(Freetown) The Sierra Leonean authorities are tracking down those responsible for Sunday’s clashes in Freetown, orchestrated by soldiers who rebelled against the government according to the army, and which left around twenty dead, according to military and medical sources. -legal.
“We have launched a manhunt to find all those involved in the attack, including active and retired soldiers,” the army spokesperson told reporters on Monday. , Colonel Issa Bangura.
He later clarified by telephone to AFP that 13 soldiers had been killed and eight others seriously injured in the fighting, mainly while defending the barracks.
“Some military personnel are not loyal to the government and the president, despite the oath they took,” Colonel Bangura said.
At least four attackers and two civilians were killed, a forensic services official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject.
Freetown experienced several hours of armed confrontation on Sunday between security forces and unknown assailants who tried to break into a military armory before daybreak.
The central prison, another penitentiary and two police stations were also stormed and dozens of detainees appear to have escaped.
PHOTO UMARU FOFANA, REUTERS
Armed men in military fatigues stand on a street in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on November 26.
The events have awakened the specter of a new coup d’état in West Africa which, since 2020, has experienced one in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea, neighboring Sierra Leone.
The authorities have not communicated any overall human toll from the attempted coup early Sunday, nor provided any other details on the instigators of the events which shook the capital, or on their motivations.
President Julius Maada Bio appeared on television the same evening to ensure that “calm [était] restored”, and that most of those responsible had been arrested. He appeared to support the political motivation by calling it an “attempt to undermine peace and stability.”
“Message of solidarity”
His services published photos on Monday of him working in his office, then receiving a high-level delegation from the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigeria, the regional heavyweight, who came with “a message of solidarity” according to the Sierra Leonean presidency.
Some stores have reopened in Freetown, which the day before looked like a ghost town. Schools, however, remained closed.
Checkpoints have been set up on main roads, where members of the security forces are searching vehicles.
A curfew is in place from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. (local and GMT) until further notice, announced the Ministry of Communication.
“We encourage our fellow citizens to resume the normal course of their activities […] “but we continue to urge them to maintain calm and vigilance and to report any suspicious or unusual behavior to the nearest police station,” he said.
The police promised monetary rewards to anyone who helped capture the instigators of the coup or the fleeing detainees.
A popular musician, Alhaji Amadu Bah, sentenced to several years in prison and filmed the day before preening, was filmed again as he returned to prison on his own with a message for his supporters : “Respect peace and the law”.
Many worried Sierra Leoneans rushed to stock up where they could, like Mariama Kamara, a 25-year-old mother.
“I’m looking for food for the family, most of the stores are closed,” she told AFP. “I’m waiting for the government to protect us. It’s peace we want, but many people are afraid to go back to their businesses.”
Mabinty Samura, a trader, relied on God. “God is the master. But all this affects us badly. I sell perishable products and I worked at a loss today” due to lack of customers, she said.