Valentine Strasser

Valentine Strasser
Head of State of Sierra Leone
In office 29 April 1992 – 16 January 1996
Preceded by	Joseph Saidu Momoh
Succeeded by	Julius Maada Bio
Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC)
In office 29 April 1992 – 16 January 1996
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Julius Maada Bio
Personal details
Born	Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser 26 April 1967 Freetown, Sierra Leone
Nationality	Sierra Leonean
Political party	Military Junta (National Provisional Ruling Council- NPRC)
Residence	Newton, Western Area, Sierra Leone
Alma mater	University of Warwick Coventry, England, UK
Profession	Soldier
Religion	Christianity
Military service
Service/branch	Sierra Leone Army
Years of service	1985–1996
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Sierra Leone Civil War

Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser (born on 26 April 1967 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) served as head of state of Sierra Leone from 1992 to 1996. He had been a junior military officer but in 1992, he became the world's youngest Head of State when he seized power three days after his 25th birthday. He was the leading member in a group of six young Sierra Leonean soldiers who overthrew president Joseph Saidu Momoh in the 29 April 1992 military coup. They established a military junta called the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).

On January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in a second military coup, but this time it was his own NPRC soldiers who were not satisfied with his handling of the peace process. The coup was led by his deputy, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio.

Strasser was born and raised in the neighbourhood of Allen Town in the east end of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown to Creole parents. Strasser did his secondary education at the Sierra Leone Grammar School in Freetown and graduated in 1985 at age eighteen. Strasser enlisted in the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces (RSLMF) at age eighteen, immediately after graduating from secondary school.

Strasser is the first Sierra Leonean Head of State born in the post colonial Independent nation of Sierra Leone. Strasser is the second Sierra Leonean Head of State from the Creole ethnic group; and he is also the second Sierra Leonean Head of State born in Freetown.

Early life

Valentine Esegragbo Melvin Strasser was born on 26 April 1967 in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to parents from the Creole ethnic group. Strasser grew up in the neighbourhood of Allen Town, in the extreme East End of Freetown.

Strasser completed his secondary education at the Sierra Leone Grammar School in Freetown and graduated in 1985 at age eighteen. While in secondary school, Strasser was a gifted student in math and chemistry.

Military career

On graduation from secondary school in 1985, he enlisted in the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces (RSLMF) at the age of eighteen and was deployed for military training as a cadet officer at the Benguema Military Training Academy in Benguema, a town located just outside Freetown. After his training, he rose to the rank of junior officer in the Sierra Leone army at the young age of nineteen.

As a young ambitious soldier, Strasser was commissioned to a military barracks in Daru, Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone in 1987 at the age of 19. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh began their first attack on 25 March 1991 in Buedu villages in Kailahun District. Strasser and other soldiers who were already in a military barracks in Kailahun, were sent to command and rout the rebellion against the RUF.

Presidency

During Strasser's time at the war front in Kailahun District against the RUF, the Government of Sierra Leone led by president Joseph Saidu Momoh hardly supplied enough boots to the soldiers and the necessary military equipment to help fortify Strasser and his fellow soldiers in the war against the RUF. The soldiers never received their salaries on time and their welfare was hardly at the top of the government's list of priorities.

After many appeals, warnings or threats, the young soldiers decided to march down in their combat from Kailahun to the State House in Freetown on 29 April 1992, to protest about their setbacks in pursuing the war, demanding their outstanding salaries. The group of soldiers was led by Strasser himself and his best friend Solomon Musa. The emergence of the soldiers into the capital city forced president Momoh to flee the country and he went into exile in Conakry, Guinea. That motivated Strasser and his men to seize power, forming the NPRC, with Strasser as its leader and the Head of State of the country. Strasser became the youngest Head of State in the world at just twenty five years old.^[1][2]

1996 Coup

On January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in another military coup, but this time it was his own NPRC members who were not satisfied with his handling of the peace process. The coup was led by his deputy, Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio, Colonel Tom Nyuma and Captain Komba Mondeh. Bio quickly rose as the leader of the coup, with the support of Nyuma and Mondeh and took over as Head of State of Sierra Leone.

Post-Presidency

Following his overthrow, Strasser left for the United Kingdom, where he studied law at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, but stopped his studies after a year. In 2000 Strasser left England for Gambia only to have his entry to that country denied.^[3] He then moved back to Sierra Leone where he lives in poverty on a small pension in Grafton, east of Freetown,^[4][5] and runs the ICT Institute providing computer skills for youths.^[6]

External links

• Todd Pitman, "Ex-Dictator, Jobless, Lives Off His Mom" . The Associated Press, 2002.

References

1. "Akam '09 profiles former African dictator Valentine Strasser". Columbia Journalism School.
2. "Harvest of Shame: Former Sierra Leonean Ruler Valentine Strasser". Worldpress.org.
3. Ousted ruler may face Sierra Leone war crimes court in The Guardian, 26 November 2000
4. Akam, Simon (2 February 2012). "The vagabond king". New Statesman (New Statesman). Retrieved 15 April 2012.
5. Janet Otieno (15 February 2012). "Ex-Sierra Leone president stripped of all power trappings". Africa Review. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
6. Roland Bankole (26 March 2012). "Sierra Leone: Retired Captain Valentine M. Strasser breaks his silence". Patriotic Vanguard. Retrieved 18 August 2014.