By: Hafsatu Z Bangura
The army chief of defense staff (CDS) Lt Gen Peter K Lavahun has revealed that Sierra Leone stands with the regional body the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in relation to any decision taken by the body.
According to the CDS any decision taken by ECOWAS, it is binding on Sierra Leone to follow suit whether it means using force to restore the ousted civilian leader Mohamed Bazoum or even if it means using mediation and negotiation to solve the political impasse.
“The decision for military intervention in Niger has to come from the highest political level of ECOWAS before the standby military force that was established by the regional body military could enforce such a decision”, the CDS stated.
Chernor Bah, the new Minister of information and civic education said S/Leone will abide by any decision taken by ECOWAS given that Sierra Leone is a founding signatory member of the regional body.
“Sierra Leone`s position is non-negotiable because we are bound to implement all ECOWAS`s protocols”, Mr Bah reveals.
The Inspector General of Police William Fayia Sellu also debunked rumors about the alleged state subversion and the recent incident of a helicopter that flew in from South Africa into the country.
According to the Inspector General a public notice was put out on Monday informing the general public about an attempted coup that would have destroyed the peace of the country and it’s citizens and citizens would have shifted the blame to government for lack of immediate response towards such notice.
He continued that several arrests have been made to which eight senior members of the RSLAF have been arrested, two police officers and a former chief superintendent of Police was also arrested including a number of civilians to which a manhunt has been set for more culprits who have been linked to the crime as investigations continues.
He also talked about the deployment of the police, armed forces of the RSLAF which are on high patrol to bring to book the alleged suspected perpetrators.
He clarified on the issue of the helicopter crash land that happened a few days ago to which there have been false rumors about the incident.
He said the helicopter in question is one on an exploration to Greenland to which it encountered technical engineering issue that requires the services of aviation engineers.
The helicopter landed along the Fobo road mashewureh village approximately 15miles away from central waterloo on saturday with registration number Z5-RWT, pipe number AS350.
The IGP said crew members of the helicopter were rescued, and that the crash land was a precautional landing exercise. The said helicopter he said belongs to a company in South Africa called sky horse Aviation Company owned by two pilots namely Richard a British and Nickolas a South African.
The pilots were certified by the South African Civil Authority and it was reiterated that the helicopter was on a mineral exploration survey, noting that they left South Africa on the 28th July 2023 to which he said they sought for a landing permit as they had to do a refill after they encountered mechanical faults.
The landing permit he said was signed by the Director General of the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority.
Mr Sellu went on that both pilots were investigated, to which control tower regulated the landing, civil aviation authority were also present at the sight, to which he said a thorough investigation was done and nothing of Police suspicion was detected and the locals who were interviewed said no illegal activities were noticed as was speculated on social media.
He concluded that the helicopter in question is parked at the Sierra Leone Armed forces base to which two Engineering experts from South Africa has arrived to fix up the said helicopter for it’s continued exploration to Greenland.
He therefore encouraged the general public to go about their normal duties as the situation is under control.