Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Johnny Paul Koromah

Johnny Paul Koromah

Johnny Paul Koroma (born May 9 1960) was a major in the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) until his imprisonment in 1996 for his alleged involvement in a failed coup against President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. However, on May 25, 1997, junior elements of the SLA overthrew the elected Kabbah government, forming a junta known as the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). The coupists released Koroma from prison, and installed him as Chairman of the AFRC and Head of State. He was sometimes called "JPK".

Youth and Education

Koroma grew up in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. He joined the Sierra Leonean army in 1985, and went to Sandurst Military Academy in England to train as an officer in 1988. He returned to Sierra Leone the next year and was promoted to Section Commander, and soon thereafter to Company Commander. He continued to move up the ladder, and in 1994 he went to the Teshi Military College in Ghana to train in the subjects of Army Command and General Staff.

Coups and Civil War

In 1996, Johnny Paul Koroma was involved in an attempt to overthrow the government of President Kabbah. He was arrested, put on trial and convicted. He was imprisened at Freetown's Pademba Road Prison until a second coup attempt on May 25 1997 succeeded in overthrowing the Kabbah government and released him. Following the coup in 1997, Koroma was named Head of State and Chairman of the AFRC. Koroma invited the leadership of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to join the AFRC, which they promptly did. In order to maintain order, Koroma suspended the constitution, baned demonstrations and abolished all political parties.

Armed Forces Revolutionary Council

The AFRC coup was accompanied by an explosion of violence against civilians throughout the nation; the key strategic change was that the RUF had immediate access throughout the country, something they had failed to achieve through six years of military action. To justify the AFRC coup, Koroma cited corruption, the erosion of State sovereignty, over-dependence on foreign nations, and the failure of the Government of Sierra Leone to adequately address tensions between the SLA and government supported tribally-based militia movements, in particular the Kamajors. Koroma's story is very much that of the AFRC, and indeed the failings of the Abidjan Peace Accord struck between the Government of Sierra Leone and the RUF on 30 November 1996.

Involvement of ECOMOG

By 2 June 1997, the RUF/AFRC found itself at odds with Nigerian forces, which were deployed unilaterally at this stage under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) and its mandate of [August 1997). The Nigerians were stationed in and around Freetown's Western Area, trading mortar fire along the main highway into Freetown and around the Freetown International Airport. Koroma immediately sought to ease the situation, seeking mediation, which resulted in the signing of a peace accord in late October 1997 in Conakry, Republic of Guinea. Almost immediately, violations of the peace accord were perpetrated by all sides to the complex conflict in Sierra Leone. By January 1998, ECOMOG forces were preparing to oust the RUF/AFRC from power. On 6 February 1998, ECOMOG forces invaded key locations in the Western Area, removing the RUF/AFRC entirely by 12 February 1998. On 1 March 1998, ECOMOG forces commenced operations in provincial Sierra Leone, removing the RUF/AFRC from every key town expcept Kailahun (in the far east of the country). By December 1998, RUF/AFRC forces had reversed this position, invading Freetown in January 1999. Failing to hold territory, the RUF/AFRC retreated into the Northern Province of Sierra Leone.

Lomé Peace Agreement

The leadership of the RUF led peace negotiations with the Government of Sierra Leone, leading to the signing of the Lomé Peace Accord on 7 July 1999. Koroma was cut out of both negotiations and the AFRC did not benefit from the substantive provisions of the agreement. Nevertheless, Koroma participated in the disarmament process, encouraging those SLA soldiers that had joined the AFRC to demobilise. By 2000, Koroma no longer held significant influence over the RUF leadership, as evidenced by the involvement of ex-AFRC members (from a splinter group called the West Side Boys) in defending towns in Port Loko District against a renewed RUF offensive in May 2000. In August 2000, Koroma officially disbanded the AFRC and sought to consolidate his political position through the formation of a political party.

Special Court for Sierra Leone

In early 2002, the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations signed a bilateral treaty establishing the Special Court for Sierra Leone, mandated to try those who "bear the greatest responsibility" for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. According to the inictment, the RUF and AFRC, under the orders of Koroma, led armed attacks in Sierra Leone wherein the primary targets included civilians, humanitarian aid workers, and UN peacekeeping forces. These attacks served the purpose of terrorizing the population as a form of punishment for not supporting rebel activities. These attacks included such crimes as looting, murder, physical violence (notably mutilations), employing child soldiers, sexual violence and rape, as well as kidnapping women and girls to be raped or turned into sex slaves. Men and boys were also abducted and forced to work or fight for the rebel groups. On 7 March 2003, the Prosecutor of the Special Court issued his first indictments. For his role in the RUF/AFRC, Koroma was among them. Koroma fled Freetown in December, reportedly to Liberia. On 1 June 2003 he was officially declared dead under mysterious circumstances, allegedly murdered. The Prosecutor has yet to withdraw the indictment against Koroma. Koromah, Johnny Paul Koromah, Johnny Paul

May 9

May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (130th in leap years). There are 236 days remaining.

Events


- 328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.
- 1092 - Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc defeats the English troops besieging Orléans.
- 1450 - 'Abd al-Latif Mirza (Timurid monarch) assassinated.
- 1502 - Christopher Columbus leaves Spain for his fourth and final journey to the "New World".
- 1671 - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught because he is too drunk to run with the loot. He is later condemned to death and then mysteriously pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.
- 1726 - Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn.
- 1868 - The city of Reno, Nevada, is founded.
- 1874 - The first horse drawn carriage made its début in the city of Mumbai, plying on two routes.
- 1887 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.
- 1901 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.
- 1914 - J.T. Hearne becomes the first bowler to take 3000 first-class wickets.
- 1915 - World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces.
- 1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of his diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).
- 1927 - The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.
- 1936 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
- 1940 - World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
- 1941 - World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
- 1942 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 - World War II: The final German surrender to Marshal Georgy Zhukov at Berlin-Karlshorst is signed by Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
- 1945 - World War II: Hermann Göring is captured by the United States Army.
- 1945 - World War II: Norway arrests Vidkun Quisling.
- 1945 - World War II: Red Army enters Prague (capitulation of Nazi occupation troops)
- 1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union marks Victory Day.
- 1945 - World War II: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British.
- 1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Humbert II.
- 1949 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
- 1950 - Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
- 1955 - Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.
- 1955 - Sam and Friends debuts on a local US television channel, marking the first television appearance of both Jim Henson and what would become Kermit the Frog and the Muppets.
- 1956 - First ascent of Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest mountain.
- 1960 - Reproductive rights: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protestors peacefully demonstrate behind a barricaded White House.
- 1974 - Watergate Scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon.
- 1980 - In Florida, Liberian freighter SS Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay sending 35 people (most in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses.
- 1980 - The first meeting of Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury takes place in Ghana.
- 1987 - A Polish LOT Ilyushin IŁ 62M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" (SP-LBG). crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing 183 people.
- 1987 - In Brussels, Belgium, Johnny Logan wins the thirty-second Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Hold Me Now".
- 1992 - In Malmö, Sweden, Linda Martin wins the thirty-seventh Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "Why Me".
- 1994 - Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
- 1998 - In Birmingham, United Kingdom, Dana International wins the forty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing "Diva".
- 2002 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.
- 2002 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
- 2004 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a landmine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.
- 2004 - Team of Canada won the World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague.
- 2006 - More information on the Nintendo Revolution will be released to the public.

Births


- 1147 - Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1199)
- 1439 - Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
- 1741 - Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (d. 1816)
- 1800 - John Brown, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
- 1837 - Adam Opel, German engineer and industrialist (b. 1895)
- 1860 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish author (d. 1937)
- 1873 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)
- 1874 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (d. 1939)
- 1882 - George Barker, American painter (d. 1965)
- 1882 - Henry J. Kaiser, American ship-builder (d. 1967)
- 1892 - Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)
- 1895 - Richard Barthelmess, American actor (d. 1963)
- 1895 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
- 1907 - Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor (d. 1963)
- 1912 - Per Imerslund, "The aryan idol" (d. 1943)
- 1914 - Hank Snow, Canadian-born musician (d. 1999)
- 1918 - Mike Wallace, American journalist
- 1918 - Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)
- 1920 - Richard Adams, English author
- 1920 - William Tenn, American author
- 1921 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- 1921 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Bulat Okudzhava, Russian writer and musician (d. 1997)
- 1927 - Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1928 - Colin Chapman, English engineer and automobile manufacturer (d. 1982)
- 1928 - Pancho Gonzalez, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1928 - Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater
- 1930 - Joan Sims, British actress (d. 2001)
- 1934 - Alan Bennett, British author
- 1936 - Albert Finney, British actor
- 1936 - Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
- 1937 - José Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect
- 1939 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
- 1940 - James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer
- 1942 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
- 1944 - Richie Furay, American musician (Poco and Buffalo Springfield)
- 1946 - Candice Bergen, American actress
- 1949 - Billy Joel, American musician
- 1955 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- 1964 - David Gahan, English singer (Depeche Mode)
- 1964 - Kevin Saunderson, American music producer and disc jockey
- 1965 - Steve Yzerman, Canadian hockey player
- 1968 - Marie-José Perec, French athlete
- 1970 - Ghostface Killah, American rapper
- 1972 - Megumi Odaka, Japanese actress and artist
- 1979 - Pierre Bouvier, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
- 1982 - Rachel Boston, American actress

Deaths


- 1315 - Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1282)
- 1446 - Mary of Enghien, Queen of Naples (b. 1368)
- 1657 - William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)
- 1707 - Dietrich Buxtehude, German composer
- 1747 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)
- 1760 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (b. 1700)
- 1789 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (b. 1715)
- 1790 - William Clingan, American delegate to the Continental Congress
- 1791 - Francis Hopkinson, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1737)
- 1805 - Friedrich Schiller, German poet and historian (b. 1759)
- 1889 - William S. Harney, U.S. general (b. 1800)
- 1903 - Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
- 1931 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1949 - Prince Louis II of Monaco (b. 1870)
- 1950 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)
- 1957 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
- 1968 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)
- 1970 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (b. 1884)
- 1970 - Walter Reuther, American labor leader (b. 1907)
- 1976 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- 1978 - Aldo Moro, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
- 1985 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
- 1986 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
- 1989 - Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)
- 1994 - Elias Motsoaledi, South African freedom fighter (b. 1924)
- 1998 - Alice Faye, American actress (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (b. 1918)
- 2004 - Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen president (b. 1951)
- 2004 - Alan King, American comedian (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Nasrat Parsa, Afghani singer (b. 1969)

Holidays and observances


- Russia and some other parts of the former Soviet Union – Victory Day as the end of the "Great Patriotic War"
- European Union – Europe day, commemorating the "Schuman declaration"
- Jersey, Guernsey – Liberation Day
- Roman Empire – Feast of the Lemures (See Larvae)
- Mother's Day (some countries) – 1999, 2004, 2010

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050509.html The New York Times: On This Day]
- [http://www.thisdaythatyear.com/may/people9.htm ThisDayThatYear.com on May 9] ---- May 8 - May 10 - April 9 - June 9 – listing of all days ko:5월 9일 ms:9 Mei ja:5月9日 simple:May 9 th:9 พฤษภาคม

1960

1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February


- January - State of emergency is lifted in Kenya - Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
- January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
- January 9-11 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
- January 14 - Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank are created
- January 21 - Mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa - 437 dead
- January 22 - In France, president Charles de Gaulle fires Jacques Massun, commander-in-chief for the French troops in Algeria
- January 22-23 - Jacques Piccard and Donald Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscape Trieste, reaching the depth of 10.916 meters
- January 23 - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
- January 24 - A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
- January 25 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
- February 1 - In Greensboro, N.C., four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South, and six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.
- February 5 - Particle accelerator of CERN inaugurated in Geneve, Switzerland
- February 8-February 9 - Adolph Coors II killed during an attempt to kidnap him in Colorado. Joseph Corbett Jr is arrested next October
- February 9 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- February 9 - Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500,000. Coors is later found dead and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted.
- February 10 - In Brussels, conference about Congo independence begins
- February 11 - 12 Indian soldiers die in clashes with Chinese troops at the border
- February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
- February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb in Sahara
- February 18 - 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
- February 29-March 1 night - Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.

March-April

Morocco
- March 6 - Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
- March 6 - Canton of Geneve in Switzerland gives women the right to vote
- March 21 - Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
- March 22 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
- April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
- April 1 - The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1
- April 4 - First three female priests ordained in Sweden
- April 9 - Gunman attacks South African Prime Minister Verwoerd in Johannesburg and wounds him seriously
- April 12 - Eric Peugeot, youngest son of founder of Peugeot is kidnapped in Paris. Kidnappers release him April 15 in exchange for $300,000 ransom
- April 13 - USA launches navigation satellite Transat I-b
- April 21 - In Brazil, The Country's capital (Federal District) is shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) is founded to succeed Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian Federal District.
- April 27 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship

May


- May 1 - Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane; the pilot Gary Powers is captured
- May 4 - West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is fired because of his nazi past
- May 9 - Reproductive rights: The Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill
- May 10 - The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus completes the first under water circumnavigation of the Earth
- May 11 - In Buenos Aires four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who was using the assumed name "Ricardo Klement"
- May 13 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, world's 7th highest mountain
- May 14 - Kenyan African National Congress party is founded in Kenya when three political parties join forces
- May 15 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit
- May 16 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris
- May 16 - Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
- May 20 - In Japan, police carries away socialist members of the diet. Parliament then approves a security treaty with the USA
- May 22 - Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Península de Taitao, loosing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record
- May 23 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured
- May 27 - In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celal Bayar and the government and invites General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.

June-July


- June 4 - Lake Bodom murders in Finland.
- June 9 - Typhoon Mary kills 1600 in Fukien province of China
- June 15 - Violent demonstrations in Tokyo University - police arrests 182, 589 are injured
- June 15 - BC Ferries, the second largest ferry operator in the world starts service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
- June 20 - Independence of Mali and Senegal
- June 22 - Erin Brockovich is born.
- June 23 - Japanese prime minister Kishi announces his resignation
- June 24 - Joseph Kasavubu elected the first president of independent Congo
- June 24 - Avro 748 first flight at Woodford, UK
- June 26 - British Somaliland gains independence from UK - 5 days later it united with the former Italian Somaliland to create modern Somali Republic
- June 30 - Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium - civil war follows
- June 30 - The Mali Federation between Senegal and Sudanese Republic (modern-day Mali) gains independence from France
- July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shot down a six-man RB-47. Two United States Air Force officers survived and were imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison. (see RB-47H shot down)
- July 4 - Following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state the previous year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- July 10 - The Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first European Football Championship
- July 11 - Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent; he receives Belgian help
- July 12 - Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded
- July 14 - United Nations decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee Belgian troops withdrawal
- July 20 - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government.
- July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II - he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days
- July 27 - OECD founded

August


- August - Stanley Clifford Weyman, US impostor, is killed when he tries to prevent a robbery
- August 5 - Burkina Faso declares independence from France
- August 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- August 6 - In Congo, Albert Kalonji declares independence of Autonomous State of South Kasai
- August 7 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
- August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
- August 16 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h).
- August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom
- August 17 - Gabon gains independence from France
- August 17 - Trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers begins in Moscow
- August 18 - Enovid, the first commercially produced oral contraceptive, is launched in Skokie, Illinois
- August 19 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage
- August 19 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft return to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
- August 20 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
- August 25 - 1960 Summer Olympics open in Rome. USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the north pole where the crew plays softball.
- August 29 - September 13 - Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida-New England area

September-October


- September 1 - Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
- September 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the history of the company (event lasted 2 days)
- September 5 - Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.
- September 5 - Congo president Joseph Kasavubu fires Patrice Lumumba's government and places him under house arrest
- September 8 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1)
- September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Congo in a military coup
- September 14 - Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC
- September 26 - The two leading US presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.
- October 1 - Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
- October 3 - Jânio Quadros, elected president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
- October 5 - White South Africans vote to make country a republic.
- October 7 - Second notable flood in Horncastle
- October 12 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United Nations meeting to protest discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
- October 12 - Otoya Yamaguchi asassinates Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of Japanese Socialist Party
- October 14 - US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps
- October 24 - Rocket explodes in Baikonur space center during fueling - 91 dead
- October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight

November

Muhammad Ali
- November 1 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
- November 2 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man elected to that office.
- November 13 - Sammy Davis, Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt. Interracial marriage is still illegal in 31 US states out of 50.
- November 15 - The Polaris missile is test launched
- November 22 - United Nations supports government of Joseph Kasa Vubu and Joseph Mobutu in Congo
- November 28 - Mauritania becomes independent of France
- November 30 - Production of the De Soto automobile brand ceases

December


- December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Congo was arrested by troops of Col. Joseph Mobutu.
- December 1 - A 5-ton Soviet space ship containing animals, insects and plants was launched into orbit. The spacecraft burned up upon re-entry.
- December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talked with Pope John XXIII for about an hour in the Vatican. It was the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican church had visited the Pope.
- December 2 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1M for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees in Florida. Cuban refugees have been arriving in Florida at the rate of 1,000 a week.
- December 2 - Congolese soldiers arrest Patrice Lumumba.
- December 4 - Admission to the United Nations of Mauritania was vetoed by the USSR.
- December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led 1958 and 1960 insurrections in Algeria, failed to appear in a Paris court. He was reported to have fled with 4 fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria.
- December 7 - The United Nations Security Council was called into session by the USSR to consider the Soviet demands that the U.N. seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
- December 9 - French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria was marked by bloody riots by European and Muslim mobs in Algeria's largest cities, killing 127 people.
- December 12 - A Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's anti-integration laws were unconstitutional was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- December 13 - While the Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was on a visit to Brazil, an unsuccessful revolt against his rule is carried out by his Imperial Guard. The rebels proclaim the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen.
- December 13 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras found the Central American Common Market.
- December 14 - Antione Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville in the Congo that he has assumed the premiership.
- December 14 - OECD formed in Paris.
- December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the government and takes power into his own hands.
- December 15 - Royal wedding in Belgium: King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
- December 16 - U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announced that the United States would commit five atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963.
- December 16 - The midair collision between a United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation over New York City kills all 128 on both planes and 6 persons on the ground.
- December 17 - Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia suppress the revolt that started on December 13 and give power back to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
- December 19 - Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, the U.S.'s largest aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, injuring 150 and killing 50.
- December 20 - Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation.
- December 27 - France sets off its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane, Algeria.

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Christian Bartolf, German political scientist and writer
- January 4 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)
- January 6 - Nigella Lawson, British chef and writer
- January 6 - Howie Long, American football player
- January 12 - Oliver Platt, Canadian actor
- January 13 - Kevin Anderson, American actor
- January 22 - Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (INXS) (d. 1997)
- January 28 - Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer, and producer
- January 29 - Greg Louganis, American diver
- January 29 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
- January 29 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
- February 4 - Adrienne King, American actress
- February 7 - James Spader, American actor
- February 10 - Robert Addie, British actor (d. 2003)
- February 11 - Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
- February 13 - Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
- February 14 - Jim Kelly, American football player
- February 19 - Prince Andrew, Duke of York
- February 25 - Stefan Blöcher, German field hockey player
- February 27 - Kara Kennedy, daughter of Edward Kennedy and Virginia Joan Bennett
- February 29 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker and writer

March-May


- March 4 - Mykelti Williamson, American actor
- March 7 - Joe Carter, baseball player
- March 7 - Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player
- March 13 - Adam Clayton, Irish bassist (U2)
- March 18 - Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)
- March 21 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1994)
- March 23 - Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland
- March 24 - Nena Kerner, German singer
- March 26 - Marcus Allen, American football player
- March 29 - Marina Sirtis, British actress
- April 2 - Linford Christie, British athlete
- April 3 - Elizabeth Gracen, American beauty queen, actress, and model
- April 4 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
- April 4 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
- April 11 - Jeremy Clarkson, English television show host
- April 14 - Brad Garrett, American actor
- April 18 - Neo Rauch, German painter
- April 19 - Frank Viola, baseball player
- April 26 - Roger Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
- April 28 - John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer (d. 2004)
- May 6 - John Flansburgh, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
- May 10 - Bono, Irish singer U2
- May 18 - Jari Kurri, Finnish hockey player
- May 18 - Yannick Noah, French tennis player
- May 20 - John Billingsley, American actor
- May 21 - Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer and murder victim (d. 1994)

June-December


- June 6 - Gary Graham, American actor
- June 6 - Steve Vai, American guitarist
- June 8 - Mick Hucknall English singer and songwriter (Simply Red)
- June 17 - Michael Monroe, Finnish singer (Hanoi Rocks)
- June 20 - John Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
- June 28 - John Elway, American football player
- June 29 - Paul Degner, Canadian Tax Reformer
- July 3 - Vince Clarke, English songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
- July 5 - Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor
- July 17 - Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
- July 18 - Anne-Marie Johnson, American actress
- July 21 - Ezequiel Viñao, Argentine-born composer
- August 4 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
- August 7 - David Duchovny, American actor
- August 10 - Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor
- August 14-Sarah Brightman, English soprano singer and actress
- August 17 - Sean Penn, American actor
- August 19 - Morten Andersen, American football player
- August 24 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player
- August 26 - Branford Marsalis, American musician
- September 4 - William Kennedy Smith son of Jean Kennedy Smith and nephew of John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- September 6 - Bob Stoops, American football coach
- September 6 - Michael Winslow, American actor and comedian
- September 9 - Hugh Grant, English actor
- September 10 - Colin Firth, English actor
- September 16 - John Franco, baseball player
- September 17 - Damon Hill, English race car driver
- October 5 - Daniel Baldwin, American actor
- October 7 - Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese singer
- October 24 - Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian (d. 1999)
- October 30 - Diego Maradona, Argentine footballer
- November 3 - Karch Kiraly, American volleyball player
- November 10 - Neil Gaiman, English author
- November 11 - Peter Parros, American actor
- November 11 - Stanley Tucci, American actor and film director
- November 25 - Amy Grant, American musician
- November 25 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and journalist and son of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1999)
- November 26 - Harold Reynolds, Major League Baseball player and ESPN analyst
- November 27 - Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine
- December 2 - Rick Savage, English bassist (Def Leppard)
- December 4 - Glynis Nunn, Australian athlete
- December 10 - Kenneth Branagh, Irish-born actor and film director
- December 18 - Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
- December 19 - Mike Lookinland, American actor
- December 27 - Maryam d'Abo, British actress
- December 31 - John Allen Muhammad, American serial killer

Deaths


- January 4 - Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (automobile accident) (b. 1913)
- January 12 - Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
- January 24 - Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
- February 3 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
- February 10 - Aloysius Stepinac, Catholic prelate (b. 1898)
- February 11 - Ernö Dohnányi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
- February 29 - Walter Yust, American encyclopædia editor (b.1894)
- March 2 - Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
- April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, King of Malaysia (b. 1895)
- April 17 - Eddie Cochran American Singer (b. 1938)
- April 24 - Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- May 8 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
- May 30 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1890)
- May 31 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (b. 1890)
- Gross domestic product: 1.5% (FY02) Sierra Leone's military is infamous for the use of child soldiers.

References and Links


- Sierra Leone
- CIA World Factbook (2003) Sierra Leone Category:Sierra Leone ja:シエラレオネの軍事

President of Sierra Leone

The following is a list of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and transitional leaders of Sierra Leone:

Color code


See also


- list of Governors-General of Sierra Leone
- Sierra Leone
- Politics of Sierra Leone
- lists of incumbents

Reference

Information from [http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/sierra.htm] Category:Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, Heads of Government of

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (born February 16, 1932) is the President of Sierra Leone (1996-1997, 1998 - present). He worked for the United Nations Development Programme, and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992. He was elected president in 1996. Most of his time in office was marked by a bloody civil war with the Revolutionary United Front, led by Foday Sankoh, which involved him being temporarily ousted by the military Armed Forces Revolutionary Council from May 1997 to March 1998 He was soon returned to power after a military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Another phase of the civil war led to United Nations and British involvement in the country in 2000. The civil war was officially declared over in early 2002, and Kabbah went on to win yet another term in office in the presidential election later that year.

Background

Birth

President Kabbah was born in Pendembu, Kailahun District, in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, on 16 February 1932. His family, educational and religious backgrounds reflect the diversity and high level of tolerance that generally characterize the people of his West African homeland.

Youth and Education

An ethnic Mandinka, Kabbah was born of Muslim parentage and a devout Muslim himself. He received his secondary education at St. Edward's, the oldest catholic secondary school in the country. He also married a Catholic, the late Patricia Kabbah, nee Tucker, who hailed from the Southern Province. He received his higher education at the Cardiff College of Technology and Commerce, and Commerce, Wales, in the United Kingdom, with a Bachelor's degree in Economics in 1959. He later studied law, and in 1969 he became a practicing Barrister-at-Law, member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London.

Career

The President has spent his entire career in the public sector, as a national and international civil servant. He served in the Western Area and in all the Provinces of Sierra Leone. He was a District Commissioner in Bombali and Kambia (Northern Province), in Kono (Eastern Province) and in Moyamba and Bo (Southern Province). He later became Permanent Secretary in various Ministries, including Trade and Industry, Social Welfare, and Education.

United Nations

He was an international civil servant for almost two decades. After serving as deputy Chief of the West Africa Division of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, he was reassigned in 1973 to head the Programme’s operation in the southern African Kingdom of Lesotho, as Resident Representative. He also headed UNDP operations in Tanzania and Uganda, and just before Zimbabwe's independence, he was temporarily assigned to that country to help lay the groundwork for cooperation with the United Nations system. After a successful tour of duty in Eastern and Southern Africa, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah returned to New York to head UNDP’s Eastern and Southern Africa Division. Among other things, he was directly responsible for coordinating UN system assistance to liberation movements recognized by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), such as the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, and the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) of Namibia. Before his retirement in 1992, President Kabbah held a number of senior administrative positions at UNDP Headquarters in New York, including those of Deputy Director and Director of Personnel, and Director, Division of Administration and Management.

Political career in Sierra Leone

Following the military coup in 1992, he was asked to chair the National Advisory Council, one of the mechanisms established by the junta to facilitate the restoration of constitutional rule, including the drafting of a new constitution for Sierra Leone. He reputedly intended his return to Sierra Leone to be a retirment, but was encouraged by those around him and the political situation that arose to become more actively involved in the politics of Sierra Leone.

First term as President

In March 1996, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), was elected President of Sierra Leone in the first multi-party elections in twenty-three years. Guided by his philosophy of "political inclusion" he appointed the most broad-based government in the nation's history, drawing from all political parties represented in Parliament, and ‘technocrats’ in civil society. One minority party did not accept his offer of a cabinet post. The President's first major objective was to end the rebel war which, in four years had already claimed hundreds of innocent lives, driven thousands of others into refugee status, and ruined the nation's economy. In November 1996, in Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, he signed a peace agreement with the rebel leader, former Corporal Foday Sankoh of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The rebels reneged on the Agreement, resumed hostilities, and later perpetrated on the people of Sierra Leone what has been described as one of the most brutal internal conflicts in the world.

Coup and exile

In 1996, a coup attempt involving Johnny Paul Koroma and other junior officers of the Sierra Leone Army was unsuccessful, but served as notice that Kabbah's control over military and government officials in Freetown was weakening. In May 1997, a military coup forced the President into exile in neighbouring Guinea. The coup was led by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, and upon siezing power, Koroma was freed and installed as the head of state. Kabbah's democratically elected government was restored nine months later when the military-rebel junta was removed by troops representing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the command of the Nigerian led ECOMOG (ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group) and loyal civil and military defence forces, notably the Kamajors led by Samuel Hinga Norman. Kabbah was forced to flee to Guinea and attempted to garner international support.

Return to Sierra Leone

Once again, in pursuit of peace, President Kabbah signed the Lomé Peace Accord with the RUF rebel leader Foday Sankoh on 7 July, 1999. Notwithstanding repeated violations by the RUF, the document, known as the Lomé Peace Agreement, remained the cornerstone of sustainable peace, security, justice and national reconciliation in Sierra Leone. On 18 January 2002, at a ceremony marking the conclusion of the disarmament and demobilization of ex-combatants under the auspices of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), he declared that the rebel war was over.

Political Goals and Views

As the first leader after the civil war, Kabbah's main task has been to disarm the different factions involved in the fighting and to build unity of the country. Time magazine has called Kabbah a "diamond in the rough" for his success as the first civilian elected ruler of Sierra Leone in 34 years and his role in the end of what became a decade long conflict from 1992 until 2000. However Kabbah has been accused of corruption and his officials are said to be profiting from the diamond trade. Kabbah has struggled with this problem and invited the British to help set up an anticorruption commision. Kabbah has said publically that he does not intend on running for reelection in 2007.

Personal Life

Kabbah's wife Patricia, an ethnic Mende, died in 1998. He has four children, Mariama, Abu, Michael and Tejan Jr. and two grandchildren, Simone and Aidan.

Honors

President Kabbah, as Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone in Freetown holds an honorary doctor of laws degree of the University. In September 2001 Southern Connecticut State University in the United States awarded him with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, in recognition of his effort to bring peace to his country. The President is Grand Commander of the Order of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

References

Aisha Labi. "Diamond In the Rough" Time Magazine Sunday, August 18, 2002 accessed from [http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901020826-338590,00.html] on August 27, 2005 Kabbah, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Ahmad Tejan ja:アフマド・テジャン・カバー

May 25

May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). There are 220 days remaining.

Events


- 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo back from the Moors.
- 1420 - Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
- 1521 - The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
- 1659 - Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth.
- 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presides.
- 1810 - In the May Revolution, armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy during the Semana de Mayo.
- 1865 - In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
- 1895 - Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "commiting acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
- 1895 - The Republic of Taiwan is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president.
- 1914 - The