Coup: Why ex-President Koroma is invited -S'Leone police

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The Sierra Leonean police has indicated why former President Ernest Koroma was invited, saying he is to assist in an ongoing probe into the security breach that rocked Freetown, the country’s capital city, nearly two weeks ago.

Chernor Bah, the country’s minister of information and civic education, had said “unidentified individuals” attacked the barracks which houses several foreign embassies, including those of China, Germany, Austria, Gambia, Lebanon and Syria.

Following Bah’s announcement, the government declared a nationwide curfew.

Prisoners also escaped from a detention facility after a coordinated jail break orchestrated by gunmen.

A day after the incident, Julius Bio, president of Sierra Leone, said most of the leaders of the attack have been arrested and that investigations were ongoing.

Bio also assured that those responsible would be held accountable through due process.

Although the president had refrained from describing the chain of events as a coup, the minister of information and civic education confirmed that it was a failed coup plot.

In a statement, on Thursday, Bah recalled that, “At around 11:00 AM today, 7th December, 2023, the Sierra Leone police served a summons to the former President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma — inviting him to report at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department in Freetown within a period of 24 hours.

“The former president is invited to assist the police in the ongoing criminal investigations into the November 26th failed attempted coup in Sierra Leone.”

The statement added that the ministry of information and civic education will provide updates as the investigation progresses.