In response to an alleged coup attempt in November, a West African delegation headed by the presidents of Senegal and Ghana arrived in Sierra Leone on Saturday to establish the framework for a “security mission.” Armed assailants engaged in combat with security personnel on November 26 after breaking into a military armory, two barracks, two jails, and two police stations. Authorities believed there had been a coup attempt by members of the military forces, and before they could retake control, twenty-one people had died and hundreds of detainees had escaped. In West Africa, where putches have occurred in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea since 2020, the violence raised worries of another coup. In an effort to “facilitate the deployment of a security mission to Sierra Leone to help stabilise the country,” the delegation was sent by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during a recent summit. The nation’s foreign minister, Timothy Kabba, stated in a late-Friday radio interview that “ECOWAS considered that the region must be protected and decided to send a stabilization mission to Sierra Leone after the heinous attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government on November 26.” Noting that comparable troops exist in the Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, he emphasized that the ECOWAS force would not be a military incursion. “We have a very competent army that suppressed the insurgents — in no way does this impinge on Sierra Leone’s sovereignty,” Kabba added. According to their offices, Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal and Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana are in Freetown to talk with President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone about the security situation. Following the fighting on November 26, the curfew was removed by Sierra Leonean authorities on Wednesday. AFP