Nigerian Troops Battle Army Coupists & Rebel Militias in Sierra Leone | ECOMOG | June 1997

Early June 1997.

Footage from Monday June 2nd of Nigerian troops exchanging gunfire with Sierra Leonean coup soldiers and their rebel allies in Freetown, the capital city.

Sierra Leone had at this point endured a civil war since 1991 and during that time had suffered 3 coups in 5 years.

Rebel troops had become convinced that Nigerian troops were about to launch an attack on them from the Mammy Yoko Hotel which had a heliport on its grounds.

Outnumbered 3-1, the Nigerian troops held off the attack on the hotel where journalists and hundreds of terrified civilians were sheltering.

The Nigerian government responded by sending more troops on Wednesday, June 4th and Ghana sent negotiators, both actions intended to bring to an end a 10-day old insurection by elements of the Sierra Leonian army.

On Wednesday, speaking in Monrovia, the Force Commander of the ECOMOG peace-keeping troop deployments in Liberia and Sierra Leone, General Victor Malu denied that any Nigerian troops had been taken hostage by the coupists and rebels.

The previous day, the United States had carried out its largest single-day non-combatant evacuation from Freetown bringing out 1,261 foreign and Sierra Leonian civilians by helicopter.

Source: Reuters News Archive.

See:

New York Times | "Nigerians Fire on Rebels Who Seized Sierra Leone"
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/0....6/03/world/nigerians

General Victor Malu speaking in 1998 at the end of his deployment as the Force Commander of ECOMOG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMz_zc1cvlk

Motivational Farwell Speech by ECOMOG Force Commander- Lieutenant General SVL Malu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSYUfkME7mg

West African Military Rulers: 1960s-1990s.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/329089214454696/