Written By: Kakuna Kerina, Matthew Leone & David Tam-Baryoh

Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the RUF Alliance

In May 1997, as tension mounted in Freetown over the feared RUF advance towards Freetown, Attorney General Solomon Berewa submitted the Media Practitioners Act and the Newspaper Act of 1998 to Parliament. Despite the outcry raised by the local media and international human rights and press freedom organizations, Parliament ratified the legislation that local journalists dubbed "The Killer Bill."

On May 25, 1997, while the bills were awaiting President Kabbah's signature to become law, junior military officers overthrew the government in a coup during which only Lieutenant Sahr Sandy was killed. The Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), led by Major Johnny Paul Koroma who had been awaiting trial at Pademba Road Prison on charges of treason for his involvement in an alleged coup attempt in April 1997, was formed and the RUF immediately became its ally. To garner the media's support, the AFRC claimed that one of the reasons they seized power was the "inhuman press bill" proposed by the Parliament and cited the Kabbah government's disrespect for press freedom.

Within three days, the AFRC scrapped the constitution, banned all political parties, and shut down all the country's private radio stations. Fearing looting of their offices by armed robbers, soldiers, or RUF fighters, and unable to maintain monthly payments of 80,000 Leones (US $80) for bodyguards, newspapers closed for their own safety with the exception of Pool, Torchlight, and a few defiant independent newspapers like New Tablet, Democrat, and Standard Times. The brutal attacks to follow on the media, and civil society as a whole, were unprecedented in Sierra Leone's history (until the January 1999 RUF invasion of Freetown, which left eight independent journalists dead within three days).

The AFRC was surprised by the blistering condemnation that was unleashed by the media against the coup d'etat. Junior officers and their RUF allies launched a systematic campaign to eliminate any media professionals who did not support them. Unlike their NPRC predecessors, the AFRC was deliberate in its plan and exceedingly vicious in the punishment meted out to their critics. The NPRC deemed journalists for the "revolution" or against it. Journalists who did not overtly criticize the junta were not exempt from attack either; those who did not publish their support for the new regime were often deemed "counter-revolutionaries" and enemies of the state.

Initially, the AFRC junta members who were identifying the junta's media enemies were difficult to identify. Most were rebels who had lived in the bush for approximately seven years. However, top officials like RUF Colonel Denis Mingo, Colonel Sam Bockarie, and Colonel Eldred Collins, and AFRC Colonel Leather Boot, Major Johnny Paul Koroma, Captain S.A.J. Musa, Captain Mandereh, Captain Abdul Jalloh, Colonel Saaba Kamara, Ajina Sesay, and AFRC Public Relations Officer Allieu Kamara, Sargeant Abu "Zagalo" Sankoh, and Corporal Tamba Gborie (both later executed by the Kabbah government) shortly became familiar to journalists who were on the run. Any of these junta members could order the arrest and detention of any media professional at will.

As the judicial system collapsed and anarchy reigned in Freetown, many journalists went into hiding or fled the country to live in exile and poverty in neighboring countries like Guinea. Newspaper vendors were mercilessly beaten in the streets and their papers were confiscated and burned as the AFRC junta declared outright war on the pro-democracy press. Only two pro-government, Pool and Torchlight, and three independent newspapers, Democrat, Vision, and Standard Times, out of approximately 50 prior to the coup, remained in circulation, albeit irregularly. The Voice of the Handicapped (FM-96.2) and KISS (FM-104) resumed broadcasting, with their content restricted to religious and music formats. In three months, the AFRC junta had effectively shut down the vast majority of the media, committing human rights and press freedom violations with the earmarks of assault and torture including the following:

• On June 4, two armed men broke into the home of Standard Times managing editor Phillip Neville and severely assaulted him.
• On July 8, AFRC soldiers arrested The Point managing editor Bundu Hayes at his home and detained him at Cockrill Military Headquarters.
• On August 18, soldiers arrested Voice of America (VOA) stringer Kelvin Lewis, while he was covering student demonstrations against the AFRC in Freetown, and accused him of portraying the AFRC unfavorably on the VOA. He was assaulted and locked up in an airtight shipping container for approximately 48 hours before being released.
• On October 11, AFRC officers shot Vision newspaper freelancer and BBC stringer Umaru Fofana in the leg and tortured him. The soldiers suspected Fofana of reporting for deposed President Kabbah's clandestine radio station, Radio Democracy (FM-98.1).
• On October 11, AFRC officers arrested Democrat acting editor John Foray and freelancer Abdul Kposwa, assaulted the journalists, and detained them without charge at Pademba Road Prison. On October 19, officers tied Foray to New Observer reporter Jonathan Leigh, who had been detained on October 13 by AFRC officers on charges of subversion and transported them to Allentown to witness their attack on ECOMOG troops stationed in the area.
• On January 10, 1998, authorities arrested Herald Guardian reporter Sylvanus Kanyako in connection with an article that urged parents not to send their children to school because of the insecurity in the country. Kanyako was taken to an unnamed AFRC official's residence, where he was tortured.
• On January 10, 1998, CID agents arrested Herald Guardian reporters David Koroma and Mohammed Kallon and transported them to the residence of an unnamed senior AFRC official whom the journalists had criticized in an article. The journalists were tortured and Koroma was subsequently admitted to the Kingsley Barracks Police Hospital for treatment of his wounds.
• On January 16, 1998, the AFRC/RUF junta banned the Standard Times newspaper in connection with the publication of an article reporting that deposed President Kabbah had criticized France and China for supporting the junta.
• On January 30, 1998, Independent Observer senior writer Sorie Sudan Sesay, had a warrant issued for his arrest for reporting that Iranian soldiers were en route to Sierra Leone to aid the RUF, and he was forced into hiding.

The broadcast media, including the independent radio stations that were launched at the time of the elections also faced severe challenges during the AFRC/RUF regime. When the AFRC took power in May 25, 1997, there were seven radio stations operating in the country. The state-owned Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS FM-99.9 and MW-49 meter), SKYY (FM-106.6), Voice of the Handicapped (FM-96.2), WBIG (FM-103.3), and two community radio stations: KISS (FM-104) in Bo and the Protestant Church-operated Radio Mankneh, based in Makeni.

During the military take over, SKYY's transmitters and broadcast equipment were destroyed, Managing Director Andrew Kromah and Station Manager Olive Sawyerr among other staff, were forced to flee to neighboring Guinea, and the station's offices were destroyed. Voice of the Handicap staff, most of whom are blind, were attacked by armed men on two occasions, forcing the closure of the station. With the occupation of Makeni by the RUF in June, Radio Mankneh had to cease objective reporting.

However, the citizens of Bo refused to accept AFRC/RUF rule, and KISS became the sole source of information for the city that was physically cut-off from Freetown during the junta's nine-month rule. The broadcast organ most utilized for disseminating AFRC/RUF propaganda was SLBS, aided by the efforts of WBIG whose proprietor and key broadcaster, Hilton Fyle was subsequently convicted of treason for this collaboration.

To counter the efforts of the AFRC propaganda machine, the exiled Kabbah government (based in Guinea) began broadcasting as Radio Democracy (FM-98.1) in June 1997. The station was based at the ECOMOG-controlled Lungi International Airport. Two of the station's key broadcasters were Dr. Julius Spencer and Alie Bangura, who would be rewarded with appointments as ministers of information and trade, respectively, when President Kabbah resumed power on March 10, 1998.

Although the station offered comfort and hope to citizens under AFRC/RUF rule during nine months of political chaos, the station ceased to remain independent after the Kabbah government returned to Freetown. Augmented by the government's official mouthpiece, SLBS, few truly independent or critical views are encouraged on FM-98.1. And with the closure of all other privately owned radio stations in the country, with the exception of KISS, which is airing in a limited capacity, the electronic media is firmly under government control. This status quo would be maintained if the Independent Media Commission Bill currently before parliament, were to be passed because it will restrict ownership of electronic media.

Since the station's relocation to Signal Hill in Freetown, ownership of FM 98.1 has been of concern to civil society. In April 1999, Parliament questioned Minister of Information Julius Spencer about the ownership of the station, to which he reportedly replied, "the radio station is the property of the people of Sierra Leone." In May 1999, he elaborated further in response to questions from representatives of various civil society organizations by reportedly stating, "for now, the radio, though it is the property of the people of Sierra Leone, will continue to be administered by government."