Foday Sankoh
Foday Sankoh | |
|---|---|
 Sankoh in 2000 | |
| 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) |
| Party | Revolutionary United Front |
| Profession | Rebel, Soldier |
Ethnicity | Temne |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Sierra Leone |
| Branch/service | Sierra Leone Armed Forces |
Years of service | 1956–1971 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Battles/wars | |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Sierra Leone Civil War |
|---|
| Personalities |
| Armed forces |
| Key events |
| Attempts at peace |
| Political groups |
| Ethnic groups |
| See also |
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 the 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 into neighboring countries.
Biography
[edit]Sankoh, belonging to the Temne tribe, was born into a poor farming family in Northern Sierra Leone. In 1956 he joined the Royal West African Forces and trained as a cameraman and a wireless operator reaching the rank of corporal.[1] In 1971, he was arrested and imprisoned for seven years for joining a coup plot against Siaka Stevens.[2]
He was also reportedly a student leader[3], later traveling to Libya in the 1980s[4] to train under the Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi.[1] In 1991 Sankoh returned to Sierra Leone and sponsored by Liberian rebel Charles Taylor he launched a civil war against the government of Sierra Leone.[3] In 1997 he was arrested in Nigeria on weapons charges, but had been released by July 1999 to sign the Lomé peace agreement.[4]
This agreement, however, faced multiple violations and called into question his control of his army and his commitment to ending the civil war.[2] After an angry mob marched on his Freetown villa in May 2000 and threatened to lynch him, he was taken into protective custody and held in detention until his death in July 2003.[2][5]
Death
[edit]Sankoh died in hospital of complications arising from a stroke whilst awaiting trial on the night of 29 July 2003.[6] 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".[7]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Foday Sankoh". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 Brittain, Victoria (2003-07-31). "Foday Sankoh". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
- 1 2 Brown, Derek (17 May 2000). "Who is Foday Sankoh?". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
- 1 2 Mitton, Kieran (2018-02-01). "Elite Bargains and Political Deals Project: Sierra Leone Case Study". Stabilisation Unit.
- ↑ "Foday Saybana Sankoh". RSCSL. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
- ↑ "Sierra Leone rebel leader Sankoh dies". The Independent. 30 July 2003.
- ↑ "Foday Sankoh: The cruel rebel". 30 July 2003 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
- 1937 births
- 2003 deaths
- People from Tonkolili District
- Temne people
- Revolutionary United Front politicians
- Vice-presidents of Sierra Leone
- Sierra Leonean military personnel
- Sierra Leonean rebels
- People of the Sierra Leone Civil War
- African warlords
- Genocide perpetrators
- People indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone
- Heads of state and government who were later imprisoned
- Sierra Leonean people who died in prison custody
