The president of Sierra Leone has described a foiled assault on a military barracks in the capital Freetown as an \u201cattack on democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a\u00a0video\u00a0statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, late Sunday,\u00a0President Maada\u00a0Bio said most of the ringleaders had been arrested and calm restored. He vowed to \u201censure that those responsible are held accountable through due process.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bio said in the statement following the attacks on the barracks, there was also a security breach at a Freetown prison, where an undisclosed number of inmates escaped. <\/p>\n
The news sparked fears of another potential coup attempt in West Africa. <\/p>\n
A nationwide curfew was imposed following an attack in the early hours of Sunday on the military barracks, leading to widespread flight disruption. <\/p>\n
Authorities revised the indefinite curfew, saying it would now run from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. daily local time, starting Monday. <\/p>\n
The country\u2019s airspace was also closed but the country\u2019s aviation authority later said the Freetown International Airport would resume full operations after the curfew was lifted. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be in effect until further notice,\u201d the country\u2019s information ministry said. <\/p>\n
President Bio described the incident as an \u201cattack on democracy,\u201d but did not state outright that it was a coup attempt. Global condemnation has however been swift. <\/p>\n
In a strong statement, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS said it \u201chas learnt with utter disgust a plot by certain individuals to acquire arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order in Sierra Leone.\u201d <\/p>\n
ECOWAS, which has been trying to prevent a contagion effect after a spate of coups in the region, called for the prosecution of the masterminds behind the attacks while reiterating its\u00a0\u201czero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The US embassy in Sierra Leone\u00a0condemned\u00a0the attacks while adding in another\u00a0statement on X, on Monday that: \u201cWe honor and remember those who gave their lives yesterday in defense of Sierra Leone\u2019s Constitution and government.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sierra Leone has grappled with a political crisis since the conclusion of a\u00a0disputed general election in June. Bio was sworn in for a second term after being declared winner of a fiercely contested presidential election that was fraught with controversies and described by international observers as \u201clacking adequate levels of transparency.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to local media in the West African nation, there have been\u00a0three failed coup attempts\u00a0to depose Bio\u2019s government in the last year. <\/p>\n
West Africa has been plagued by recurring coups in recent years, including one in Sierra Leone\u2019s closest neighbor Guinea. <\/p>\n
Bio assured residents following the Sunday attacks saying, \u201cAs your Commander in Chief, I want to assure everybody who is resident in Sierra Leone that we have overcome this challenge, and together, we will continue on the path of progress and development.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The president of Sierra Leone has described a foiled assault on a military barracks in the capital Freetown as an \u201cattack on democracy.\u201d In a\u00a0video\u00a0statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, late Sunday,\u00a0President Maada\u00a0Bio said most of the ringleaders had been arrested and calm restored. He vowed to \u201censure that those responsible are held accountable through <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}