Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2014) |
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah | |
---|---|
Military Junta) | |
Succeeded by | Johnny Paul Koroma (Military Junta) |
In office February 6, 1998 – September 17, 2007 | |
Vice President | Albert Joe Demby Solomon Berewa |
Preceded by | Johnny Paul Koroma (Military Junta) |
Succeeded by | Ernest Bai Koroma |
Leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) | |
In office March 4, 1996 – February 1, 2005 | |
Preceded by | Salia Jusu-Sheriff |
Succeeded by | Solomon Berewa |
Personal details | |
Born | Freetown, Sierra Leone | 16 February 1932
Political party | Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) |
Spouse(s) | Patricia Kabbah (1965 until her death in 1998) Isata Jabbie Kabbah (2008–2014) |
Children | 5 children (all with Patricia Kabbah):
|
Alma mater | Aberystwyth University (Aberystwyth, Wales) (Cardiff, Wales) |
Profession | Economist, Attorney |
Religion | Islam (Sunni) |
Ethnicity | Mandingo |
Sierra Leone portal |
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (16 February 1932 – 13 March 2014) was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007.[1] An economist and attorney by profession, Kabbah spent many years working for the United Nations Development Programme.[1] He retired from the United Nations and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992.[1]
In early 1996, Kabbah was elected leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) and was the party's presidential candidate in the country's first free presidential election later that year. He was elected with 59% of the vote, defeating his closest rival, John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party (UNPP), who had 40% in the runoff vote and conceded defeat. International observers declared the election free and fair. Kabbah campaigned on a promise to end the civil war if elected president. During his inauguration speech as president, Kabbah repeated the promise to end the civil war, which he indeed achieved later in his presidency.
A deeply devoted
Kabbah's first marriage, in 1965, was to
A year after he left office as president, and ten years after the death of his wife Patricia, Kabbah married Isata Jabbie Kabbah, an ethnic Mandingo and a Muslim in an Islamic wedding ceremony in Freetown.[3] They remained married until he died in 2014.
Most of Kabbah's time in office was influenced by the civil war with the
As President, Kabbah opened direct
Kabbah declared the civil war officially over in early 2002. Tens of thousands of Sierra Leoneans across the country took to the streets to celebrate the end of the war. Kabbah went on to easily win his final five-year term in office in the presidential election later that year, defeating his main opponent Ernest Bai Koroma of the main opposition All People's Congress (APC) with 70.1% of the vote–the largest margin of victory for a free election in the country's history. International observers declared the election free and fair.
Background
Youth and education
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was born on February 16, 1932, in the
Though a devoted Muslim, Kabbah received his secondary education at the St. Edward's Secondary School, the oldest
Kabbah received his higher education at the
Career
Kabbah spent nearly his entire career in the public sector. 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,
United Nations
Kabbah was an international civil servant for almost two decades. After serving as deputy Chief of the West Africa Division of the
After a successful tour of duty in Eastern and Southern Africa, 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
Before his retirement in 1992, 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
After the military coup in 1992, he was asked to chair the National Advisory Council, one of the mechanisms set up by the military 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 retirement, 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
This article is part of a series on the |
Sierra Leone Civil War |
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Personalities |
Armed forces |
Key events |
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Attempts at peace |
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Political groups |
Ethnic groups |
See also |
Kabbah was seen as a compromise candidate when he was put forward by the Mende-dominated Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) as their presidential hopeful in the 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the first multi-party elections in twenty-three years. The SLPP won the legislative vote overwhelmingly in the South and Eastern Province of the country, they split the vote with the UNPP in the Western Area and they lost in the Northern Province.
On March 29, 1996, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was sworn in as Sierra Leone's first freely elected president. 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 Côte 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 Kabbah into exile in neighbouring Guinea. The coup was led by the
Return to Sierra Leone
Once again, in pursuit of peace, President Kabbah signed the
Saved by Nigeria and Britain
Although elected as president, he faced the task of fighting a brutal enemy. His most crucial military support was however from outside; Nigeria was the foremost participant as they crucially intervened under the leadership of General Sani Abacha, who was then the military head of his country. In February 1998, he sent his troops to push out the infamous military junta and rebel alliance of Johnny Paul Koroma and Sam Bockarie, known as Maskita. The rebels however continued their attempt to overthrow Kabbah's government, despite signing numerous peace accords with President Kabbah. In May 2000, Foday Saybanah Sankoh, who was then part of Kabbah's cabinet, kidnapped several UN troops, and then ordered his rebels to march to Freetown. Trouble was looming as the capital was once more threatened with another January 6, 1999, scenario. But with the timely intervention of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, 800 British troops were sent to Freetown to halt the impending rebel march to the city.[6] President Kabbah was very grateful to the British Prime Minister, calling his intervention "timely" and one that "Sierra Leonean people will never forget".
Ending of the Civil War
As president, Kabbah opened direct
In October 1999, the United Nations agreed to send
The rebels finally agreed to be disarmed; in return the Sierra Leone government, led by Kabbah, offered them
The civil war was officially declared over in early 2002 by Kabbah. Tens of thousands of Sierra Leoneans across the country took to the streets to celebrate the end of the war. Kabbah went on to easily win his final five years term in office in the presidential election later that year with 70.1% of the vote, defeating his main opponent Ernest Bai Koroma of the main opposition All People's Congress (APC). International observers declared the election free and fair. After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the war, Kabbah declared Bengali an honorary official language in December 2002.[7][8][9][10]
End of term and post-presidency
Kabbah left office in September 2007 at the end of his second 5-year term. Constitutionally, he was ineligible to seek re-election. His Vice-president, Solomon Berewa, ran as the SLPP candidate to succeed Kabbah but was defeated by opposition candidate Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC.
Kabbah was the head of the
Death
Kabbah died at his home in
A
On March 21, 2014, Kabbah's coffin was carried by soldiers of the
Personal life
Kabbah's wife Patricia, an ethnic Sherbro, died in 1998. He has five children: Mariama, Abu, Michael, and Tejan Jr., and six grandchildren: Simone, Aidan, Abubakarr Sidique, Mariama, Nkoya, Tejan, and Zainab Kabbah. In 2008 he married Isata Jabbie Kabbah, who was about 40 years his junior.
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. In July 2006, he received another honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, for his contribution to restoring peace in his country after a decade of civil war, and for working towards political and economic reconstruction following the end of the war.
Kabbah was a grand commander of the Order of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
References
- ^ a b c Shepherd, Melinda C. "Ahmad Tejan Kabbah | president of Sierra Leone". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
- ^ Gberie, Lans. "Tejan Kabbah: This Is My Life". NewAfrican. NewAfrican. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013.
- ^ Turay, Aruna (May 11, 2008). "The Wedding of Sierra Leone's Former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to Mrs. Isata Kabbah". Awareness Times Newspaper. Awareness Times Newspaper. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-195-38207-5.
- ^ Randall, Bryan (March 17, 2014). "Late President Kabbah Was Sent By God". Awareness Times Newspaper. Awareness Times Newspaper. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014.
- ^ "Tony Blair's Sierra Leone Legacy Leone". 18 July 2009.
- ^ "How Bengali became an official language in Sierra Leone". The Indian Express. 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
- ^ "Why Bangla is an official language in Sierra Leone". Dhaka Tribune. 23 Feb 2017.
- ^ Ahmed, Nazir (21 Feb 2017). "Recounting the sacrifices that made Bangla the State Language".
- ^ "Sierra Leone makes Bengali official language". Pakistan. 29 Dec 2002. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013.
- ^ "Kenya: EU observers doubt "exaggerated" voter turnout in Kenyan polls" Archived 2008-01-02 at the Wayback Machine, Panapress (afriquenligne.fr), December 30, 2007.
- ^ Kasambala, Tiseke (9 June 2008). ""Bullets for Each of You": State-Sponsored Violence since Zimbabwe's March 29 Elections". Human Rights Watch.
- ^ Cris Chinaka, "Mugabe to chair meeting", Reuters (IOL), April 3, 2008.
- ^ "Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Who Guided Sierra Leone to Peace, Dies at 82". The New York Times. March 14, 2014.
- ^ "Sierra Leone war-time leader Ahmad Tejan Kabbah dies". BBC. BBC. March 13, 2014.
- ^ a b "As Tejan Kabbah Passes On… 7 Days Mourning Begins Today!". Sierra Leone News Hunters. Sierra Leone News Hunters. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on April 6, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
- ^ "State funeral for president Kabba on Sunday 23 March". Sierra Leone Telegraph. Sierra Leone Telegraph. March 18, 2014. Archived from the original on April 5, 2015.
- Aisha Labi. "Diamond In the Rough" Time magazine Sunday, August 18, 2002, accessed from Time on August 27, 2005
External links
- "Blair legacy in Sierra Leone".[dead link]
- "Bio Data of The President of Sierra Leone". Archived from the original on October 17, 2007.