President Julius Maada Bio officially proclaimed January 18 as National Remembrance Day on Wednesday, fulfilling a key recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to honor the victims of Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war.

The declaration was made during the opening of the Salone Civic Festival 2025 at the newly transformed Miatta Civic Centre.

January 18 holds historical significance as the date in 2002 when the civil war was officially declared over by then-President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Citing Paragraph 202 of the TRC Report, President Bio stated that the annual observance will be dedicated to civic education, community service, peacebuilding activities, and the remembrance of survivors and those lost during the conflict.

“We have all resolved that never again shall we resort to violence to settle matters of political importance,” the Center for Memory and Reparations stated in a press release following the announcement, quoting President Kabbah’s declaration from 2002.

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The President announced that the annual commemoration will be led by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MICE), the National Council for Civic Education and Democracy (NaCCED), and the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC).

The proclamation follows years of advocacy by the Center for Memory and Reparations and its founder, Joseph Ben Kaifala, who currently serves as the Chairman of the Monuments and Relics Commission.

In a statement marking the occasion, Kaifala wrote from Bomaru, Kailahun District—the site of the first attack that precipitated the war in 1991—noting that the designation of a national day was essential for “collective healing.”

“I sat with H.E. President Julius Maada Bio to request that he proclaim a National Remembrance Day so that Sierra Leoneans could pause each year to remember those they lost,” Kaifala stated. “We will now mark January 18… as National Remembrance Day.”