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The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was a group of
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
soldiers that allied itself with the rebel Revolutionary United Front in the late 1990s. While the AFRC briefly controlled the country in 1998, it was driven from the capital by an international military intervention of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). It was no longer a coherent and effective organization by the elections of 2002.


Description

The AFRC was formed by Major Johnny Paul Koroma of the Sierra Leonean military in 1997, who used it to carry out a coup d'etat against the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. The former Sierra Leone Army ("ex-SLA") is a term used to refer to soldiers loyal to the AFRC. Several rationales have been suggested for the coup, including: anger at the government for not implementing the November 1996 peace agreement with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), perceived ethnic discrimination in the appointment of the highest ranks of government, perceived financial neglect of the armed forces, and favoritism for the ethnic Mende Kamajors led by
Samuel Hinga Norman Samuel Hinga Norman (January 1, 1940 – February 22, 2007) was a Sierra Leonean politician from the Mende tribe. He was the founder and leader of the Civil Defence Forces, commonly known as the Kamajors. The Kamajors supported the government of ...
. Following the coup, in May 1997 the AFRC demanded that the
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
n-led West African
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
force then in the country release the arrested RUF leader Foday Sankoh. Sankoh gave his blessing to the AFRC, and RUF forces who had been fighting in the countryside linked up with AFRC forces in the capital
Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
. Sankoh was named Vice-Chairman of the AFRC and several other RUF leaders were named to high positions. The AFRC and RUF thus formed a joint military junta controlling the country. However, in March 1998 the AFRC/RUF was forced out of Freetown by an invading West African force that put President Kabbah back in power. However, the rebels according to their respective origins, RUF and ex-SLA, under the renewed pressure, with a force of ex-SLA based in the Occra Hills, 50 km from the capital. The rebel AFRC regrouped to retake the capital in January 1999, but was again forced out by the Nigerian-led force. By 1999, the authority of the AFRC and Major Koroma over the ex-SLA had become very uncertain and the AFRC is commonly seen as devolving into bands of loosely associated combatants. The West Side Boys rebel group are sometimes referred to as an AFRC splinter group. The West Side Boys abducted several soldiers of the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
army that were training West African peacekeepers in July 2000, and was subsequently destroyed by British forces in a September raid that freed the hostages. While many of the combatants who were under the command of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council continued to fight, the "AFRC" designation gradually ceased to become useful and the AFRC organization is no longer considered to exist. After the folding of AFRC, Koroma's supporters have organized the Peace and Liberation Party.


Indictment and conviction

In June 2007, the Special Court found three of the eleven people indicted – Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu – guilty of
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
, including acts of
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
,
collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group or whole community for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member or some members of that group or area, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends a ...
s, extermination,
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
,
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, outrages upon personal dignity, conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces,
enslavement Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
and pillage. It was notably the first-ever
international court International courts are formed by treaties between Nation, nations, or by an international organization such as the United Nations – and include ''ad hoc'' tribunals and permanent institutions but exclude any courts arising purely under nationa ...
to bring a guilty verdict for the military conscription of children. , press release from the Special Court for Sierra Leone, 20 June 2007
"Sierra Leone Convicts 3 of War Crimes"
''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
'', 20 June 2007 (hosted by ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'')
"First S Leone war crimes verdicts"
''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
'', 20 June 2007


References


External links


IRIN special report on ex-SLA/RUF "rift"
8 September 1999 {{Sierra Leone topics Military units and factions of the Sierra Leone Civil War AFRC Political parties established in 1997 War crimes in the Sierra Leone Civil War 1997 establishments in Sierra Leone Military dictatorships Discrimination in Sierra Leone