# Second Bintumani Conference (1996)

URL: https://allhistories.com/sierra-leone/timeline/1996-second-bintumani-conference
Location: Aberdeen, Freetown
Themes: main-event

After overthrowing Strasser, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio opened contacts with the RUF, and some members of the NPRC argued that elections should be delayed until a peace agreement had been signed. The RUF, which had refused to take part in the electoral process, also demanded "peace before elections". With the vote scheduled for 26 February, Bio convened a second National Consultative Conference to decide the question. The conference, known as Bintumani II, met at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown on 12 February 1996. Representatives of political parties, paramount chiefs, trade unions, students, religious bodies and especially women's organisations spoke overwhelmingly in favour of keeping to the timetable. Women's groups, who had organised peace marches through Freetown, were among the most forceful voices, and the delegates rejected postponement, demanding "elections before peace". Bio accepted the decision. The outcome was a rare moment in which civil society overruled a military government. It ensured that the February–March 1996 elections went ahead and that power passed to a civilian president, even though the war was not yet over. The episode is remembered in Sierra Leone as a triumph of popular will and of the women's peace movement. At this point in the timeline (12 February 1996), the Chairman of the Supreme Council of State was Julius Maada Bio (16 January – 29 March 1996).

## Why it matters
Bintumani II ensured that the 1996 elections went ahead and that military rule ended through the ballot box.

Ruler at the Time: [Julius Maada Bio (1996)](https://allhistories.com/sierra-leone/rulers/julius-maada-bio-1996)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 1996 Sierra Leonean general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Sierra_Leonean_general_election)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sierra Leone 1996 election](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Sierra+Leone+1996+election)
- [Wikipedia — Julius Maada Bio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Maada_Bio)
- [National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone](https://ec.gov.sl/)
- [Wikipedia — Civil War (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone_Civil_War)