“I don’t know whether he is dead or alive,” Hawa Conteh, mother of a suspect declared wanted by the Sierra Leone Police sadly expressed.
Her son, Abu-Bakarr Kamara is one of the suspects police declared wanted in April 2020, following a violent riot staged by a number of youths in Lunsar, one of the largest towns in Port Loko, Northern Sierra Leone.
Lunsar was home to Iron Ore miner, SL Mining Company. The youth staged the riot in relation to a decision by the government of Julius Maada Bio to cancel the license of the mining company.
The decision was viewed by the youth as a move that would put them in increasing hardship and decided to protest. They blamed Paramount Chief, Koblo Queen II of Marampa Chiefdom, within which Lunsar falls, claiming he connived with the government to close down the mine. Some further accused the Chief of not being transparent about community funds he had been receiving from the mines.
The riot was triggered by the arrest of Ibrahim Sulaiman Kabia, a youth leader nicknamed Bulgur whom the Chief had accused of inciting the youth against him.
In reaction, angry youths took to the street demanding Kabia’s release. They attacked the police station and the Chief’s house, destroying several properties.
According to police, at least one person, nephew of the Chief died as a result of the incident which became largely politicized.
Government officials accused the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) of masterminding the riot. APC brought the US mines in the Community which is also its strong political base before being voted out of governance in 2018.
Police mounted a crackdown on the plotters of the riot, declaring Kamara who has been a well-known supporter of the APC and the other suspects wanted.
But Kamara’s mother denied her son was part of the riot. She said he is just a victim of circumstance. “They did what they did to him because of his closeness to Osman Karankkay,” a former MP from the main opposition party.
“Three years now I have not been able to set eyes on my son since police came to my house in search of him. If they have killed him let them give me the corpse She said,” foreseeing her son must have been killed.
She claims Kamara was not part of the riot but because he is a well-known supporter of APC and was very close to the former MP, ‘they decided to destroy him.’
