Multiple claims about Foday Sankoh fact-checked

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Alfred Koroma

A Facebook post circulating online claims to reveal the story of former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader, Foday Saybana Sankoh’s origins, making several claims about the background of the former rebel leader. 

The post has appeared on various platforms on Facebook (such as Sierra Leone Current Issues For Global Updates, Shama D’s Newsletter and a page named Negus Nagas).

One of the persons pushing this story is Samory Kabba, who published the post in a Facebook group, My Sierra Leone My Responsibility “Red Together,” (Govt4APC). As of June 16, his post had generated 1.3K likes, 179 comments and 61 shares.2

Background

Sierra Leone experienced a civil war that began on March 23, 1991, when fighters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, supported by Liberian rebels from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), crossed into eastern Sierra Leone from neighbouring Liberia. The conflict lasted until 2002 and was characterised by widespread atrocities, including killings, amputations, sexual violence, forced recruitment and attacks on civilians. More than 50,000 people died, according to estimates from official records.

The Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was created to document the causes and events of the war and provide recommendations, identifies Foday Sankoh as the leader of the RUF rebel group. In Volume 3A, Chapter 3, Paragraph 145, the Commission refers to him as the movement’s “Leader and Commander-in-Chief” and says he exercised ultimate authority over military operations, recruitment, promotions and political strategy. A similar description is also found in Paragraph 21 of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecution Indictment Memorandum. 

The war ended in 2002, but Sankoh is still being actively discussed as the man who started the war in the country, with controversy about his ethnic background, attracting considerable public interest. In December 2025, Ambassador Wilfred Leeroy Kab, an opposition politician, posted that “Foday Sankoh was a Temne man that grew up in SEGBWEMA. He was not Mende,” saying “the fact that somebody was evil does not mean his ethnic group is evil. Let us stop this foolishness about tribes.”

Claims about Foday Sankoh’s ethnicity and background have the potential to shape public understanding of the country’s history. It is therefore important that we set the record straight.

Claim 1: Foday Saybana Sankoh was a Mende. He took his mother’s surname, Sankoh. His father was a Mende man from Shenge in the southern province of Sierra Leone.

Part of the Facebook post claims that Foday Sankoh was a Mende. His father was a Mende man from Shenge, a coastal fishing town along the Atlantic Ocean in Moyamba District, Southern Sierra Leone. It is home to diverse ethnic groups, with the majority of its residents being Shearbros and Mendes.

To verify the post, this reporter reviewed historical sources, consulted experts, and examined archival materials.

Available biographical accounts about Sankoh generally state that he was born in Masang Mayoso in Tonkolili District in northern Sierra Leone and that he was born to a Temne father and a Loko mother.  A review of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecution Indictment Memorandum indicates Foday Sankoh was born in Masang Mayoso.

“There is no evidence he was a Mende,” says Professor Joe. A.D Alie, one of Sierra Leone’s foremost historians and author of A New History of Sierra Leone.

We further visited and conducted research on Sankoh’s background at the Peace Museum, an institution that archives much of the war’s history and the peace process.  A review of archival materials at the Museum did not uncover records supporting the claims. 

Similarly, we found no evidence to support the claim that Sankoh adopted the surname “Sankoh” from his mother. A 2004 Concord Times report identifies Sankoh’s mother as Mankapri Sankoh, who died in Freetown at age 83, but the report did not explain the origin of his surname.

Verdict: No evidence to prove that Foday Sankoh and his father were Mendes from Shenge. Available documents and historical accounts show he is from Masang Mayoso, Tonkolili District, the northern part of Sierra Leone.

Claim 2: Foday Sankoh attended Magburaka Boys Secondary School

The post claims Foday Sankoh attended the Magburaka Boys Secondary School, one of the major schools in the Northern part of Sierra Leone. Based on publicly available biographical records, Foday Sankoh attended primary and secondary school in Magburaka, but the exact schools have not been identified.

We further contacted authorities at the Magburaka Boys Secondary School in Tonkolili District, Northern Sierra Leone. The Vice Principal of the school, Hassan Naddie Conteh, confirmed that Sankoh was born in Tonkolili, but says there is no record to show the exact school he attended. 

“Indeed, Foday Sankoh was born in Tonkololi in Masang Village, but he spent much of his youthful life in the South-East,” Conteh said.

Verdict: No evidence to prove Foday Sankoh attended the Magburaka Boys Secondary School

Claim 3: He joined the army, became a corporal, was imprisoned for an alleged coup attempt, and later became a photographer.

Several accounts indicate that the former RUF Leader joined the Sierra Leone Army in 1956 and rose to the rank of corporal.

Published records also show that he was imprisoned in connection with a military mutiny or coup-related activity during the administration of President Siaka Stevens and was subsequently dismissed from the army.

Sources further indicate that after his release from prison, Sankoh worked as a photographer and travelled through parts of southern and eastern Sierra Leone.

We contacted the Chief of Defence Staff of the Revolutionary Forces of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces to further get confirmations from him, but there was no response to the letter sent.

Verdict: True. The claim that Foday Sankoh joined the army and rose to the rank of corporal is true, according to historical accounts. 

Conclusion

The Facebook post contains a mixture of established facts and claims for which no supporting evidence could be found. While available records confirm that Sankoh served in the army, attained the rank of corporal, was imprisoned under the Stevens government, and later worked as a photographer, this fact-check found no evidence supporting the post’s central claims about his father’s identity and his alleged Mende origin.

This report was produced under the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking and OSINT Fellowship, co-hosted by DUBAWA and the Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Information Disorder Analysis Centre (DAIDAC), with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).