Army officers ousted Sierra Leone's military leader in a coup today, six weeks before elections to restore civilian rule. There were no reports of bloodshed, and the ousted leader, Capt. Valentine Strasser, was said to have been given safe passage to Guinea.
A statement by the officers said Captain Strasser, 30, had been replaced by Brig. Julius Maada Bio, 33, formerly his closest associate in the military junta. Foreign diplomats in the capital confirmed the coup. Captain Strasser had promised to hold elections for a civilian government on Feb. 26, despite an ongoing civil war.
Aides to Brigadier Bio, about whom little is known, said that he opposes holding the election until the war has ended, or at least abated, and that some officers in Captain Strasser's military junta had decided a coup was necessary to insure a safe transition to civilian rule.
Source: New York Times
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