Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio confirmed on Sunday evening that “calm had returned” after a day of armed confrontations in the capital, Freetown, announcing the arrest of “most” of those responsible for what he said was an attempt to destabilize the country. On Sunday, the Sierra Leone government confirmed full control of the situation after a day of armed confrontations in the capital, Freetown, where unidentified attackers tried to control an army weapons depot and removed many detainees from a prison. The authorities imposed a curfew throughout the country until further notice.
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said the head Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio said that most of the leaders of the attack on a military barracks in the capital, Freetown, were arrested earlier on Sunday, adding that security operations and investigations are continuing.
“We will ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” Pio said in a speech broadcast on national television.
He added: “As your Commander-in-Chief, I would like to assure everyone residing in Sierra Leone that we have overcome this challenge” and succeeded in restoring calm.
Earlier on Sunday, the government said it had repelled an attack by “defector soldiers” who attempted to storm an army weapons depot in Freetown during the early hours of the morning.
A curfew was imposed throughout the country. Gunfire was heard across the city when the attackers targeted a prison and a police station.
Sierra Leone’s Civil Aviation Authority urged airlines to set new flight schedules after the curfew was announced, while a soldier on the border with neighboring Guinea told Reuters they had been instructed to close the border.
A Reuters journalist who had earlier encountered a group of armed men seizing a police car near the Wilberforce barracks said the nearby streets were mostly empty of pedestrians.
One of the masked men, who was wearing a military uniform, said before leaving in a car: “We will cleanse this community. We know what we intend to do. We are not pursuing any ordinary civilians, and they should carry out their activities normally.”
Sierra Leone has been witnessing a state of tension since the election of the president for a new term in June, an outcome that was rejected by the main opposition candidate, and questioned by international partners, including the United States and the European Union.
In his address to the nation on Sunday evening, Bio called on political leaders and civil society in Sierra Leone to work to maintain peace.
“Let us not give in to fear or division,” he said.
It is not yet clear whether there were human casualties in this attack or during the shooting incidents in the capital today.
Information Minister Shernor Bah said in a statement earlier today that security forces had made progress in pursuing those involved in the attack, without providing further details.
But Bah noted that some major detention centers had been attacked, along with the release of prisoners, by unidentified gunmen.
It is not yet clear how many prisoners have escaped from the facility, which a US State Department report said was designed to hold 324 prisoners, but contained more than 2,000 in 2019.
France 24/Reuters
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2023-11-27 03:00:07
