Valentine Strasser

Infobox_President|name=Valentine Strasser|nationality=Sierra Leonean


|image size =
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order=former Head of State of Sierra Leone
term_start=April 29, 1992
term_end=January 16, 1996
predecessor=Joseph Saidu Momoh
successor=Julius Maada Bio
birth_date=birth date and age|1967|04|26
birth_place=Freetown, Sierra Leone
dead=alive
death_date=
death_place=
party= Military Junta (National Provisional Ruling Council- NPRC)
spouse =
children =
residence = Freetown, Sierra Leone
alma_mater =
profession = Soldier
religion = Christian

Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser (born on April 26, 1967 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is a former head of state of Sierra Leone. He was a junior military officer until 1992 , when he became the youngest Head of State in the world at the age of 25. He was the leading members of a group of six young Sierra Leonean soldiers who overthrew president Joseph Saidu Momoh in the April 29, 1992 military coup. Afterwards, the group formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), with Strasser as its leader.

Early life

Valentine Esegragbo Melvin Strasser was born on April 26, 1967 in the neighborhood of Murry Town in the west end of Freetown. He grew up without a father and was raised by his Sierra Leonean mother from the Krio ethnic group, who was of Jamaican ancestry. Strasser completed his secondary education at the Sierra Leone Grammar School in Freetown. On graduation from secondary school in 1985, he enlisted in the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces (RSLMF) at the age of eighteen. After his training, he rose to the rank of junior officer.

As a young, ambitious soldier, Strasser was commissioned to a military barracks in the town of Kailahun, Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone in 1987, along with his childhood friend and fellow soldier, Sergeant Solomon Musa. Most of the soldiers in the barracks were in their teens or early twentys and most of them came from different parts of the country. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) lead by Foday Sankoh began their first attack in 1992 in villages in Kailahun District. Strasser and other soldiers who were already in a military baracks in Kailahun, were sent to command and rout the rebellion against the RUF.

Presidency

During Strasser time at the war front in Kailahun District against the RUF, the Government of Sierra Leone lead 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 receive 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 match down in their combat from Kailahun to the State House in Freetown on April 29 1992, to protest about their setbacks in pursuing the war, demanding their outstanding salaries. The group of soldiers was lead by Strasser himself and his best friend Solomon Musa. The emergence of the soldeirs to the capital city forced president Momoh to fled the country and went into exile in Conakry, Guinea. That motivated Strasser and his men to seize power, forming the NPRC, with Strasser as the its leader and the Head of State of the country.

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 lead 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. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/nov/26/sierraleone Ousted ruler may face Sierra Leone war crimes court] in The Guardian, 26 November, 2000]

Trivia

His brief period of rule is mentioned in the Super Furry Animals track "Placid Casual," from the album Radiator.

References

External links