Chiefdom Shading Key:

	No violations reported (in statements to the TRC)
	Less than 25 violations reported
	25 or more violations reported

Note: Chiefdoms are shaded according to the number of violations recorded in the TRC's statements. Unreported violations may have occurred in chiefdoms where none are shown. Also the reporting of violations within a chiefdom does not imply that the abuse occurred at a particular location within that chiefdom. Outliers are excluded where evidence supports this decision. See the methodology for further explanation.

1992

Recalling the map for 1991, it should be apparent that most of the areas where RUF abuses were reported then are the site of further violations in 1992. Apart from forcing a retreat from chiefdoms in Bonthe district then the army had not contained the RUF/NPFL invasion. Elements within the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) felt that their limited progress was due to the lack of government support for their efforts. So the most significant event of the year occurred not at the the battlefront but in Freetown; the one-party rule of Joseph Momoh was ended by a military coup. For more on this follow the Freetown link to the NPRC coup.

Whilst the government in Freetown succumbed to the coup, the RUF also faced a rebellion within its ranks. Though identifying themselves as the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone, the invasion force contained many fighters from Charles Taylor's NPFL. Growing friction between the RUF and NPFL elements led to a confrontation between these Sierra Leonean and Liberian groupings. The Pendembu link explores this RUF/NPFL power struggle.

Noting again that civilians in Kailahun, Pujehun, Kenema and Bo districts continue to be subjected to rebel atrocities, the situation appears to be something of a stalemate. The RUF have not advanced towards Freetown but the army has not forced a substantive retreat either. As the year progressed the stalemate was broken when the RUF succeeded in attacking Kono. Whilst 1991 violations in Kono were limited to attacks in chiefdoms along the road south of Koidu, RUF abuses are now reported throughout the district. In the course of the war, this was the first time that the main diamond producing area was occupied. The link from Koidu examines the role of diamonds in the conflict.

With the army now in charge of the country, victory over the RUF seemed increasingly possible in the following year – see the map for 1993.

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The 1992 events are drawn from the TRC report chapters The Military and Political History of the Conflict and Mineral Resources, their Use and their Impact on the Conflict and the Country