Johnny Paul Koroma
Major Johnny Paul Koroma (9 May 1960 – 1 June 2003/11 August 2017) was a Sierra Leonean military officer who was the head of state of Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998.
Johnny Paul Koroma | |
|---|---|
| Head of State of Sierra Leone | |
| In office May 25, 1997 – February 6, 1998 | |
| Deputy | Foday Sankoh Solomon Musa |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Tejan Kabbah |
| Succeeded by | Ahmed Tejan Kabbah |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 9, 1960 Tombodu, Kono District, British Sierra Leone |
| Died | June 1, 2003 (aged 43) or August 11, 2017 (aged 57) Liberia or Sierra Leone |
| Political party | Peace and Liberation Party |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | Sierra Leone Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 1985–1998 |
| Rank | Major |
| Battles/wars | Sierra Leone Civil War |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Sierra Leone Civil War |
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| Personalities |
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| Armed forces |
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| Key events |
| Attempts at peace |
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| Political groups |
| Ethnic groups |
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A member of the Limba people, Koroma began his military career in 1985, and quickly rose through the ranks of the Sierra Leonean army. Following the start of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1991, Koroma commanded government forces against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group. As the war continued, he was arrested in 1996 after being suspected of plotting a coup against President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. The following year, he was freed from prison following a coup overthrowing Kabbah, and became the leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) military junta. Koroma allied himself with the RUF and presided over mass looting, murder and rape against civilians, aid workers, and peacekeepers over his roughly nine months in power. In 1998, an intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ousted him, and the war ended in 2002.
In 2003, Koroma was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for war crimes, crimes against humanities and other offenses for his role in the war. Koroma reportedly fled into exile in Liberia where he was murdered later that year. Another source claims that he died in Sierra Leone in 2017.