By KABS KANU
COCORIOKO would not see the curtains pulled down on the latest sad and disgraceful chapter in the relations between Sierra Leone and Guinea without roundly condemning what was done to the Fula ethnic group in Sierra Leone this week when armed troops raided some communities in the capital to arrest alleged Fula illegal immigrants.
The action by the Sierra Leone Police was very disgraceful and unacceptable.
First of all, there are madingoes, susus, yalunkas and Bambaras of Guinean descent in Sierra Leone but reports confirmed by many unimpeachably credible witnesses were that the Police chose Fulas specifically for their action. Whether the fulas arrested were in Sierra Leone illegally or not, it was a wrong exercise because it seemed like the target of the Police sweep were the Fulas and the question we want to ask is why. Why now ? Have these people not been living peacefully in the country minding their own business ? Why turn on them at this moment when we are talking about African unity and African solidarity ? What has happened to the ECOWAS and Mano River Union protocols of free movement of West African citizens ?
What the Guinean junta did to Sierra Leoneans in Conakry was wicked , unafrican and shameful . But why take it out on Fulas ? What did the Fulas do to deserve the treatment given them ? The Junta in Guinea is not a Fula government. In fact, if we go deep into Guinean politics, we will notice that the Fulas are a marginalized and sidelined ethnic group in the political sphere of Guinea. So, why choose them as targets for retaliation against the evils of the junta in Guinea, headed by Col. Mamady Dumbuya, who happens to be a Madingo ?
Also, how many times must we drum it home to numbskulls in Sierra Leone that Fulas are not foreigners in Sierra Leone ? The Fulas have always been with us. Those who studied African History will realize that before most of the present ethnic groups migrated to Sierra Leone, Guineans were already in the land that later became Sierra Leone. So, Fulas are not foreigners in Sierra Leone.
We are gratified that the Maada Bio SLPP Government realized its mistake and debunked the action of the Police. We hope that the government will go beyond rhetorics to deal with those people responsible for the inhospitable and evil action against the Fulas in Sierra Leone. They embarrassed not only themselves, but the government and the friendly people of Sierra Leone.
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