POLITICS: Rumours of Coup Rock Sierra Leone

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Oct 24 2002 (IPS) - Rumours of a coup, which have rocked Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown since Monday, have been dismissed by government as ‘speculation’.

Deputy Minister of Defence, Joe Blell told journalists this week: ‘’ Indeed, some military personnel were invited for questioning but were (later) released”.

The interrogations, he went on, targeted ‘soldiers (who were) making frivolous remarks’ after receiving their monthly salaries and having got drunk.

On Monday the independent Democrat led with a headline ‘Coup, Major Gottor, Seven Others Arrested! This single publication sent the rumour mills haywire.

The tabloid alleged that a number of military personnel had been raped in for interrogation and then detained. It warned the authorities to be vigilant and stop coups in Sierra Leone, which had experienced three military take-overs since independence from Britain in 1961.

A columnist in the Standard Times, a private newspaper, opined that it was ‘disastrous for the government to maintain a news blackout on the coup story.’

The government reacted much later. On Tuesday, information and broadcasting minister, Septimus KaiKai debunked the coup story while addressing journalists.

‘’Was there an attempted coup? No. Has there been (any) arrests? No. Are people being investigated? Yes. For what? Careless talk,” Kaikai remarked rhetorically.

Unconfirmed reports say civilians as well as ex-rebel combatants were among those interrogated by the police, with the high-profile figure being the erstwhile spokesperson of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Gibril Massaquoi.

‘’I was invited for questioning more than two weeks ago regarding the said rumours of a coup, but released immediately," Massaquoi says. – I don’t know of a coup plot and that was exactly what I told the police".

For the past decade, Sierra Leone was wrecked by coups and civil unrest. Whole populations were displaced from towns and villages, which were in turn destroyed by brutal war.

More than 70,000 people are believed to have died during the course of the (1991-2001) war. It was only in 1999 that a UN peacekeeping mission with 7,500 troops helped to bring peace to the West African country, and elections were held in May 2002.

Thus, any talk of a coup plot puts Sierra Leone’s war-weary population on the edge. And, so reactions have been swift and sharp.

ôAnother coup?" asks Michael Sesay, a businessperson in the capital Freetown.

ôWe will resist any attempt by armed people to impose their rule on us. We’ve had enough", he says, referring to Sierra Leone’s past brutal coups and civil war.

Mariama Kamara, a housewife in Freetown, who claims to have lost four members of her family and property worth thousands of dollars during the war, equally frowns at the idea of a coup. ôWe are just about picking the pieces of our broken lives. How could anyone think of staging a coup and throwing us into chaos once again? This is unacceptable," says Kamara.

The rumours of the coup appear to have been timed to invite maximum panic among Sierra Leone’s 5 million people. Already, the UN mission is preparing the withdrawal of its peacekeepers in phases. While Sierra Leonean are understandably worried about their pullout, they can only be further traumatised by alleged coup plots.

The peacekeepers, too, are concerned about a possible security gap that their pullouts may create. UN commander, Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande wants to ensure that the withdrawal is ôgradual."

‘’We hope the Sierra Leonean police will fill the gap and take over normal security duties,” says Opande, a Kenyan. He says the UN Mission will help train the police for the task ahead of them.

In the meantime, though, the authorities are taking no chances in so far as security is concerned.

Sierra Leone army chief Major General Tom Carew told IPS: ôOur troops are up to the task. I can assure you that the security situation is stable and under control. Nothing will disrupt our hard-won peace".

It is such assurances that Sierra Leoneans need in this period of uncertainty.

POLITICS: Rumours of Coup Rock Sierra Leone

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Oct 24 2002 (IPS) - Rumours of a coup, which have rocked Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown since Monday, have been dismissed by government as ‘speculation’.
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