Senior Sierra Leonean officials estimated on Tuesday that the unrest that killed 21 people on Sunday, November 26, 2023 in Freetown was the result of a new coup attempt in West Africa, involving soldiers and guards from former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
The instigators of the coup that shook the capital on Sunday and also brought out hundreds of detainees are however not identified and no link is established at this stage with Mr. Koroma, between 2007 and 2018 of the current Head of State Julius Maada Bio, they said.
These officials delivered to the press the most detailed account to date of the troubles that occurred on Sunday, which the authorities had hitherto refrained from qualifying nature.
They also reaffirmed that the authorities were in control of the situation, while gunshots, fired during the arrest of a suspect, again caused fear in the capital on Tuesday.
“We opened an investigation into a failed coup attempt,” said police chief William Fayia Sellu. “A group of people tried to overthrow the ruling power using force,” he said.
In the early hours of Sunday, men attacked a military armory, two other barracks, two prisons and two police stations, confronting the security forces with weapons in hand.
The fighting killed 21 people, including 14 soldiers, a policeman, a prison guard, a security guard, a woman and three assailants, said Information Minister Chernor Bah.
– “Nice Reward” –
More than 2,200 detainees have been released, of whom 124 have since returned, said Colonel Sheikh Sulaiman Massaquoi, head of the prison services.
Thirteen military and one civilian suspected of involvement in the coup are in detention, the Information Minister said. The authorities said they were conducting a “manhunt” to find other suspects.
The police published on Tuesday the photos and names of 32 men and 2 women wanted as “fugitives”, including soldiers and policemen active or retired. And promised a “nice reward” to anyone who provides information leading to their capture.
A significant number of rebels are former guards of former president Ernest Bai Koroma, said Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Peter Lavahun. He invoked the ongoing investigations to guard against deciding on Mr. Koroma’s involvement.
He also acknowledged that the leaders remained to be identified.
Officials said, as suggested by photos circulating on social media, a former member of Mr. Koroma’s inner circle was among those killed.
– ECOWAS “ready” –
Mr. Koroma, who lives in the capital, condemned the violence on Sunday in a statement, and reported that a corporal assigned to his guard had been shot dead in the perimeter of his residence.
Officials acknowledged that, contrary to early government statements, the rebels managed to get their hands on weapons.
Security services recovered two vehicles with rocket launchers and automatic rifles on the outskirts of Freetown, he added. But they admitted to ignoring what was still out there.
These events immediately awakened the spectre of a new coup d’état in a West Africa that, since 2020, has seen in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea, all among the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), like Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leonean head of state received on Monday a high-level delegation from ECOWAS and Nigeria, heavyweight of the region that currently holds the presidency of the organization, according to images broadcast by its services on Tuesday.
ECOWAS is ready to deploy to Sierra Leone “regional elements if necessary,” said West African Bloc Commission Chair Omar Alieu Touray, without specifying what “elements” he was talking about.
The Sierra Leonean Minister of Information, however, assured that at this stage Freetown was not asking for such a deployment.
