News Story

NEW PEOPLE - KONO CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Sam Sumana's promises to the thousands of Kono youth who he has been using to brutalise and threaten supporters of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party are back to bite him and the APC with a vengeance. Prior to the elections, the APC had promised the youth that in return for their support, the youth would be allowed to cart away and wash diamondeferous gravel left over from National Diamond Mining Copany (NDMC) and other mining operations in the area. The APC had also stoked discontent by manipulating the youth into attacking mining concessions and operations in the area with the promise that the government would then re-write mining laws granting orginary citizenry and especially the youth access to the diamonds. The APC supporters obliged and attacked Koidu Holdings and recently KARIBU holdings.

Now the Kono APC youth have realise that they had been deluded by yet another false APC promise. The government white paper, the youth realise, had simply been used yet again to keep the diamond wealth for the APC elite and the APC government had deliberately taken steps like sending additional OSD to Kono to ensure that they excluded Kono youth from mining operations and areas. The APC has instructed police in Koidu/Sefadu to use deadly force to stop about 1000 APC youths from taking away the diamondeferous gravel owned by KARIBU Mining Company.

The APC government has sent in additional reinforcements of armed OSD from Makeni, Kenema and other nearby police posts. The APC government has also instructed the army detachment based in Kono to assist the Police in operations to suppress their own supporters. Police fired tear gas in a series of running battles with the Police and one police officer is said to have been disarmed of an AK47 assault rifle and about two clips of ammunition (approximately 60 bullets).

So far, Police have arrested 14 men and seized a number of Okadas as they claim that the violence had been sparked off by the Okada boys. A dusk to dawn curfew (8pm to 8 am) curfew has been imposed by security forces.