SLP DEBUNKS CLAIMS ABOUT THE EX-PEACEKEEPING OFFICERS

By Hassan Osman Kargbo 

The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has in a press release dated 12 September 2024, debunked rumors claiming that ex-peacekeeping officers had endured degrading conditions and subjected to inhumane treatment and illegal solitary confinement at Police Headquarter.

According to the release local tabloids and social media had published and are till publishing stories alleging that ex-peacekeeping officers of the Sierra Leone Police had endured degrading conditions and being subjected to inhumane treatment and illegal solitary confinement at Police Headquarter. It continued that the publication further stated that the ex-peacekeeping allowance and employment benefits had been embezzled by the Executive Management Board (EMB) of the Sierra Leone Police.

And as a result of the aforementioned allegations, the release noted that the media and Public Relation Department (MPRD) of the Sierra Leone Police stated that those claims are deliberately false and misleading and by way of setting the records straight, the SLP would like to state the following

“1. As part of her commitment to International peace and security, the Government of Sierra Leone agreed to contribute police peacekeepers to missions in South Sudan, Abyei, and Somalia;

2. In pursuit of that commitment, the Sierra Leone Police was and still tasked to deployed Individuals Police Officers (IPOs) for all three missions, in addition to the development of Formed Police Unit (FPU) in Somalia;
3. A Formed Police Unit comprised a total of 160 men and women. It is worthy to note that the SLP had so far deployed Five Formed Police Units in Somalia and the current FPU deployed in Somalia is referred to as FPU-5;
4. FPU-4 which is the subject of this press statement, completed their tour of duty in Somalia in October 2023, and returned to Sierra Leone;
5. As part of the SLP’s deployment policy, when peace keepers returned from any mission assignment, they are given two weeks’ time-off from work so as to give them time to spend and interact with their families, friends, and relatives before the resumption of normal policing duties;
6. After completion of their two weeks break from work, they are then deployed to perform normal policing duties at various locations across the county as is applicable to other police officers;
7. Ex-peacekeepers of FPU-4 (the subject-matter of this disclaimer), were no exception to the applicable SLP deployment policy.
8. The SLP wishes to make it clear that on complication of their two weeks break, they (FPU-4) were deployed at Police Headquarters and other locations across the country;
9. Their deployment at Police Headquarters is not any way a detention nor a solitary confinement, as claimed. They have access to their families, as and when they wish, and are equally so fully supported by Management in terms of their welfare and upkeep;
10. It is to be further noted that their deployment (FPU-4) at Police Headquarters is nothing different to the deployment of other Police Officers at different locations across the country. It is, in fact, the performance of normal policing duties, as provided for by law and applicable policies.
11. In respect of the claim of embezzlement of their allowance by ex-peacekeepers (FPU) directly into their individual foreign accounts in Sierra Leone;
12. The SLP is aware of the fact that each of those peacekeepers had been directly paid for sixteen (16) months into their individuals foreign accounts. It is also true that they are owed by the AU for two (2) months.
13. In view thereof, Management had engaged the AU Mission Assessments Team that is presently in the country to take adequate steps for the payments of their two months backlog allowances.
14. It is expected that the AU would pay their final two months’ allowances any time soon,” the release stated.