By Kemo Cham
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has said that the November 26 attack in Freetown was a violent attempt to usurp power by people he described as “ruthless hooligans,” who posed a threat to the country’s peace and security.
In his third address to the nation since the incident, President Bio still referred to the attackers as unknown, noting that full investigation to unearth their identity had been launched.
“Their action was pre-meditated and was coordinated to unseat the democratically elected government by violent and unlawful means, topple constitutional order and reverse our decades of investment in peace and democracy,” the President stated in the address aired live on the public broadcaster, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).
The attack, according to the government, started with shooting at the Wilberforce Barracks in the early morning hours of the day, and then spread to several parts of the city.
According to Bio, the shooting started at around 3am. He said the attackers later tried to penetrate other strategic facilities in several parts of the city, including two other important military barracks at Cockril on Wilkinson Road and nearby Murray Town.
The attackers also reportedly breached several detention facilities within Freetown, including the maximum security detention center along Pademba Road, freeing many prisoners, among them people earlier detained for a previous attempted coup.
According to the Sierra Leone Police, as of Tuesday, November 28, out of 1, 919 inmates who were in the main detention facility and its annexes at the Special Court compound, only 144 had returned, among them two from the 14 soldiers detained for involvement in an earlier allege plot.
The Police has since published a ‘Wanted List’, detailing the identities of 29 people. It also offered prize money for information leading to the arrest of any of them.
President Bio in his address on Saturday night urged citizens and non-citizens to help the police arrest the fugitives.
The incident has led to heightened tension in a country that was already at breaking point, following the disputed June 24, 2023 general elections.
The polls which saw Bio re-elected for a second term was disputed by the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC), occasioning a political crisis that was mediated by regional bodies ECOWAS and African Union.
But according to the president, the elections that were certified as one of the most free, fair and transparent electoral process in the country marked the renewal of his mandate by Sierra Leoneans, noting that those who sought “to overturn the people’s will by unlawful means” therefore committed the “gravest and most unpardonable sins.”
But added that despite the “provocation,” his administration’s response to the incident of November 26 would be measured by only one parameter – the rule of law.
The coup attempt will be dealt with as a law and order issue, not political or tribal issue, he stressed, repeating his call for national unity and for the protection of the country’s hard earned peace.
Bio also paid tribute to the security forces who lost their lives in their efforts to safeguard the peace and security of the nation.
According to the gun, 21 people died after Sunday’s attacker, 14 of them state security forces and three of the assailants.
