By Africa 24 news
This year’s December festive seasons seem to be on a boring note for Sierra Leoneans as the country has had repeated awesome news of gun shots in the capital.
Part of Freetown was put under a siege as some unknown men allegedly attacked Wilberforce barracks’ armory on a Sunday night, November 26.
Guns shots were heard by residents like in those days of the civil war between 1992 and 2002.
Some residents at west of Wilberforce village had to flee to other communities for safety.
A government report says seven army officers were killed, a civilian including a Canadian journalist practicing in Sierra Leone.
The Sunday’s shootings did not only stop on that Sunday night but they continued the following day, Monday 27 November, 2023.
It also followed a scene of prisoners escaping from an open prison of the Pademba Road Correctional centre.
That all happened on a Sunday when most Christians were expected to attend Church services while others were to have visited their loved ones.
But they couldn’t because the whole country was not at peace.
The country saw three days of panic and fear with civilians having to “run helter-skelter” owing to reports of gun-exchange firing between pro-government soldiers and anti-government “coup” plotters.
These strange and panicky situations resulted to shops and stores being closed up by business people in the capital and its outskirts.
And many Sierra Leoneans are still concerned over the recent military skirmishes that had happened on the eve of Christmas festive and New Year’s celebration.
Already, there have been many entertainment shows being disrupted as they could not go on as planned due to Sunday’s and Monday’s Wilberforce barracks’ saga.
In the outskirts of the capital, one sociable resident of Waterloo grumbles over the distasteful events that unfolded on Sunday 26, Monday 27, and Tuesday28 November, 2023.
These events, she said, have led to government announcement of a night curfew and it will affect the festive season this year.
The curfew came into effect Monday November 27, 2023.
The indefinite night curfew starts from 9:00 p.m. and ends at 6:00 a.m. in the country. Government says it is doing further investigations into the alleged series of attacks in the capital, targeting three military armory barracks, Wilberforec, Murray Town and Jui.
But with the emergency night movement in place, the Waterloo dweller, Salamatu says, it is said to affect them a lot since they will not have the chance to go to night clubs.
“They wanted to spoil our festive this year,” says Salamatu in Waterloo, as she referred to government on the latest [military-panic attacks] in the country.