Personnel serving with IMATT are, it appears, entitled

to purchase the Sierra Leone (Provisional Government)

instituted IMATT Medal. Initially this was for service in

2002 - Operation Sculpture. However, to date, this has

not been approved for wear by the British Government.

The medal (Figure 11) is 35.6mm in diameter and the

obverse bears the arms of the nation and the inscription

THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE. The reverse bears

the inscription, within a laurel wreath, FOR SERVICE WITH THE MILITARY ADVISORY AND TRAINING TEAM SIERRA LEONE (Figure 12). The 32mmm wide

ribbon consists of five equal stripes of green, white, red,

white and green with two narrow 2ram wide edge stripes.

The medal comes issued in a rectangular green box with

an accompanying miniature, 19mm in diameter with a

ribbon 17mm in width.

The Awards of Sierra Leone

Order of the Republic (4 classes)

Order of Rokel (4 classes)

Bai Bureh Star (gallantry)

Nyagua Medal (bravery)

Matturi Medal (combat) Siaka Stevens Cross (civil and military merit)

Milton Margai Medal (civil and military merit)

Wallace Johnson Medal (civil and military merit)

Moustique Medal (combating malaria)

Police Gallantry Medal

Police Meritorious Service Medal

Police Long Service Medal

Fire Brigade Gallantry Medal

Fire Brigade Meritorious Service Medal

Fire Brigade Long Service Medal

General Service Medal - see below.

1961 Independence Medal - see below

It would appear that the last time that Sierra Leone awards were presented to Sierra Leone military personnel before the descent of the nation into total civil war was on April 29, 1993 - the first anniversary of the NPRC coup - when a number of gallantry medals were awarded. The awarding of state honors was reinstituted on the occasion of Independence Day celebrations of April 23, 2004. President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah made the following awards:

Grand Officer of the Order of Sierra Leone

Honorable Justice Abdulai B. Timbo

The Late Right Honorable SirAlbert Michae! Magni

KCMG

Commander of the Order of Sierra Leone Professor Ernest H.M. Wright Professor Ahmed M. Taqi Mr. Peter Louis Tucker

Doctor Evelyn C. Cummings Doctor Sheka T. Kamara Doctor Bocharie M. Kobba

Grand Officer of the Order of Rokel

Ms. Christiana Thorpe (Child Welfare)

Mr. George Coleridge-Taylor

The Late Professor Mohammed T. Dahniya

Commander of the Order of Rokel

Doctor John A. Songo-Williarns

Doctor Edward A. Nahim

Mr. Sam Campbell

Officer of the Order of Rokel Mr. Wilfred Sam King Mr. Sahid Koroma Mr. Uriah O.H. Davies Doctor Christa T.H. Bell Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gbagla

Member of the Order of Rokel Privy Councillor Kande Saio III Privy Councillor Joseph William Quee Mr. Jimmy Yeani Bangara Mr. Christo Johnson.

Medal of Honor Mr. Eddie Massalay Alhaji Mohamed Sima Dumbuya SL 729 Lieutenant Philip Jesbert Juana SLA 1924/99 Private Masaray Brima.

In addition to the above state honors Presidential Awards were bestowed upon the following groups - Inter-Religious Council, Catholic Relief Services, Freetown Players and the Sierra Leone Market Women’s Association. It does not appear that any awards were made in 2005, but again on Independence Day in 2006 the President made the following awards:

Grand Officer of the Order of Sierra Leone

Professor Kosonike Koso-Thomas

Chief Justice Ade Rennet-Thomas

Speaker of the House of Parliament The Honorable

Justice Edmond Cowan

Other Awards Doctor S.S Banya - services to medicine, politics

and the environment Koleh Dora Suma - Director of the Sierra Leone

Dance Troop Doctor Marcella Davies- services to medicine and

medical administration Chief of the Defense Staff Major General Sam

Mboma - service to the nation. Inspector General Brima Acha Kamara - dedicated

and meritorious service

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Lansana Sheriff(aka Steady Bongo) - service in the field of music.

Figure 13: Obverse of the Sierra Leone

General Service Medal

Prior to the institution of the above series of awards there existed the Sierra Leone General Service Medal; this award, bearing the head of the Queen on the obverse (Figures 13), was a British Commonwealth issue medal and was authorized under DCI 256 of 1956 for award to the Royal Sierra Leone Armed Forces and police personnel involved with minor operations within and without Sierra Leone territory. A clasp CONGO was authorized to denote that specific operation and the medal was awarded to seconded British personnel for the period January 26, 1962 and February 28, 1963. The bronze medals, 36mm in diameter, were issued unnamed. The medal became obsolete when Sierra Leone introduced its own series of awards in 1971 when the Republic was declared.

The Independence Medal of 1961 was awarded to personnel (civilian and military), who were involved with the independence celebrations and authorized by the British Government for acceptance and wear by all British troops who were serving with the Sierra Leone military on the day of independence. Records indicate that some 5,660 such medals were awarded. The medal is silver bearing the crowned head of Queen Elizabeth on the obverse (Figure 14) and the reverse (Figure 15) depicts the arms of Sierra Leone and the date 27 April 1961. The medal is suspended through a loop affixed to the uppermost part of the medal by a 32mm wide ribbon of three equal stripes of green, white and blue. It would appear that this medal has been revived and awarded by the current government of Sierra Leone to a number of British military personnel involved with the post civil war administration -possibly some 30 to 40 individuals. Awards were also made to Royal Sierra Leone Armed Forces personnel. This revival appears to have occurred during 2000-2001 when the Commander of the UK Task Force in Sierra Leone was Major General Jonathon Riley, DSO - he was also at this time Military Advisor to the Sierra Leone government. To date it is not known if these awards have received official British authority for wear.

Figure 14: Obverse of the Independence Medal

Figure 15: Reverse of the Independence Medal

Figure 16: Obverse of the Figure 17: Reverse of the Sierra Leone Long Service Sierra Leone Long Service

Medal, Type L Medal, Type L

Sierra Leone’s Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Figure 16) is a circular silvered medal, 37ram in diameter, with a fixed straight bar suspension bearing the arms of the nation above the inscription, SIERRALEONE. The reverse (Figure 17) bears the inscription FOR LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT surrounded by REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE MILITARY FORCES. The ribbon is 33mm dark blue with 2mm white stripes

18 JOMSA

inset 6mm from each edge. The qualifying period for this award is, I believe, 15 years service. Subsequent to the proclamation of the Republic in 1971 a second type (Figure 18), 36ram in diameter, was instituted bearing on the obverse the head of President Stevens and the inscription HIS EXCELLENCY DR. SIAKA STEVENS SIERRA LEONE. The reverse is the same as Type 1 (Figure 19). Dr. Stevens was President from 1971 to 1985.

Figure 18: Obverse of the Figure 19: Reverse of the Sierra Leone Long Service Sierra Leone Long Service

Medal, Type II. Medal, Type II.

Recognition of Tony Blair’s Role

Figure 20: British Prbne Minister Tony Blair being honored

as a Paramount Chief of the Kuffa Bulam.

It would appear the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who authorized the involvement of the British military, while not honored with a state award from Sierra Leone, was made a "paramount chief’’ (Figure 20) by Sierra Leone’s traditional rulers in recognition of Britain’s help in ending the West African country’s civil war. Representatives of Sierra Leone’s 149 paramount

chiefs on June 2, 2006, honored the then Prime Minister at a ceremony in the township of Mahera. "We have nothing, no money to give him but it is a way of recognizing him as a chief of our nation... All the paramount chiefs together with the Head of State agreed on the gesture. It’s the highest traditional honor" said Ibrahim Kamara, a local official in the village of Mahera.

Traditionally those who defended a settlement against aggression were appointed chiefs and thus with the draping of a flowing robe over his shoulders Tony Blair was made the Paramount Chief of the Kuffa Bulam with power to resolve local land disputes. His wife Cherie Blair became Ya-Bonbosseh or First Lady of the Chieftain.

The author wishes to thank Lieutenant Colonel Tim Brown, Royal Welch Fusiliers, for his assistance with this article.

Bibliography

Dorling, H. Taprell. Ribbons and Medals. 1983 Edition.

Joslin, E. C. Spinks Catalogue of British and Associated Orders’,

Decorations & Medals with Valuations, 1983.

Litherland, A. R. and B. T. Simpkin. Spinks Standard Catalogue

of British and Associated Orders, Decorations & Medals with

Valuations. 1990.

de Roffignac, Nicolas. Ordres et Medailles Des Pays D ’Afrique,

2000.

Meredith, Martin. The State of Africa, A History of Fifty Years of

Independence. Free Press, 2005.

World Orders of Knighthood & Merit. Burke’s Peerage & Gentry,

2006 Medal Yearbook. Token Publishing Limited. 2007.

Le Grys, Brigadier Barry. "Looking to the Longer Term - IMATT

(Sierra Leone)." The British Army Review, No. 142, Summer

2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel Hinga Norman http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/africa/6274093.stm http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceFor/Veterans/Medals/

OsmSierraLeone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Coat of arms of Sierra_Leone.

prig http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/medals/unomsil.htm http://www.statehouse-sl.org/kabbah-meets-kamajors-august-6.html http://www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english!peace.htm

o http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.j html ¼3Fxm!=/ news/2007/05/31/wblair31 .xml

o http://www.haguejusticeportal.net/hnages/Miscellaneous/CDF ~20 arms%201ogo%20200.gif

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