Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has reshuffled the top leadership of the country’s military, two days after a deadly protest rocked the West African country. On Friday, Peter K. Lavahun was promoted from Major General to Lt General and appointed new Chief of Defence Staff, replacing Lt General Sullay Sesay.Seven soldiers were promoted and appointed to strategic positions in the army, including the positions of Assistant Chief of Defense Staff of the army and Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Defense.
The announcement comes shortly after the President gave a nationwide address in which he vowed to bring to justice all those who participated in Wednesday’s violent protest that claimed the lives of several people and left others injured.
The unknown organizers of the protest say they wanted to express dissatisfaction over the high cost of living in the country. They blame the administration for its failure to act to lessen the suffering of the masses.
But President Bio, in his statement, said the incident was nothing close to a protest for cost of living, rather it was an attempt to forcefully effect a change of his government. He called it an insurrection sponsored by unnamed politicians, promising to mount a full investigation into the incident and bring all those found culpable to justice.
“The full force of the law will be brought to bear on all those persons who attacked and killed police officers. They, their sponsors, and their collaborators will not go unpunished,” he said in the address aired live on state broadcaster SLBC.
The President also said that a full investigation will be mounted into the death of ordinary citizens.
There has been no official death toll yet. Preliminary report from the police, as of Thursday, cited only four deaths, all of them police officers.
Local media have been giving different figures for civilian deaths, with one putting it at 21.
Images shared on social media showed scenes in Freetown depicting a war zone. They showed destroyed and burnt down buildings, including police stations and public transport vehicles. It also showed the mutilated bodies of uniformed police officers who were attacked during the protests.
According to the police report, 10 police stations were attacked and either vandalized or burnt down. Some private properties of police officers were also destroyed, while two government buses, three government buildings and a warehouse were burnt down.
As of Thursday evening, 113 demonstrators had been arrested.
The televised address was President Bio’s first public address to the nation after the protest. It came hours after images appeared on social media indicating his apparent return to the country.
The President was out of the country when the incident happened.
Following the demonstrations, Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh declared an indefinite 7pm-7am curfew nationwide.
Far from announcing any change on that, President Bio warned of further “necessary security actions” to guarantee the peace and security of citizens. He said while these may cause some unavoidable inconveniences, the government’s actions will guarantee all constitutional rights and freedoms of peaceful citizens.
“But be assured that my government will crack down hard on violent insurrectionists, their collaborators, their sponsors, and their supporters,” he said, assuring that security forces will act with great restraint and within their professional codes of service.
In the tweet of President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, “Corrupt and mediocre leaders always blame the Opposition for their failures. There is no strong Opposition in any Country. Opposition is strong when the state is weak. If in Rwanda the Opposition only manages to put 10 people on the street I would resign” he said. While this may be true according to the President of Rwanda, some ill-motivated group of a cross section of the population in Sierra Leone, some are government ministers whilst others are the recruits of the communication unit of the Ministry of Information and Communication are trying to shift the failure of the government to handle the irrational and unreasonable behaviour of protesters whose actions have caused the untimely deaths of some Sierra Leoneans including Police Officers on the front door of the Mayor of the Freetown City Council. These Sierra Leoneans, rather than looking for remedy to curb any future ugly development similar to what occurred on 10th August, 2022, were casting aspersion as on the Mayor as a solution to the problem. The Mayor of Freetown has now reacted strongly against those individuals who had occupied the Television Screen to pass on what is not true to viewers as the gospel truth of their imagination, thus damaging the reputation of the Mayor of Freetown and weakening her determination to work for the people of this country .These conspirators as they have been referred to by right thinking Sierra Leoneans are always in the habit of pointing accusing fingers against innocent people that they cannot compete with in a level playing field. “They are unmatchable”. The response of the Mayor states that, immediately after His Excellency the President’s speech to the nation last night, the Minister of Information, members of the Strategic Communications Unit and the Presidential Press Secretary held a panel discussion in which they once again falsely accused me of inciting the recent protests. I am extremely troubled by this and utterly disappointed that government officials would use such a national broadcast to make baseless accusations.
Let me emphatically state that I had no involvement in the incitement or organization of the protests on 10th August. I condemn all acts of violence that led to the unfortunate and tragic loss of lives and the destruction of property on that day.
This deliberate and continued action of making false accusations publicly has already led to constant attacks of me on social media and attempts of physical attacks on FCC property. But this is not about me. In the past week, dozens of people have been killed, an unspecified and increasing number of people have been detained and it is my understanding that the detainees have been denied access to legal representation, and sadly thousands of traders (mainly women) have overnight lost their source of livelihood through the destruction of their market stalls. My heart goes out to all those who are suffering at this time. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.
I believe that in challenging times we must nurture a spirit of unity and foster platforms for peaceful engagement. I call for calm in the city and for all to avoid violence.
Finally, let me use this medium to reaffirm my commitment to peace and justice in Sierra Leone. I will continue to do everything I can to diligently serve the residents of Freetown.
Thank you.
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr OBE
THIS IS A BRILLIANT, FACTUAL AND OBJECTIVE REPORT BY A CANADIAN JOURNALIST LIVING IN SIERRA LEONE.
ISSUES
27 deaths reported in Sierra Leone after protests sparked by rising food and fuel prices
STEPHEN DOUGLAS
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
As the anti-government protesters marched past her, Fatmata Kamara shouted her support. “We are suffering,” she chanted loudly, standing in front of her small market stall in the Sierra Leone’s capital.
Government officials denounced the protests as a “violent terrorist insurrection” after at least 27 civilians and police were reportedly killed in Wednesday’s clashes. But ordinary people in the capital, Freetown, are sympathetic to the demonstrations at a time of soaring prices and rising economic pressures.
“Things are hard,” Ms. Kamara told The Globe and Mail. “We, the women, are suffering. The government doesn’t care. We want the government to do something for us.” Fuel prices have doubled over the past year in the West African country and food prices are soaring, with the government blaming the Russian invasion of Ukraine for much of the inflationary pressures.
Food and fuel prices have spiked across the world this year, triggering fears of social tensions and conflict. “Sierra Leone appears to be the first African country where rising food and fuel costs have translated into unrest calling for the government’s resignation,” said Africa-based risk analyst Ryan Cummings.
As economic conditions worsen, Sierra Leone will “certainly not be the last country to witness such anti-state mobilization,” he said in a tweet on Thursday.
African relief operations hit by fuel shortages and soaring food prices as a result of Ukraine war
Sierra Leone’s protests began with two days of stay-at-home civil action the week, shutting down shops and other businesses, and then erupted into street demonstrations and clashes with police across the country on Wednesday.
Some protesters carried placards reading “Free us” and “We need jobs.” One protester, 12-year-old Sheku Dumbuya, carried a hand-drawn sign that simply reads, “Help us.” He was accompanied by his mother, Kadiatu, a single mother who sells local produce from a market stall near central Freetown.
The cost of living in Sierra Leone has risen by more than 40 per cent in the past eight months, according to a World Bank economic report released in May. The country is consistently ranked by the United Nations Human Development Index as one of the five poorest countries in the world. More than half of its 7.5 million people live below the poverty line.
Many people in Freetown appeared to support the protests. “Everything has gone up,” said Ibrahim Jalloh, a local market trader. “When gas prices go up, all other commodity prices are raised. It’s a fact of life in Sierra Leone these days, which has led to untold suffering, especially amongst the poor.”
As the protesters approached Freetown’s central business district on Wednesday, soldiers and police fired tear gas into the crowd, forcing them onto side streets and preventing them from approaching the office of President Julius Maada Bio, who was holidaying in Britain at the time.
Videos circulating on social media showed young men dancing around a burning roadblock, shouting, “Bio must go.” Some videos showed security forces firing guns at protesters.
As the protests grew more intense on Wednesday afternoon, internet services were temporarily shut down, and Vice-President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh appeared on television to announce a curfew from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. heavily armed soldiers were deployed on the streets after the police said they could not cope with the situation alone.
Sierra Leone’s national security coordinator, Abdulai Caulker, said the military deployment was in response to “the potentially volatile situation in the city.
