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Former President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Kelvin Lewis has narrated his ordeal with soldiers of the junta Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) Government in 1998.
Lewis, in post on Twitter, said he and two others were arrested by AFRC soldiers along Bai Bureh Road on 18th August 1997 – 26 years ago.
“We were bundled on to a Toyota halfback (pick-up) and driven with high speed to Cockerill Military headquarters,” he said.
The veteran journalist said the day of his arrest coincided with a planned protest by students across the country against the junta government. He said the AFRC soldiers on that very offloaded an agricultural container which contained tools including “very sharp cutlasses”. The former SLAJ President said one of the soldiers, famously knowns as Rambo cut him on the back with one of the cutlasses.
Lewis stated that he and the two other men were locked inside a freight container and almost would have suffocated had it not been for one military sergeant who ordered that door not to close the locks. He said they passed the night in the said container but were released the following day.
“We were released a day later through the intervention of a childhood friend,” he said.
He said while he and the two others returned home the following day, his foster son and mentee, Vaffe Konneh a N’jala University student was butchered to death.
The AFRC were a group of soldiers from the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) that aligned itself with rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in 1997. The group, under the leadership of Major Johnny Paul Koroma ousted the democratic government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
However, they were forced out of the country a year later in 1998 ECOWAS forces.
In 2007, the Special Court for Sierra Leone found three of their members, Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu guilty of war crimes. Leader of the group, Major Koroma was never found after the group was disbanded by West African forces.
I just have to say someting here as a concern citizen o Sierra Leone,what have had sierra leonean learnt out of these brutality of the inorcent citizens of this country,Bio came back to continue even more than the past brutality,he make things more worsers by deviding the nation a small nation by trabalising the wonderful nation a peaceful nation known of its peaceful in the rigion in the west coast of Africa,Bio came with wrone ideas back of his mende wrong thinkers to devide the country of sierra Leone,for my point of view you cannot devide something dosen
t belong to you,Sierra Leone dosent belong to bio he just want to create bproblem for the inocent mende people,he lives in a comfortable life with his families and those he has the same mentality,they have problems wethine themselves,not with rest of the ethnics he hates,we are peaceful have no problems of living together with the real mende citizens,but those mendes who came in the country as immigants that have problems,Divide something belong to you, but you can not divide someones property it is wrong quite wrong,leave the country if you think you cannot mingle with other tribes rader than your tribe,it is your problem and it will be your problem sharm on you.What do you people think about this terreble picture,future leaders will you like to see such pictures in your societies I`m talking to the international observers,is this picture good for you,we do not feel good about it,why these girls demonstrated such a way,it is not their will to do so but the wrong system forces them to do so.So what is your respond ponce to this,how many people had have being killed displace,dis missed brutalised massegraves in a country used to be peaceful,nine to one and other,sick people just for theis foolish dreams honger and foolish ideas vanderlise this sweet Mamma Salone. God will pay them of what they had have done to the country adn the people by throwing i norcent blood on the earth of Sierra Leone,the hell fire is waiting for them inshalahu thallah.
This is a gentle reminder that we should remember the past, it brought back wardness to the nation during the period dropped out of schools destroction of properties for self interest