State House
Freetown, Republic of Sierra Leone
The ECOWAS Presidential Committee of Five on Sierra Leone
Cote d'Ivoire
Ghana
Guinea
Liberia
Nigeria
5th September 1997
Your Excellencies,
I regret to report that consequent to my letter of 3rd September, 1997 addressed to the Chairman of ECOWAS General Sani Abacha and copied to all Heads of State of ECOWAS, events in my country have taken an ugly turn, which up to this moment as I write still baffles the entire population of Sierra Leone and should come as a shock to all moral and peace-loving humanity.
On the night of Wednesday 3rd and the early hours of Thursday 4th September, 1997, the Nigerian component of ECOMOG forces occupying the Sierra Leone International Airport at Lungi, undertook intensive and incessant bombardment of our capital city of Freetown, killing in the process over fifty innocent and peaceful Sierra Leoneans and wounding and maiming scores of others with thirty-seven (37) persons still under intensive care. Your Excellencies, the people of Sierra Leone are finding it impossible to understand this unprovoked, dastardly and cruel act of what seems like cold-blooded murder of dear relatives, friends, compatriots and associates. Whilst the corpses of the victims were still awaiting burial, these same Nigerian troops demonstrated their callousness, by launching more missiles at the city seriously damaging the nation's only flour mill. The bombings continue.
Among the dead were pregnant women, suckling mothers and their babies, old men and women, and school children all residents of some of the poorest districts of Freetown. Not a single soldier was killed or wounded in this tragedy of callous and reckless misuse of military force.
The Head of ECOMOG contingent has made a broadcast announcement that their bombardment was in response to an attack launched by the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces against their positions. Forgive me to state that this announcement can only be described as a most dishonourable, blatant and outrageous lie. I assure you in the name of God that no offensive was launched on Nigerian ECOMOG troops on and after the dates in question. The blood of my people has been shed by trigger-happy men for no justifiable reason at all, and the people of my land mourn the death of these hapless victims in sorrow and anger.
In the name of the united and one nation of Sierra Leone, I here protest to you and the rest of the international community these brutal and barbaric killings that have been senselessly perpetrated on my innocent countrymen. This appears to be a continuation of previous equally gruesome acts of military vandalism beginning from 2 June this year. The number of our innocent civilians dead has now well exceeded five hundred (500). These acts of brutality can no longer be described as just mere provocation, or can no longer be hidden under the guise of the restoration of constitutional order.
I call on Your Excellencies and the rest of the international world and worthy men of conscience to come to the rescue of the poor and beleaguered people of Sierra Leone and stop this Nigerian carnival of death and destruction.
Your Excellencies, in spite of whatever position you hold on this issue, I believe that it is but right and just that an independent team of investigators be sent to assess this new dimension the Nigerian presence has assumed. While killing and maiming our citizenry in Freetown, the Nigerians are actively and deliberately encouraging and orchestrating a genocidal civil war which doubtless is going to introduce the additional horror of ethnic cleansing which will probably belie anything our sub-region has seen before with its consequent overspills into neighbouring countries.
The people of Sierra Leone request the protection of the rest of the world. The people of Sierra Leone are entitled to the protection of the rest of the world.
Please accept, Your Excellencies, the assurances of my esteem.
JOHNNY PAUL KOROMA
Major
Chairman - Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
and Head of State, Republic of Sierra Leone
cc:
All ECOWAS Heads of State
The Secretary-General, ECOWAS
Heads of State of African Commonwealth Countries
The Secretary-General, OAU
The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth
The Secretary-General of the United Nations
The President of the United Nations Security Council
His Holiness Pope John Paul II
The Archbishop of Canterbury
Amnesty International
The Carter Foundation
European Union
Council of Europe
International Committee of the Red Cross
Organisation of American States
Organisation of Islamic Conference
The Arab League