Sierra Leone’s authorities imposed a nationwide curfew on Sunday after reporting a safety breach by unidentified attackers at a navy armoury within the capital Freetown that sparked armed clashes.
Sierra Leone, an English-speaking nation in West Africa, has been going by means of a political disaster following presidential and common elections in June this 12 months.
Witnesses instructed AFP they heard gunshots and explosions within the metropolis’s Wilberforce district, the place the armoury and a few embassies are positioned.
Different witnesses reported exchanges of fireside close to a barracks in Murray City district, dwelling to the navy, and outdoors one other navy website in Freetown.
The data ministry mentioned “the federal government stays in management and on high of the scenario” after reporting assaults on prisons earlier within the day that obliged the safety forces to retreat.
“The prisons had been thus overrun” with some detainees launched and others “kidnapped”, it mentioned.
Video posted on social networks prompt quite a few prisoners had escaped from the central jail.
One man who was in a gaggle filmed on the road by an AFP correspondent mentioned that they had escaped from the jail.
The data ministry mentioned safety forces had pushed the attackers to the outskirts of the capital, with clashes ongoing within the Jui space.
Drone video taken by AFP confirmed empty streets within the capital.
Safety forces had been deployed in massive numbers to dam entry to the town centre and gunfire had ceased in some neighbourhoods, an AFP journalist reported.
The scenario remained unclear with the authorities making no feedback on the motives or id of the attackers.
– ‘Like a conflict’ –
President Julius Maada Bio wrote on X, previously Twitter, that the federal government would “proceed to guard the peace and safety of Sierra Leone in opposition to the forces that want to truncate our much-cherished stability”.
“We stay resolute in our willpower to guard democracy in Sierra Leone.”
Regional bloc the Financial Neighborhood of West African States (ECOWAS), which has contended with a sequence of coups amongst its members since 2020, issued a press release underlining “its zero-tolerance for unconstitutional change of presidency”.
Echoing language used to sentence previous coup makes an attempt, ECOWAS spoke of its “utter disgust” over a “plot by sure people to accumulate arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order”.
The US embassy condemned on social media the bid to interrupt into the armoury and provided continued help for these “working for a peaceable, democratic, wholesome and affluent Sierra Leone”.
The European Union’s native illustration expressed concern and referred to as for the respect of constitutional order.
Witness Susan Kargbo instructed AFP by phone she was woken “by a loud sound of heavy machine gun (hearth) and bombs coming from the Wilberforce barracks round 4:30 am.
“I used to be shocked and… the gunshots continued till this morning, it was like a conflict,” she mentioned.
– Attackers ‘repelled’ –
The federal government mentioned these trying to interrupt into the armoury had been repelled however requested the general public to remain at dwelling whereas safety operations continued.
“The federal government and our state safety forces are in management,” mentioned Info Minister Chernor Bah, who introduced a right away nationwide curfew “to allow the safety forces to proceed the method of apprehending the suspects”.
The native representations of the UK and the European Union echoed the authorities’ recommendation to remain at dwelling.
The civil aviation authority mentioned Sierra Leone’s airspace remained open however requested airways to reschedule their flights after the lifting of the curfew.
President Bio, who was first elected in 2018, was re-elected in June with 56.17 % of the vote — simply over the 55 % wanted to keep away from a run-off.
Worldwide observers condemned inconsistencies and an absence of transparency within the depend, in addition to acts of violence and intimidation.
The principle opposition All Folks’s Congress (APC) social gathering disputed the outcomes of the presidential, legislative and native elections on June 24 and boycotted all ranges of presidency.
The APC and the federal government signed an settlement in October following talks mediated by the Commonwealth, the African Union and ECOWAS.
The APC agreed to finish its boycott and start taking part in authorities in change for an finish to detentions and courtroom instances it mentioned had been politically motivated.
sb-lal/imm/acc
Initially revealed as S.Leone underneath curfew after navy armoury attacked
