The authorities in Sierra Leone declared a nationwide curfew on Sunday, hours after what they described as a thwarted effort by unidentified males to interrupt into one of many West African nation’s key army armories and barracks.
The nation’s president, Julius Maada Bio, mentioned early Sunday that there had been “a breach of safety” on the Wilberforce army barracks within the capital, Freetown, as “some unidentified people attacked the army armory.”
“Nonetheless, they had been repelled,” Mr. Bio mentioned on social media, “and calm has been restored.”
Mr. Bio known as on the general public to remain indoors, including: “We will proceed to guard the peace and safety of Sierra Leone towards the forces that want to truncate our much-cherished stability.”
The barracks are strategically positioned close to Mr. Bio’s residence, and the armory is among the most vital locations the place weapons are saved. Based on native journalists, heavy gunfire was heard early Sunday in Freetown, and troopers with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles might be seen establishing army blockades in some strategic components of town.
The information reverberated throughout the area, which lately has endured a collection of army coups. In Guinea, Sierra Leone’s neighbor, a junta guidelines regardless of worldwide efforts to restore civilian governments.
Mr. Bio, 59, a former army officer who took half in two coups throughout Sierra Leone’s civil struggle within the Nineteen Nineties, was re-elected this 12 months. However the results of the vote was rejected by his most important opponent, and questioned by some observers who cited a scarcity of transparency.
The U.S. Embassy condemned “within the strongest attainable phrases” Sunday’s tried break-in, and urged residents to cooperate with authorities safety forces. “Such actions haven’t any justification,” it mentioned in a press release.
Beneath Mr. Bio’s management, a further a million youngsters in Sierra Leone have begun attending college. However the nation has been fighting report ranges of inflation and unemployment, and a few of the highest ranges of meals insecurity in West Africa. He has additionally been accused of overseeing violent repression of protests, together with in the summertime of 2022, when greater than two dozen individuals died in demonstrations towards rising costs.
It is a growing story.
Joseph Johnson contributed reporting.
