Riots in Freetown

On Monday, March 16, the centre of Freetown was the scene of violent clashes between supporters of SL's ruling All People’s Congress (APC) and the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).

The chaos was the culmination of days of tension.

The previous week, by-elections in the southern district of Pujehun had to be postponed because of fighting that resulted in several people being injured.

In Kenema, a town in the south-east, a minister’s car was set ablaze outside his house.

On Friday, March 13, the mayor of Freetown, Herbert George Williams, unveiled a newly refurbished clock tower in the east end. He had apparently invited supporters of his own party, the APC, but not those of the SLPP. Following the ceremony, the mayor, dressed in a traditional mask of the Limba people (a tribe from the north, where the APC draws most of its support), along with his acolytes, danced in the streets and reportedly insulted SLPP members who had by then gathered alongside their political opponents.

The cantankerous procession made its way to City Hall, which happens to be located right next to the SLPP headquarters. The police asked the mayor to use an alternative route to avoid the agitated SLPP supporters who had massed outside their building. But he refused, arguing that as the mayor of Freetown, he can go wherever he pleases, whenever he pleases.

Not surprisingly, it wasn’t long before tempers flared up. Invectives turned into projectiles, windows were broken, fire was set to the SLPP headquarters, and general mayhem broke out. The police eventually intervened and, with much difficulty, dispersed the rioting crowd.

When it was all over, several people were seriously injured, the SLPP offices were vandalized, equipment was looted, an array of individuals were being blamed for sparking the clash, and the authorities were being criticized for their handling of this serious threats to public safety.

On Saturday, in an attempt to calm the situation, the vice president suspended both parties’ radio stations as they had begun to incite their supporters to take action against their opponents.

Sunday was calm.

But early Monday morning, a few hundred supporters from both parties again filled the area outside the damaged SLPP headquarters. The police tried to enter the building to seize an alleged ammunitions and weapons cache, and to arrest two individuals whom they said were responsible for the unrest. But they didn’t have a warrant so were refused entry by SLPP members.

Accounts of what happened next include two black SUVs making their way through the crowd up to the door, individuals being retrieved from the building and driven away; one of the President’s bodyguards, a man known as “Leather Boot”, going in and extricating a number of people whom he later said he was holding in an undisclosed location; more fighting and rock throwing; more looting; and six women being raped inside the SLPP headquarters.

At approximately 1 p.m., the police moved in on the crowd, using copious amounts of tear gas and firing warning shots up in the air. An hour later, Freetown was back to its regular routine, almost as if nothing had happened. That is, for those of us who were not injured or raped.

THE AFTERMATH:

1) A total of 22 SLPP supporters have been arrested, charged, and arraigned.

2) President Ernest Bai Koroma issued a statement condemning the violence and urging all citizens to collaborate in the rebuilding of a peaceful and prosperous SL. The opposition responded with its own press release, pinning the blame for the unrest on what it considers the APC’s inept leadership and influence over the police force.

3) The head of the Independent Media Commission (IMC) reminded everyone that the power to suspend media organizations rests with her, not government officials. She then accepted the vice president's apology and said the regulatory body would uphold the suspensions while it investigates the role of the radio stations in the days leading up to the violence.

4) SLAJ, the SL Association of Journalists, unconditional defenders of the right to free expression, condemned the IMC for its support of the ban.

5) WIMSAL, the SL association of women journalists, issued a statement expressing their disappointment at the president’s address because it did not condemn the rapes of women inside the SLPP offices.

6) The U.S. Embassy condemned the violence, called on both parties to bridge their differences for the good of the nation, and said it was disturbed by allegations of rape.

7) An alliance of women’s groups requested a permit for a march in support of women’s rights, and to raise awareness of the gender-based violence that took place during the riots. The police denied their request.

8) Used condoms were reportedly found in the SLPP offices. Party officials claim they are proof that gang rapes took place. A male gynecologist, and head of a government hospital in Bo, told a local newspaper that the condoms are an indication of consent. Another male doctor commented that the use of condoms can cast suspicions on rape allegations.

[The Pope is currently in Africa telling stadiums full of people not to use condoms because, he ignorantly claims, they encourage the spread of HIV/AIDS. While health agencies struggle to counter that idiotic and criminal message, when they somehow convince men to use condoms to protect themselves and their sexual partners/victims from STDs, we now have doctors in SL effectively defending aggressors by insinuating that rape must have been consensual sex. So women, and often their unborn children, continue to suffer the ravages of diseases while sexual predators are enabled by the catholic church and patriarchal African doctors.]

9.1) The 20 or so injured who had been taken to Connaught hospital were discharged in the following days, except for one man, Alpha Samuel, a poor bloke from Kono district, who says he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He recounted how he was taken for an SLPP supporter, thrown to the ground, beaten with rocks, and then stripped of his shoes, phone, and money. The police eventually intervened and brought him to hospital. With multiple gashes on his head, bandages on his back, and pain in his hip bone, Samuel could barely stand. Desperation filled his watery eyes as he strained to explain what had happened to him.

9.2) Samuel will need medical care, but he has no money to pay for it. In the courtyard at Connaught hospital, Alpha pointed to the doctor who had treated him. He was sitting in the shade with other doctors, less than a hundred yards away. When we gestured for him to come and talk to us, he replied with a gesture of his own, making it clear that it was Alpha who should walk over. Leaving the injured man to sit down, I went over and asked the doctor what would happen to his patient. The answer was simple: If he has money, he will be treated. If he can’t pay, he will be discharged.

10.1) It has been reported that the police possess a limited quantity of tear gas and that importing it into SL is not easy. This is a cause of concern: When they run out, will they no longer try to stop riots, or will they use their guns to control crowds?

10.2) On Sunday, March 22, after a gas tanker delivered its cargo in Freetown's east end, the pipeline leading to the different oil companies was breached. Private security officers charged with guarding the facilities are being accused of intentionally damaging the pipe. They were seen openly taking money in exchange for the seeping gas. Poor onlookers tried to get a piece of the action and began scooping up the gas in all manner of containers. The police intervened to prevent further pilfering, relying again on tear gas. A smoldering canister ignited the petrol on the ground and on people's bodies, instantly killing the officer who launched it, causing severe burn injuries to at least 25 people, 14 of whom have since died. There are reports of additional burnt bodies at the scene that are too charred to be identified.
[March 27 Update: 7 more people have died in hospital, bringing the total to 21]

11) On Monday, March 23, the anniversary of the start of the civil war, the day in 1991 when the first shots were fired, a truck loaded with 70 young men from Kailahun district bound for Freetown was intercepted. Some passengers fled into the bush at the site of the police, and the SLPP councilor who organized the trip is under investigation.

LOCAL INSIGHTS:

Several people interpret the violence as the latest sign that the SLPP does not accept the results of the 2007 general election. After years in power, the party now finds itself in opposition, and many affirm that it is letting its less sophisticated followers in the provinces believe that the APC stole the election.

It is widely acknowledged that the SLPP is using disaffected, uneducated young men from the provinces, some of them former child-soldiers, to stir up trouble and foment instability in order to paint the government as weak and ineffective.

Members of the Peace Society at Fourah Bay College, all of them students of conflict studies, explain that poverty, unemployment, and illiteracy are combining to create a "devil's workshop" of despair and resentment, where hungry and angry young men are easily manipulated by political factions.

A number of observers are disappointed by the international media's coverage of last week's events. For instance, Reuters mentioned the presence of machetes in the SLPP offices. It remains unclear if there were any. Some feel that the news agency created an image of the violence that needlessly linked to the atrocities of the country's recent civil war.

According to some, the BBC correspondent, who happens to be the president of SLAJ, also hyped the violence.

Aljazeera, in a 1:49-min video on air and on its website, inserted footage of maimed victims from the civil war in between scenes of Monday's unrest.

However, to their credit, the Qatar-based network subsequently sent a team to SL to produce a 7-minute segment on the difficulties journalists face in trying to investigate controversial stories. They are in Freetown for a week, talking to those involved in last week's events as well as to a number of local media professionals. They interviewed me yesterday.

This is an ongoing story. A narrative where extreme poverty, high unemployment, widespread corruption, and a grossly inadequate infrastructure are dragging down sustained and creative local, national and international efforts to increase literacy rates, provide basic sanitation and health services, promote human rights, and solidify the rule of law.

On April 27, SL will celebrate Republic Day. The APC has promised that on that day, electricity will finally begin to flow to all parts of the country. The National Power Authority has been working hard to make that vision a reality. Many suspect the SLPP of working just as hard to make sure that light does not shine on the APC and its anticipated development success.

In SL, it's all about power.

Goodbye Alpha

He was only 8 and very small. But he had a quiet wisdom about him. He charmed all of us ex-pats instantly with his bright eyes, gorgeous smile, and delicate demeanor.

Last week, on the morning of March 3rd, after a restless night of uncontrollable fits, our beloved Alpha, our delightful little basket seller, quietly passed away.

His distraught father, Amadu, now walks around crying and confused. He says he doesn’t understand why God took his beautiful and gentle boy. Nobody knows what illness killed him, but it was sudden enough that Alpha probably did not suffer very long. Unless of course, being the reasonable boy that he was, he kept silent about the headache pounding inside his head. He had mentioned it a couple of days earlier and was given tablets, which made him well enough to play with his friends. The relief did not last.

I am still stunned and finding it difficult to imagine Lakka, the small beach community many of us go to for fresh air and a relaxing swim, without him. Even after seeing the tiny mound of dusty soil covering his body in the village’s non-descript cemetery, I still expect to see Alpha cheerfully walk up along the shore, straw baskets dangling from his fingers.

He is what child mortality statistics look like. In SL, he is one of thousands of young children who will die this year.

But he was our Alpha. And we will miss him so very, very much.