Sierra Leone today remembered the events of January 6, 1999, the day rebel forces of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) entered the city of Freetown, as part of an offensive to overthrow the government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.
Rebel forces beseiged the city and took hold of more than half of the capital for three weeks during which they randomly massacred, burnt homes, committed rape crimes, amputated limbs, and gouged out eyes of civilians.
A Human Rights Watch report estimated that about that 7000 people were at least murdered by RUF forces in Freetown during that three week period.
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