The United Kingdom's military intervention in Sierra Leone in May 2000 was the first large-scale intervention by British forces in the country's civil war. A team was dispatched under Brigadier David Richards (pictured in 2012) to evacuate foreign citizens after the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) advanced on the country's capital, Freetown. British forces then began to assist the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone Army (SLA). They first came into direct contact with the RUF 10 days after arrival, when the rebels attacked a British position near Lungi International Airport. While training the SLA for confrontations with the RUF, a British patrol was taken captive by a militia group known as the West Side Boys. Negotiations achieved the release of five soldiers; three weeks later, British special forces freed the remaining six, restoring confidence in the British mission. The RUF began to disarm after political pressure and economic sanctions were exerted on its supporter Liberia. The British training teams were replaced by an international force in September 2001. The mission's success vindicated several concepts, including the retention of high- readiness forces.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_military_intervention_in_the_Sierra_Leone_Civil_War

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1270:

Yekuno Amlak deposed the last Zagwe king and seized the imperial throne of Ethiopia, beginning the reign of the Solomonic dynasty that would last for more than 700 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekuno_Amlak

1793:

The Louvre officially opened in Paris with an exhibition of 537 paintings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Louvre

1861:

American Civil War: The first major battle west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, was fought. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wilson%27s_Creek

1953:

First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central modern-day Vietnam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Camargue

1988:

Japanese American internment: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 became law, authorizing US$20,000 in reparations to each surviving internee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Liberties_Act_of_1988

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

leeward: Away from the direction from which the wind is blowing. Downwind. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leeward

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A constitutional republic dedicated before everything to the protection of liberty cannot legalize torture and remain a constitutional republic. It imports into itself a tumor of pure tyranny.   --Andrew Sullivan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan