By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Professor David Francis has stated that unknown terrorists attacked Sierra Leone where five (5) police officers were killed on the 10th August 2022.
He made this pronouncement while updating the International community on recent happening in the country on the protest.
Professor Francis claimed people he referred to as terrorists invaded Sierra Leone, predominantly the East End of the Capital, Freetown, the Northern town of Makeni, and the North-Western region of Port Loko, and Makeni. He said the ‘terrorists’ attacked and butchered an unarmed Police Officer Superintendent Osman Fofana who was on duty.
“Based on intelligence, we are told that the terrorists were bracing up to attack government offices and officers,’’ he said.
He said they assembled in large numbers at Tintafor, Port Loko district, and attempted to invade the International Airport, but were repelled by a joint force of the Police and the Military.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs went on to say that the protesters also violently took to the streets in the Northern Region town of Magburaka preventing vehicular, motorbike, and tricycle movement. He said the intention was to cause mayhem to give the semblance of anarchy in the town.
He said some women in Binkolo used children as human shields while other protesters around the Makeni Clock Tower brandished placards and chanted ‘Bio must go’. He added that the family house of the resident Minister of the North, Abu Abu Koroma was vandalized and as he assessed the situation to be hostile, he immediately declared a curfew.
“This was not a demonstration or peaceful demonstration. No one must fool themselves under any condition whatsoever that this was a demonstration or a peaceful demonstration. This is simply an evidently violent insurrection by the ‘terrorists’ whose primary aim is to destroy the peace, security, and stability of this country,” said Minister Francis.
He reiterated that no one will go to a protest march or a demonstration about the high cost of living crisis which is affecting all countries of the world, including the United Kingdom, with guns and pistols, AK47 rifles, and machetes. He emphasized that the casualty figures, the shocking brutalities, and graphic pictures and videos showing the butchering of people in the said protest show that it was not a demonstration, but a violent insurrection.
The Minister pointed out that, the Eastern Region of Kenema, Kailahun, and Kono districts were calm and peaceful. He said in order to avert what had happened in Freetown and other parts of the country, the stakeholders in the respective districts in the East sensitized the public to be peaceful and law-abiding.
He noted that, though they are yet to ascertain the full scale of the casualty figures, but said people were killed and properties vandalized. He further said that one (1) police station, two (2) government buses, the Ministry of Lands, and the National Commission for Social Action (NACSA) offices both in Waterloo were burnt down.
He said the government saw the attack as a well-planned, orchestrated, pre-meditated and violent insurrection determined to destroy the hard-won peace and stability of this country. He quoted the German Prime Minister who once said that: “Sierra Leone was a successive case of post-war countries”. He reiterated that before the protest, Sierra Leone was the fourth most peaceful country in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof. Francis asserted that the objective of this political group that attacked the country using known International residents of the Netherlands is to violently obstruct the peace, security, and stability of the country and to present to the International community a semblance of anarchy to make the country look bad in the eyes of the world.
He emphasized that the violent insurrection will be fully investigated and those found culpable through a transparent judicial process would face the full force of the law.
The British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Lisa Jane Chesney noted that the current economic situation also affects the UK and other parts of the world. She urged the government not to think of any revenge whilst conducting their investigation, and to try and dialogue with whosoever is concerned.
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