{"id":8516,"date":"2022-08-14T14:51:31","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T14:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection"},"modified":"2022-08-14T15:04:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T15:04:31","slug":"sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection","title":{"rendered":"Sierra Leone president accuses opposition of insurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>The president of Sierra Leone blamed deadly protests this week on opposition parties, claiming Friday night that his political rivals had attempted to overthrow his government in a “premeditated” insurrection.<\/p>\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

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

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

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

“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

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

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For More News And Analysis About Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. The president of Sierra Leone blamed deadly protests this week on opposition parties, claiming Friday night 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":84,"featured_media":8515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[291,293,506,24,507,505,292],"class_list":["post-8516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-inflation","tag-julius-maada-bio","tag-protest","tag-sierra-leone-2","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"\nSierra Leone president accuses opposition of insurrection - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The president of Sierra Leone blamed deadly protests this week on opposition parties, claiming Friday night that his pol ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sierra Leone president accuses opposition of insurrection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The president of Sierra Leone blamed deadly protests this week on opposition parties, claiming Friday night that his pol ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-14T14:51:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-14T15:04:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_1-62f90ecba0763.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sierra Leone president accuses opposition of insurrection\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-14T14:51:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-14T15:04:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection\"},\"wordCount\":456,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_1-62f90ecba0763.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Sierra-Leone\",\"Inflation\",\"Julius Maada Bio\",\"Protest\",\"Sierra Leone\",\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-president-accuses-opposition-of-insurrection\",\"name\":\"Sierra Leone president accuses opposition of insurrection - 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