The struggle for power in Sierra Leone 1961-1991

Abstract

Sierra Leone witnessed a successful and healthy transition of power, from British colonialism to the national elite in 1961, and Milton Margai proved remarkably adept at establishing himself in power, creating a new style of administration without disturbing the balance of political forces on which the Sierra Leonean government relied after independence, and continued to Power until his death in 1964, his brother Albert Margai succeeded him as head of government, to show the differences between the political elites more specifically between the Sierra Leone People's Party and the Congress Party, until it manifested itself in its clearest form on February 8, 1967, when Albert Margai announced the discovery of a plot to overthrow his government, and on March 21, 1967 happened The first coup against power, and two days later a counter-coup took place, shaking the democratic process in Sierra Leone, and ending with the declaration of one party by Sakaya Stevens in 1978, and by the end of 1990 Sierra Leone was prepared to fight a “dirty war” that lasted for more than a decade, in which thousands of civilians had been killed. The innocent were under the hammer and the anvil of the RUF, and the bleak political and economic conditions in Sierra Leone were favorable for the RUF to wage guerrilla warfare