25 years ago, on Monday 8th May 2000, hundreds of thousands progressive Sierra Leoneans from across the country, mainly comprising Civil Society, Parliamentarians, Sierra Leone Labour Congress and other Citizens groups, under the leadership of the Civil Society Movement Sierra Leone (CSM-SL) staged a peaceful protest at the Spur Road residence of the intransigent Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader, Corporal Foday Saybana Sankoh. What was intended to be a peaceful protest aimed at drawing global attention to the fastly deteriorating security situation throughout Sierra Leone turned bloody, resulting in the brutal deaths of 22 peaceful, unsuspecting, harmless and defenseless civilians at the hands of the RUF rebels. See press release for detailed.
PRESS STATEMENT
ON
THE COMMEMORATIONOFTHEMAY8,2000MASSACREOF22SIERRALEONEANS
BY THERUF
Theme: Reflecting on the role of Civil Society in fostering Peace and National Cohesion
25 years ago, on Monday 8th May 2000, hundreds of thousands
progressive Sierra Leoneans from across the country, mainly comprising
Civil Society, Parliamentarians, Sierra Leone Labour Congress and other
Citizens groups, under the leadership of the Civil Society Movement
Sierra Leone (CSM-SL) staged a peaceful protest at the Spur Road
residence of the intransigent Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader,
Corporal Foday Saybana Sankoh.
What was intended to be a peaceful protest aimed at drawing global attention
to the fastly deteriorating security situation throughout Sierra Leone turned
bloody, resulting in the brutal deaths of 22 peaceful, unsuspecting, harmless and
defenseless civilians at the hands of the RUF rebels.
This protest and its fatal consequences marked a watershed in our collective
struggles to restore peace to our war-torn country. Our compatriots bravely and
heroically laid down their lives so that we can live in peace and dignity. 25 years
down the line, are Sierra Leoneans today living in peace and dignity?
It will be recalled that Sierra Leone fought a bloody civil war spanning 11 years,
from March 1991 to January 2002, causing the deaths of over 50,000 Sierra
Leoneans and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of others; whilst
hundreds more were maimed or amputated.
The civil war itself was triggered by a culmination of factors that included many
years of bad governance, politically-motivated reprisal killings using trumped-up
charges, nepotism, marginalization and exclusion, pervasive poverty, high costs
of living, weak state institutions, blatant human rights abuses, an
institutionalized and corrupt judiciary. Citizens were denied their fundamental
rights and freedoms, most times with utter callousness and impunity.
After 11 long years of destruction of lives and properties across the country at an
unprecedented scale, the Lome Peace Accord was signed by the RUF and
Government of Sierra Leone in Togo on 7th July 1999.
The signing of the Lome Peace Accord was the result of several engagements
brokered by ECOWAS, African Union and the United Nations and it was regarded
by many as the beginning of a new chapter of peace and national development;
it would end the carnage, bring the war to an end and give a new lease of life to
Sierra Leoneans.
But the high hopes which the Lome Peace Accord heralded were short-lived, as
the RUF rebels immediately embarked on systemic breaching of provisions of
the Accord, ignoring the advises of the International Community and the Moral
Guarantors, as well as the prospective consequences of their actions.
The protest of 8th May 2000, therefore, was a clear demonstration of citizen’s
frustrations at the RUF’s continuous ignoring of the provisions of the Lome
Peace Accord and persistent calls by the International Community and other
Moral Guarantors to give peace a chance. The RUF responded with
disproportionate force resulting in the killing of our compatriots
As we commemorate this day in memory of our heroes and heroines who laid
down their precious lives so that we can live and sleep in peace, we urge
everyone, especially our political leaders, to at all-time refrain from doing the
things that led to the 11 years civil war.
Issues of bad governance, ethnicity, injustice and inequality, mismanagement of
natural resources, institutionalized corruption, rights and freedoms should not
be allowed to continue to flourish unaddressed.
We owe it to this generation and generations yet unborn, to individually and
collectively work towards upholding and guarding the tenets of democracy,
humanrights and justice.
It is only through this that we all can live and sleep in peace and engender
national development.
Farewell Sweet Patriots.
Your banners will always fly high.
Long Live the Civil Society Movement Sierra Leone!!
Long Live the People of Sierra Leone!!
Juliet Anderson
National Coordinator
CSM-SL
DATED: May 8th 202
