ABSTRACT
Sierra Leone is commonly cited as a state that illustrates the trend of global anarchy. It depends upon agriculture and mining, particularly diamonds, which allowed the development of an outstanding educational system. All Peoples Congress (APC) beat the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) in the elections of 1967; the state was re-built in a highly centralised form by Siaka Stevens who led the government, with one brief military interregnum, from 1967 until 1985. The successor to Stevens continued in the one-party mode until the coup of 1992 when Valentine Strasser became chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). In 1994, government troops were reported to have been involved in banditry and proved unable to halt the activities of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), an offshoot of Taylors National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). By 1994, most of the country was effectively lawless and on 18 May 1995 ECOWAS was called in to negotiate with the rebels.
