The Sierra Leonean police have apprehended senior military officials after a credible tip off had revealed that they(military men) were working to subvert the nation’s democracy and unleash violence on its citizens.
Several arrests have been made to that effect, and the suspects are presently assisting the police with the investigations, according to a statement released on Monday by the police headquarters in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Police operatives had made the arrests to prevent President Julius Maada Bio’s democratically elected administration from being ousted, like was seen last week in the Republic of Niger, when President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by a military coup.
The suspects had planned to cause a disturbance across the country under the guise of upcoming protests.
Preliminary investigations had uncovered that the peaceful protests expected to be held between 7th to 10th August 2023, were to serve as a guide against state institutions and peaceful citizens.
The statement partly read:
“Regardless of our continued efforts to reinforce our hard won peace and democratic gains, there are still individuals, home and abroad, that continue to take on actions meant to derail the peace and tranquility of the country.”
Meanwhile the ties among member states of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, have become very divided after Mali and Burkina Faso brokered an alliance with Niger Republic, turning to Russia for aid in giving them weapons to ward off attacks from the military intervention ECOWAS had proposed as a plan in retaking Niger from the military.
