What America and Sierra Leone Share in Common

The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels besieged parts of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone in the early hours of January 6, 1999. For weeks the armed rebels backed by disbanded soldiers terrorised and unleashed unspeakable mayhem on the civilian population.

Rebels of the RUF

President Tejan Kabba, a former united nations senior executive was flown out of the country by ECOMOG to neighboring Guinea as the rebels headed toward the presidential lodge in western Freetown.

Meanwhile, on January 6, 2021 an angry mob violently assaulted the United States capitol causing the deaths of five people and vandalized the house of representatives.

Attack on Capitol

The different in these two events is that one is self inflicted (America) while the other suffered an invasion by a ruthless organization that sought to take over power by force of arms and destroyed anything in its path. Interestingly, both are democracies except that Sierra Leone is an emerging democracy.

How could two countries, one being an economic superpower and the other one of the poorest countries in the world share almost the same ugly scenario that will go in the history books?