Sierra Leone to probe political violence: presidency
9/12/2011 7:50:02 PM -
FREETOWN (AFP) - Sierra Leone on Monday announced a probe into violent clashes between the country's two main parties in the city of Bo, which have raised tensions ahead of 2012 elections.
The clashes broke out after the presidential candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) was pelted with stones on Friday, receiving a head wound, in what the party said was an "assassination attempt".
"We have intelligence reports of the action and this is disturbing," the party said in a statement.
In retaliation the regional office of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) was torched, and women's leader Zainab Mansaray allegedly stripped naked and matcheted, suffering deep cuts to her back, she told AFP from her hospital bed in Freetown.
"The government views the incident in Bo with grave concern as it has the tendency to undermine the peace and security of the state," read a statement from the presidency.
The recently named opposition candidate Julius Maada Bio was making his way through the city, 200 miles (320 kilometres) south of the capital, in a convoy on Friday, when he was hit by a stone and chaos ensued.
Witnesses told AFP that riot police fired teargas and shot live bullets into the air to calm the situation.
President Ernest Koroma, who on Sunday condemned "the ugly incident", has also ordered the security services to protect all opposition SLPP buildings throughout the country, state house sources said.
While no official toll has been announced, doctors at the city's hospital told AFP the corpse of an adult was brought to the mortuary with bullet wounds, while 23 people were hospitalised, including four policemen.
The presidency warned that "whoever is found culpable by the Committee will face the full penalty of the law".
The west African country holds elections on an as yet unspecified date next year, a decade after the end of a brutal 1991-2002 civil war, known for child soldiers and a brutal rebellion funded by "blood diamonds" in which women were raped and villagers had their limbs hacked off.
© 2011 AFP
