Curfew declared in Sierra Leone after gunmen attacked its main military barracks : NPR

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone’s president declared a nationwide curfew Sunday after gunmen attacked the navy’s major and largest barracks within the West African nation’s capital after which overran detention facilities, together with a serious jail.

The assault raised fears of a breakdown of order amid a surge of coups within the area.

The detention facilities, together with the Pademba Street Prisons — holding greater than 2,000 inmates — had been attacked simply as safety forces fought to revive calm throughout sustained shootouts on the Wilberforce navy barracks, in response to Data Minister Chernor Bah.

“The prisons had been overrun (and) some prisoners had been kidnapped by the assailants whereas many others had been launched,” Bah stated. Safety forces managed to “push again” the assailants to the outskirts of the town the place combating continues, he added.

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio earlier declared a nationwide curfew in response to the assaults.

An Related Press journalist within the capital stated that gunshots had been nonetheless heard within the metropolis hours after the federal government assured residents of calm, though it wasn’t clear who was behind the trade of fireside, nor if any arrests had been made.

“The safety forces are making progress within the operation to defeat and apprehend these answerable for at the moment’s assaults,” Bah stated. “The federal government stays in management and on prime of the state of affairs.”

The president and the nation’s Ministry of Data and Training additionally each stated that the federal government and safety forces are answerable for the state of affairs, making an attempt to dismiss fears of a doable escalation of violence within the nation whose inhabitants of 8 million individuals is among the many poorest on this planet, having a number of the lowest scores on the U.N. Human Improvement Index.

No particulars had been instantly given concerning the gunmen or the explanation for the assault, which comes months after Bio was reelected for a second time period in a disputed vote through which the principle opposition get together accused the electoral fee of rigging the outcomes.

Movies posted on-line confirmed troopers patrolling Freetown’s empty streets and captured the loud blasts of gunshots at daybreak. The AP could not instantly confirm the authenticity of the movies.

West Africa’s regional financial bloc ECOWAS — of which Sierra Leone is a member — described the incident as a plot “to accumulate arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order” within the nation. The bloc has in latest months tried to reverse the surge in coups in West and Central Africa, which has recorded eight navy takeovers since 2020, the newest in Niger and Gabon this yr.

“ECOWAS reiterates its zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of presidency,” the bloc stated in a press release.

Bio was reelected in Sierra Leone’s fifth presidential election for the reason that finish of a brutal 11-year civil conflict — greater than twenty years in the past — which left tens of hundreds of individuals useless and destroyed the nation’s economic system.

He continues to face criticism due to debilitating financial situations. Practically 60% of Sierra Leone’s inhabitants is going through poverty, with the youth unemployment charge being one of many highest in West Africa.

Two months after Bio gained the disputed vote, police stated they arrested a number of individuals, together with senior navy officers planning to make use of protests “to undermine peace” within the nation.

A protest in opposition to the federal government in August final yr resulted within the deaths of greater than 30 individuals, together with six cops.