AYV News, March 14, 2025
The burial site designated as a final resting place for compatriots who fall victim to disasters such as the Ebola, Mudslide, Corona and the Wellington fire accident at Cole Town Waterloo in Freetown, is being desecrated by land encroachers.
In a widely circulated video on social media, witness alleged that the encroachment is executed by an alleged orders from above.
The witness expressed dismay over the desecration of the burial site for the construction of residences purported to be schools. He called on the Government of Sierra Leone and international partners who contributed to the establishment of the site, to take fast action to prevent encroachers from desecrating the site.
During the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, the Waterloo cemetery, located approximately 30 kilometers east of Freetown, served as a dedicated burial site for Ebola victims and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Ebola cemetery’.
The cemetery became a crucial site for safe and dignified burials during the Ebola outbreak, especially after Kingtom Cemetery in Freetown became full.
The cemetery was specifically designated for the burial of Ebola victims, and over 70% of the people buried there are Ebola victims.
The burial site in Waterloo, near Freetown, had over 9,000 graves line the hillside. While Waterloo became a prominent site, there were also other Ebola cemeteries across Sierra Leone, like the one in Bo and in Patbana village, in the northern city of Makeni.
Around 70% of the graves at Waterloo cemetery are Ebola victims. Throughout the outbreak, all deaths were treated as potential Ebola cases, and all corpses were to be given a safe and dignified burial to help prevent the spread of the disease – until the country was declared free of the disease.
UK aid supported over 100 burial teams to provide safe and dignified burials. The unsafe burying of bodies was one of the most common ways the disease was being spread at the height of the outbreak – with local customs often meaning families washed down corpses when they were at their most contagious.
Britain co-ordinated the country’s safe burial efforts – to prevent further spread, working with Adam Smith International, Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation and other aid agencies to train and supervise the teams on the ground.
