Ernest Bai Koroma to return after treason case dropped

Former Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma will return to the country this weekend after treason charges against him over a failed 2023 coup were dropped, Vice President Mohamed Jukdeh Jalloh said.

Jalloh told local leaders and residents in Makeni, Koroma's stronghold, that the former president would come back "in the spirit of peace and national cohesion," according to a video posted on Facebook.

Koroma led Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018. He left for Nigeria in 2024, days after being charged with treason and other offences linked to the deadly 2023 uprising. Judicial authorities had cleared him to remain in Nigeria for three months for medical treatment, but he stayed for more than two years.

Sierra Leone's justice ministry said in July that it had dropped the charges against him, without giving a reason.

In November 2023, armed attackers stormed a military armoury, two barracks, two prisons and two police stations, clashing with security forces. Twenty-one people were killed and hundreds of prisoners escaped before authorities regained control after what they described as a coup attempt.

A military court sentenced two dozen soldiers and Koroma's former bodyguard to prison terms ranging from 50 to 100 years for their alleged roles in the mutiny.

Koroma briefly visited Sierra Leone in July after the charges were dropped, during an Economic Community of West African States summit at the invitation of President Julius Maada Bio. Sierra Leone is due to hold presidential elections in 2028.