Sierra Leone’s vice-president asks for US asylum

Sierra Leone’s vice-president, Samuel Sam-Sumana, said that he had requested asylum at the US embassy in the capital Freetown after soldiers surrounded his home, following his expulsion from the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) party this month.

A government spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Mr Sam-Sumana was expelled from president Ernest Bai Koroma’s APC party after an investigation accused him of creating his own rival political movement.

“I have fled my house and am with my wife in a place I cannot disclose, waiting to hear from the US ambassador, whom I have asked for asylum,” Mr Sam-Sumana told reporters.

A source at the US embassy, who did not wish to be named, said Mr Sam-Sumana had entered the building. However, it was not immediately possible to confirm this officially.

In late February, Mr Sam-Sumana said that he was placing himself in a 21-day quarantine after one of his bodyguards died of Ebola amid a surge in new infections in the West African country.

Reuters