How safe are Sierra Leone’s ports of entry?

Following the recent increase of terrorist activities on airlines, as a regular traveler, I am very much concerned about places like my native country, Sierra Leone, Africa as a whole, and most third world countries that have a lack of security measures at their ports of entry, making it easy for terrorists to infiltrate and head for their targeted places around the world.  (Photo:  Adeyemi Paul)

In actual fact, travelling in and out of Sierra Leone, I have much more concern about the lack of security at the airport, where one can easily flash a dollar in the face of a poor immigration officer and your bag is hardly touched, let alone gone through.  I think it is a very alarming situation and I believe Western countries such as the UK, and USA can help the Sierra Leone government increase their security measures to eliminate this practice.  A strict anti corruption law also needs to be put in place by Sierra Leone’s government to stop this corruption of bribery at the airport and across our borders.  Not only should authorities be held accountable, but also the individuals dishing out the bribes, who are just as corrupt.

Even closer to home, the political brouhaha affecting thousands of people who fled their homes in Guinea after last month’s fighting between supporters of the two candidates, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde is a delicate situation which poses a threat to the security and stability in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Mano River area as a whole.  Guinea is the world’s largest exporter of the aluminum ore bauxite. It also has important deposits of iron ore, but it remains one of the poorest countries in West Africa. These are some of the opportunities terrorists are waiting to wheel and deal in.

Stricter security measures will not only protect the people travelling in and out of Sierra Leone, but will also protect citizens from the infiltration of terrorists on their diverse routes to other countries where they are targeting their attacks.

The recent terrorist activity on cargo and passenger flights between Yemen, Dubai, UK and the USA only highlights the seriousness and ever increasing activity of terrorists planning new ways to cause atrocities around the world.

It will be very advisable for the international communities to put measures in place that will help countries such as Sierra Leone with its inferior security, and other countries where security is totally lacking.

One only has to listen to the news networks reporting on the infiltration of terrorists into Algeria, North Africa – setting up training camps and recruiting poor Africans, some of who are easily influenced to lose their life for a pittance to be handed over to their families.  This is something that can easily escalate throughout all poor countries, not only Africa.

As Sierra Leone is moving forward and gaining stability, increasing its credibility with rebranding and developing the country and moving itself up from the bottom of the Human Development Index, it is important for the international community to stay closely focused on Sierra Leone, especially with the forthcoming independence celebrations and the upcoming elections on the horizon, both prime targets for infiltrators to cause havoc and instability behind the scenes.

The government of Sierra Leone also needs to show some seriousness in order to protect our territorial integrity, and as citizens of Sierra Leone, we also have a major role to play in protecting our own country from predators.  Only by setting an example and doing our own part to eliminate corruption, can we expect other countries to take us seriously.

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