Word: koroma
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Sierra Leone's descent into chaos began on May 25, 1997, when a group of rebel soldiers from the Sierra Leone Army staged a coup d'etat, replaced democratically elected President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma, and soon allied themselves with R.U.F., the rebel movement that had waged a civil war earlier in the 1990s. Koroma was quickly isolated by some of Sierra Leone's West African neighbors, such as Nigeria and Guinea, which wanted to see Kabbah restored. Last February an ECOMOG military force pushed the junta from power, driving the rebels out of the capital...
...there are no reports of civilian death, but ten of the evacuees were carried out to helicopters on stretchers. For most of those caught in the crossfire, it was a harrowing ordeal, one that included being robbed by rebel soldiers loyal to coup leader Maj. Johnny Paul Koroma. They've made the area "a very dangerous place," said Ann Wright, the American Embassy official overseeing the evacuation. "These are a bunch of thugs and lunatics, having a free reign of terror with the army joining...