National+Provisional+Ruling+Council

= National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) = by Julia Ashton On April 29, 1992, a group of young military officers, led by Capt. Valentine Strasser, launched a military coup, which sent Momoh into exile in Guinea and established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) as the ruling authority in Sierra Leone. It was established because of the rouge diamond trading. The war was getting out of hand and something had to be done. The NPRC did not work very well. More and more of the country fell to fighters. By 1995 they held much of the countryside. The NPRC hired hundreds of mercenaries in order to take control of the situation. With this they drove fighters out of Sierra Leon, making it somewhat successful. The NPRC agreed to handover power to a civilian government by way of fair elections, which were in April 1996 and that was the end of it. All in all, it was a short government ruling and failed because it did not take control like it was suppose to (U.S. Department of State). According to a book on the National Provisional Ruling Council, "In April 1992, a group of disgruntle junior officers on leave in Freetown, led by Captain Valentine Strasser, overthrew President Momoh and formed a military junta known as the National Provisional ruling council. The military junta consisted of about 100 soldiers displaying rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and antiaircraft guns" (Woods 27). This basically sums up all that it was and shows why it was unsuccessful. With heavy machinery like that threatening places, there is no wonder why the popularity died because it was popular for a while. They had promised to end the war and restore peace in Sierra Leone. They did not believe that compromise would work with the fighters or think it was in the peoples best interest, so they felt that they had to fight, and as previously said, chased the fighters out. Founder: Valentine Strasser (Former Head of State of Sierra Leon)   Works Cited: "Sierra Leone." U.S. Department of State. 1 Dec. 2010. Web. 07 Feb. 2011. Woods, Larry J., and Timothy R. Reese. Military Interventions in Sierra Leone: Lessons from a Failed State. Fort Leavenworth, Kan.: Combat Studies Institute, US Army Combined Arms Center, 2008. Print.