Military Coups have never solved the problems of the African nation-states, instead most created more problems than the coup leaders claimed as reasons for their interventions
So a good number of developing countries on the continent have now seen military coups as things of the past or outdated and uncalled for … hence their service personnel have become APOLITICAL as a result of their professional training and education.
Late General Sani Abacha’s 1993 coup is the last coup by Nigeria Armed Forces, and late Flight Lieutenant JJ Rawlings’ coup that toppled President Liman’s elected government is the last Ghana Armed Forces Coup.
The Republic of Sierra Leone and her armed forces will never forget the 1997 AFRC / RUF Coup which took Sierra Leone twenty years backwards… besides it’s after effects claimed the lives of very good military officers who might have positively contributed to the development of not only RSLAF but also Sierra Leone as a nation-state, instead the officers suffered death simply because they were not able to prevent the junior officers and other ranks’ rebellion
Innocent decent civilians also suffered, and public and private infrastructures were destroyed
Some citizens fled the country, and some never returned…
Our beautiful sisters and daughters were forced into marriages not to men of their choice or class, but to survive or to remain alive
Wives separated from their beloved husbands very
RSLAF senior officers faced very serious embarrassment from foreign military personnel. RSLAF lost the respect of its nationals
An international training team was established and led by the UK armed forces to retrain RSLAF which was not easy as a result of many embarrassments from their foreign counterparts
I think no right-thinking and responsible/ patriotic Sierra Leonean would ever contemplate inciting personnel of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces to stage a coup again, and if for any reason they do, a good number of personnel would not listen to such nonsense
So the AFRC / RUF should or is going to be the last and final coup in Sierra Leone
Countries like Senegal, Botswana, and Tanzania among others are doing relatively well because their armed forces have never been involved in such unprofessional conducts
Friends, admirers, brothers and sisters, please kindly join me in condemning military coups on the continent of Africa, and encourage our service personnel to courageously say NO to any inciter, be it individual or organizations or any foreign body or nation-state.
The Author:
BS Conteh ( SL 300)
Colonel ( retired) but not tired
A senior citizen, a patriot and a nationalist
