Solomon Musa

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This article is part of a series on the
Sierra Leone Civil War
Personalities
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Johnny Paul Koroma Foday Sankoh Sam Bockarie Valentine Strasser Julius Maada Bio Charles Taylor Solomon Musa Hinga Norman Yahya Kanu Moinina Fofana Allieu Kondewa Tony Blair David Richards Lansana Conté Sani Abacha Maxwell Khobe Vijay Jetley Daniel Opande
Armed forces
ECOMOG Executive Outcomes Kamajors RUF Sandline International SLA West Side Boys
Key events
RUF insurgency Kenema Bo Silver Anvil 1992 coup 1992 coup attempt 1996 coup 1996 coup attempt 1997 coup Noble Obelisk Siege of Freetown Hastings Airport Palliser Lungi Lol Khukri Barras
Attempts at peace
Abidjan Peace Accord Lomé Peace Accord UNAMSIL British intervention SCSL
Political groups
AFRC APC NPRC SLPP
Ethnic groups
Krio Limba Mende Temne
See also
Blood diamond Freetown Liberian Civil War Mano River
v t e

Solomon Anthony James Musa (1966, Freetown, Sierra Leone – January 1999), also known as SAJ Musa, was an important military and political figure in the Sierra Leone Civil War.

In late April 1992, the

. The situation escalated to a coup, and in the confusion Strasser emerged as chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council, and leader of Sierra Leone.

During the four-year reign of the young Strasser, Musa played the role of Strasser's deputy,

.

There is some confusion about the exact sequence of events, and who actually initiated the coup. One of the first actions of the revolting soldiers was to seize the Parliament building and hang out placards calling for Musa to return as President. He travelled via Guinea, where he was briefly arrested, and by the time he reached Freetown, Koroma, who had been in Pademba Road Jail after a previous coup attempt, had declared himself President. Musa continued to be an important figure in the military and politics of the country, as his voice and actions were highly influential, and state politics in Kono, as elsewhere in Sierra Leone, were beset with corruption, especially relating to diamond mining.

On 15 November 1998, a group of rebels led by Musa kidnapped an Italian Catholic missionary, Father Mario Guerra. Musa demanded a satellite telephone, medical supplies, and radio contact with his wife, who had been arrested in September. He wanted to surrender to either the UN or the ECOMOG force, as things were not going well for him, and he was afraid of being captured by the Kamajors. This did not happen, however, and he and his group were heavily involved in the rebel advance on Freetown at the end of 1998. (Archives of Sierra Leone Web)

In late December 1999, Solomon Musa died, allegedly of wounds received from a shrapnel after an ammunition store exploded in Benguema prior to the AFRC attack on Freetown in January 1999. It now appears that he was killed, probably by his own lieutenants, on the orders of Charles Taylor, whose orders he had been refusing. This version of his death could also be traced back to rumours spread by Tejan Kabbah.