An uneasy calm is gradually returning to Freetown after the weekend shooting that plunged Sierra Leone’s capital into panic.

Shots were fired early Sunday morning as gunmen attacked Wilberforce Barracks, the military’s main camp and one of the West African country’s largest garrisons.

Videos on social media showed several inmates escaping from the central prison, popularly known as Pademba Road Prison, after the gunmen also attacked the facility and released almost all of the approximately 1,000 people held there. A police station containing prisoners was also attacked. Several non-civilians were reported dead, but the death toll is unclear.

In a television speech On Sunday evening, about 17 hours after the first shots, President Julius Maada Bio said the attackers had been “repelled” and most of the attack leaders had been arrested.

“I want to reassure everyone who lives in Sierra Leone that we have overcome this challenge,” he said, speaking from the presidential box, just about six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the attacked barracks.

On Monday, several military checkpoints were set up around Freetown. Some shops in the central business district opened and some people went to their jobs, but schools and banks remained closed, residents said. A dusk until dawn Curfew A curfew has also been imposed until further notice and flights in and out of the country have been limited to the curfew hours.

The attacks came amid a series of coups and counter-coups that have rocked West Africa since 2020. Although President Bio and other officials were careful not to describe the uprising as a coup attempt, many Sierra Leoneans have used that term to describe the violent events.

“Many people say it was an attempt to overthrow the government,” said Amadou Lamarana Bah, a journalist who tried to report when chaos broke out but was repelled by armed military men. Speculation remains about the attackers’ true motive as details continue to be released by authorities, he said. “Others say it was an attempt to release some military officers who were in prison. Things have by no means returned to normality.”

“We expected something”

Sunday’s events were the culmination of tensions that have been brewing since the conclusion of hard-fought elections in June. Following President Bio’s re-election, Samura Kamara, candidate of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC), will run immediately rejected the SLPP win and said the results were not credible. European Union observers and US officials had also noted that the election commission’s results lacked transparency.

But Sunday’s attacks were also a result of deep resentment among Sierra Leoneans, who are feeling the bite of a faltering economy hit hard first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by the fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine . Many have directed their anger at President Bio, accusing him of flying out of the country on expensive international trips.

Those feelings were heightened when dozens of people were killed last August after police in Freetown opened fire on crowds protesting high food prices, a rare incident in a country where protests are usually peaceful. At least 21 civilians and six police officers were killed in the unrest.

“What happened last year, even if it wasn’t directly related, I think created an environment where some people may have felt an opening,” said Kieran Mitton, a researcher at King’s College London who focuses on Sierra Leone concentrated. The actions, he said, left President Bio and the country vulnerable. “There is a general feeling of dissatisfaction. A lot of people I spoke to said, ‘We expected something.’ Maybe not that, but we expected something because the situation in the country is so, so bad.'”

Sierra Leoneans have often criticized foreign media for blaming the country’s current problems on brutal civil wars that raged for more than a decade from the 1990s to 2001, leaving thousands dead and stagnating Sierra Leone’s economy. But some admit the recent violence reminds them of those dark times.

“I was a teenager during the war,” said Bah, the journalist. “I remember when we went to a mosque to seek refuge and military men came and shot everywhere. Some people were killed. We survived, but the police officers pointing their guns bring back those memories.”

For some on Sunday, it felt like the country took several steps back even as people are trying to move forward. Sallu Kamuskay, a blogger, was stuck in another part of the city preparing for a friend’s wedding when the shots rang out. When he woke up from a nap, he found his phone flooding with messages from worried friends and family.

“I was shocked when I woke up to the news after we said ‘Never again,'” Kamuskay said.

An all-day curfew meant the groom’s parents were stuck in the area of ​​chaos. “Those of us who were already here had to go ahead with the wedding while my friend’s father and mother joined via WhatsApp video call,” he said.

“Unidentified attackers”

It is unclear who led the attacks on the military armory. Authorities said the attackers were “unidentified” and that investigations to determine their identities were continuing.

Rumors of a possible coup had been circulating for months. In August, 14 senior military officers were arrested for “subversion,” or undermining authority. Their names have not been released.

But at least two analysts told Al Jazeera that around 50 people, including military officials and former rebel commanders, may have been involved in Sunday’s attacks. The intruders apparently managed to break into the barracks and remove some weapons from it before a special guard under the presidency intervened and drove them out of the city, the experts said.

One Video on social media showed residents peering into a truck a local fact-checking website confirmed that it was abandoned by the attackers. Inside the truck is a rifle, an RPG grenade launcher, bullet casings and military clothing.

Kars de Bruijne, West Africa director at the Clingendael Institute, a think tank, said it was strange that the attackers targeted an armory rather than a more sensitive location, as is common in coup attempts. “You would expect they would go to State House,” de Bruijne said, referring to the presidential box. “It’s possible that they had plans to do this, but they were met with a lot of resistance.” The inmates, he added, may have been released “to ensure that they could cause a lot of chaos.”

Some of those who died in the shooting have been linked to Ernest Bai Koroma, the country’s immediate past president and a member of the opposition APC.

Idrissa “Leatherboot” Hamid Kamara, a former fighter who was jailed after the war and later joined the former president’s security team, was one of them, according to local media. One of Koroma’s bodyguards was also shot dead by the Sierra Leonean army, and another was captured alive in an apparent raid on his home.

Koroma distanced himself from the violence in a statement. “I am deeply concerned about the events in Freetown and strongly condemn the serious breaches of state security,” the former president said wrote on social media.

There could be a reshuffle of the military and police in the coming weeks, de Bruijne said, as authorities try to clarify further details. “I fear that there will be a very serious crackdown on the APC,” the expert added. If politicians are found to be involved, they must be held accountable, he said, but “the risk is that the authorities could overreact and this could lead to the arrest of others who were not directly involved at all.” .

Calls for peace

President Bio’s address to the nation on Sunday evening was reassuring in a country where events have become increasingly politicized and where some say government officials have previously used inflammatory language. After the killings last August, for example, Bio and government officials labeled the protesters “insurgents.”

On Sunday, Bio used neutral terms such as “individuals” and “attackers” and focused on praising the “bravery” of security forces. He called on Sierra Leoneans across party lines to fight for the country’s hard-won peace.

“Even when it was questionable whether a coup was even in the offing, he called for a coup, when he talked about political unrest he called it mutiny or treason,” said King’s College’s Mitton, reflecting on the president’s change of attitude after .

Bio, a former military man and former military ruler, might be expected to get along smoothly with the army, but that is hardly the case, Mitton noted. “I think he would like to see himself as having the military on his side (but) that suggests the relationship isn’t as easy as people assume. There are always factions within the military, and when you form an alliance with a group, there are going to be some who feel a little left out.”

Bio on Sunday’s tone hit home for many people across the country, Bah, the journalist said, even if people are still dissatisfied with the economic challenges they face. “Sierra Leonans praised the way he handled the situation,” he said. “I don’t think people want military rule, they just want him to cut spending, especially travel.”

Some say they want to keep moving forward.

“All we want is peace,” said Kamuskay, the blogger. “Even if people are dissatisfied with the election results and the way the country is being run by this government, they still want peace.”