Valentine Strasser

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Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser (born on April 25, 1967 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is a former head of state of Sierra Leone. He is from the Krio ethnic group (descendants of various groups of freed slaves from the West Indies, North America and Britain landed in Freetown between 1787 and about 1855).

He was a junior military officer until 1992, when he was among a group of young officers who overthrew Joseph Momoh. Afterwards, the group formed the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), with Strasser as its nominal leader.

He continued the civil war against Foday Sankoh and the Revolutionary United Front, but without much success. In an attempt to break the deadlock, he hired the mercenary firm Executive Outcomes to supplement his own military.

In January, 1996, he was overthrown in a polite coup by Julius Maada Bio, which sent him into exile. He was invited by the United Nations to study law at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, but stopped his studies after a year. He was unemployed in England until 2000, when the general public became aware of his presence.

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

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Last updated on Sunday January 20, 2008 at 07:16:05 PST (GMT -0800)
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