ISA

Isa (18?-1891) was the chief of Kaliere, a province of the Solimana state in the extreme northeast of Sierra Leone. He occupied an uncomfortable position between warring states, and eventually joined forces with Samori Toure, the Mandinka emperor, and his Sofa warriors.

He was probably born early in the 19th century. He belonged to the Samura clan of Kabelia, a political unit founded by his grandfather towards the end of the 18th century. About the middle of the 19th century, Isa became ruler of Kaliere, then part of the Solimana state, the homeland of the Mande-speaking Solima Yalunka.

During the 1860s, trouble occurred between Isa and the rulers of the Solimana state. They believed that he was in league with the Fula of adjacent Futa Jallon, a state intent on destroying Solimana. When a Fula prince was killed in Falaba, capital of Solimana, his golden saddle and sword were given to Isa, who had no idea where they came from.

Some years later the Fula, searching for the saddle and sword, found the incriminating objects with Isa, and attacked his town, causing much destruction. Isa then broke off relations with Solimana, marking the break by changing his last name from Samura (also the name of the Solimana rulers) to his maternal name of Turay.

His son, Sayo, determined to be avenged on the rulers of Solimana. In 1882, Isa sent him to join the forces of Samori moving southwards to gain control of the trade route to Freetown, on which Falaba was situated. Through Sayo’s trickery, the Sofa attacked and destroyed Falaba after a nine months’ siege. Sayo continued to fight the Sofa thereafter, while Isa remained ruler of Kaliere, now part of Samori’s empire.

By 1889, however, Isa had begun to regret his cooperation with Samori’s forces. Baba, the Sofa general near Kaliere, had captured some of Isa’s people without just cause, and, disillusioned, Isa started to shift his allegiance back towards the rulers of the former Solima state, who were hostile to the Sofa. But by this time he was a very old man, afraid of angering the Sofa and bringing about reprisals on his town.

Meanwhile Sayo was away from Kaliere fighting on the side of the Sofa. When he heard of their hostile action towards his father he broke with them and returned to Kaliere, planning vengeance against his former allies. While Isa lived, he remained a restraining influence on his son, but in 1891 he died, leaving Sayo as his successor, still determined to be avenged against the Sofa.

C. MAGBAILY FYLE