President Returns to Capital in Triumph

Celebrating the success of an unprecedented African mission to restore democracy, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah returned to the capital, Freetown, in triumph after a 10-month exile forced by a military coup. Kabbah, 66, who was welcomed by 21-gun salutes, dancers and roaring crowds, pledged to rebuild his battered country and replace military rule with constitutional government. Kabbah, the nation’s first elected leader, had been living in neighboring Guinea since May. After laying siege to the junta-held capital for months, a Nigerian-led West African army fighting on behalf of Kabbah ousted the rebels in February. The offensive marked the first time that African armies had intervened to return an elected leader to power.