By Our Reporter in Freetown
As predicted by scholars, journalists, international civil servants and others, the global pandemic and the war in Ukraine will create unrest and political instability in Africa and the rest of the developing world as high costs of living and hunger spread.
In Sierra Leone, Liberia and other African countries, the hungry masses have turned on their governments. In other African countries military coups have taken place. The coup leaders often claim bad governance is the main reason for their action but the underlying cause is often the high cost of living with stagnant salaries failing to match rising prices of goods and services.
In the last three days there has been social unrest in Sierra Leone culminating in the killing today of at least two unarmed police officers by civilians in Freetown, the capital.
President Bio (photo) is out of the country but seems to have full confidence that Vice President Juldeh Jalloh will handle the situation. Jalloh, after obviously consulting the president, has called on on the military to assist the police to restore order, a process called MACP (Military Assistance to Civil Power) or Macpee, as Sierra Leoneeans normally call it.
Order seems to have been restored with some of the demonstrators rather ridiculously mistaking the soldiers for foreign peacekeeping troops sent by the United Nations. Sierra Leone received new and advanced military accoutrements from Turkey recently.
Meanwhile Vice President Juldeh Jalloh has announced a 3pm to 7 am curfew on state television.
Comments