What led to the coup attempt in Sierra Leone?
- December 18, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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What led to the coup attempt in Sierra Leone?
Subject : IR
Section: Places in news
Context:
- On November 26, unidentified gunmen attempted a coup in Sierra Leone, targeting military barracks, police stations, and correctional centers.
What is happening in Sierra Leone?
- In August 2023, the Sierra Leone police arrested several individuals, including senior military officers, accused of planning violent attacks on government institutions.
- The recent attacks aimed to free the arrested military officers and were declared an unsuccessful coup attempt by the government.
- Political instability is a key factor, intensified by President Julius Maada Wonie Bio’s contested re-election and the opposition’s boycott of parliament.
- Economic instability, marked by a high cost of living, severe poverty, and a 50.94% inflation rate in August, contributes to unrest.
- President Bio’s economic policies worsened the crisis, leading to protests demanding his resignation in July and August 2022.
- Police aggression, seen in incidents like the 2020 prison riot and the August 2022 protests, fuels resentment toward the government.
Measures to End Resentment
- The state response includes an indefinite curfew, flight rescheduling, cash rewards for information on coup leaders, and ongoing security operations.
- Sierra Leone is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and ECOWAS intervention may occur to maintain constitutional order.
- ECOWAS has a history of intolerance toward unconstitutional takeovers and may impose sanctions on Sierra Leone if a coup attempt succeeds.
Some facts about Sierra Leone
- Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa.
- The country is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest.
- The country’s capital, Freetown, was founded as a settlement for freed slaves in the late 18th century.
- Temne and Mende are the largest ethnic group of Sierra Leone.
- The country is rich in natural resources, especially diamond, gold, bauxite and aluminum.
- Sierra Leone has one of the world’s largest deposits of rutile, a titanium ore used as paint pigment and welding rod coatings.