FREETOWN, Sierra Leone –– Losing your job, quitting school, going broke and moving back home with your mother after living abroad for years would be tough on anyone.
It’s even tougher when you’re a former military dictator who once had the power to execute opponents at will. Valentine Strasser became the world’s youngest head of state when he seized power in 1992 at the age of 25. But the limelight didn’t last – four years later, he was ousted in another coup. “I’m basically living off my mother now. She’s been very supportive,” the 35-year-old said at a neighborhood bar on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. “It’s been tough. I’m unemployed, but I’m coping.”
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