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 navy armories and barracks.
The nation’s president, Julius Maada Bio, mentioned early Sunday that there had been “a breach of security” on the Wilberforce navy barracks within the capital, Freetown, as “some unidentified individuals attacked the military armory.”
“However, they were repelled,” Mr. Bio said on social media, “and calm has been restored.”
Mr. Bio known as on the general public to remain indoors, including: “We shall continue to protect the peace and security of Sierra Leone against the forces that wish 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 stored. According to local journalists, heavy gunfire was heard early Sunday in Freetown, and troopers with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles could be seen setting up navy blockades in some strategic components of the town.
The information reverberated throughout the area, which lately has endured a sequence of navy coups. In Guinea, Sierra Leone’s neighbor, a junta guidelines regardless of worldwide efforts to revive civilian governments.
Mr. Bio, 59, a former navy officer who took half in two coups throughout Sierra Leone’s civil conflict within the 1990s, was re-elected this 12 months. But the results of the vote was rejected by his principal opponent, and questioned by some observers who cited an absence of transparency.
The U.S. Embassy condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Sunday’s tried break-in, and urged residents to cooperate with authorities safety forces. “Such actions have no justification,” it mentioned in a statement.
Under Mr. Bio’s management, an extra a million youngsters in Sierra Leone have begun attending faculty. But the nation has been fighting file ranges of inflation and unemployment, and among the highest ranges of food 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 in opposition to rising costs.
This is a growing story.
Joseph Johnson contributed reporting.
