11 Held in Alleged Plot, Paper Reports

Eleven people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the new civilian government of Sierra Leone, a newspaper reported. Shooting was heard in the predawn hours Monday in the hills around President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s residence, the state-run Daily Mail newspaper said. The newspaper said that the plot was organized by Steve Bio, the brother of former military leader Gen. Julius Maada Bio, and that he was still at large. It said Steve Bio’s father-in-law, two Russian helicopter technicians and six soldiers were among those arrested and held at the maximum-security prison in Freetown, the capital. Gen. Bio, who seized power in a January military coup, tried to postpone elections earlier this year, arguing that Sierra Leone’s five-year civil war must first end. But the elections went ahead in February. He was replaced by a civilian government.