THURSDAY, 8.00AM
NIGERIAN peacekeeping troops were on Thursday reportedly still in control of the international airport outside the Sierra Leone capital Freetown after an assault by forces of the military junta which seized power in a coup on May 25.
An FM radio station that was considered one of the prime targets of the attack on Lungi airport, 15km from central Freetown, was still broadcasting Thursday. Ousted president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has been using the FM station, set up Monday, to urge the ruling junta to step down and to call on soldiers to report unarmed to Ecomog peacekeepers and demonstrate their loyalty to him.
Junta leader Major Johnny Koroma on Wednesday accused the station of “broadcasting vicious and malicious propaganda aimed at intimidating soldiers and civilians against the government and spreading general panic.”
Nigeria has led regional efforts to restore Kabbah to power and has deployed thousands of troops in Sierra Leone under the banner of the west African peacekeeping force, Ecomog.