By Kabs Kanu
Sierra leone Police launched sporadic raids on some settlements in Freetown yesterday and arrested many illegal immigrants from Guinea, in an apparent adverse response to the arrests and deportation of Sierra Leonean citizens by the military junta government in Guinea.
The Guinean outrage, which saw military truckloads of Sierra Leoneans being driven to the border and deposited there , has angered many Sierra Leoneans and even some members of the President Maada Bio government. But given Sierra Leone’s soft aporoach to illegal immigration into the country, especially by Guineans, the action of the Sierra Leone Police yesterday surprised a lot of people.
Emotions were mixed. Many Sierra Leoneans on social media condemned the apparent tit- for- tat move by the Police. But a good number of Sierra Leoneans hailed the apparent retaliatory action of the Sierra Leone government , citing the humiliation meted out to our citizens in Guinea.
The main point of contention is why the move to arrest illegal immigrants seemed to target only members of the Fula ethnic group . Even some Sierra Leoneans of Guinean descent questioned why susus, madingoes and Yalunkas, who also have illegal immigrants in Sierra Leone , were not targeted.
Some reports said the order to arrest the Guineans came from above but spokespeople for President Bio’s government wrote on social media that President Bio has said that the orders did not come from his office.
The unpleasant events playing out in both neighbouring countries are being blamed on the hard line taken in Guinea against Sierra Leone by Col. Mamadi Dumbuya’s junta government.
People think that the excuses being given by the authorities in Guinea that the deportees were engaged in trafficking drugs , especially the deadly kush , and in prostitution as well , were not good reasons for the mass deportations, in view of the fact that Guineans resident in Sierra Leone were involved in the same acts.
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