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| Joseph Momoh, former president of Sierra Leone, dies in Guinea
FREETOWN, Aug 3 (AFP) - Sierra Leone's former president Joseph Momoh, who was toppled in a military coup in 1992, has died in neighbouring Guinea, politicians in Freetown said on Sunday. The All People's Congress (APC) party, to which Momoh had belonged, announced it was holding an emergency meeting in Freetown to make arrangements for his body to be repatriated from Guinea. Serious & personalized business, investment and technology intelligence for a serious advantage - BizVantage! A crowd gathered at the party headquarters to express their condolences over the former leader's death. The cause of death was not immediately revealed. Momoh, who governed from 1985 until his overthrow in 1992, was sentenced for conspiring to topple Sierra Leone's elected government in May 1997. Although he was cleared of treason charges and therefore escaped the death sentence, the former president spent several months behind bars until he was amnestied under a 1999 peace agreement. Born in 1937 and raised by a protestant family in the northern town of Binkolo, Momoh enlisted in the army at the age of 21. After attending military schools in Britain, Ghana, and Nigeria, he rose to commander-in-chief of Sierra Leone's armed forces by the age of 34. Elected to parliament in 1973, Momoh was described by the press at the time as a gentle giant, whose tactical skills made him the natural candidate for the ruling APC, and the ideal successor to retiring president Siaka Stevens. rmj/ec/wdb SLeone-Momoh
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