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The govt says it is in full management pursuing an armed assault in the money and a nationwide curfew.
Sierra Leone has arrested most of the leaders of an armed attack in the funds that has prompted the authorities to declare a nationwide curfew, the country’s president has said.
“Most of the leaders have been arrested. Stability functions and investigations are ongoing,” President Julius Maada Bio claimed on national tv on Sunday following armed clashes in Freetown just after what the authorities said was an attack on a armed forces armoury.
The federal government reported it repelled the attack and was in regulate of the situation. The incident occurred amid months of article-election unrest in the West African country.
The “government is in firm manage of the security predicament in Freetown, the attackers are retreating”, information minister Chernor Bah told the AFP information company.
Sierra Leone’s civil aviation authority also urged the airways to reschedule flights.
An AFP journalist said tranquil was bit by bit returning to the funds by Sunday night but checkpoints closely guarded by stability forces remained in position.
“We are attempting to collate the variety of arrests and casualties,” Bah stated, including that “those responsible for today’s assault will be hunted down to experience the complete pressure of the law”.
Videos posted on social media appeared to demonstrate guys in uniform below arrest in the again or beside a army select-up truck.
Earlier in the working day, witnesses instructed AFP they listened to gunshots and explosions in the city’s Wilberforce district, wherever the armoury and some embassies are positioned.
Other witnesses noted exchanges of hearth near a barracks in the Murray City district, house to the navy, and outdoors a different military web-site in Freetown.
The information ministry documented attacks on prisons previously in the day that obliged the safety forces to retreat. “The prisons have been as a result overrun” with some detainees released and other individuals “abducted”, it reported.
Movie posted on social networks proposed various prisoners had escaped from the central jail.
In a statement issued on Sunday, West Africa’s regional bloc, the Financial Community of West African States (ECOWAS), condemned the endeavor to “disturb constitutional order” in Sierra Leone.
Growing unrest given that President’s re-election
Sierra Leone has observed political violence and unrest since the re-election of President Bio in June.
That election was the fifth since the conclusion of Sierra Leone’s brutal 11-year civil war – far more than two a long time ago – which still left tens of thousands useless and destroyed the country’s economic climate.
Global observers condemned the “lack of transparency” in the ballot depend and Sierra Leone’s opposition occasion originally disputed the benefits and boycotted the govt.
Considering the fact that his electoral victory 5 months in the past, Bio proceeds to face criticism for the reason that of debilitating financial circumstances. Just about 60 per cent of Sierra Leone’s population of a lot more than 7 million are impoverished and youth unemployment is amongst the maximum in West Africa.
The unrest in Sierra Leone will come immediately after a collection of military services coups that have dealt blows to democracy in the location. There have been eight military coups in West and Central Africa since 2020, which include in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea.
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