but professional, military forces, and the RUF was eventually crushed.
Arrest and charges
editSankoh was later arrested on 17 May 2000 after his soldiers gunned down a number of protesters, killing 19 people, including journalist Saoman Conteh, outside his Freetown home on 8 May 2000.[2] His arrest led to massive celebrations throughout Sierra Leone.[3][failed verification]
Sankoh was handed to the British. Under the jurisdiction of a UN-backed court,[4] he was indicted on 17 counts for various war crimes, including use of child soldiers and crimes against humanity, including genocide, enslavement, rape and sexual slavery.[3]
Death
editSankoh died in hospital of complications arising from a stroke whilst awaiting trial on the night of 29 July 2003.[5] In a statement by the UN-backed war crimes court, chief prosecutor David Crane said that Sankoh's death granted him "a peaceful end that he denied to so many others".[6] He was buried in his hometown of Magbruka in the northern province of Sierra Leone.
References
edit- ^ Harris, David John (2014). Sierra Leone: A Political History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-936176-2.
- ^ "Attacks on the Press 2000: Sierra Leone". Committee to Protect Journalists. 19 March 2001.
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Foday Sankoh". 30 July 2003 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ "Sierra Leone rebel leader Sankoh dies". The Independent. 30 July 2003.
- ^ "Foday Sankoh: The cruel rebel". 30 July 2003 – via news.bbc.co.uk.