{"id":187467,"date":"2022-08-13T12:19:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T04:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=187467"},"modified":"2022-08-13T12:19:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T04:19:31","slug":"update-sierre-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=187467","title":{"rendered":"Update: Sierre Leone president accuses opposition of insurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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FREETOWN, Aug 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The president of Sierra Leone blamed deadly protests this week on opposition parties, claiming that his political rivals had attempted to overthrow his government in a “premeditated” insurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, a demonstration organised by women to draw attention to inflation and the rising cost of living descended into clashes between security forces and young men demanding President Julius Maada Bio resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence erupted in several parts of the country, with the authorities imposing an internet blackout in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six protesters and four police officers were killed, according to police and hospital sources, but no official toll has been given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While shops and businesses in the capital Freetown have reopened, the government has imposed a curfew between 7:00 pm and 7:00 am and troops patrol the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an address to the nation on Friday evening, Bio, a general turned politician who was elected in 2018, said the opposition had been stoking tensions “for some time”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This was not a protest against the high cost of living occasioned by the ongoing global economic crisis,” he said. “The chant of the insurrectionists was for a violent overthrow of the democratically elected government.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He specifically cited members of the All Peoples Congress, his party’s main political rival and the country’s former ruling party, as well as the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The peace, security and stability of this nation were shattered by persons whose insurrection was pre-meditated, well-planned, financed and executed with shocking brutality,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the president’s address, the APC released its own statement calling for adherence to rule of law, though it did not directly respond to the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We urge all stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and avoid inflammatory rhetoric (or) unfounded pronouncements,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a party, we continue reaffirming and reinforcing our commitment to sustainable peace and national cohesion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bio promised an investigation into the unrest and state funerals for the security officers who were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sierra Leone has had a reputation for relative stability since the end of a civil war that ran from 1991 to 2002 and left about 120,000 dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the economy, heavily dependent on minerals, has struggled to rebound, and the population of eight million lives in one of the poorest nations in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN’s Human Development Index ranks Sierra Leone 182 out of 189 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts at rebuilding were set back by an Ebola epidemic in 2014-2016, a fall in world commodity prices and the coronavirus pandemic — all of which have disrupted trade and investment and hit exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, the country slashed three zeros off its currency hoping to restore confidence in the inflation-hit leone. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FREETOWN, Aug 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The president of Sierra Leone blamed deadly protests this week on opposition parties, claiming that his political rivals had attempted to overthrow his government in a “premeditated” insurrection. On Wednesday, a demonstration organised by women to draw attention to inflation and the rising cost of living descended into clashes between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":187470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187467"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187471,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187467\/revisions\/187471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/187470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}