The government of Sierra Leone has imposed a nationwide curfew after a group of armed people attempted to attack a military barracks in the capital Freetown early Sunday morning. Security forces fought throughout Sunday against the attackers, whom the executive called “rogue soldiers.” They have been displaced to the outskirts of the city, in the Jui region, and calm has been restored, Information and Civic Education Minister Chernor Bah said in a statement. “Most of the city is quiet and under the control of state security forces,” he noted. The military barracks attacked is Wilberforce, one of the largest in this African country and the most important in the Sierra Leone army. Late Sunday, the government confirmed the arrest of “the majority” of those responsible.
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has vowed to defend peace and democracy and praised the “brave security forces” for repelling “apostates”. Sierra Leone has been in a tense situation since President Bio’s re-election in June, an outcome rejected by the main opposition candidate and questioned by international partners such as the United States and the European Union.
“The public is assured that the government and our state security forces are in control,” the Ministry of Information also said in a statement. “In order for security forces to continue arresting the suspects, a curfew will be imposed across the country with immediate effect,” the statement added. The West African country’s civil aviation authority has asked airlines to postpone flights.
The attack on military facilities was not the only attack this Sunday, as the government has also confirmed that the country’s main detention centers, including the central prison in Freetown, known as Pademba Prison, were also attacked. In this prison, which has a capacity for about 300 prisoners, more than 2,000 people survive in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, according to 2019 data from the US State Department. It is currently unknown how many prisoners escaped.
The attackers freed several prisoners and kidnapped others in an organized operation that led to a shootout, a law enforcement source confirmed to Efe Agency. “Yes, there is a prison break. “I can’t comment more on that,” the source said. The government subsequently issued a statement saying: “In order to protect the lives of civilians, including the lives of prisoners, security forces were forced into a tactical withdrawal.”
Popular rapper Alhaji Amadu Bah, alias LAJ, who is serving a prison sentence for robbery and assault in June this year, is among the prisoners who escaped from prison, according to several videos circulating on social media that failed to escape verified.
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A Portal journalist who earlier saw a group of gunmen hijack a police vehicle near Wilberforce barracks said surrounding streets were mostly empty. “We will clean up this society. We know what we are suggesting. We don’t go after an ordinary civilian who should be going about their normal activities,” one of the masked men in military uniform told him before he left.
The ministry has also reported that the headquarters of public radio and television station SLBC “is not on fire or under siege,” denying information circulating on social media that claimed this point. “The SLBC CEO is doing his job and has not been arrested. “Security forces are making progress in the operation to defeat and arrest those responsible for today’s attacks,” the statement continued.
The attack was condemned by the European Union, the United States, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Kingdom, among others. The European Union has called for respect for the constitutional order and the US Embassy in Freetown has called for full cooperation in the ongoing operation by government security forces to arrest those responsible. ECOWAS, based in Abuja, Nigeria, has condemned the “conspiracy of certain individuals to acquire weapons and disrupt the peace and constitutional order in Sierra Leone.”
The incident came after authorities reported on July 31 that police had arrested an unspecified number of soldiers who sought to use peaceful protests as a pretext for attacks on state institutions.
A questionable victory
Elections were held in Sierra Leone on June 24, with Bio winning with 56.17% of the vote, securing a second five-year term, although the opposition challenged the result. These elections were the fifth in Sierra Leone since the end of the bloody civil war (1991-2002) that devastated the country and claimed more than 50,000 lives. They also took place in the shadow of the August 10, 2022 protests against the high cost of living, which were harshly repressed by security forces and left at least 27 civilians and six police officers dead.
Bio, a former brigadier in the Sierra Leone army, ruled the country as a dictator for two and a half months in 1996 after a coup led to multi-party democratic elections.
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