The federal government says it’s in full management following an armed assault within the capital and a nationwide curfew.
Sierra Leone has arrested a lot of the leaders of an armed assault within the capital that has prompted the federal government to declare a nationwide curfew, the nation’s president has stated.
“A lot of the leaders have been arrested. Safety operations and investigations are ongoing,” President Julius Maada Bio stated on nationwide tv on Sunday following armed clashes in Freetown after what the federal government stated was an assault on a army armoury.
The federal government stated it repelled the assault and was in command of the scenario. The incident occurred amid months of post-election unrest within the West African nation.
The “authorities is in agency management of the safety scenario in Freetown, the attackers are retreating”, data minister Chernor Bah instructed the AFP information company.
Sierra Leone’s civil aviation authority additionally urged the airways to reschedule flights.
An AFP journalist stated calm was slowly returning to the capital by Sunday night however checkpoints closely guarded by safety forces remained in place.
“We are attempting to collate the variety of arrests and casualties,” Bah stated, including that “these liable for at the moment’s assault will likely be hunted right down to face the complete drive of the regulation”.
Movies posted on social media appeared to point out males in uniform below arrest within the again or beside a army pick-up truck.
Earlier within the day, witnesses instructed AFP they heard gunshots and explosions within the metropolis’s Wilberforce district, the place the armoury and a few embassies are situated.
Different witnesses reported exchanges of fireside close to a barracks within the Murray City district, dwelling to the navy, and out of doors one other army website in Freetown.
The data ministry reported assaults on prisons earlier within the day that obliged the safety forces to retreat. “The prisons have been thus overrun” with some detainees launched and others “kidnapped”, it stated.
Video posted on social networks advised quite a few prisoners had escaped from the central jail.
In a press release issued on Sunday, West Africa’s regional bloc, the Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS), condemned the try and “disturb constitutional order” in Sierra Leone.
Rising unrest since President’s re-election
Sierra Leone has seen political violence and unrest because the re-election of President Bio in June.
That election was the fifth because the finish of Sierra Leone’s brutal 11-year civil warfare – greater than 20 years in the past – which left tens of 1000’s lifeless and destroyed the nation’s economic system.
Worldwide observers condemned the “lack of transparency” within the poll rely and Sierra Leone’s opposition social gathering initially disputed the outcomes and boycotted the federal government.
Since his electoral victory 5 months in the past, Bio continues to face criticism due to debilitating financial circumstances. Practically 60 p.c of Sierra Leone’s inhabitants of greater than 7 million are impoverished and youth unemployment is among the many highest in West Africa.
The unrest in Sierra Leone comes after a sequence of army coups which have dealt blows to democracy within the area. There have been eight army coups in West and Central Africa since 2020, together with in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea.