Remembering lost ones… NUS commemorates August 18
The National Union of Students (NUS) yesterday commemorated the 13th anniversary to mark the death of scores of their colleagues who were brutally murdered during the AFRC and RUF regime in 1997.
The commemoration was geared toward raising awareness of student welfare and the fight to restore of democracy in the country.
The anniversary programme took place on Wednesday 18th August 2010 at the Presidential Lounge, the National Stadium, Brookfields in Freetown, where the students converged and later processed from the stadium to the Connought Hospital where they unveiled a monument.
Speaking to journalists earlier on Tuesday 17th August, the NUC Minister of Justice, Abdul Karim Kaffur observed that no specific number of casualties was recorded with to respect to students brutally killed during their August demonstration on August 18, 1997.
He recalled the call for the restoration of constitutional order by the local and international as the country was in total anarchy with the resultant setback in socio-economic and political development.
The justice minister noted that despite the call for constitutional order, the RUF and AFRC junta did not adhere to call which led to the intervention of students.
He said their intervention led to street protests in the capital, Freetown and the rest of the country. These riots, he went on, were intended to force the junta to adhere the popular will of both the people and the international community.
Mr. Kaffur said students were brutally killed while others were arrested and detained without trial.
He said the purpose of the commemoration was for the present generation of students to reflect on the unfortunate incident that befell their colleagues on August 18, 1997 under the AFRC and RUF regime.
Students used the occasion to draw parallel between August 18, 1997 and the Soweto massacre of students who spilled on to the streets to agitate for freedom in South Africa.
Kaffur disclosed that this was not the first time they were commemorating the event, as it has been the case with past NUSS leaders over the last 13 years.
“The only different was that the event did not have the support of government and other stakeholders to make the day felt by every student and the general public in the country,’ Mr. Karim recalled.
He added that the Students Union is planning to engage law makers so that the day could be observed as a national holiday for all students in the country to show solidarity to their dead colleagues.
He however thanked the Attitudinal and Behavioural Change Secretariat (ABC) for their support and all civil society organizations for their support.
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