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Ordinary Life Resumes in Sierra Leone After Violent Protests: What Happened and Why?_我的网站

一 |     为增强市民出行的安全意识和文明意识，推动交通秩序进一步改善，形成全社会共同参与、共同维护文明交通的良好风尚，日前，在市文明办的部署下，抚顺市各城区组织开展了“为文明行为点赞”主题实践活动。         　　新抚区          　　为提升城市文明形象，增强行人交通安全意识，日前，新抚区组织开展文明出行宣传活动。    Dozens of businesses, government offices, vehicles, and at least three police stations went up in flames in Freetown, Makeni, Kamakwie, and other cities across Sierra Leone from August 10 through 12, with over 113 people arrested and police introducing an emergency nationwide curfew and deploying tear gas and live ammunition to disperse crowds.,The curfew was lifted on August 13, with banks, businesses, government offices, and most stores reopened and communal services beginning to clear the damage. However, ramped-up security measures, including federal troop deployments to assist police, have been left in place.,What Happened?,Sierra Leone is one of the poorest nations in the world, ranking 186 out of 198 in a recent GDP purchasing power parity ranking. An estimated 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, many of them in the country’s rural areas. Like other nations in Africa, the country has faced special difficulties amid the global economic calamity brought on by COVID, and exacerbated by Western restrictions on Russian exports of agricultural goods and fertilizers amid the security crisis in Ukraine, which has caused a major jump in food prices.,AfricaAnti-Russia Sanctions Left Africa Without Access to Grain and Fertilisers, African Union Chief Says3 June, 11:13 GMT,As a net importer of both energy and food, Sierra Leone is especially vulnerable to global economic conditions, and along with food and fertilizers, fuel and electricity costs have also soared. Food prices alone have jumped by over 40 percent over the past few months, with a bag of rice once costing 350 leones now going for over 500. The country’s Central Bank recently removed three zeros from the national currency in a bid to restore confidence. The country has also been overcome by weeks of strikes by government workers, including doctors and teachers, and by small traders protesting poor conditions.,Coup Plot?,However, President Julius Maada Bio has also accused protesters of having ulterior motives beyond the cost of living crisis.,“This was not a protest against the high cost of living occasioned by the ongoing global economic crisis. The chant of the insurrectionists was for a violent overthrow of the democratically-elected government,” Bio said in an address on August 12 after returning to the country from a holiday in London.,Local media pointed to the chants of “Bio must go” among protesters as they gathered in the capital, and the president accused some of the demonstrators of consisting of “APC Warriors,” a reference to the opposition All People’s Congress party, which governed the country from 2007 until 2018, when Bio’s Sierra Leone People’s Party won national elections.,No doubt mindful of the violent civil war which shook the country between 1991 and 2002, claiming as many as 70,000 lives and displacing over 2.5 million people, Bio vowed that “in the coming weeks and months, [the] government will undertake necessary security actions meant to guarantee the peace and security of all citizens.”,“The security forces will, and must, act with great restraint and within their professional codes of service. But be assured that my government will crack down hard on violent insurrectionists, their collaborators, their sponsors and their supporters. My government will relentlessly fight those who would rather use terror and gruesome violence to achieve political goals,” the president said.,As a government, we will continue our engagement with Civil Society as we strive to promote sustainable peace, national cohesion and socio-economic development in Sierra Leone. #newdirectionagenda— President Julius Maada Bio (@PresidentBio) August 18, 2022,Bio did not elaborate on who these “sponsors” and “supporters” were, or whether they included any foreign actors.,Geopolitical Context,Like other African nations, Sierra Leone recently rejected calls by Washington and Brussels to show solidarity with the West and Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. But even before the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, relations between Freetown and Washington were tense at times. Last year, US President Joe Biden snubbed Bio by refusing to invite the African leader to the US’ so-called “Democracy Summit.” No reasons were given. However, neighboring Liberia, which faced mass civil unrest of its own between 2019 and 2020, and whose officials have been sanctioned by the US over suspected corruption, did get an invite.,While Sierra Leone maintains economic and political ties with its former British colonial masters, and remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Freetown has sought to expand its partnerships with other geopolitical power centers, including Russia and China. President Bio attended the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in 2019, where he discussed ways to strengthen economic cooperation between the distant nations. In February 2021, Freetown signed onto Moscow’s efforts to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space. In May 2021, Bio spoke by phone to President Xi Jinping of China, where they discussed the friendly, “brotherly” relations between the two nations, as well Chinese assistance to Freetown in measures against COVID, and agricultural and economic development.,In this context, the reactions of major foreign powers to this month’s unrest have been telling. While the United States, Britain, and the European Union collectively expressed “grave concern” over the “disturbing reports of violence” and urged the parties to “stay calm, promote accountability and ensure respect for human rights,” China’s Embassy smoothed over the protests altogether, refraining from wagging its finger at Freetown and instead trumpeting the expanding cooperation between the two countries.,We are gravely concerned by reports of violence surrounding today’s demonstrations in Sierra Leone. We urge all parties to stay calm, promote accountability, and ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.— Bureau of African Affairs (@AsstSecStateAF) August 10, 2022,Similarly, while UK High Commissioner to Sierra Leone Lisa Chesney lectured President Bio about how “violence has no place in a democracy and the necessary investigation into August 10 can sit alongside de-escalation,” the Russian Embassy in the Republic of Guinea, which concurrently serves as the Embassy in Sierra Leone, only presented a bare bones report on the situation in the country, Bio’s meetings with community and tribal leaders, and indicated that an internal “debriefing” was being created “regarding the causes, course and consequences of the riots on August 10.”。         　　活动中，社区工作人员、志愿者向居民讲解道路交通安全法规及安全常识。大家还来到辖区内人流量较大的路口，手持文明交通引导牌，耐心地向过往行人宣传文明过马路的重要性，提醒行人要遵守交通规则，摒弃交通陋习，做到安全文明出行。         　　此次宣传活动得到了市民的积极响应和支持，大家纷纷表示，将从自身做起，自觉成为文明交通的实践者、参与者，携手共建畅通有序的交通环境。         　　望花区          　　为更好地展现路畅车通、人车和谐的城市精神风貌，体现市民友善礼让、宽容互助的文明素质，营造一个安全、有序、文明、畅通的交通出行环境，日前，望花区文明办开展“为文明礼让点赞”主题实践活动。         　　活动期间，文明交通志愿者身穿红马甲、手持标牌，在区内主次干道、重要交通路口等斑马线两侧，引导行人安全有序过马路，向文明礼让的车辆“点赞”，一停一让，一点头一微笑，绘就了一道靓丽的文明风景线。         　　东洲区          　　为进一步提升人民群众安全文明出行意识，9月27日，东洲区开展“为文明礼让点赞”主题活动。         　　在东洲大街绥化路、绥阳路、向阳路等多个路口，志愿者身穿红马甲，手拿点赞牌，协助交警维持现场交通秩序，并劝导行人遵守交通规则。         　　此次活动的开展不仅缓解了东洲大街辖区内主要路口的交通压力，还提升了辖区居民的安全意识，共同营造出畅通和谐的道路交通环境。         　　顺城区          　　在顺城区新城路盛城街路段，长春街道的志愿者开展“为文明行为点赞”活动，引导市民安全通过斑马线，并为文明通行的市民和车辆驾驶员举起“点赞牌”。期间，志愿者还向市民赠送了文明交通宣传手袋，鼓励大家积极参与到“为文明行为点赞”实践活动中，营造文明礼让、遵章出行的良好氛围。

二 |                     责任编辑：李丹。

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