Opposition accuses Military of Election Weekend Assault
NEW YORK TIMES
Supporters and party officials from the All Peoples’ Congress were sifting through polling data from the presidential vote when the military surrounded party headquarters.
Elian Peltier and
DAKAR, Senegal — Senior officials from Sierra Leone’s main opposition party on Sunday accused the country’s military of shooting live ammunition and tear gas into their headquarters, raising tensions in the small West African nation a day after presidential elections.
Samura Kamara, the presidential candidate of the opposition All People’s Congress, had gathered his supporters, party staff and local officials at the headquarters in Freetown, the capital, to sift through data from Saturday’s vote when the military surrounded the building and fired at the crowds gathered outside, according to Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown, who was inside the building.
“There was a festive mood, people were playing music and dancing outside,” Ms. Aki-Sawyerr said in a telephone interview after she had been evacuated from the building on Sunday evening, coughing from the tear gas.
A New York Times reporter at the scene saw a truck loaded with soldiers carrying semiautomatic weapons, and others holding tear-gas launchers. Reports of live ammunition being fired could not immediately confirmed.
Drone footage showed the building engulfed in smoke, with tear gas canisters thrown around it.
The Sierra Leonean police said in a statement on Sunday evening that supporters of the A.P.C. party had paraded through the streets of Freetown claiming to have won the elections, although results have yet to be officially announced.
“As the situation became unbearable, the police had to fire tear gas canisters so as to disperse the crowd, which was harassing people on the road,” the statement said.
Representatives from the government or the military could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesman for the country’s national security agency denied that the military was present at the scene.
Sierra Leoneans went to the polls on Saturday to elect their next president amid a crippling economic crisis and widespread doubt that either of the two favorites — the incumbent, Julius Maada Bio, and Mr. Kamara — can heal the country’s ills.
Over the past year, inflation has reached its highest level in two decades. The national currency is one of Africa’s weakest. And Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest countries, has one of West Africa’s highest youth unemployment rate.
The unrest on Sunday came after violent protests over rising prices left more than two dozen people dead last summer, including police officers, which had raised fears of further tension ahead of the vote. On Wednesday, supporters of Mr. Kamara clashed with security forces in front of the party’s headquarters, but election observers said voting went without major disturbance on Saturday.
The Carter Center, which has observers monitoring the election, urged parties not to release data before the country’s electoral commission. In a statement on Sunday, it also expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the vote tallying.
That afternoon, dozens of people were trapped inside the headquarters of the opposition party for more than an hour as they were about to celebrate provisional results in some of Freetown’s districts that appeared to favor Mr. Kamara.
Uncertain of what was happening outside, and whether soldiers had penetrated the building, Ms. Aki-Sawyerr said she and about 20 people crawled toward Mr. Kamara’s office to escape the tear gas.
Mr. Kamara said live rounds had been fired at his office’s door, and posted a photo of what appeared to be a bullet hole on social media.
One woman was severely wounded and appeared unresponsive, according to a Reuters reporter who was there. Ms. Aki-Sawyerr said the woman had been brought to Mr. Kamara’s office.
“I’m in shock,” she said. “I am sorry this is happening to my country.”
Elian Peltier reported from Dakar, Senegal, and Joseph Johnson from Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Elian Peltier is the West Africa correspondent. He joined The Times in 2017 and was previously based in Paris and London. He now lives in Dakar, Senegal. @ElianPeltier
What to Know About the Election in Sierra Leone
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The person, who Reuters could not immediately identify, was motionless and badly wounded around the neck area. The window of the room she was found in had a shattered hole the size of a fist, the reporter said.
It is not immediately clear what happened outside the press conference or how the woman was wounded.
At least 200 members of the security forces blocked access to the headquarters of the All People’s Congress (APC) whose head Samura Kamara is seen as the main contender to unseat President Julius Maada Bio.
Two witnesses caught inside the building, who were later released by security forces, told Reuters they heard gunfire and saw tear gas. Several cars had been damaged on the road outside.
“We were just here on a press conference, then the next thing we knew we started hearing firing, and our whole office is surrounded by police and army,” said APC spokesman Sidi Yaya Tunis.
The police and security forces did not respond to a request for comment.
The West African country voted on Saturday in a poll which the APC hopes will see public frustration with deep economic hardship foil Maada Bio’s re-election bid.
Both parties say they are confident of victory. Results are expected in the coming days.
The election has been tense. The APC said their election representatives were attacked and intimidated in three districts on election day. The election commission on Sunday outlined several instances where officials were beaten or intimidated.
Unusually violent protests last year over rising prices have raised fears of political unrest. Bio and Kamara reported small-scale attacks on their supporters before the election, while the APC’s recent questioning of the independence of election officials raised tensions.
Police fire tear gas at opposition HQ as Sierra Leone vote tally continues
FREETOWN, June 26 — Police in Sierra Leone fired tear gas at the main opposition party’s headquarters yesterday evening, authorities said, as voters awaited the results of a fiercely fought general election.
Opposition All People’s Congress (APC) presidential candidate Samura Kamara said on Twitter that live bullets had also been fired at his office inside the party headquarters in the capital Freetown.
Sidie Yahya Tunis, a spokesman for the APC, told AFP that one woman had died in the incident.
“She was downstairs in the medical unit — she’s a nurse — we have a little health clinic in our office, that’s where she was working,” he said.
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, a prominent APC member bidding for a second term as Freetown mayor, tweeted photos from inside the building showing people taking cover on the floor.
“I am in the APC Party office and we are under fire,” she wrote.
In a statement, the Sierra Leone Police said that members of the APC had paraded through Freetown “announcing to the public that they had won” the elections.
They attracted “a huge crowd” of supporters outside the headquarters, who “started harassing passers-by”, the force said.
“When the situation became unbearable, the Police had to fire teargas canisters so as to disperse the crowd which was harassing people on the road,” it added.
Vote tallying got underway across the country earlier on Sunday, but results have not yet been announced.
Voting during Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections was mostly peaceful.
But on Sunday, chief electoral commissioner Mohamed Konneh outlined a number of districts where he said polling staff had been attacked by members of the public.
Also yesterday, the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) of President Julius Maada Bio alleged in a statement that “top-ranking members” of the APC had attacked its polling agents.
On Saturday evening, senior members of the opposition party told AFP that violence had taken place near several polling centres in Freetown.
The head of the Office of National Security, Abdulai Caulker, said at a press conference that he was not aware of those alleged incidents.
Clashes also broke out outside APC’s headquarters on Wednesday after the party called for “peaceful” nationwide protests.
Sixty-six people were arrested Wednesday across Freetown, police said.
The APC has also alleged that its supporters were attacked while campaigning in rural parts of the country.
Some level of political violence is typical of Sierra Leonean election campaigns.
‘Concerned’
On Sunday evening, the European Union Election Observation Mission said it was “concerned about the ongoing tabulation process”.
“Considering the highly polarised political environment and prevailing mistrust, it is imperative that the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone provides full transparency during the tabulation of results,” chief observer Evin Incir said in a statement.
The Carter Centre, which also sent an observation mission, said yesterday evening it was concerned “about reports indicating a lack of transparency during parts of the tabulation process”.
Kamara of the APC alleged in a statement earlier on Sunday that the electoral commission was making it “impossible for us and other political parties to compare, reconcile and verify” tallying.
The APC has for weeks accused the electoral commission of bias in favour of the governing party, raising speculation that it is laying the groundwork for a court challenge of the results — a tactic both parties have used in the past.
Konneh of the electoral commission said in a press conference that the party’s demands were “practically impossible” given the scale of the tallying.
Many polling stations opened and closed late in Freetown on Saturday, with voting officially ending at 11.30pm, according to Konneh.
He said it had been “one of the best election days” in recent history, “if not the best”.
Results are expected within 48 hours of the vote.
Key players
Twelve men and one woman were running for president, but incumbent Bio’s main challenger is Kamara of the APC. Bio narrowly beat Kamara in a runoff in 2018.
Both main parties said they were confident of victory in statements on Sunday.
Some 3.4 million people were registered to vote, the electoral commission said.
Presidential candidates must secure 55 per cent of valid votes for a first-round win.
Turnout has ranged from 76 to 87 per cent over the past three elections.
Voters will also elect members of parliament and local councils under a new proportional representation.
A June 14 poll by survey group Institute for Governance Reform forecast that Bio would win 56 per cent of the vote, with 43 per cent for Kamara.
Another poll, conducted by the newspaper Sierra Eye and two local data groups, forecast 38 per cent for the incumbent and 25 per cent for his main challenger.
The elections are being closely followed in West Africa, a region recently dominated by coups and turmoil. — AFP
Woman Unresponsive After Gunshots Heard at Sierra Leone Opposition HQ
By Cooper Inveen
FREETOWN (Reuters) -A woman was found severely wounded and without a pulse at Sierra Leone’s opposition party headquarters on Sunday after police surrounded the building during a post election news conference, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.
The person, who Reuters could not immediately identify, was motionless and badly wounded around the neck area. The window of the room she was found in had a shattered hole the size of a fist, the reporter said.
It is not immediately clear what happened outside the press conference or how the woman was wounded.
At least 200 members of the security forces blocked access to the headquarters of the All People’s Congress (APC) whose head Samura Kamara is seen as the main contender to unseat President Julius Maada Bio.
Two witnesses caught inside the building, who were later released by security forces, told Reuters they heard gunfire and saw tear gas. Several cars had been damaged on the road outside.
“We were just here on a press conference, then the next thing we knew we started hearing firing, and our whole office is surrounded by police and army,” said APC spokesman Sidi Yaya Tunis.
The police and security forces did not respond to a request for comment.
The West African country voted on Saturday in a poll which the APC hopes will see public frustration with deep economic hardship foil Maada Bio’s re-election bid.
Both parties say they are confident of victory. Results are expected in the coming days.
The election has been tense. The APC said their election representatives were attacked and intimidated in three districts on election day. The election commission on Sunday outlined several instances where officials were beaten or intimidated.
Unusually violent protests last year over rising prices have raised fears of political unrest. Bio and Kamara reported small-scale attacks on their supporters before the election, while the APC’s recent questioning of the independence of election officials raised tensions.
(Reporting by Cooper Inveen; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Chris Reese and Diane Craft)
