In 1990 when the Liberians were fighting, our former president Dr. Joseph Saidu Momoh sent some military force from Sierra Leone to help the Liberians so the war will stop in their country. After the war stopped Charles Taylor went to the forus in Africa and gave a speech. He said that since the Sierra Leonians’ president did not leave them to fight and he interfered in their hoem affairs they will taste the bitterness of war and in 1991 the war started in Sierra Leone.
Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh started training young boys to fight and how to sue the gun and the war started in the villages using children the age of 9 years old and upward to fight in the war front and they started destroying homes, schools, mosques, churches, and many important offices and buildings. They killed women, cut their breasts off, raped them, killed men, killed children, took people’s property, burned people’s houses and took their money, opened pregnant women’s stomachs and took the babies, and did many other things that are evil.
In 1992 the military force overthrew the preseident of Sierra Leone, Dr. Joseph Saidu Momoh. At that time our new head of state Captain Valentine Strasser and the party was the NPRC - the National Provisional Ruling Council. Captain Strasser was in power from 1992 to 1996 and Sierra Leone was just goin bad to worse at that time, and later they decided about an election. The election was held and our president now was Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. He became our president and on May 25th 1997 the soldiers overthrew him. They took over the country and our president flew to Guinea with all the ministers. Some of them went to England and many other European countries. The rebel soldiers ruled the country for over nine months.
That nine months was just like nine years because that was the time of trouble and difficulties. No food, no education, no working in the offices, banks, and all the important areas, because everyone ran away out of Freetown to find safe country for their life. Major Johnny Paul Konoma was the head of state at that time and their part was the AFRC. In February 1998 the Economic Foreign Force started fighting for the restoration of peace and democracy in Sierra Leone. They fought over a month. The rebel said no AFRC, no Sierra Leone, and they are now doing “Operation No Living Things” - this means no living creature will live in Sierra Leone, human beings and animals and the rebels burned many houses in the city, as well as schools, churches, mosques, banks, and many important buildings in the city. They cut men’s, women’s, and children’s hands, feet, tongues, and took babies out of stomachs and burned people inside their houses alive. They took all their riches from them and did many other evil things.
After the fight our elected president, Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was restored back on March 10, 1998. They went open in the villages doing much other destruction up there and even right now, Sierra Leonians are suffering with no food, no medical facilities, no clothes, and no homes. They country is very hard to live in. If you do not have money, you will no live in Sierra Leone. The poor people are dying, school-going children are perishing in that land. There is no work for youth - they are just going from bad to worst, and many people are dying from starvation in Sierra Leone. Our friends and relatives are perishing in Guinea, riling their lives so they can have food. The girls under fifteen years are prostituting themselves with four or five men a day so they could have food or clothing. Men, women, and children are dying and perishing in the camp of Guinea with no food, no education, and no medical facilities. They do not have freedom of movement in that country. We Sierra Leonians are still perishing and suffering in our country and our neighboring country. We need the United Nations and the peace keeping force to intervene more strongly in the Sierra Leone problem.