The people of Sierra Leone are really surprised and upset about what happened on Sunday, November 26th. A bunch of people broke into the weapons storage at Wilberforce Barracks and then attacked the army headquarters at Cockerill, the Joint Logistic Unit at Murray Town, and the prison. They also let some prisoners go during the attack.
There’s been a lot of talk about what happened. The Sierra Leone government addressed the public two days after the incident in a press conference. The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), the Inspector General of Police, and the Head of the Correctional Service were there to give updates about the events on November 26th.
WHAT WE HAVE GATHERED SO FAR
The recent attack on Sunday has been officially labeled as an attempted coup. “We are investigating an attempted coup, which failed,” stated Inspector General of Police William Fayia Sellu. Describing what happened on Sunday, Mr. Sellu explained, “A group of unknown assailants tried to unseat a legitimate government illegally.”
Since the incident on Sunday, the government has been cautious with its language. During a BBC interview, the Minister of Information, Mohamed C. Bah, mentioned that security forces would need to establish the criteria or boundary defining a coup.
When discussing the security of the armoury, the CDS remarked, “We don’t have a CCTV camera there; that, I will admit, is a lesson we have learnt.”
The CDS admitted some weapons had been stolen after the raid but could not confirm the details. Responding to questions from journalists, he said, “I cannot give you the exact figures now, but once we go through, I will give you the figures.”
The CDS replied a few days after the weapons storage was broken into. The Minister of Information also said something about it.“What is more important is that the military has been transparent throughout this process. They don’t want to give you information that is not verified.”
“As it is, we are still mopping up. Yesterday, we conducted a hot pursuit to chase the assailants. We were at Orugu and recovered two vehicles with arms and ammunition that they carted away. We recovered three RPGs, six bombs, and 15 AK47 rifles,” CDS Peter Lavahun added.
The retrieval of the weapons shows how serious the security problem was at Wilberforce.
We now know that, in total, there were 2,213 inmates in all these facilities combined, according to Col. Massaquoi, who is in charge of the country’s prison. Among the escapees were military and police officers who were arrested in August this year for allegedly planning a coup. But there has been progress. Maasaquoi said some prisoners were returning voluntarily to hand themselves in. Among them is LAJ, a rapper who was serving 9 years for robbery and assault.
Col. Massaqoui said that as of Tuesday afternoon, they had 144 returnees to the Male Correctional Center, which held over a thousand inmates. 16 female prisoners out of 100 have also returned, and 16 from the male reintegration centre have returned by themselves, out of 100 that escaped. Two of the 14 detained for allegations of plotting a coup have also returned.
CDS Peter Lavahun said they are doing mop-up operations to arrest the escaped prisoners and capture the remaining assailants. A sum of Le50,000 ($2000) has been announced for information leading to the capture of any assailant, while Le10,000 ($400) has been set aside for information leading to the capture of any escaped prisoner.
PRISONERS ARRESTED SO FAR
“We now know that 14 RSLAF (Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces) officers lost their lives; one police officer, one correctional officer, three assailants, and one civilian who is part of a private security firm have been confirmed dead. Another woman has been confirmed dead, but we are still trying to understand how it was connected,” Min.Bah said.
Authorities have stated that they’ve arrested a total of 14 individuals; thirteen of them are military officers, and one is a civilian.
Most of these deaths have clear explanations, but there’s uncertainty surrounding the passing of a Canadian citizen and local journalist in Sierra Leone, Stephen Douglas. It’s reported that he suffered a heart attack on Sunday morning near Congo Cross. He was swiftly taken to 34 Military Hospital, where he was later declared deceased.
The Minister of Information and some military sources say he died of a heart attack. But that is now a debate after BBC journalist Umaru Fofana reported that they saw blood on Steven’s body.
“We are going to request for a postmortem, and that cause of death will now give us pointers into what actually happened. We have already started the process, and we are in touch with the consul, Macaulay. We have already written to the Chief Medical Officer, so Dr. Owizz will do the PM by tomorrow (Wednesday),” IGP Sellu urged.
WHO DO WE BLAME NOW?
Military officials have been careful not to accuse anyone directly at this point. Nevertheless, Lt. General Lavahun, the head of the military, mentioned that initial indications suggest the possible involvement of individuals linked to the former president, Ernest Koroma.
He added this. “Some of these people are guards of the former President. Leatherboot, Sorieba and others, but we will continue to investigate until we get to a logical conclusion. We have seen the press release from the former President.”
Mr. Koroma also said that he wouldn’t conclusively say they have enough to sum this up directly with the former president. “It could be that they acted on their own,” he said. While insisting that they will continue with an internal investigation.
The opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) has issued a statement refuting any connections that some have begun to suggest while also strongly condemning the attack.
