In a gripping turn of events, former Sierra Leonean president Ernest Bai Koroma finds himself under house supervision, a move labeled as house arrest by the opposition amid recent turmoil.
This follows his third round of police questioning on December 11, centered around the authorities' characterization of the November 26 events as an attempted coup d'état.
Contrary to government announcements on Saturday, asserting Koroma's placement in a house arrest-like regimen, one of his lawyers disputes this claim. The Minister of Information clarifies that the former president's release is "on condition that he remains within the confines of his property in Freetown and receives a limited number of guests."
A palpable tension surrounds Koroma's residence as a substantial police presence is deployed around it on Monday. The Sierra Leonean authorities suspect some of his former guards of involvement in the November 26 unrest, during which assailants attacked military armories, barracks, prisons, and police stations, resulting in 21 casualties, including 18 members of the security services and three assailants, as reported by the Minister of Information.