2023 — The 2023 Sierra Leone Coup Attempt

Before dawn on November 26, 2023, gunfire shattered the night in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Armed men stormed the Wilberforce military barracks near the presidential residence, then smashed the gates of Pademba Road prison and freed nearly 1,890 inmates. President Julius Maada Bio declared a nationwide curfew as soldiers battled the attackers through the streets of the capital, in fighting that turned a quiet morning into a test of the state itself.

Twenty people were killed, including 13 soldiers. The government denounced the assault as an attempted coup, and ECOWAS and the African Union condemned it — a reminder, in the government's own aftermath, of how fragile peace can be.