Sierra Leone’s Information Minister Chernor Bah said in a briefing with reporters that the attack early Sunday morning had taken security forces and residents of the capital Freetown by surprise. “Thirteen military officers are currently in custody and another civilian… in this case, we call it a failed coup,” he said.
Senior Sierra Leone officials visit an attacked prison in the capital Freetown on November 27, 2023. Photo: Reuters
The incident comes shortly after Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected to a second term in a disputed vote in June. And the attempted coup in the West African country has added to political tensions in West and Central Africa. Coups have been on the rise in the region, with eight military coups since 2020, including in Niger and Gabon this year.
Residents of Freetown were awakened by the sound of heavy gunfire early Sunday morning as gunmen stormed a key weapons depot in Sierra Leone's largest army barracks, located near the Presidential Palace in a heavily guarded part of the country's capital.
Clashes in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, staged by serving and retired soldiers, have killed 13 members of the government army, sources said.
The attackers also targeted two prisons in the city, including the central prison, where most of the more than 2,000 inmates escaped, according to Colonel Sulaiman Massaquoi, acting head of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service.
Sierra Leone's information minister said a civilian was also arrested in connection with the attack and more than 100 escaped prisoners had returned to prisons. Security agencies are continuing to hunt for other escaped prisoners.
Thirteen soldiers were killed in Sierra Leone during clashes on Sunday. Photo: WAZA
Gunfire was heard in the capital on Tuesday as security forces attempted to arrest one of the fleeing suspects. “The person concerned has been arrested and is currently in the custody of security forces,” the Information Ministry said in a statement.
Sierra Leone's Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Peter Lavahun, said at a press conference that many attackers were in hiding or still on the run across the country.
He said officials were checking to confirm the number of stolen weapons. “We have recovered two vehicles containing weapons and ammunition that were taken away,” Lavahun said.
Many people in Freetown and across the country remained indoors on Tuesday, more than a day after the government eased a 24-hour curfew into a nighttime lockdown.
There have been political tensions in Sierra Leone since Mr Bio’s re-election. Two months after his re-election, police arrested several people, including senior military officers, who were planning to use the protests “to disrupt the peace”.
Neighboring Guinea is also politically unstable after a coup in 2021. Sierra Leone itself is still recovering from an 11-year civil war that ended more than two decades ago. Its population of 8 million is among the poorest in the world.
West Africa's ECOWAS regional economic bloc - of which Sierra Leone is a member - condemned the attacks and sent a delegation to "extend support and solidarity" to the country's president.
Huy Hoang (according to AP, Reuters)
Source
Comment (0)