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Will Africa Ever Be Able To Replicate Successful Economies?

2007-12-18T09:10:00.001+01:00

Are there signs of economic growth in Africa? Are the green shoots of growth visible? Should African leaders and policy makers be applauded for finally realizing that Africa has lagged behind for too long and that this status is no longer tenable, that it is no longer acceptable to the millions of Africans who have to survive on a dollar a day? Some reports indicate that African economies have turned the corner and are moving to faster and steadier economic growth whilst other reports indicate that the pace of growth is extremely slow and that, in some instances, there is stagnation and stagflation.

A 2007 World Bank Africa Development document stated that “something decidedly new is on the horizon in Africa, something that began in the mid-1990s.” There are some signs of change occurring, of that there is no doubt.

Any signs of growth must be put into perspective. What is clear is that perhaps, finally Africans, tired of being last in every human and development index are beginning to take some positive actions to reverse this trend. Will this be converted into tangible movements of investment growth, foreign direct investment, rise in productivity, increase in real GDP, reduction in poverty, investment in infrastructure, technology, education and health and real steps to tackle corruption?

Will Africa replicate the economic successes of India, Ireland, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan? Economic growth in some parts of South Asia has more than doubled the world’s average. Growth rates for 2008 are projected to be above 5% for China, Japan and India. These countries faced economic challenges forty to fifty years ago, but they now enjoy sustainable long-term economic growth. How were other countries in similar predicaments able to overcome economic stagnation? Which policies are conducive to creating and sustaining long-term economic growth?

In much of Africa, very little economic growth has occurred over the past fifty years. Some countries are even poorer today than they were thirty years ago. Sub-Sahara Africa has had the lowest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for decades. Gross domestic product is the total of all goods and services produced by a country in year. GDP gives us the ‘big picture’ and is the first systematic way of measuring economic performance.

According to J. Bradford Delong, University of California, Berkeley, “The twentieth century has been the century of increasing wealth in the industrialized economies: in material and standards of living,” but for the majority of Africans, it has been an era of negative growth, wars, and lower standards of living.

The UN established eight Millennium Development Goals in 2002 for the world to meet by 2015. The UN GOALS are:

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development

In September 2007, a BBC article entitled ‘Why Can’t Africa Tackle its Poverty’ asserted that “halfway to the UN poverty goals deadline an interim report concluded that many developing countries are unlikely to meet any of the poverty-busting goals, nor the benchmarks on education, health, and women's empowerment”, that “Africa is likely to be left behind unless further investment and aid is given.”

Some have argued that the UN goals are unreasonable targets for Africa. Another BBC article asks “Why is Africa falling so far behind in the fight against poverty, is there the will in the West to help?” Aid and development funds can improve Africa’s economic activity, but aid is not a panacea for Africa’s growth, and not every problem can be solved by aid. For instance, aid cannot solve the problems associated with corrupt governments, and, in fact, can exacerbate the problem without adequate controls.

In October 2007, a confidential Presidential audit in Sierra Leone revealed that there is widespread corruption in the country. Aid must be directed and administered properly. Some African countries are adopting market reforms and increasing trade with the West in order to boost their economy. In 2003, Madagascar, Uganda, Ghana and Burkina Faso recorded average growth of more than 5%.

Other countries, for example, Sierra Leone which had weak performance and crumbling infrastructure before the war experienced negative growth, mainly as a result of corruption and the disruption caused by the 10 year civil war. Much has been written recently about the Irish miracle. How was Ireland, a country with 4.1 million people (July 2007), able to transform to an economic success story? In the 1970s and 1980s Ireland was regarded as a poor country. In 1982 unemployment levels were around 18%, but in 2006, Ireland’s unemployment rate is 4.3%. Ireland is seen as an economic miracle. There were external and internal factors that played a part in the transformation.

It is evident that Ireland is a major beneficiary of being part of the European Union, having access to markets in Europe and having attracted Foreign Direct Investment. However Ireland had to take other steps to transform the economy. Ireland embarked on a series of policy reforms, such as pro-market reforms, and a tripartite act between employers, government and trade unions which helped to produce much needed reforms. In addition, Government became more transparent and able to better monitor public funds. Ireland invested in education, which is a major factor to a highly skilled labor force. Ireland invested in infrastructure: good airports and telecommunications systems. It is expected that the Irish economy will grow by 5.4% in 2007, more than double the average in Europe.

Japan and Hong Kong have negligible natural resources. Japan is rugged and mountainous, and Hong Kong is mountainous with steep slopes. These two countries are examples to the idea that the existence and abundance of natural resources does not guarantee economic success. Whilst it is evident that natural resources have an effect on wealth, for example the Middle East with its enormous deposits of oil, some resources nations: for example, Nigeria, are ‘poor.’ Africa is endowed with natural resources yet poverty abounds, and performance has been dismal.

GDP per capita is GDP divided by the population. It measures the ability of the average person to buy goods and services. Fifty years ago, Japan and Hong Kong were relatively poor. In 1960 GDP per capita income for the two countries was $5,000 and $3,750 respectively. Today, they are two of the world’s dynamic economies with GDP of $33,100 and $37,300 respectively. They adopted market reforms, encouraged Foreign Direct Investment, invested in health and education for their citizens, and invested in infrastructure, physical assets and telecommunications.

Singapore, with a population of 4.5 million (July 2007), became a British colony in 1867. Sierra Leone became a British colony in 1808. Whilst Singapore is very developed and business operates in a corrupt-free environment, Sierra Leone, with a population 6.1 million, (July 2007 est.) endowed with substantial mineral, fishery and agricultural resources, is extremely poor, and corruption is endemic in the society.

Singapore did not experience the instability and devastation of civil war, and even though Singapore suffered some economic set backs between 2001 and 2003, the country was able to invest in medical technology, information technology and stable prices to enable them to have a GDP per capita income of $31,400 compared to Sierra Leone’s GDP per capita income of $900.

There are a number of other countries that have experienced positive growth over the past two decades, including South Korea that achieved growth within a relatively modest period. In South Korea’s case, growth was achieved within thirty-five years. According to the Central Intelligence Agency, for four decades, South Korea’s GDP per capitia was “comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa. In 2004, South Korea joined the trillion dollar club of economies.” China is one the world’s fastest growing economies. China’s real GDP has been growing steadily at a rate of 6.5% over the past twenty years. China has been moving slowly in implementing reforms to transform its economy from a centrally planned system to one that is more market-driven. Chinese workers are more productive today mainly due to investment in human capital and technology.

India’s economy has been expanding significantly over the last decade. Investment in infrastructure, education and technology as well as reduction in controls on foreign trade resulted in strong growth rate of 10% over the past decade.

Columbia has a flourishing floriculture business, is a major exporter of flowers, and is the second largest exporter of flowers in the world. The economy has been growing steadily and despite the fact that the country faces other challenges, GDP per capita is $8,600 (2006 est.) up from $1,610 in 1975.

Kenya is one of the few countries in Africa with a rapidly growing floral industry, estimated in 2002, to be worth approximately $110 million to the Kenyan economy. 25% of flowers imported to Europe are from Kenya. Other African countries can develop this industry, however, The Flower industry is capital-intensive, and would require investment from international companies.

The Bahamas, with a population of only 305,000 (July 2007est.) has a very successful tourist industry, and has the highest GDP per capita in the Caribbean. Tourism accounts for approximately 60% of the economy. The Bahamas is one of the most popular destinations for Americans, due to its proximity to the United States.

African Path

Kenya: Country 'Can't Host Four Mobile Phone Firms

2007-12-18T09:07:00.001+01:00

During the last eight years, wireless communication has been considered the fastest growing segment of telecommunications.

Despite the rapid growth experts now reckon that the country's economy is unable to support more than three operators.

Celtel Kenya CEO, Mr David Murray, says the Government can license as many GSM operators as they can, "but the economic reality is that if you look around the world, countries bigger and wealthier than Kenya cannot support four operators."

Apart from Celtel Kenya and Safaricom, Econet Wireless and France Telecoms, who have just acquired the controlling stake in Telkom Kenya, are all expected to rollout mobile phone operations in the country.

Murray says mobile phone operation is a capital intense business and unless the country can amortise her costs against its revenue streams it will not be viable.

"It is highly questionable, if you look at the experience in South East Asia, Malaysia, Hong Kong. When I was in Malaysia they had seven operators, today they have three, because its the economics that determine the survival," says Murray.

Kenya with a population of 34 million has much lower average revenue per user (ARPU) than countries in the West. The ARPU in the country is below $10 per month.

"Look at France with about 60 million people; they three mobile phone companies; United Kingdom with a population of 60 million has four operators, Spain has three; Italy has three also and the third one is not doing very well," says Murray.

However, Murray reckons that survival will be determined by creativity on the marketing front, product development and network reliability.

This one of the reason why the parent company, Celtel International has been on the forefront in harmonising their networks across the continent.

One Network is the first-ever borderless mobile network in the world. This allows customers to move freely across geographic borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls.

The One Network service is automatically activated upon crossing the geographic border into another of the three countries, with no prior registration required or sign-up fee charged.

"From three countries (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) to six and now 12 countries in Africa," said Murray.

The service now covers Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. The others are the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon.

The service is now available in all Celtel operations in Africa except in Zambia, Sierra Leone and newly acquired Ghana operation.

"The extension of this technological break-through now offers the possibility for nearly half of Africa's population to make calls at local rates across 12 countries throughout the continent," said Murray.

Innovation at its best

It means the world's first borderless mobile phone network covers an area more than twice the size of the European Union.

One Network truly showcases African innovation at its best and confirms Celtel as the fastest growing brand in the fastest-growing mobile telephone market in the world. In a region historically dependent on freedom of movement across borders, we are now offering a communications solution that fits the needs of our customers, breaking down barriers and making life better for businesses, families and individuals.

The inclusion of Sudan is strategic and will boost traffic across the border. "We are going to get a lot of United Nations traffic to and from Sudan and obviously the advantage of One Network is that it's a lot more economical than traditional roaming," says Murray.

"With roaming, you pay when you receive a call, but with One Network, there is no such paying, and with prepaid customers you can buy local scratch card and top-up whenever you are," he adds.

What about closing the gap with competition? "We have been growing significantly in the corporate sector with solutions offered by the blackberry. The corporate segment also uses a dedicated server (as opposed to working over the Internet or room server) which turns to be faster and more reliable and high quality of the data network."

"In terms of production development, we launched the blackberry in June, the competition launched the same in August, you get a small window of opportunity, that makes competition fun," he says

allAfrica.com: Kenya: Country 'Can't Host Four Mobile Phone Firms (Page 1 of 1)

Defense in torture case against Charles Taylor's son faces unusual problems in Africa

2007-12-17T09:23:00.001+01:00

Witnesses are difficult or impossible to find, some having moved to remote African villages accessible only by muddy roads rarely patrolled by police. Many survivors of Liberia's bloody civil war who witnessed acts of torture are reluctant to talk to anyone about what happened, let alone a defense lawyer for the notorious son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Then there are the language and cultural barriers. These and other problems have forced a delay until spring in the trial in Miami federal court of Taylor's son Charles McArthur Emmanuel, or Chuckie Taylor, the first person to be prosecuted under a law making it a crime for a U.S. citizen to commit torture or war crimes overseas.

People who have dealt with similar issues in war-torn western Africa say the difficulties are not surprising, given rampant official corruption and an almost complete lack of functional government institutions.

"It will take a generation for Sierra Leone and Liberia to recover from the horrors that Charles Taylor and his henchmen, including Chuckie, have wrought on their fellow man," said David Crane, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York and former chief prosecutor for the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Emmanuel, 30, is charged in an eight-count indictment with involvement in horrific acts of torture and killings from spring 1999 to late 2002 as head of the Anti-Terrorist Unit — also called the Demon Forces — during his father's presidency. Emmanuel was born in Boston to an ex-girlfriend of Taylor, who studied economics at Bentley College there.

The indictment accuses Emmanuel of shooting three people chosen from a group at a bridge checkpoint in April 1999 and ordering the throat of another victim cut after the man tried to escape. Torture methods allegedly used include burning with hot irons, scalding water and lit cigarettes; beatings with weapons and iron bars; and stinging by ants.

Emmanuel's job as head of the paramilitary unit was to eliminate or intimidate his father's political opponents through whatever means he saw fit, federal prosecutors maintain.

"He had a reputation for mindless evil who enjoyed personally torturing individuals," Crane said.

Like any defendant in a U.S. court, Emmanuel has rights to see the evidence against him, find possibly favorable witnesses and confront his accusers. But his court-appointed attorney, Miguel Caridad, said it has been a formidable task meeting those obligations.

"We're going to a bridge where people's heads were cut off and put on top of the bridge and to a police station where people were tortured," Caridad said at a recent court hearing. "We need to know the names of witnesses and whether they know of any other people who might have been there."

Caridad said he has traveled twice to Liberia and neighboring African countries in attempts to locate people who may have seen the alleged crimes, sometimes finding they have moved hours away to rural areas reachable only by difficult-to-traverse roads. Often there is no electricity, water or police protection and intermittent cell phone capabilities, and Caridad and his assistants are forced to carry cash brought from home for basic expenses.

"It's just a very, very difficult thing to get done," Caridad said.

Because of these problems, U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga postponed Emmanuel's trial from January to April of next year, with prosecutors agreeing that mounting a proper defense in this case poses unique challenges.

"The government does not want to prevent the defense from completing a thorough and professional investigation," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rochlin. "We don't want to be unreasonable."

There is a lot at stake in making sure Emmanuel is properly tried on the charges beyond his own rights as a defendant.

Emmanuel was arrested in March 2006 at Miami International Airport on charges of lying about his father's identity on a U.S. passport application, to which he pleaded guilty. Emmanuel wound up in Trinidad after his father left the Liberian presidency in 2003 amid repeated calls by President George W. Bush and others for Taylor to step down.

Taylor is charged in a special U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, with arming and supporting rebels — some of them only children — in neighboring Sierra Leone who killed tens of thousands of people, hacking the limbs off thousands more. He is jailed and his trial, which he interrupted when it began last June, is scheduled to resume next month.

Crane said the twin prosecutions against Taylor and his son are important for millions of Africans who suffered during these conflicts, particularly as governments and international groups try to rebuild respect for the law in those nations.

"It sends a message to all Africans that their lives matter and that those who choose to commit acts of atrocity will be held accountable," Crane said.

The Emmanuel prosecution also marks the first test for the 1994 U.S. law making it a crime for an American citizen to commit torture or war crimes overseas. Judge Altonaga earlier this year rejected the defense argument that the law was unconstitutional, but Emmanuel could argue that point again on appeal if he is convicted.

Emmanuel, who is being held without bail, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on all charges against him.

Defense in torture case against Charles Taylor's son faces unusual problems in Africa - International Herald Tribune

African Football Confederation disqualifies Sierra Leone from 2008 competitions

2007-12-12T12:21:00.003+01:00

LAGOS, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The African Football Confederation (CAF) has disqualified Sierra Leone from participating in the 2008 Champions League and Confederation's Cup competitions for failing to meet the deadline for the two events, local media reported Tuesday.

In a CAF letter to the Sierra Leonean Football Association (SLFA), the continental body said it did not receive any entry from the association in spite of a warning that Nov. 30 was deadline for entries.

SLFA sources said its head of league competitions, Abu Bakarr Kabba, had two months ago sent a letter of intent to CAF informing it about Sierra Leone's interest to participate in the 2008 competitions.

Kabba said he found it strange to learn that CAF insisted it never received any correspondence to the effect.

A sports enthusiast Mbili Mkanbhu blamed SLFA for the disqualification and said Sierra Leone had not organized any competition and therefore could not send names of teams which did not participate in any competition to the CAF.

The disqualification has dampened the enthusiasm of football stakeholders and the general public which squarely rest the blame on the SLFA executive for not organizing a proper league.

African Football Confederation disqualifies Sierra Leone from 2008 competitions_English_Xinhua

Crowds flock to Sierra Leone slave ship

2007-12-12T12:21:00.001+01:00

There was chaos at Freetown's port in Sierra Leone when a replica of the Amistad slave ship opened to the public.

"I want to know much about its history," one man shouted in Krio as a crew member appealed for patience and calm as hundreds of people struggled to gain access.

The replica of the 19th Century trading ship has been retracing a 14,000-mile slave trade route to mark the 200th anniversary since Britain abolished the slave trade within its empire.

It sailed into Freetown - founded as a settlement for freed slaves - over the weekend.

"We have to have some way for you to get on the boat safely. What we're doing now is building a platform so you can come up and come down on the boat," the crew member shouted to the crowds, which included children on a school outing.

The history of ship is deep-rooted in Sierra Leone's history, as in 1839 some 200 Sierra Leoneans were taken to Cuba as slaves.

Some of them were sold to Spanish slavers who loaded them on to the Amistad.

Led by Sengbeh Pieh, the slaves revolted on the ship, killing many of the crew.

They however ended up in the United States where they were imprisoned.

Their case was taken up by several abolitionists, led by former US President John Quincy Adams, which ultimately led to their freedom.

"I came to look at the Amistad revolt because I want to know more about it because I read it in school and I think I saw the film [by Steven Spielberg] two or three years ago, so I wanted to see the ship where the revolt took place," said Mbalu, who was waiting to go on board.

"I would like them to show me the place where Sengbeh Pieh was sitting or maybe lying down - yes that's the particular place I've come to see," she said.

The children were allowed on board first, and then the expectant crowds.

Access problems

But after her visit Mbalu said she was disappointed not to have been allowed access to the cabin where the slaves were kept.

People know little about Pieh despite him being on a banknote

"The access is very steep you have to descend a ladder," explained William Minter, chairman of the Amistad America Board of Trustees.

"For large numbers of people of all different ages, there's only one way in and one way out so it's hard to move traffic through," he said.

When Sengbeh Pieh eventually returned to Sierra Leone in 1842, he was a hero, and his face adorns one of the country's banknotes.

But 165 years on, many Sierra Leoneans know little about the Amistad or Sengbeh Pieh - at least until this week.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Crowds flock to S Leone slave ship

Taylor War Crimes Trial to Resume in Jan.

2007-12-12T12:20:00.003+01:00

The special court trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor on war crimes charges cleared the way Tuesday for his trial to resume next month, more than six months after its chaotic adjournment.

In a hearing lasting less than 10 minutes, the prosecution and defense agreed they would be ready to hear the first evidence on Jan. 7, when the U.N.-backed court will begin a schedule of 25 1/2 hours of hearings per week.

The trial is expected to continue until mid-2009.

Taylor, the first African leader to face an international court, is charged with arming and supporting rebels who killed thousands of civilians and hacked off the limbs of thousands more during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Specific charges include murder, sexual slavery and rape, terrorism, and conscripting child soldiers.

He has pleaded innocent.

Prosecutor Brenda Hollis told the court she would present a list of witnesses this week who will appear during the first two weeks of the trial and will file a motion to grant protective measures for some witnesses — the final measures before the trial can begin in earnest.

Prosecutors have said they will present witnesses from Taylor's inner circle who will testify that from his headquarters in Liberia he controlled rebel forces in neighboring Sierra Leone to exploit its timber, diamonds and other resources.

They also have proposed bringing victims mutilated by the rebels, although Taylor's defense team has argued that such testimony was irrelevant and only intended for its emotional appeal, since no one disputed that atrocities occurred during the brutal war.

Taylor boycotted the start of the trial on June 4 when the prosecution gave its opening statement. He told the judges by letter that he was poorly represented by the court-appointed attorney and was accorded inadequate funds to mount a proper defense.

After one more session boycotted by Taylor, the trial was adjourned. It reconvened only for pretrial hearings after he dropped his demand to represent himself and hired a team led by British barrister Courtney Griffiths paid by a grant to Taylor of US$100,000 per month.

The trial, at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, is being held in The Hague because of fears it could ignite violence if it were held in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital.

The Associated Press: Taylor War Crimes Trial to Resume in Jan.

Presidential Leadership and 'Good Governance' in the Context of Sierra Leone's Cultural Environment

2007-12-12T12:20:00.001+01:00

There is new political will within the newly elected government of President Koroma (right). The task of undoing the failures of past regimes therefore lies with his government and with those international agencies willing to support him in the task of national renewal. (Photo: STR / AFP-Getty Images)

In many ways, the post-independence era has not been one of Sierra Leone's better periods. Except for the relatively stable early 1960's, Sierra Leone has moved from the flamboyant era of Albert Margai to Siaka Stevens' era of widespread institutionalized corruption, from Joseph Momoh's failed regime to the trendy regime of Valentine Strasser's National Provisional Ruling Council, and on to the Tejan Kabbah era itself, during which Sierra Leoneans paid a heavy price for the survival of President Kabbah's sly and corrupt government. Not many observers are interested in developing theories about management strategies during this period. Answers are not seriously sought about the question of whether a presidential leadership style that succeeds is when good governance policies are successfully implemented and development programs are efficiently managed.

A case, however, could be made that these are not the best of times in Sierra Leone's history. At the same time, this period in history has seen the efforts of international development agencies and movements by civil society aimed at making development work for Sierra Leone. Much of the commitment to advancing humane development programs has come from international development agencies such as the United Nations Development Program, Britain's Department for International Development, the United States Agency for International Development, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Transparency International, and perhaps that commitment is also found in local civil society organizations.

Read full story by clicking the link below.

Presidential Leadership and 'Good Governance' in the Context of Sierra Leone's Cultural Environment - Worldpress.org

Commonwealth and human rights

2007-12-11T11:22:00.005+01:00

Human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Gambia by authorities have brought to the fore once again the issues of protection of citizens' rights within the Commonwealth, one of the issues that the Commonwealth has jurisdiction on.

The others are the promotion of democracy and the rule of law. The gravity of the human rights abuses by the regimes in Zimbabwe and the Gambia should focus people's minds on the issues in a general way. Such abuses, it should be made clear, deserve the much attention from leaders of the Commonwealth.
It is clear that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe enjoys the monopoly over rights abuses and other crimes against humanity in violent political situations - as we have seen in recent months. The Commonwealth must stand to end such impunity. But the Commonwealth can only act if the county whose nationals are violated does not act against the transgressors of these aspects of international law.
The Commonwealth could play an important role in curbing abuses of international law in Africa. In the continuing abuses that have taken place in parts of the continent in the recent past, we have witnessed a high degree of impunity. Having said that, we would like to point out that African countries have, over the years, become parties to the various international legislations that have been drawn up to protect fundamental freedoms and human rights of the individual.
Some of these include the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948; the Geneva Conventions of 1949 for the Amelioration of Conditions of War and the Protection of Civilians and War Victims; and the Convention against Torture, and other Cruel, Inhuman of Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984.
To top it all is Africa's own safeguard against human rights abuses: the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights. But, alas, the Court is not functioning. Why? Well, it will become operational only after 15 member states have ratified the Charter setting up the Court. However, only two countries have done so while 23 have ratified the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, even though the African Court's Charter has been around longer that that of the ICC.
It is obvious that there is a singular lack of political will among African leaders to give the continent legal weight to tackle its own cases of human rights abuses so that there is no passing the buck to the "international community" to deal with African violations of human rights law.
That is exactly what has happened in the case of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have asked the ICC to investigate violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in these countries. Perhaps, the case of Zimbabwe and the Gambia deserve much attention because the impede on the principles of democracy and human rights and undermines the rule of law.

AfricaNews - Commonwealth and human rights - RSS english

World's Poorest Country

2007-12-11T11:22:00.003+01:00

Another of Sunkari Conteh's children is sick. The last/ time one of her children was ill, it died.

Almost three years old, her daughter succumbed to diarrhoea because Conteh couldn't afford to pay a Le 90,000 medical consultation fee.

"I pleaded with the doctor to wait while my husband gathered the money," she said. "The doctor refused.

I cried and yelled at him, but he didn't listen." As she cried again this past Saturday, Conteh recalled that she was able to take her baby to a pharmacy, but after a few days, her daughter died anyway. "I don't even like to think about it, it's terrible, it's pathetic." Now Conteh is worried another of her children may suffer the same fate. Once again, she can't afford the fees to vaccinate her youngest child.

The Kroo Bay mother has four children and provides for them by selling oranges in the streets of her community. Her husband is unemployed.

Conteh is like thousands of Sierra Leonean mothers struggling to survive in what last week the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced is now the poorest country in the world.

Sierra Leone has taken Niger's spot at the very bottom of the UN's human development index. According to the UN global report, launched in Freetown last Friday, this country is now ranked 177th out of 177 countries.

But the international 2005 findings are bleaker than a 2006 national report, which was also launched Friday.

The UNDP claimed Sierra Leone fell to the lowest place because there is insufficient information about the country.

"I believe the situation would have been much better if there was adequate data to show for development in the country," said Bernard Mokam, the UNDP's country director.

But Saidu Turay, the Public Relations Officer for Freetown's Kroo Bay slum, wasn't surprised when he heard the report on the radio.

"Once these reports come up we feel sad," he said.

"It's a clear manifestation that nothing has been done since the time of the last report. The health care system is very, very poor." Turay said just last Friday a baby died in his community because there was no treatment. As he discussed the report from the doorway of the one-bedroom Kroo Bay shack he shares with several members of his family, a woman entered his compound shouting and crying - she'd just heard that she, too, had lost a family member to sickness.

"If Sierra Leone is rated as the least developed country, then Kroo Bay will be rated as the worst developed slum in the country," said Turay.

He said the Kroo Bay community suffers from high maternal and infant mortality, high unemployment, low rate of children in school, lack of housing, lack of proper medical facilities, high crime, child labour, trafficking and prostitution, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and many other problems.

Turay rolled his eyes. "Etcetera, etcetera - these are the things that affect us in the community and these are the things the UN looked at when they were doing their study." Turay said in the last three months, three Kroo Bay women have died during childbirth because they couldn't afford to go to hospital or have a caesarean section. Conteh, too, said she delivered her five children with a traditional birth attendant in Kroo Bay.

"I don't have the money. Life is extremely difficult, I am right now suffering from malaria, but I don't have the money to go to hospital," she said.

Turay said this is common in Kroo Bay: "If you don't have the money to buy the required drugs, the person dies." With a growing population of more than 8,000 people, Kroo Bay is one of many Freetown slums long neglected by development projects and the government. Turay said it is extreme poverty like Kroo Bay's that accounts for the country's poor performance on the human development index.

On Friday, Vice President Sam Sumana said his government is re-preparing a poverty reduction strategy paper from the last government, which he said "will stand as a stepping stone towards development." He also said the new government is committed to combating the problems raised in the report.

Turay said the APC government should be aware of the problems after years in opposition. He said he doubts anything will change.

"During the electioneering process you saw a lot of politicians coming down to the slums and making all kinds of promises because they wanted our votes," he said. "But once the election is over you hardly see any of them, even to say thank you for the votes.

They give us sugar-coated vibes and then leave our problems to be solved by ourselves." Turay said if it wasn't for international nongovernmental organisations like Concern, Save the Children and the YMCA - who Saturday launched a new community centre and training project in Kroo Bay - his community would be completely neglected. "The government forgets about the existence of the slums, even though we are in the heart of the city." The theme of this year's global and national UNDP reports was the massive impact climate change is having on the people of the developing world, including Sierra Leone.

"Our coastal land areas such as Bonthe Island, Banana Island, Rokupre and other villages directly depending on agriculture will be inundated," said Joseph Rahall, the coordinator of Green Scenery, a local civil society organisation. "This will cause mass displacement of people, causing security threats and our security is not in place to solve such problems.

The criss-crossing of people will create conflict and we don't want to go back to war." Turay, too, said he is worried about climate change.

He said Kroo Bay is rapidly expanding and most new homes are being built on top of rubbish, at the water's edge. "If the water rises, we're in trouble," he said.

A greater worry in Kroo Bay is the annual rising of water during rainy season. For more than five months every year the people of Turay's community and others like it are continuously flooded with water and debris from the hills around Freetown.

"On the issue of flooding, we are scared, we are always prepared for the worst to happen next year," he said. "This year was the worst ever." Turay said this is one impact of climate change that could easily be tackled by this government.

"You see the trees being cut down in the hills," he said, noting that deforestation causes erosion, which causes the flooding. "Climate change also affects us greatly and it is on the increase because I don't see much being done about deforestation. It is a man-made problem." Along with destruction, the annual flooding also leaves the drainage areas of Kroo Bay clogged with garbage from the hills. The stench of sewage, stagnant water and mounds of garbage permeates the air throughout the community.

Turay said this build-up can be traced back to his community's health problems - poor drainage and stagnant water are breeding grounds for mosquitoes and Turay said malaria is a growing problem in Kroo Bay.

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However, Turay said for Kroo Bay residents, day to day food security is a more constant worry than health problems.

"We are poor and we can't afford the price of food, especially when the price of rice keeps sky-rocketing and there are no mechanisms to control the price.

People find it very difficult to survive here. We find it difficult to sleep at night because we are thinking about how we will survive the next day."

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: World's Poorest Country (Page 1 of 2)

Country Has No Rose for Thorpe

2007-12-11T11:22:00.001+01:00

Of course, for a woman of her caliber and resolve she expects no bouquet of roses for conducting the much-contested 2007 relatively free of violence general elections and a runoff between two historic bitter rivals; the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) and the All People's Congress (APC). It is not surprising that Christiana Thorpe, the Chief Commissioner for the National Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone, finds herself the subject of much heated post-elections debates amongst winners, losers and umpires.

The outcome of the elections is leaving many high-flying politicians come crashing to the ground and others rising up from over fifteen years of political hibernation. Ms. Thorpe's leadership in partnership with the Executive Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Sierra Leone, Victor Angelo produced what the world has referred to as the model democratic elections in Africa. This has become unsettling for many SLPP leaders, and indeed, the cause for the ensuing post-elections debates that have become the fodder for scholars and the Fourth Estate in Sierra Leone and abroad.

Digging up political hallmarks of this small West African nation that shares borders with Guinea and Liberia, its Manor River Union member states, would help us to understand the gist of the ensuring post-elections political debates.

Sierra Leoneans negotiated their way out of British colonialism by peacefully dimming the once proverbial sun that never set on the British Empire in Lancaster House and won their Independence in 1961, a process that ushered into power the SLPP as the first political party to govern Sierra Leone. Dimming because, evidence of flag-Independence is still prevalent in Sierra Leone - not only for its close ties to London, but also because Britain saw the need to free the diamond fields of its former colony from the grips of sex-slaver and limbs-hacking rebels.

Interestingly, 2007 was not the first time that the APC has unseated the SLPP through the ballot box. In 1967, the APC, under the leadership of Siaka Stevens, defeated the SLPP. Siaka Stevens would later fall for the infamous one-party system phenomenon that blew over the sub-Saharan region for obvious reasons. Like many other African leaders who must stay in power, Stevens manipulated the people through a rigged referendum to bring about a one-party system.

It was those unchecked powers and nitty-gritty political un-resourcefulness by the old APC guard that became the stage upon which rested the major political blemishes on the previously clean democratic political history of Sierra Leone - oppressive government and the decade-long brutal war.

But it would be an incomplete telling of the history without the statement that Sierra Leone acquired bloodless Independence, subsequent and post-war electoral processes have made that nation a model country in Africa for conducting good elections. While many civil wars in Africa degenerate into ethnic cleansing and sometimes genocide, the same cannot be said of the civil war in Sierra Leone.

Flatly, the recently extolled general elections by the international community in Sierra Leone is a manifestation that could allow the safe room for wriggling into a reasonable position to assert that the people sacrificed their lives in the eleven years bloodletting to deny oppressive regimes a safe haven and to return the good electoral processes to which they were previously accustomed.

But the SLPP still finds it very difficult just to take credit for overseeing an excellent electoral process and move on. Top SLPP leaders did not only boycott the inauguration of the new APC government, former President Tejan Kabbah's sense of humility during the changing of the political guard was met by stunt criticisms of him from top SLPP leaders. Some hold it to be self-evidence that the outgoing leader was a mole in the SLPP who wanted to see the return of power to his northern origin.

Also, many in the SLPP have blamed Kabbah for not doing the despicable thing that many incumbent governments do - to rig the elections. Some people have even levied accusations on him that his choice of Vice President Berewa as the flag bearer of the SLPP, who they say is unpopular, was a ploy for Kabbah to fulfill his hidden agenda. But it is also fair to state that Kabbah and Berewa have successfully exhumed themselves from these grave accusations and sometimes-baseless speculations as model citizens of the world by the peaceful and safe change of the political guard to whom the political bell tolls.

Awareness Times, a popular local tabloid in Sierra Leone, champions what its editor calls "investigative journalism" into the actions of Victor Angelo vis-à-vis his performance as the UN-based umpire of the elections in Sierra Leone. The newspaper and some SLPP supporters posit that the election was a rehearsal of a pre-arranged APC stuff to win.

Quite a few chastened conspiracy theory-based opinion papers from SLPP supporters freely find space on the pages of the Awareness Times newspaper in its exposé bid of what many SLPP supporters have referred to as a ploy by Victor Angelo to rig the elections in favor of the APC. But that was during the run-up to the runoff.

Refusing to let go now, Awareness Times has recently published a paper written by Amara P. Vandy in Bo titled, "SLPP Southern Province blasts: United Nations' Victor Angelo is a Hypocrite." Notably amongst the many invectives on Victor Angelo in the article, Mr. Vandy writes; "The executive of the Southern Province branches of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) have in recent days, totally boycotted a 'consultative meeting' which the Executive Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Sierra Leone, Victor Angelo had called with political parties active in the region citing to this reporter that Angelo was nothing but, in their words, a 'damn hypocrite.'" A letter dated November 28, 2007 on Awareness Times website lodges the SLPP leadership complaint with the UN Secretary General, Bank Ki-Moon. In part, the letter reads; "Accordingly, the Sierra Leone People's Party has resolved that until Mr. Victor Angelo is recalled and replaced as your Executive Representative to Sierra Leone, the Party and its members shall withhold their participation and co-operation from all United Nations programmes and activities in Sierra Leone." Upon hearing of Victor Angelo's recent resignation from the UN after thirty-years of service, some SLPP knee-jerk reactionaries responded, allotting bountiful self-credit to themselves that their complaint with Bank Ki-Moon had scored a major goal for them. But Victor Angelo on the other hand swiftly debunked that sentiment at the very last chance he had in his farewell statement. He stated that he had put in his resignation with the UN ever since and that the UN had been slow to find a replacement staff. He maintained that he worked in Sierra Leone fearlessly, denied taking any sides in the elections and asserted that his work was not influenced by intimidators. He spoke of the success he helped to bring to Sierra Leone boastfully that Sierra Leone has moved from a "crisis" state in 2000 up into a "model" state in 2007.Even though the rest of the world sees an example of a good democratic process in Sierra Leone conducted by Christiana Thorpe, her process of invalidating votes has met serious criticism from the SLPP leaders.

Meanwhile, speculative theorists are making efforts to connect Angelo and Thorpe in a conspiracy to have rigged the elections.Amidst the foregoing name-calling and finger pointing, the APC is yet to present Ms.

Thorpe the petals of rose for her so-called conspiracy to rig the elections on its behalf. What is obvious though, is Ernest Bai Kororma's witty and careful cherry picking of political appointees worthy of staying and the appointments of new ones.Despite the crashing of politicians of the old guard, the new APC's rising political stars of President Koroma's "new dawn" in Sierra Leone are hard at work. Firstly, notable amongst positive actions so far, is the promise to light up the world's darkest city in December 20, 2007.

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: Country Has No Rose for Thorpe (Page 1 of 1)

Country Referees Excel in Bissau

2007-12-11T11:16:00.001+01:00

Though they are facing all sorts of criticism from fans, players and stakeholders back at home, the two referees that represented Sierra Leone in the just concluded Zone II tournament in Bissau were named to be two of the best in the competition.

Central referee, Sanusi Rashid and his assistant, Charles Bangali were ticked as one of the best referees during the competition by the organiser after the duo officiated one of the fastest match in the competition -between Cape Verde and Guinea- impressively.

They were given the opportunity to officiate the Cape Verde-Gambia match two days later, which ended goalless.

It was also gathered that the duo could have officiated the final or one of the semi-final matches but were unable to do so as they had to return home with Leone Stars' chartered flight.

Sanusi Rashid told Concord Sports that he is using the criticism at home to control any international match to the best of his ability. "I hope to lift the name of Sierra Leone referees to the highest peak and I believe that I can make it with determination." The name of Administrative Secretary of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) Abu Bakar Kabba also entered the record book as one of the best match commissioners.

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: Country Referees Excel in Bissau (Page 1 of 1)

Sierra Leone sets up forest park

2007-12-10T17:33:00.001+01:00

Sierra Leone's president is launching a scheme to save part of an endangered rainforest, which campaigners say will help fight climate change.

People living near the Gola Forest, near the border with Liberia, are to be paid annually, to compensate for the loss of royalties from logging firms.

The 75,000 hectare park is home to 50 species of mammals, including leopards, chimpanzees and forest buffalos.

President Ernest Bai Koroma hopes the new national park will boost tourism.

Sierra Leone is recovering from a brutal decade-long civil war, which ended in 2002.

Campaigners say that without official protection, the Gola Forest would have been destroyed within 10 years, as Sierra Leone tried to raise living standards.

Aid agencies, the European Commission and France are setting up a $12m (£6m) trust fund to pay for the park's running costs and to make annual payments to some 100,000 people.

It is to become Sierra Leone's second national park.

The Gola Forest is also home to 274 bird species, 14 of which are close to extinction, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is helping to fund the scheme.

"We are helping the government turn a logging forest into a protected forest," said the RSPB's Alistair Gammell.

"Huge amounts of carbon will be saved and the site is an excellent example to those now involved in climate talks in Bali."

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Sierra Leone sets up forest park

4–Day art exhibition launched

2007-12-10T08:57:00.001+01:00

A four-day art exhibition was launched at Lumley Beach Roundabout in Freetown. The colourful exhibition showcased the talents of over thirty Sierra Leone artists. Organised by the National Tourist Board, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the exhibition is a first of its kind for Sierra Leone.

An extensive range of paintings and sculptures from over thirty talented youths will be displayed and sold during the four days. Allusine Bangura, one of the country’s leading artists, sees this initiative as a real opportunity to display the artistic talents of Sierra Leoneans; “we don’t see this exhibition as a one-off event, but rather the beginning of the creation of an arts market where we can live on our art.” It is planned that every Sunday afternoon artists will display and sell their works at the roundabout at Lumley Beach.

According to the Executive Representative of the Secretary General, Victor Angelo, ‘UNDP is committed to the development of youths in Sierra Leone, and this exhibition is an opportunity to tap into the creative talent of the young people of the country and expose their work to the international market.”

Present at the opening ceremony was the Minister of State and the Minister of Tourism and Culture. Also in attendance were senior UN officials, members of the diplomatic community and international visitors.

Amistad sails into Freetown Harbor

2007-12-10T08:55:00.001+01:00

Amistad arrives in Freetown

2007-12-09T21:39:00.001+01:00

FREETOWN, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A replica of a 19th century slave ship, which became a symbol of the anti-slavery movement after kidnapped Africans rose up on board against their captors, arrived on Sunday in Sierra Leone.

Cheering Sierra Leoneans lined the docks to see the 129-foot (39-metre) schooner, topped with three billowing sails and the Sierra Leonean, U.S. and Canadian flags, make its first stop in Africa since it set sail in June from New Haven, Connecticut.

The Amistad's voyage commemorates Britain's abolition of the transatlantic slave trade 200 years ago this year.

The ship has already stopped in Britain and Portugal on a voyage expected to last 14 months, retracing the routes of the slave trade between Europe, Africa and the Americas.

"Our people were torn from their culture to become slaves. It's the first time a schooner has come in instead of going out," said Mohamed Bangura, a British-based Sierra Leonean on the dock in the capital Freetown.

The original La Amistad, was seized at sea by 53 kidnapped Africans led by Sengbe Pieh, who became a national hero, who rose up against their captors.

They eventually won a long court case in the United States, which ruled that free men, if captured, must be returned to their homelands. The 35 who survived returned to Africa in 1841.

John Kamara, the only Sierra Leonean to make the journey on board the replica craft, heard the story of the Amistad from his grandmother as a small boy.

"This means a lot to me and my people. I'm so proud," said Kamara, 34, wearing a bandana in the green, white and blue of Sierra Leone's flag.

"WE ARE ALL HEROES"

The former British colony's hilly ocean-side capital is named after freed slaves who resettled there in 1787, but it has suffered a brutal 1991-2002 civil war and elections this year revealed deep frustrations over grinding poverty. Many assembled at the wharf grumbled that African American descendants of slaves are better off than Sierra Leoneans.

Bystanders hoped the ship's voyage could symbolise a happier future for the country, which elected President Ernest Bai Koroma to power in September on a ticket to deliver development and clamp down on widespread corruption.

The ship is due to sail on Dec. 18 for Senegal and Cape Verde, before crossing the Atlantic again for the West Indies.

The voyage retraces the triangular Atlantic trade which shipped European goods to Africa to pay for slaves, who were taken to plantations and mines of the Caribbean and South America to produce commodities for export back to Europe.

Sierra Leone | Africa - Reuters.com

S.Leone wants more give, less take from mining firms

2007-12-09T11:05:00.007+01:00

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Foreign mining companies must build new roads, railways and ports in Sierra Leone which will benefit the country's poor if they want to extract its precious minerals, the mining minister said.

After largely peaceful elections this year in the former British colony, torn apart by a brutal 1991-2002 civil war, foreign firms are once again starting to consider mineral-rich Sierra Leone as a possible investment destination.

"We are trying to create a situation in which mines can be the basis for our infrastructure development," Mines Minister Alhaji Abubakarr Jalloh told reporters late on Thursday.

"We are saying if you want to mine bauxite, iron ore, rutile, we want all these companies to come together and create a plan for a massive harbour that will have the capacity to take big ships and to have a railway system and a future network."

Many mining companies are waiting for details of the new government's mining strategy, expected to be unveiled early next year, following presidential elections in September.

Several mining companies are wary of potential moves to impose more strenuous conditions, including higher tax.

"We are going to look at all the things and modify them for the good of the country," said Jalloh, who has promised to review all mining contracts in an effort to extract more wealth for the country.

The West African state's diamond fields helped finance the conflict both at home and in neighbouring Liberia, wars which together killed a quarter of a million people and destroyed once-thriving economies.

Jalloh said he wanted dilapidated roads and railways to be rebuilt along routes leading, for example, from the capital Freetown to bauxite mines in Port Loko and Kambia districts or to iron ore deposits in the north.

Demand for African natural resources is booming, not least from rapidly industrialising China and India who need the raw materials to develop their economies.

NEW PRESIDENT, NEW CHAPTER

Sierra Leoneans hope their new president, Ernest Bai Koroma, elected on a promise of greater prosperity for the country, will help turn around their fortunes.

Five years after the end of the war, Sierra Leone ranks as the least developed country in the world, according to the United Nations. More than 70 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

Voters complained bitterly of appalling roads pitted with potholes during the election campaign. The railway line has long been defunct. Many hope a well-managed mining policy could revitalise that infrastructure.

Jalloh said previous such efforts had served only the needs of mining companies and the country was in danger of falling prey to the same kind of exploitation from new mining companies.

"All sorts of companies are coming in; they want to take the remnants (of old mines) and just load the barges. We will be left with the same problem we have now," he said.

"They built these railways and the harbour purely to convey the iron ore. There are still trucks that are loaded with iron ore on the railways from when they stopped."

Sierra Leone | Africa - Reuters.com

S.Leone refugees to return from Guinea after polls

2007-12-09T11:05:00.005+01:00

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Thousands of Sierra Leoneans who fled to neighbouring Guinea during a civil war are due to return home after elections in the former British colony raised hopes of long-term stability, the United Nations said on Saturday.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was organising convoys to voluntarily repatriate some 4,000 Sierra Leoneans from Guinea's capital Conakry and 1,200 others living in camps around the southern Guinean town of Kissidougou.

"The first convoy, which has left, was carrying 140 people ... We'll have to go via Liberia because of the poor state of some of the roads," Faya Millimono, UNHCR spokesman in Guinea, told Reuters.

Close to 100,000 Sierra Leoneans returned home from Guinea with the help of the United Nations between 2000 and 2004 in the closing stages of more than a decade of war in Sierra Leone.

But thousands more refused to go back, hoping to win political asylum in Europe, the United States or Australia. Some of those living in Kissidougou have spent more than 10 years lobbying the UNHCR to help resettle them elsewhere.

In September, Sierra Leone held its first elections since the departure of U.N. peacekeepers, polls won by former insurance executive Ernest Bai Koroma, who pledged greater prosperity and stability for the country.

But not all Sierra Leonean refugees want to return from Guinea, itself an impoverished country where even those living in the capital lack running water or electricity.

"I lost my father, my mother and my three children in the war. I don't want to go back, I still don't feel safe," said Titus Roberts, 43, who has lived in Conakry for 10 years.

Others cling to the hope of being resettled in a third country.

"Here, like in Sierra Leone, I don't feel safe. We are constantly harassed and we have nothing to survive," said Hawa Kamara, 35, who lost her husband during the conflict.

Sierra Leone's war was one of the most brutal in modern African history. Children were kidnapped, drugged and forced to fight while rebels hacked the limbs off civilians and sometimes carved their initials into their victims' backs.

Five years after the war, Sierra Leone ranks as the least developed country in the world, according to U.N. statistics. More than 70 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

"I have to stay here because I have nothing left in my country," said Burder Wandi, 19, who has searched in vain for his parents since the end of the war and earns a living working in a Kissidougou hotel.

Sierra Leone | Africa - Reuters.com

Overcrowded Jails Filled With Prisoners Awaiting Trial

2007-12-09T11:05:00.003+01:00

Fatmata Jalloh is raising her one-year old boy in an unconventional setting - from within the confines of the Makeni prison.

Jalloh, a young mother awaiting trial, has been behind bars since she was seven months pregnant. At the time she was arrested for theft.

Local police arrested her instead of her boyfriend, who managed to escape with his friend, who had stolen computers from Freetown. The computers were found in her home and Jalloh was the only person there - she was arrested for the crime and has been languishing in prison ever since.

"There are no witnesses, nobody has come forward to say I committed the crime," she said last week from her cell. "I wish to get out of here." Jalloh stays with her son and three other women in the female quarters of the prison. The women share one grey, open room and a courtyard, where they prepare food, braid each other's hair and play with Jalloh's son, Junior.

They have mosquito nets above their mattresses, which sit on the cement floor, and Jalloh said they are well looked after by prison officials.

Despite this, Jalloh said she would prefer to be raising her son in the free world.

Makeni prison, like most jails in the country, is overcrowded and small - unable to accommodate all the prisoners awaiting trial, especially male prisoners.

"I have 137 prisoners," said S.S. Koroma, prison-officer in charge of Makeni prison. "I'm supposed to have 80." He said in Makeni there are 40 prisoners awaiting trial, many of whom have been there for years, and only 72 prisoners have been convicted.

Koroma said many prisoners sleep on the floor because there are no mattresses. As well, there is not enough medicine or supplies for the extra men and his monthly supply of food and rice from the government always arrives late.

"The past government, they didn't pay us anything," he said. "The contractor was paid only Le 1,630 per person to feed them, which was meant to provide three meals a day." The government recommended 20 ounces of food per day, not nearly enough, said Koroma.

But Koroma said prisoners are mostly frustrated because they have not been indicted or charged.

Betty Alimamy Sesay, a Makeni radio journalist and activist, said the state of prisons and the justice system in the country is unacceptable.

"Many of them are in there and they shouldn't be," said Sesay, who is also a member of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme. "They are languishing in the prisons with no witnesses and their cases are not being heard." Sesay said there is one foreign judge in Makeni attempting to get innocent people out from behind bars, but she said the justice system in Makeni and the rest of the country is corrupt, slow and in need of restructuring.

She has been monitoring and attempting to expedite many of the Makeni cases, including Jalloh's. "I've been watching her case for awhile, ever since she came in here pregnant," said Sesay.

Another case Sesay has taken interest in is Abu Marrah's, a lance corporal from the military who has been behind bars in Makeni since 2002.

Marrah was arrested for an alleged murder in Kono, taken into Freetown where he appeared at the high court for six months and, because of lack of witnesses, eventually transferred to Makeni, where he still waits.

"I've appeared three times in court in Makeni," said Sesay, from the men's prison yard in Makeni. "The judge said the police aren't allowed to take me to court until they have a witness, but in the meantime I am stuck here." Several men gathered around Sesay, nodding in agreement. Some washed their clothes and hung them on a clothesline; others crouched in corners of the small prison yard, away from the sun. Many of their cases are similar - many of them have sat in prison for months or years because the police or justice systems do not have adequate resources or training.

Dauda Kamara, the new Minister of Internal Affairs, agreed with Sesay and said although he has not yet had time to visit the prisons, he knows they are in a sorry state.

"I am told that Pademba Road Prison in Freetown has 1084 prisoners, but there is only room for 300," said Kamara. "There is serious overcrowding and it is not tolerable conditions." Kamara blamed the overcrowding on the judiciary, who he said are slow and often not available to try cases - resulting in hundreds of prisoners awaiting trial throughout the country.

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"Everybody wants reform, reform, reform," he said, "I agree, but let us use effectively what we have now.

It is a problem of getting them to do their work at all." On Tuesday, Sierra Leonean Justice George Gelaga King delivered a scathing address to the Sierra Leone Bar Association in which he labeled the judiciary 'corrupt' and 'disrupting'.

Kamara said the prisons will not improve until the judges do. "It is a terrible situation," he said. .

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: Overcrowded Jails Filled With Prisoners Awaiting Trial (Page 1 of 1)

UN chief proposes reducing UN presence in Sierra Leone

2007-12-09T11:05:00.001+01:00

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon is proposing gradually scaling down the UN presence in Sierra Leone, according to a report released here Friday.

In his latest report on the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), Ban recommended that the current operation be extended for a final period of nine months so that it can continue to assist Freetown in holding the local elections scheduled for next year and in bolstering state institutions.

"During this period, UNIOSIL would take steps to progressively reduce its strength with a view to completing its mandate by September 2008," the UN chief said in his report.

Ban said he planned to submit proposals on the drawdown of the mission, as well as the mandate, structure and strength of the successor office, to the Security Council next April.

The UN peace consolidation office in Sierra Leone is a successor to what was once the world's largest peacekeeping force with 17,500 personnel.

The West African country of 5.5 million people endured a decade-long civil war from 1991-2001 in which some 120,000 people were killed and thousands were mutilated.

The UN Security Council in 2005 judged conditions in Sierra Leone to have improved sufficiently to end the UN peacekeeping mission mandate there.

Three months ago the country held democratic elections, the first since UN troops withdrew, and a new leadership was ushered into office.

Ban noted that this summer's elections highlighted "deep-seated political tensions and cleavages" among the population along ethnic and geographical lines.

He warned that these have the potential to escalate in the run-up to next year's local elections.

AFP: UN chief proposes reducing UN presence in Sierra Leone

Reading And Writing On the Decrease?

2007-12-09T11:02:00.005+01:00

A local writers organization has said Sierra Leoneans are losing the culture of reading and writing.

Essie James, a senior member of the executive of Pen Sierra Leone, an organization of Sierra Leonean writers and professors, has said fewer people spend time with a book or a pen than ever before.

Speaking at a Pen workshop Monday, James said her group is trying to resuscitate and retain the culture of reading and writing among Sierra Leoneans. "We are worried that we are losing this culture gradually and Pen wants to rekindle it," she said, adding that Sierra Leoneans should be able to use the skills and talents God has blessed the country with.

She said Sierra Leonean writers have so much talent in their midst to bring social change and develop community groups.

James said her organization aims to revitalize the spirit of writing among school children by setting up Pen clubs at secondary schools.

She said the country has great writers, but it still needs to do more to foster the literary arts. "We are rich in writers but it is unfortunate that we are not seeing much of it," she said, adding that the aim of the workshop is to identify members in Pen Sierra Leone that will engage in different Pen committees.

Iranian Cultural Consul Mohamed Ghezel Sofla said intellectuals have a greater role to play for the development of Sierra Leone.

"Your writings should have messages that will enhance change," he said, noting that he has observed some developmental changes in the country over the years.

Aiah Senesie, a writer and participant, said the country has failed to succeed because its people have failed to plan for the future. "I believe if we work hard we will make it in the future," he said..

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: Reading And Writing On the Decrease? (Page 1 of 1)

Ban on Timber Export Causes Job Lose in Sierra Leone

2007-12-09T11:02:00.003+01:00

Following the ban on the logging and exportation of timber by the government of Sierra Leone in May this year, investors in that trade on Wednesday 5th December 2007 disclosed to the press that a large percentage of the youth population in Freetown risks being thrown out of job if government does not revisit its decision.

One such group threatening to go on the sacking is the SLEPORT–SARL, a timber export company based at No. 2 Access Road, Kissy in the east end of Freetown. The Director of the company, Mr. Martinho Joaquim has disclosed to press men that his company currently employs about 120 young people in Freetown alone with an additional 50 in the Provinces.

He said the 4th May 2007 ban by the government on the export of timber from the country on grounds that the practice speeds up deforestation among other things, has greatly hampered the operations of the company. This in turn has engendered the laying off of a large percentage of their work force. He said he believes that since the company is registered to saw and export timber in the country, the ban should not affect them as there are foreign nationals doing similar business clandestinely making their export through the Republic of Guinea.

One of the youths, Mustapha Mansary whose job is at stake pleaded to government to review the ban as the investors have vowed to close their factories. According to him, this will bring the youths several steps backward which is not good for the country’s economy.

Ban on Timber Export Causes Job Lose in Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone News

It would be a crime to end this dream

2007-12-09T11:02:00.001+01:00

Rags-to-riches tale may end in tatters as nightmare of deportation hangs over teenage illegal alien

Morrissey, who headed up UK band The Smiths in the 1980s, is in trouble after a controversial interview with music rag NME last week. He raged against immigration, telling a reporter Britain had lost its identity and that you could not hear a “British accent“ in Knightsbridge.

This is the same Morrissey who was sued by two band mates a decade ago. A judge described the singer as “devious, truculent and unreliable”, so his comments are probably best ignored.

It’s against this background that the extraordinary case of Alhassan Bangura comes to light.

On the face of it, the midfielder is much like any other professional soccer player. He’s a star for Watford FC, earns a lot of money, lives comfortably and is adored by his fans.

Bangura is also an illegal alien, facing the prospect of deportation before Christmas.

His story is like no other. He was born 19 years ago in Freetown, capital of war-torn Sierra Leone. His late father had been the head of a secret society (Soko) that practised witchcraft. When Bangura was 15 his father died and he was told by village elders to take over the society.

Little is known about the cult, but Bangura told an asylum hearing in London last week its followers dismembered parts of their bodies and inflicted pain as part of its rituals.

Threatened with death for turning down the leadership, Bangura fled to Guinea. He was soon befriended by a Frenchman named Pierre.

“He pretended to be a friend but turned out to be the devil incarnate,” Bangura said. “He took me to France but wanted to get me into prostitution and the homosexual business, but I refused.”

Soon, Bangura found himself in London. While he was in Pierre’s company, two men tried to rape Bangura. Terrified, the 16-year-old fled, running into the street where he was taken to an immigration centre.

It’s at this point that Bangura’s life takes an unlikely turn for the good. He was encouraged to play soccer as part of his rehabilitation and took to it like a natural. One day, a Watford scout saw him playing at a public park. A year later, he was signed and made his Premier League debut at the age of 17.

Had you scripted a movie like that, you’d be asked to tone down the story line to make it more realistic.

But it gets better. His girlfriend, also from Sierra Leone, had his baby last week. “Al”, as Bangura is known, has become one of the club’s most dependable players. Fans have even dedicated songs to him.

Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd told the tribunal : “Sending him back to Africa would be like Frank Sinatra playing Batley Frontier Club in West Yorkshire instead of Wembley.”

Bangura pleaded to stay, saying he would die, or be subjected to mutilation, if he were forced to return.

The case will clearly challenge the minds of the tribunal, who have promised a ruling before Christmas. Bangura is plainly an illegal immigrant (in a country where immigration dominates the national agenda) and his misery is little different to thousands of others. He’s a soccer player and he’s hero-worshipped. But should he receive special treatment?

The flip side is that whether or not he is successful or talented, his claim for asylum should be judged like all others. If there is a well-founded fear of persecution, which must be proven, then the asylum process should kick in to provide refuge. It’s hard to believe Bangura’s fears aren’t well-founded.

Of course, bigots have popped up on blogs and letters pages railing against Bangura and others. They, like Morrissey, blindly propagate a Britain for Britons.

Too bad, because they’re wrong. Bangura’s case is a prime example of what sport can do for an individual, literally dragging them from the slums. The case also demonstrates a need for humanity and a recognition that players such as Bangura are heroes for the youth of Watford and elsewhere, yes, even Sierra Leone.

What good would it do sending him back to his Freetown hell? It would be tragic, stupid and cold-hearted.

What do you think? E-mail us at sportsletters@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS your comments to: 33971

WHO says talent is everything? A birth date is just as important, according to findings of the Children of the 90s project, based at Bristol University. Researchers claim that youngsters born in spring (September to November in South Africa) are more active than those born in autumn. Some research of my own leads me to concur with the findings. Ernie Els and Allan Donald have birthdays in October, while Benni McCarthy, Ryk Neethling, Oscar Pistorius, Gary Player and Aaron Mokoena all share November birthdays.

According to the study, children born in autumn were 9% less active.

The Times - Article

Tiffany Marks Success of Sierra Leone Project

2007-12-06T15:25:00.001+01:00

Tiffany and Co. held an event Dec. 3 at its flagship store in New York to “celebrate the success” of the Tiffany and Co. Foundation’s support for FESS, The Foundation for Environmental Security and Sustainability, a governmental organization that reclaims land in Sierra Leone previously used for mining.

The project has put into motion a process to empower communities in Sierra Leone to reclaim land, develop alternative land use, increase food and livelihood security, and reduce the potential for conflict, a Tiffany statement said.

“By reclaiming mined-out diamond areas, we’re helping heal the scars of Sierra Leone and creating a new future for the people of Sierra Leone,” said Darci Glass-Royal, chairman of FESS, “Formerly pitted, unusable land now yields jobs, stability and food for the country.”

The event was attended by officials from Sierra Leone, including its U.S. ambassador, the Paramount Chief of the Kono Region, Paul Ngaba Saquee V, and singer-songwriter Ben Jelen who is known for his commitment to environmental causes..

The event premiered a short film documentary, which showed how the communities in Sierra Leone have reclaimed their land at three project sites, and put it to agricultural use.

“When land reclamation takes place and is followed by agriculture, artisanal mining begins to lose its character as the employment of last resort for all-too-numerous jobless youths,” said Daniel Gbondo, FESS field representative in Sierra Leone. “Artisanal mining will continue for some time to come, but with land reclamation, the serious hazards posed by mining pits are significantly reduced, and artisanal mining can continue as part of a balanced transition for the region.”

Tiffany Marks Success of Sierra Leone Project - 12/5/2007 3:53:00 PM - JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone

World Bank to review Bumbuna’s Project

2007-12-06T15:24:00.005+01:00

A World Bank Safeguard Mission will be visiting Sierra Leone from 7-15 December to review progress with the Bumbuna Hydropower Project environmental and social aspects.
While in the country the mission will follow-up on the progress of the agreed pre-impoundment measures with special focus on the proposed Bumbuna Wildlife Conservation Area an associated conservation measures, and the proposed Bumbuna Watershed Management Authority and the Bumbuna Trust Company.
The mission will also finalise the agreed resettlement and compensation actions that also need to be completed to precede impoundment. It plans to do a site visit in Bumbuna to access progress in the construction of the environmental by-pass, de-stratification equipment and biomass clearing in the drawdown zone.
It is agree on the terms of reference and timetable for environmental studies in the wider Bumbuna conservation area and Loma Mountain offset site.
The mission led by two senior environmental and social specialists, Dr Maria J. Cruz and Mr Robert Robbelus, plans to do a site visit and assess progress in construction of resettlement housing and arrangements for compensation of project affected populations. It will also participate in the emergency food and livelihood support program in at least one food distribution centre.
A draft Aide Memorie including a follow-up action will be discussed between the mission and government.
It is expected that the minister of energy and power will lead a government delegation to participate in the official launch of the food aid programme for the project affected people at Bumbuna
Meanwhile, the Project Implementation Unit of the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project is making all the necessary preparations to receive the World Bank team and to ensure the success of the visit which is considered critical to the completion for the Bumbuna project.
In a similar development, the task manager of the African Development Bank Group, Hemchand Rai Heeroo, is in the country to visit the Bumbuna Falls Hydroelectric Project.
Mr Heeroo is to have meeting with senior officials of the ministry of energy and power in order to discuss among other things the power situation in the country and complementary projects to distribute power from Bumbuna to customers.
He will also be discussing the institutional set-up to manage Bumbuna after completion.

Awoko Newspaper- Home

Ghana goods exhibition starts

2007-12-06T15:24:00.003+01:00

Made in Ghana goods exhibition organized by the Ghanaian High Commission in collaboration with the Association of Ghana Industries and Ghana export promotion Council was formally opened yesterday at the Presidential Lounge of the National Stadium in Freetown.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Mohamed Koroma, performed the officially opening and also chaired the programme. He described the annual trade fair in Sierra Leone as an initiative to providing a unique opportunity in consolidating the long standing bilateral relationship between the two countries and strengthening the trade ties.
He went on to say that President Ernest Bai Koroma continued to lay emphasis on how he intends running the country as a business because previous government had failed the nation. On the other hand though, he stressed President Koroma zeal to prioritize the private sector which provides immediate result in every country.
The Deputy Minister also hopes that this annual Trade Fair will remain a permanent phenomenon of this cooperation through which new product and technology are introduced into our local market.
Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mabinty Daramy on behalf of the President and the people of Sierra Leone express a great sense of pride and fulfillment to have yet another Ghanaian Trade Fair organized in our country which she says, all Sierra Leoneans know is usually a successful show, not only for Ghana but also for Sierra Leone.
Earlier on, High Commissioner of Ghana to Sierra Leone, Her Excellency Dr. Mokowa Blay Adu Gyamfi in her welcome statement recalled that since 2004 they have either organized or participated in trade exhibition in Freetown. Trade Fair, she says, is of great significance to her country and this fair which will exhibit only made in Ghana goods shows that her country’s private sector is really developing.

AfricaNews - Sierra Leone: Ghana goods exhibition starts - RSS english

The businessmen and the people

2007-12-06T15:24:00.001+01:00

Now that CHOGM (the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) is now usually described as a ‘process’, all of us hacks that try to take it seriously, and aspire to be Commonwealth specialists, have to take some note of the fringe activities around the central set-piece of the summit itself.

Your diarist targeted the two main shows in town – the Forum of the Commonwealth Business Council (at the Sheraton) and the Peoples Forum at the Hotel Africana. The art form of trying to follow both at the same time and making intuitively judicious choices about which sessions to attend in both meetings – it was clearly impossible to take in the Youth Forum out at a beach resort near Entebbe on Lake Victoria.

The holding of the Business Forum has been a tradition since the CBC was set up in 1997.

Then while the CHOGM was in Edinburgh, the CBF was in London, just as in 1999 the CHOGM was in Durban and the CBF in Johannesburg. That in Australia in 2001 was scrapped because of the 9/11 disaster, but the forum in Abuja in 2003 was hugely successful, attracting a number of Commonwealth leaders as speakers, and Malta was also an important milestone. All of them have been very much the handiwork of Mohan Kaul, Director-General from the beginning, whose benevolent presiding spirit this year was made more poignant by his gallantly doomed outsider attempt to become Commonwealth Secretary general (see last week’s Diary).

India’s Asian "Fifth Column"

This CBF in Kampala, however, has been the best yet in terms of attendance, with more than 900 participants, although one or two London participants felt that this time it had slightly misfired. But then how do you judge an event that is mostly presentation and networking, rather than the venue for huge deals. What was impressive was that more than half were East Africans.

There were, I was told more Kenyans than Ugandans, and probably more Asians than any other group.

The Asian presence is back in Uganda (after the expulsions by Idi Amin some thirty-five years ago. Many are involved in some of Kampala’s new projects including CHOGM hotels, and even the celebrated tycoon Madhvani could be spotted at the Business Forum. There are some new Asians in Uganda, who, I was told, come mainly from the Indian sub-continent itself, although there were a surprising number of Asian UK residents who are also developing (or re-developing) business connections. One observer even suggested to me that the Asians in Africa were a "fifth column" for India in its efforts to compete with the Chinese.

Museveni and transforming Societies

I caught part of the CBF opening ceremony, mainly to hear President Yoweri Museveni enlarging on his favourite subject, which was also the theme of the CHOGM, the transformation of societies.

His preoccupation with how African countries can heed the example of the way Malaysia developed in forty years where countries in Africa that had been at the same level as Malaysia had sunk behind, was constantly recurring, both at the CBF and in the CHOGM itself, as well as at every one of his news conferences, although it is hard to see that rural societies can be scaled down as quickly as he seems to have in mind. Some had doubts that this was a good idea anyway.

New breeze out of Freetown

There was a small west African presence (three Nigerians a couple of Ghanaians), although I was lucky to hear the new Sierra Leone Finance Minister David Carew talking about "Strengthening the Investment Climate in Emerging Markets: the Sierra Leone Experience".

Although there had been a change of government, the minister seemed anxious not to openly indict the previous regime, noting that since the end of the "brutal civil conflict" in January 2002, "substantial progress has been made in maintaining political and economic stability". After speaking about continuing the Poverty Reduction Strategy of his predecessors, he noted that the new government had reinforced the powers of the Anti-Corruption Commission established in 2000, and outlined aspects of the current reform programme.

It was good to catch the fresh new breeze coming out of Freetown, confirmed by Carew’s President, Ernest Bai Koroma, also addressed the CBF’s Gala Lunch stressing how far his country had come since the end of "our rebel war" and advance to democracy.

His recent election, in which the ruling party had been voted out, had been a "landmark in the history of Sierra Leone" which underpinned its democracy. And, on the Forum’s theme of "untapped potential, he said he wanted to make Sierra Leone "the most investment friendly country in West Africa".

Sir John, Dr Chris, and the EPAs

Readers of this diary will know of its particular interest in following commonwealth views on the controversial Economic Partnership agreements (EPAs) which the EU has been pressing on the African Caribbean and Pacific Group, and which had been the subject of a strong statement at the Malta CHOGM in 2005.

This time round discussion seemed muted, perhaps because the issue is now in its terminal stage, with several partial EPAS already being signed by some in east and southern Africa, meeting the deadline of December 31 which the EU is seeking to impose, not without some bad feeling. The session at the CBF was not especially illuminating, as the ACP Secretary-General, Papua-New Guinean Sir John Kaputin, who has been known to be outspoken on the subject delivered a particularly muted paper, so low-key it as almost below the radar screen.

Also, the indication that the East African Community had signed up to an EPA broken in the session created a certain misleading euphoria, encouraged by some businessmen stressing the positive advantage of "opening markets".

I would have been better off attending the trade session at the People’s Forum (organised by Makerere Business School) to hear Chris Stevens of the Overseas Development Institute in London, the world’s greatest living expert on EPAs and all their ramifications. Alas, my ‘judicious intuition’ let me down.

Meanwhile, down at the peoples’ forum….

In general at the People’s Forum the flame of discussion burned with a much greater intensity, with every session sharpening its points to be included in a strongly worded communique duly presented to the heads at CHOGM itself (although I wonder how much attention the leaders paid). I spent some time at the series of sessions on human rights where Zimbabwe inevitably figured prominently, as civil society feels strongly that the Commonwealth has a continued responsibility for the people of Zimbabwe even if it is out of the Commonwealth. There was a hotly argued discussion of the Commonwealth’s seventeen years of election monitoring, which some participants felt was giving fig-leaves to unacceptable regimes, and also a long and realistic discussion on how civil society can engage with the police, and some individual protests, such as from Ghanaians drawing attention to the continuing problem of the killing in the Gambia of forty-eight fishermen apparently on the orders of the Gambian president. And to bring a local flavour, there was a lady representative of the kingdom of Bunyoro, who presented at length a case against the activities of British colonialists in the 1980s. I read later in a local newspaper that Bunyoro (whose King boycotted the Queen’s banquet for Commonwealth leaders) says it is going to the International Criminal Court to sue the British for five trillion pounds compensation for the injustices.

The boldness of Bunmi

A word of commendation for the Nigerian journalist Bunmi Akpata-Ohohe. She who once was an occasional thorn in my side at West Africa for her outspoken views and forthright manner has lost none of her boldness. She deployed her skills on Chairman/President Museveni at one of his press conferences, asking him outright whether Uganda was a militaristic society. A seasoned old fox, he took it in his stride, but it seemed to offend one or two other journalists there, who found it rude. Rude? They don’t know our Bunmi.

BusinessDay... the voice of business - The businessmen and the people

Skye Bank to open branches in 3 West African countries

2007-12-05T13:02:00.005+01:00

Skye Bank Plc is about opening its business offices in Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Ghana in a move to take its services and offerings to the West Coast.
The bank also intends to build a strong group structure that will allow it to take maximum market advantage in other segments of the financial industry.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr. Akinsola Akinfemiwa, dropped these hints recently in London at the Renaissance Capital Sub-Saharan Africa conference organized to sensitize foreigners about the investment potentials in the region.
Akinfemiwa explained that the bank growth strategy would incorporate growing its revenue along income line from retail/commercial banking products through the strengthening of its branch network and making its services easily available to this clients segment.
Besides, he said the bank intends to increase its business outlets to 450 before the end of year 2010, adding that the business outlet strategy stipulates outlet model/types that are designed to suit its main verticals.
Specifically, he said the bank has strategically positioned itself to focus on investment banking, corporate finance, as well as retail and consumer banking.
The Skye Bank boss also revealed that the bank was pursuing an aggressive regional expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa as part of its strategy of ensuring that it has presence where its revenue profile could be enhanced.
The bank strives to grow its business by focusing on mobilization of huge low cost deposit and fee based services available in the retail/consumer-banking segment of the market, he said.
Akinfemiwa also presented the bank unaudited full year result ended September 30, 2007 which saw the banking posting a profit after tax of N7 billion as against N1.9 billion during the corresponding period in 2006. The growth in profitability represents 467 per cent.
Gross earnings also rose by 84 per cent from N20.7 billion in 2006 to N38.1 billion during the review period, while its total assets grew substantially to N439 billion as against N170 billion in 2006.
Skye Bank has as its strategic goals, the desire to be one of the top five banks in Nigeria by 2010 by all indices, have and maintain 10 per cent of the total industry business outlets in high gross domestic product (GDP) area in the country.
It also wants to be the leading bank in e-banking products and services maintains its leadership role in the South West region of the country and play a leading role in public sector business at all tiers of government.

The Sun News On-line | Business news

Sierra Leone Moves to Polish Diamonds at Home

2007-12-05T13:02:00.003+01:00

Diamonds from Sierra Leone have fueled the country's gruesome civil war and enriched warlords. Now, the government and activists are trying to make sure the profits from Sierra Leone's post-conflict diamonds help the people who need it most. Naomi Schwarz has this report from VOA's regional bureau in Dakar.

Sierra Leone is famous for high quality and very large diamonds, including one of nearly 1,000 carats. More than 65 million carats are known to have been exported from Sierra Leone since international mining began there in the 1930s. Many millions more carats are believed to have been smuggled out of the country.

Yet the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans live in extreme poverty.

In a bid to make sure more Sierra Leoneans benefit from the diamond industry, new president Ernest Bai Koroma is pushing to create laws that will ensure more of the precious stones are polished in country.

Sierra Leonean activist Abu Brima, president of the Network Movement for Justice and Development, says these laws have been a long time coming.

"It is not only a good idea, it is the most expedient thing to do," he said. "But for diamonds, in this country, it has only been just a country producing and exporting. I think it is about time that we start to add value so that people can benefit more from it."

The president has said building polishing factories in Sierra Leone will also create jobs. Unemployment estimates in Sierra Leone top 70 percent.

But Brima says polishing factories are only one small part of the many problems that remain in Sierra Leone's mineral industry.

"All the issues around production, all the issues around environmental damage and destruction, land recovery, compensation to local communities, the protection of local communities against abuse and violations by mining companies, the remuneration that is generated, the conditions of workers in the mining industry, actually formalizing the artisans that mostly mining, these are all issues to address," he said.

Polishing stones in-country is a strategy that has helped some southern African countries benefit more from their mineral riches. But Annie Dunnebacke, of international development watchdog Global Witness says implementing the strategy in Sierra Leone will not be a simple matter.

"Those countries that I mentioned, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, have a very different diamond landscape," said Dunnebacke. "Most of the mining is Kimberlite mining, as opposed to alluvial mining. And so many of the problems faced by governments who have a lot of artisanal alluvial mining are not necessarily faced in those countries."

Alluvial mining can be accomplished with relatively low-tech materials to sift the stones from mud and sand.

Kimberlite mining requires heavy equipment to extract stones embedded in volcanic pipes.

The technique is named for the South African town of Kimberley where the first such volcanic diamond deposit was discovered in the late 1800s. The town also gave the name to the so-called Kimberley Process, a certification plan that aims to track where a diamond was extracted, in an effort to end diamond smuggling.

Alluvial mining has led to a diamond industry that is far more fragmented in Sierra Leone than in southern Africa, and consequently one that is harder to keep track of.

Dunnebacke says diamond smuggling remains a huge problem across West Africa.

"There still is, on a yearly basis, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds smuggled out of Sierra Leone," she said. "So there is clearly an illicit trade not only in Sierra Leone, but also in the region, which of course includes Ivory Coast where conflict diamonds are still being mined and are still being exported."

And Dunnebacke says the fragmented nature of the diamond industry in Sierra Leone means it will be harder to make in-country polishing economically viable. She says the government will have to find international manufacturers to build the factories and convince individual diamond dealers to sell to Sierra Leonean factories instead of exporting them directly.

President Koroma has also pledged to tackle corruption in the government and mineral industry. His mining minister has said he will review every mining contract to try to cut out cheating and corruption.

VOA News - Sierra Leone Moves to Polish Diamonds at Home

U.N. arms embargoes can be potent symbol

2007-12-05T13:02:00.001+01:00

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. arms embargoes are always breached and rarely change the behaviour of the targeted country but can be a powerful symbolic tool, a report published on Monday found.

The report by Swedish researchers examined the 27 mandatory U.N. arms embargoes implemented since 1990 on states such as Iraq and Somalia, and groups including al Qaeda.

"Of all the 27 cases ... none has completely stopped the transfer of weapons to the target," said Siemon Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute who wrote the report with Peter Wallensteen, professor of peace and conflict research at Uppsala University in Sweden.

"Always there will be breaches. Does that make arms embargoes useless? No, it doesn't," Wezeman said.

Embargoes were more effective if U.N. peacekeepers were present, preferably with a mandate to enforce the embargo, and if neighbouring states cooperated by imposing tight border controls, he said.

Above all, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- as well as the rest of the international community needed to demonstrate political will both to pass the embargo and enforce it strongly once it was in place.

Wezeman contrasted the arms embargo on Iraq after the first Gulf War in 1991, when strong U.S.-led enforcement succeeded in choking most arms supplies to Baghdad, with some West African countries under embargo where "there isn't really anybody who cares about it," so arms flows continue unchecked.

The report looked separately at whether countries targeted by embargoes changed their behaviour to comply with Security Council demands and found that usually they did not.

For example in pre-2003 Iraq weapons flows were stopped but it made little difference to Iraqi policy, said Wallensteen.

Only in a quarter of cases did the arms embargo succeed in changing the behaviour of the target, the report said.

Wezeman said it was easier to impose arms embargoes on countries such as Liberia which do not have a powerful Security Council protector, than on Sudan, Iran and Myanmar, which are backed by veto-wielding China, Russia or both.

At the same time Sudan or Iran would be more anxious to avoid being branded "pariah states" than small West African nations such as Sierra Leone or Liberia, he said.

"There is a very strong symbolic value in an embargo. It tells you that you've been really, really, really bad," he said. "The Iranian government is sensitive to that kind of pressure."

Sierra Leone | Africa - Reuters.com

HUMAN DEVEOPMENT REPORTS TO LAUNCH ON FRIDAY

2007-12-05T12:58:00.001+01:00

Freetown, Sierra Leone --- Tuesday, 4 December 2007 --- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone, will launch the 2007/2008 UNDP Human Development Reports this Friday, 7 December.

The theme of the National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2007 is ‘Empowering local government for sustainable human development and poverty reduction: The district focus approach,’ while the theme for the Global Human Development Report (GHDR) 2007/2008 is ‘Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world’.

All media representatives are invited to attend the launching ceremony, which will be presided over by the President of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma.

When: Friday, 7 December 2007

Time: 9am sharp

Where: Miatta Conference Centre, Yuyi Building, Freetown

Key speakers: UNDP Resident Representative; the Minister of Finance and Economic Development; the Minister of Lands, Country Planning and Environment; and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Local Government and Rural Development

Chairperson: Development Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Konah C. Koroma

The launching of the Human Development Reports will be followed by two lively discussion sessions, with expert speakers listed below.

Panel discussion on Global Human Development Report:

- Cyril Jusu, Head of Environment Division, Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and Environment

- Dr, Bashiru Koroma, Department of Environmental Studies, Njala University

- Joseph Rahal, Green Scenery Garnnel, Environmental Foundation for Africa

Panel discussion on National Human Development Report:

- Dr. Dennis Sandy, Dept of Economics, FBC

- Emmanuel Gaima, Decentralisation Secretariat

- Tennyson Williams, Action Aid Sierra Leone

Integrity, Efficiency, and Opportunity for a Civil Service Under New Democratic Leadership

2007-12-02T14:02:00.001+01:00

Newly elected Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma (left) shakes hands with outgoing leader Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on Sept. 17 in Freetown.

In the service of the nation, an efficient civil service must attract the respect of Sierra Leoneans. The civil service had been respected under colonial rule and the years under Milton Margai. It was seen as an efficient and productive service. In the 60's for instance, the Ministry of Education provided lunch meals to kids in all primary schools. Sierra Leoneans have seen firsthand how many of the civil service's past policies have positively affected their lives.

The debacle of the 10 years of the democratically elected government of former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah is that his leadership created a negligent and laidback environment for the civil service to continue squandering the respect, trust, and confidence of Sierra Leoneans and the international community. At the dawn of independence, Sierra Leone's civil service was one of the best in Africa. The work of the civil service was widely accepted and respected, as it worked to serve the people of Sierra Leone. That reputation of the civil service has quickly been eroded since the late 60's. The civil service became entirely corrupt and grossly inefficient. And it did not get better even when after the war ended in 2002, and the international community rallied behind Sierra Leone as never before, supporting efforts to build capacity and helping to address the problems of the civil service.

But Kabbah lost an opportunity by not paying attention to what the civil service was doing. Moreover, civil servants were diverting vital financial resources from the daunting tasks of providing sustainable energy sources and restoring and constructing roads, schools, and hospitals. At the same time, the civil service was run as if it were the private property of the people employed to run it. The country's culture of corruption has supported a distinctive and enduring pattern of relations between the civil service and society that contains the seeds of enduring problems in political and development policy. Within a general "conspiracy of make-believe," civil service authorities think they are the 'untouchables' with which parliamentary and presidential authorities feign compliance, while society at large continues its tradition of passive and apathetic submission to the caprices of public officials. Again, the discernible ease with which the civil servants coordinate their official responsibilities over their private obligations, negotiating guiltlessly a course between their own interests, the claims of spouses, children, and kin, and the public office, is simply amazing. Because they enjoy a regular salary and various benefits, and have direct access to the state's resources, their job security makes them primary sources of assistance for relatives seeking help, especially under the country's present deplorable economic conditions. Many civil servants have accepted this situation and always feel compelled to help relatives, even if doing so would entail deviant conduct and corrupt practice in violation of public service orders. This is exacerbated by the intensity of social control: non-compliance with kinship obligations carries the threat of serious sanctions, such as ostracism and witchcraft.

Sierra Leoneans have paid a heavy price for being too susceptible to the deviant and corrupt practices of civil servants nullifying the competence of the civil service once enjoyed in colonial times and the years immediately after independence—a civil service that was rooted in a preference for being honorable over exhibiting selfishness, for being progressive over showing lack of will to make a difference. At a moment in history when the country's most pressing problems require unprecedented civil service performance, Kabbah's lenient administration only contributed to the ruin of the nation.

Yet the civil service can be something more positive. Indeed, international aid agencies, including USAID, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Britain's Department for International Development, the European Union, and the United Nations Development Program, want the civil service to be honorable, efficient, and development-oriented. The people still look to the work of civil servants as key to national stability. The civil service administration is lacking, but it is still wanted. The government of newly elected President Ernest Bai Koroma can therefore do something about the lethargy and naked corruption in public service. The people have given him the mandate to do whatever it takes to have a functioning government machine supported by an efficient service with integrity. They want Koroma to inculcate the values, leadership, and strength that had inspired the civil service during colonial times and the few years immediately after independence. To reclaim their proper place in national development, civil servants must act in the interest of the country. And Koroma can make it his national development goal to have this moment of opportunity to restore integrity and efficiency in civil service administration. Now, as a president with a background in business development, Koroma can seize that opportunity by getting the civil service to work sustainably to be able to invest in building roads, schools, hospitals, and low-cost houses for the benefit of all Sierra Leoneans. "[The civil service] administrative culture needs to be changed into a purpose-led managerial culture where the achievement of results becomes the dominant ethic, constrained as appropriate by legal and financial requirements" (UNDP).

To get the civil service in sync with good governance practices, the government must be better led and be capable of creating the enabling environment for people to work and earn decent wages and to feed themselves, as well have access to affordable housing, safe roads, and well-equipped schools and hospitals; as well, development policies must be smarter. Koroma has been given a moment of opportunity to consolidate democracy and to convince civil servants that there is no longer any room for lethargy and corruption. He can seize this opportunity by taking firm and decisive action against crimes of corruption within the civil service, weeding out such lethargic elements from the service and even ensuring long jail terms for those found guilty of crimes of corruption. Koroma must only work with a civil service that makes his five-year term very productive in building a nation of security and opportunity. The point is, people "expect quick gains from the government and the delivery of essential services and promoting macroeconomic stability. This alone makes it imperative for [the Koroma administration] to embark on sound macroeconomic policies, including a transparent and enabling business environment and an efficient financial sector based on the rule of law, to thrive. This requires effective macroeconomic management capacity, including legislative and regulatory abilities and debt management skills" (UNDP).

Read full story by clicking the link below.

Sierra Leone: Integrity, Efficiency, and Opportunity for a Civil Service Under New Democratic Leadership - Worldpress.org

New techniques confirm blood of animal sacrifices on ancient African sculptures

2007-12-02T14:01:00.005+01:00

Washington, Dec 2 : New diagnostic techniques used by chemists have confirmed the presence of blood from ritual animal sacrifices in the patina of ancient sculptures found in western Africa.
Patina is a coating of various chemical compounds such as oxides or carbonates formed on the surface of metals during exposure to weathering.
The study, which used new sensitive techniques like two types of mass spectroscopy and two methods of x-ray scanning, should yield a greater understanding of the practices of artists from long ago, and it could open the way for more detailed analyses of the world's most precious artefacts.
Anthropologists and ethnologists have uncovered much cultural evidence, from oral histories and illustrations, that ancient African artists often used ritual animal blood in their creations, generally as attempts to please or appease their deities.
In the empire of Mali, for example, which flourished from the early 13th century to the late 15th century C.E., the Dogon people decorated or painted their sculptures with various pigments thought to be composed partly of blood.
But, because of the age of the artefacts and lack of proper techniques, the composition of the patina had eluded standard chemical analyses.
Now, a team from the Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France in Paris and other institutions in France has employed a quartet of new techniques to find out the presence of blood in the microscopic samples of the sculptures' coating.
"The techniques are so sensitive that they can detect even a few target molecules in a few micrograms of material, " said physical chemist Pascale Richardin, a co-author of the study. "They also offer the advantage that one technique can detect a desired molecule that the others might miss," he added.
In this instance, the measurements revealed the unmistakable presence in the patina of a form of iron associated only with blood, according to a report prepared by the research team.
"The research shows without doubt that the wooden figures were used in ceremonies involving animal sacrifice," said electro-analytical chemist Christian Amatore of the
École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
"Next up, is analysing the painting materials used by the masters of the European Renaissance--not to look for blood, but to attempt to reveal the secrets of their colours and textures," said Richardin.

New techniques confirm blood of animal sacrifices on ancient African sculptures

Lakshmi Mittal tops South Africa billionaire list

2007-12-02T14:01:00.003+01:00

London-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has topped the South African billionaires' list for the third consecutive year.
Mittal's 27.3 billion rand ($4 billion) listing in the annual Rich List, released here by the weekly Sunday Times, takes into consideration his South African investments only.
The Indian-born businessman has much more interest in steel plants across the world, especially after the recent merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor.
With the emergence of non-whites' economic empowerment in a free South Africa, Mittal, along with many South African non-white entrepreneurs, has ousted the two white families who were top of the list for decades in the apartheid era - the diamond magnate Oppenheimer family and the luxury goods Rupert family.
Nicky Oppenheimer was in second place with wealth of 16 billion rand ($2.35 billion) and Patrice Motsepe was third with 13.5 billion rand ($2 billion).
Rich List researchers emphasised the figures were based only on publicly available information of investments on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, and there may be much more by way of property ownership, cash holdings, offshore investments and other investments.
They also said it was possible that people outside the identifiable business sector, such as international sportsmen, patent holders and owners of listed companies, were excluded from the list, as it was not possible to identify them or their wealth.
The value of Mittal's 52.02 percent holding in ArcelorMittal SA has almost doubled to 27.36 billion rand ($4 billion).
Mittal's' interest in South Africa began several years ago when he turned around the fortunes of the ailing state-owned steel producer Iscor with huge cash injection and a business assistance agreement that saw him net millions.
This success just continued to grow amid rising global steel prices.
Somewhat ironically, there were recently strong rumours that the South African government was considering options to start a competitor to what has now evolved into ArcelorMittal SA from the original Iscor.
Mittal's takeover has not been without controversy, as the Competitions Commission recently slapped the local subsidiary with a fine of almost 700 million rand ($103 million) after local customers claimed that the company was fixing its prices unfairly.
The only South African Indian in the 100 Richest List is former Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mohammed Valli Moosa, who came in at 71st position with his combined holding of 316 million rand ($42 million) in transport giant Imperial Holdings, insurance giant Sanlam, and leisure group Sun International.

Lakshmi Mittal tops South Africa billionaire list

Manchester United stars pitch in against Aids

2007-12-02T14:01:00.001+01:00

THREE of Manchester United’s biggest stars have teamed up with Unicef, the international children’s charity, to target Aids in Sierra Leone.

A series of giant posters featuring the players was unveiled yesterday to mark World Aids Day. They will go up on billboards next month to promote HIV awareness among the west African country’s 3m young people.

Ryan Giggs, 34, Rio Ferdinand, 29, and Patrice Evra, 26, a diplomat’s son who was born in Senegal, Sierra Leone’s near-neighbour, appear together and separately in the posters, which urge people to use condoms and get tested.

According to Unicef, 1.5% of the population are infected. That is low compared with some African countries, but the number of reported cases has increased by 75% in the past five years.

Surveys show that as few as 17% of youngsters in Sierra Leone know how to protect themselves against a disease that kills 4,400 people in sub-Saharan Africa every day.

The footballers have also recorded a series of television and radio advertisements at Manchester United’s training ground to help to spread the message.

Manchester United stars pitch in against Aids - Times Online

Vietnamese farmers share their experiences with Sierra Leone

2007-12-01T14:32:00.007+01:00

Professor Vo Tong Xuan, rector of An Giang University, will send 20 farmers from the Mekong Delta to work as agriculture experts in Africa. Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper interviewed the professor.

How did the idea for this programme come about?

During a visit to Japan in 2006 I met with the agriculture minister of Sierra Leone, who asked me to co-operate with his country’s agricultural sector.

I saw that Sierra Leone’s climatic conditions were the same as Viet Nam’s, and accepted the proposal because I believed that the cultivation techniques of Vietnamese farmers in the Cuu Long Delta region could be applied in Sierra Leone.

Is the programme sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development?

After I failed to get a reply from the ministry, I was afraid to lose this opportunity, so I asked some enterprises to invest in the programme. However, the purpose of this programme has always been to share the talent of Vietnamese farmers with those who can benefit and not to make a profit.

Why are you so determined to realise the programme?

First of all, I want to improve the hard lives of farmers.

Another reason is that Viet Nam is now the second-largest rice exporter in the world, but the country is at risk of losing its competitive edge. This is because alongside the rising productivity of other rice-exporting countries, Viet Nam’s rice cultivation area is faced with reductions due to an exploding population and the growth of industry.

According to deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong, in the last five years Viet Nam has lost 300,000 ha of land for rice cultivation.

In other words, the Cuu Long Delta will run out of land and natural resources if we continue to use the old methods of land exploitation.

Do you bring any personal experiences into the programme?

Yes, I do.

When I was a student in Los Banos University in the Philippines, I successfully organised an agricultural extension programme for the local people. Then, I published a handbook on techniques for high-yield rice cultivation, which was re-published by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Seven years ago, I was invited by a Japanese professor to conduct a field study of agriculture in Brazil. I visited a museum on Japanese migrants to Brazil. The museum tells the history of Japanese migrants who started their new lives with agricultural production. They were allotted land and applied their experience and techniques of livestock breeding and plant cultivation. They not only became rich people, but also helped train experienced and technically-advanced agricultural experts for Brazil.

The visit inspired my ambition to make Viet Nam succeed in Africa as Japan did in Brazil.

In the past, many countries failed to help Africa. Do you believe in your success?

Definitely.

In the past, European countries and the US sent experts to Africa to help eradicate hunger and poverty. Many projects costing billions of US dollars failed. The reasons were many. But I think the major reason was that the transfer of technology was mismanaged.

So, when accepting the proposal, I carefully considered the methods of implementation.

The farmers of Sierra Leone have little experience in cultivating high-yield rice. Besides, they don’t have irrigation systems or machines, so crops depend totally on nature.

We decided to teach them not only how to plant high-yield rice but also build irrigation works.

Late this year, we completed the planning of the irrigation works and succeeded in planting 50 varieties of high-yield rice on a large area in Sierra Leone.

Do you think about sending out more farmers in the future?

Yes, I do. Farmers will be sent not only to Sierra Leone but elsewhere in Africa as well.

Initially, the first batch of farmers to Sierra Leone will train the local farmers in an arrangement wherein one Vietnamese farmers trains four Sierra Leone farmers.

Sponsoring enterprises will set up a stock company here to help duplicate the model in other African countries.

Besides assissting in rice cultivation, the company will also help Sierra Leone tap other potentials such as processing fish and vegetables. So in the long term, we will also be sending over vegetable growers and fish breeders and processors. — VNS

Viet Nam News

New Pay Television

2007-12-01T14:32:00.005+01:00

A new satellite pay television channel was launched on Wednesday 28 November 2007 by the country's minister of information and communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo in a glittering ceremony attended by the country's television enthusiasts. In a brief chat with HANA's correspondent in Freetown before the launch Kargbo said the government and people of this country welcomed the newly established network citing the development it will bring to this nation which he said is another milestone in developing the private sector.

"Telecommunications as we all know is improving very rapidly in our country, Sierra Leone after a bloody civil war. The people of this country are very satisfied to have another player in the telecommunication industry," the information minister told HANA.

In his address to journalists, the minister expressed hopes that the same support enjoyed by other telecommunications companies will be given to GTV so that the firm can succeed.

"I hope and pray that every Sierra Leonean and other foreign nationals in the country will utilize this chance for their benefit," he said.

The vice chairperson of YES TV, the official agent for GTV in Sierra Leone, Dr. Kande-Bureh O'Bai Kamara said GTV is determined to make world class football, news and entertainment available and affordable to every home and business in Sierra Leone.

"Sierra Leoneans love good entertainment but they have been deprived of football over the past few months. We are going to ensure that they enjoy the English Premier League," he added.

Giving a brief breakdown of how GTV will operate, O?Bai Kamara said they have 15 channels of news and entertainment for everyone.

To drive his point home, GTV?s Head of Development for Africa, Ronnie Andrews said entertainment is not just for the elite but for everyone.

"We are ready to bring the best international and African programmes to customers at a price they can afford. Sierra Leone is one of the most exciting markets as there is so much potential for growth and development," he said.

He said that their innovative model targets mainstream consumers rather than an elite few adding that, they have the exclusive right to show 80% of the English Premier League including eight live matches per week.

"We intend to cover the whole continent by the end of 2008. We are launching in nine African countries simultaneously," he concluded.

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: New Pay Television (Page 1 of 1)

Sierra Leone to press ahead with EU trade deal

2007-12-01T14:32:00.003+01:00

FREETOWN (AFP) — Sierra Leone will press ahead to sign accords to liberalise trade with the European Union that have been heavily criticised by anti-poverty lobby groups, a minister said on Friday.

Deputy Finance Minister Richard Conteh said Sierra Leone would sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that will replace preferential tariff agreements due to expire this year, because it cannot afford to be left behind.

"The southern (African) countries have almost signed the EPA with west Africa waiting. This has been considered as a big blow," Conteh told a symposium organised by anti-poverty activists.

The European Commission this week announced that Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique have initialled an interim EPA.

The current trade deals giving preferential market access to the African nations have to be replaced by the end of the year because the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled they are illegal.

West African regional bloc ECOWAS has however urged its members against signing EPA in the wake of the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon next month.

Conteh said the government of the world's second most impoverished nation "has taken a firm stance" on the issue.

But anti-poverty activists suggest that the EPA which requires African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to open up their markets to EU products in exchange for preferential access to the EU market, would compromise Sierra Leone's efforts to rebuild after a decade of a devastating war.

"The agreement with the EU will grant EU companies substantially free duty and tax access to the Sierra Leone market," said Christine Thomas of Sierra Leone's Chamber of Commerce.

"It may increase the dependency of the government on donor funding and lead to increase in direct income taxes on the hardpressed taxpayer and loss of the approximately 60 percent of ... tax revenue derived from import duties," she added.

Closure of firms and loss of jobs were a likely consequence, she said.

Abu Brima, director of the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), said opening up to EU imports could mean that regional "countries exporting among themselves would risk losing their market to the European exporters".

"The amount of diverted trade in the case of ECOWAS will be in billions of dollars," he said.

AFP: Sierra Leone to press ahead with EU trade deal

West African Diamond sees full-scale pilot diamond, gold output in 4-6 wks

2007-12-01T14:32:00.001+01:00

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - West African Diamonds PLC said it expects to commence full-scale diamond and gold production within the next four to six weeks, and that pilot gold production has now started on Plant 11, Koidu in Sierra Leone.

Contracts have already been arranged for the sale of both gold and diamonds once full-scale production starts, the company said in a statement, adding that it expects output to be about 0.4 gramme per tonne gold, worth 9 usd a tonne of ore and diamonds worth 3 usd a tonne of ore.

It also said it has recovered four large stones from the Bomboko alluvial deposit in Guinea, and intends to begin small-scale mining on Bomboko in early 2008.

West African Diamond sees full-scale pilot diamond, gold output in 4-6 wks | Latest News | News | Hemscott

29 rioters freed, 13 in court

2007-11-29T15:51:00.003+01:00

Chief Superintendent of Police, Philip Wellington, who is also Local Unit Commander of the Kissy Police Station in the capital Freetown, oversee the release on Wednesday morning of 29 suspects held since last Friday while 13 others made their way to Freetown Magistrate court following rioting by students of the Muslim Congress Secondary School in Freetown.

The 13 were brought to court under very heavy escort with armed personnel from the Police Operational Support Division (OSD) providing security. Three of the badly wounded police officers who will testify as witnesses for the prosecution, also joined the convey yesterday.
Some of the exhibits in police custody include a school blackboard were the students had inscribed “War to War – Students Vs Police on Monday. Don’t Touch.”
Another is a motor bike from which the police claim, petrol was removed to set fire on a newly bought Toyota Dyna Van costing US$ 20,000.
And indeed on Monday, the students attempted to set fire to the police station but the timely arrival of the Police Delta Squad saved the situation. This happened shortly after President Ernest Bai Koroma, Vice-President Samuel Sam Sumana, the Inspector-General of Police, Brima Acha Kamara and the Assistant Inspector- General in charge of Crime Services Francis Munu, among others had visited the School and the disputed land that sparked off the trouble.
Some police personnel alleged yesterday that market women around Brima Lane and Portee contributed money to buy petrol which the students was to have used in the operation.
In an other development a gang of armed robbers fired several shots into the air on Monday afternoon as they made their gateway after a botched attempt to rob Lebanese businessman Riad Hassan.
The incident happened at The Mase, at King Street off Congo Cross just as Riad and his family was driving into their residence at about 4pm.
Reports suggest that the armed men positioned themselves at strategic locations, with one of them planted at the entrance of the residence.
As Riad and his family waited for the gateman to open for them to enter, one of the robbers stationed at their entrance, pulled out a gun and smashed the passenger front door glass of their jeep and attempted to snatch Riad’s briefcase.
His son-in-law, Alie who was driving, seeing that there was trouble ahead, applied the reverse gear and sped away.
At the same time, a Peugeot car used by the gang tried to make it gateway but was chased by the victims whose efforts were thwarted when other members of the gang that were stationed up the road opened sporadic firing attracting the attention of soldiers at the nearby Freetown Garrison at Wilberforce, and officers at the Congo Cross Police Station respectively.

AfricaNews - Sierra Leone: 29 rioters freed, 13 in court - RSS english

Deadly detour on journey to help others

2007-11-29T15:51:00.001+01:00

Initially, I felt really tired and nauseated. Then I couldn't keep my food down. Everything I ate or drank, I threw up.

I knew Sierra Leone was a hotbed for malaria but it took two visits to the doctor before I decided to get a blood test. I was shocked when the test was positive for the most serious of the four strains of malaria.

Since my arrival in Sierra Leone, West Africa, I had been taking all the recommended precautions – sleeping under a net, using bug spray, covering up my arms and legs in the evenings and taking a daily dose of the anti-malarial drug doxycycline.

Soon, nights became unbearable. My temperature bounced between 38C and 39C. I was delusional. Each day, I would tell my flat-mates to be careful when they left for work. I had a sense of impending doom and felt completely at its mercy. My body ached and, when everyone in the house was sleeping, I quietly sobbed in my bed fearful, of the outcome.

I'm sure most Canadians have no idea what malaria is. I'm pleased to now be working as a spokesperson with the Canadian Red Cross to promote awareness of the disease, which affects 40 per cent of the world's population, mostly young children and pregnant women, who are daily at risk of contracting this deadly illness.

Since 2003, the Canadian Red Cross, with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has hand-delivered 2.5 million mosquito nets to six African nations: Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Malawi, Niger, Zambia and Togo.

There is no vaccine for the disease. The best weapon against malaria is an insecticide-treated bed net. These nets last for up to five years and will protect a child or family from being bitten at night by a mosquito carrying malaria parasites.

The use of anti-malarial drugs, insect repellents, mesh screens on windows and air-conditioning in a house are also deterrents, but these are luxuries in countries where the disease is most prevalent.

I had travelled to Sierra Leone with a Canadian non-governmental organization to teach local journalists the basics of reporting and work with them on human rights stories.

The country was holding its first independent elections since the civil war ended in 2002. The brutal conflict that began in 1991 subjected hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, to mass amputations and rape; kids were abducted and forced to become soldiers. I was there to witness this.

Instead of helping journalists, I was in the hospital being treated for malaria. There I saw people lying on mats in hallways because they couldn't afford a bed. In Sierra Leone patients pays their own medical costs. I was billed for everything, including the syringes that were used to test my blood. My first round of treatment consisted of eight pills and cost 25,000 leones, the equivalent of $10. It represents approximately one-third of the average monthly wage there. A bag of rice is 70,000 leones. Those who get sick must choose between their health and feeding their family.

Malaria has been called a disease of poverty and continues to affect nearly half a billion people a year, mostly in Africa. The Canadian Red Cross estimates 1 million people die from malaria each year.

The disease kills more children than AIDS, TB or any other infectious disease. Every day, 3,000 children, most under the age of 5, die from malaria. That works out to a child every 30 seconds. Staggering.

Shortly after I was diagnosed, doctors told me that I also had typhoid. A few days later, I was near death. I was so sick that I was flown out to the U.K. Once there, my fiancé took me to the doctor on a weekly basis. I was suffering from severe anemia and had relentless migraines, something I had never suffered from.

Just walking a few feet left me exhausted and panicky. I couldn't sleep and I had nightmares about the day I almost died.

Following weeks of bed rest, it was decided that I couldn't return to Sierra Leone. I was devastated. I felt defeated. I had travelled to Sierra Leone with an agency that promotes human rights, only to have my fundamental right to health be violated – a right that is denied from millions of people around the world on a daily basis.

It is a lesson that I will never forget.

I experienced first hand what can happen when you get sick in Africa but at least I had the resources to get help.

Last month, the Canadian Red Cross distributed 2 million nets to Madagascar and Mali. I invite all Canadians to donate a $7 net. It can be the difference between life and death.

To donate, visit malariabites.net.

TheStar.com | living | Deadly detour on journey to help others

4–DAY ART EXHIBITION TO SHOWCASE SIERRA LEONE TALENT

2007-11-29T15:50:00.005+01:00

Freetown, Sierra Leone --- Thursday, 29 November 2007 --- A four-day art exhibition begins at 3pm next Tuesday, 4^th December at Lumley Beach Roundabout in Freetown. The colourful exhibition will showcase the talents of Sierra Leone artists. Organised by the National Tourist Board, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the exhibition is a first of its kind for Sierra Leone.

An extensive range of paintings and sculptures from over twenty talented youths will be displayed and sold during the four days. Allusine Bangura, one of the country’s leading artists, sees this initiative as a real opportunity to display the artistic talents of Sierra Leoneans; “we don’t see this exhibition as a one-off event, but rather the beginning of the creation of an arts market where we can live on our art.”

The exhibition will be opened by the Honourable Vice President of Sierra Leone, Samuel Sam-Sumana. Also expected to attend the ceremony are members of the Government of Sierra Leone, senior UN officials, members of the diplomatic community and international visitors.

Statistics Sierra Leone Launches Household Survey

2007-11-29T15:50:00.003+01:00

The Central Government, Local Councils and Private sector owe the highest number of primary schools in the Western Area while those in the East are owned mainly by Nongovernmental Organizations.
With regards to ownership of secondary schools, the Western Area and Northern regions attract more providers/owners. Apparently, the Western Area benefits most from both primary and secondary school owners.
It is also important to note that the SLIHS shows 9.2% of all adults (representing about two hundred and seven thousand people) have never been to school. In addition, 55.8% (one million two hundred and thirty nine thousand) went to school without taking BECE at the terminating JSS level.
It must also be noted that about 15% (approximately three hundred and twenty four thousand) and 16% (approximately three hundred and fifty nine thousand) have JSS/BECE and WASSCE as their highest qualifications.
Considering those who have attained SSS1WASSCE level, the number of males is almost two times that for females (two hundred and twenty three thousands as against one hundred and thirty five thousand), a glaring gender disparity in educational achievement.
Notwithstanding the fact that English has been an integral part of the curriculum since the beginning of education in the country, only 25% are found literate in British English.
The survey further indicates that the average amount paid per person attending school in the last twelve months is highest in the Western Area (Le294, 000), whereas the amount paid per pupil attending school is below Le 75,000 in each of the four regions.

The New Citizen Publications

Sierra Leone Football Fans to enjoy Africell Premier League

2007-11-29T15:50:00.001+01:00

Africell Lintel Sierra Leone in its stride to promote sports in the country especially Football has yesterday Tuesday 27th November 2007 convened a press conference to declare to journalist that they are going to take over the entire Premier Football Competitions throughout Sierra Leone.

At the Press Conference held at the luxurious Country Lodge Complex up the cool airy Hill Station prestigious area, the Commercial Director of Africell (Lintel Sierra Leone), Joe Amara Bangali (Jnr) disclosed that the company decided to sponsor the Sierra Leone Premier Football League on a long term basis and as a result the league will now be known as the Africell Premier League.

Mr. Bangali said that by sponsoring the Premier League, their aim was to help develop home grown football talents which would further develop the competitive nature of the league and also help increase the country’s success rate at international football competitions. He said that competitive sports is a sector which Africell is keen to help develop in Sierra Leone.

In his reaction, the President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Nahim Khadi thanked Africell for their timely intervention especially at the time when the Sierra Leone Commercial who had been the official sponsors of the Premier League, decided to withdraw from the league. He said that football was all about money and without money, both football and sports in general cannot develop further.

Nahim therefore called for unity amongst the officials noting that with unity everything can be achieved. Mr. Khadi said that Africell was really making an impact in the country especially in the sporting field and therefore as Sierra Leoneans, we must commend Africell for their corporate responsibility to the nation and ensure that the company thrives by using their services.

According to one of the football stake holders in the country, Nat Johnson, the entire football community of Sierra Leone was grateful to Africell for what he described as the "right step in the right direction" that had been taken by Africell.

Nat Johnson also thanked SLFA especially the President Nahim Khadi for his initiative to approach Africell to sponsor the league so that Sierra Leonean football fans might have the chance to watch their celebrities on the field once more. He called on more and more citizens especially football lovers to continue to patronize Africell.

Sierra Leone Football Fans to enjoy Africell Premier League: Sierra Leone News

Iceland is now the coolest place to live. Per capita GDP is 45 times higher than in Sierra Leone

2007-11-28T12:48:00.001+01:00

ICELAND has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country in which to live, according to the latest UN index on human development.

Rich, free-market countries dominate the top places, with Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland the first five, while AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states are once again at the bottom.

The United States slips to 12th place from eighth last year in the UN Human Development Index, with the UK taking 16th place behind Austria at 15th.

But the index, which blends 2005 figures for life expectancy, education levels and real per-capita income, finds all 22 countries falling into its "low human-development" category are in sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone last.

In ten of these countries, two children in five will not reach the age of 40, said the compilers at the UN Development Programme. Last year's report said HIV/AIDS had a "catastrophic effect" on life expectancy in the region.

The index ranks 175 UN member countries, plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian territories. Seventeen countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, are omitted because of inadequate data.

Norway had held top spot for six years, but was edged into second place by Iceland this year because of new life- expectancy estimates and updated figures for gross domestic product.

Iceland, with a population of only 300,000, has developed rapidly. While it still depends on fishing for about 70 per cent of its economy, it has harnessed its vast reserves of geo-thermal energy, invested heavily in technology and has a remarkably even distribution of income.

Per capita GDP is 45 times higher in Iceland than in Sierra Leone.

Luxembourg has the highest per-capita GDP at £29,126, and

Japan has the longest life expectancy at 82.3 years.

The Scotsman - International - Move over Norway, Iceland is now the coolest place to live

CHOGM - Winners And Losers

2007-11-28T12:47:00.007+01:00

The Chogm Business Forum in Kampala might have opened opportunities for Uganda but apart from President Museveni, no Ugandan technocrat or minister was on hand to advance the country's interests

The Commonwealth Business Forum ended successfully last week, especially so for every businessman that was in attendance.

Zain Group, the owners of Celtel, for example, made a very impressive show of their organisation at a gala lunch they hosted at the Sheraton Hotel. Barclays Bank Chairman Gary Hoffman equally managed to sell his Bank exceptionally.

The political businessmen at the Forum, however made the most significant effect on the participants.

Our very own President Yoweri Museveni gave a passionate speech on the need for economic transformation.

He pointed out the need for empowerment of the populations; not just growing populations that he has always advocated for but the need for a bigger and economically empowered ones in Africa.

The applause from the audience left no doubt that he had been appreciated.

President Museveni's move to sell his country was however let down by lack of presence of the technocrats and ministers in his government at this great event.

Scanning through the room he chanced on Uganda Investment Authority Executive Director Maggie Kigozi who he promptly introduced and instructed to ensure the business people knew her, just to be sure that the investors knew who to talk to.

But where were the ministers, the members of Parliament and the technocrats? Was the opportunity to talk to some of the world's leading business brains not of any importance to them?

Some ministers like Finance Minister Ezra Suruma and Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu were in attendance but just for a while. Did you not envisage lessons to learn from people that have turned small companies to the world's biggest empires?

Or even so from presidents like Bharrat Jagdeo, who as finance minister of Guyana in 1993, managed to cut his government's budget reliance on debt from over 90 per cent percent to just 5 per cent?

Let's leave the economics and talk about leaders that exhibited passion about their countries.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, for instance, may not be a member of the Commonwealth but the benefits his country will reap from the Commonwealth cannot be under estimated. For the three days he camped at the Business Forum, Kagame came well prepared. He knew what he wanted and clearly came to Kampala with a mission and strictly for business.

Kagame talked about issues like having a public a service that is more accountable, having their work assessed in terms of weeks or hours of work done.

What miracles this would perform for a country like Uganda?

Long delays at border posts and the invisible barriers between countries that are hampering trade were also another concern he raised.

These not withstanding, Kagame will early next year host officials from the Commonwealth Business Council in Kigali to discuss recommendations made by the forum.

This is a big step taken, especially so by a non-Commonwealth country and the strategic approach by the President is evident. President Kagame also took a moment to talk to business executives in person.

At one of the diners, his bodyguards were not seen anywhere around him and he took time to take business cards and personally woe these men to invest in his country. The passion of the leaders here to woe investors into their countries and the passion by the businessmen was very strong.

Talk about President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana who came from the airport to the forum. He took time to sell his country, dispel myths about countries that have had troubled pasts and urged his fellow heads of state to tell the good success stories of the developing countries.

Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone did nothing but talk about the democratic transformation of his country and its vast untapped potential. In his appeal, he made it clear that his country is willing to put its turbulent past behind and in fact, he is planning to host the world's cream businessmen to a diner in his country to foster business interests further. We are talking about leaders that are passionate about their countries; passionate to see change in their countries!

President Jagdeo talked about what his country needs to transform itself and lift up its peoples. Top on the agenda was to further reduce his country's debt burden which he said to him was as an "obsession"! This comment left many Ugandans asking, do we have ministers who ever get "obsessed" with the need to change certain things in their ministries!

Do we have leaders who do not hold titles simply to enjoy living in the high society but who genuinely believe in true leadership? There are people, of course, who gave their best in this historical business forum that must be commended. The Private Sector Foundation did a good job and even facilitated its members from as far as Mbarara and gave them the opportunity to attend the forum.

The Uganda Wild Life Authority also did a commendable job in promoting the country, to mention, but a few. President Museveni, Dr Margie Kigozi and the tireless James Mulwana tried their best to promote Uganda during this forum, but even then the case for industrialisation was packaged in generalities than broken down opportunities that the serious businesspeople would remember after returning home.

This is where the technical people and other leaders would have been expected to pitch in after the President had spoken. Their absence did the country a lot of injustice.

The presence of Celtel staff was more evident and felt than the presence of our government leaders. Uganda could have simply set the stage for other countries to foster their business interests, while our officials and MPs enjoyed the public holidays.

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Kampala CHOGM - Winners And Losers (Page 1 of 1)

ECOWAS Energy Ministers adopt common stand on energy

2007-11-28T12:47:00.003+01:00

ECOWAS Ministers of Energy have adopted resolutions of the draft Supplementary Act on the regional regulation of the electricity sector, t h e establishment of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulation Authority (ERERA) a nd the creation of a regional agency on access to energy services.

Other resolutions adopted by the ministers at their one-day meeting here Frida y are the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP), Emergency Power Supply Security Plan, t h e WAPP Transmission Line Implementation Strategy and the Accelerated Improvement
of the Electricity Sub-sector in West Africa.
The supplementary act seeks to institute a regulatory authority for the electr icity sector in the region to foster open and transparent cross-border electrici t y exchanges among member states. This they believe would ensure improved efficie n cy of power supply to ECOWAS citizens.
The act will serve as a regulatory framework for the power sector and is a pre lude to the establishment of a regional regulatory body, which received the appr o val of ECOWAS Heads of State and Governments, in January 2005.
The setting up of the ERERA is to encourage regulation of the regional power m arket by establishing good contractual practices and cooperation among national r egulatory authorities in cross-border power exchanges.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the ministers commended the French Development Agency (AFD) for its recent provision of 5 million euros towa r ds the creation of the regulatory authority as well as the World Bank, the Unite d Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United States Agency for Internati o nal Development (USAID) for their firm commitment to the development of the ECOW A S energy programme.
They also called on the ECOWAS Commission to work closely with the AFD on its initiative to intimate other donors towards the establishment and operation of t h e regulatory body.
The regulatory authority is a pre-requisite for the promotion of infrastructur al development and attraction of investments to West Africa.
Its mandate includes ensuring regulation of regional electricity exchanges, as sisting the ECOWAS Commission in the definition of strategic orientation of the r egional policy and in the harmonization of policies and national power structure s and supporting the establishment of the regional market to open to competition.
Also, the regulatory authority is expected to supervise regional market operat ions, ensure communication with and between actors as well as establish efficien t procedures for dispute resolution between stakeholders.
The regulation project, a critical activity under the West Africa Power Pool ( WAPP), is to ensure the establishment of an attractive environment for public an d private investors to develop and strengthen electricity supply as well as power
exchanges between the 15 member states.
The ministers also adopted the recommendations made by WAPP to the Emergency P ower Security Plan and a plan of action that was developed to curtail power shor t ages experienced in member states.
The disturbing electricity supply situation has been attributed, among other f actors, to a rapid population growth, lack of adequate investments in the electr i city sector and increased oil prices in the world market, which has had grave co n sequences on existing generation facilities in the region.
Similarly, the ministers endorsed the WAPP Transmission Line Implementation St rategy, which is a concept of developing WAPP transmission lines through special
purpose companies under a public-private partnership arrangement as well as the a ccelerated improvement of the electricity sub-sector in the region.
In addition, they made recommendations on the implementation of the Regional P olicy on Access to Energy Services for Rural and semi-urban populations adopted b y regional leaders in January 2006.
The policy, which seeks to provide energy access to, at least, half of the pop ulation in rural and semi-urban areas by 2015, includes an action plan, an imple m entation strategy, based on the principle to create a Regional Agency for Energy
Access and an investment programme.
Critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly th ose of poverty reduction, improved health, education, water supply, the Energy A c cess Programme aims to promote harmonized political and institutional frameworks
to energy access as a key priority for ensuring human development.
In adopting the resolution relating to the implementation of the Regional Poli cy on Access to Energy Services (also called the White Paper) on Access to Energ y Services, the ministers recommended the creation of a Regional Agency for Energ y Access (RAEA) as a specialized institution of ECOWAS.
In this regard, the ECOWAS Commission is requested to oversee its establishmen t.
As a first step, it will set up a dedicated unit at the Commission, which will work towards reaching the necessary conditions defined in the road map, to effe c tively set-up the agency, by developing deeper collaboration with member states,
national and regional stakeholders and development partners, along the four line s of the regional plan of action.
All the resolutions and related recommendations will be presented to the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, through the regional Council of Ministers, at the i r next summit.

AfricaNews - ECOWAS Energy Ministers adopt common stand on energy - Articles

Kallon's Saudi deal collapses

2007-11-28T12:47:00.001+01:00

Kallon denies that he approached his former club Al-Ittihad

Mohamed Kallon's 10 million dollar move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal has fallen through.

The Sierra Leone captain was to have signed an 18-month contract with the Riyadh team.

He says that Al-Hilal allege that after receiving a $250,000 payment from them, he then went on to attempt to sign for rival club Al-Ittihad of Jeddah.

Kallon played for Al-Ittihad in 2005, and was in Riyadh last week to undergo a medical examination and finalise some clauses in the pre-contract agreement.

Kallon told BBC Sport that following the fall-out, he has been banned from playing in Saudi Arabia for three years by the country's football authorities.

"All the allegations against me are false, I never attempted to sign for Al-Ittihad," said Kallon.

"I was not even contacted to give my own side of the story.

"The truth of matter is that I went to Jeddah to visit friends and to make sure that my mother, who is performing the Muslim Hajj, is in good hands.

Qatar a possibility

The former Inter Milan and Monaco striker has now left Saudi Arabia and is looking for a club elsewhere.

"Even if my ban is lifted I've no intention to play in Saudi Arabia again, because of what has happened.

"I just want the ban to be lifted for my reputation, and if the Saudi FA fails to do that soon, I'll take the matter to Fifa."

"In fact am now considering offers from Qatar."

BBC SPORT | Football | African | Kallon's Saudi deal collapses

Board: Deny U.S. Residency to African

2007-11-28T12:46:00.000+01:00

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — An African immigrant should be denied permanent U.S. residency because evidence shows he knew about the executions of 29 counterrevolutionaries in 1992 and continued to serve in the Sierra Leone government, an immigration appeals board ruled.

Samuel Komba Kambo, a legal immigrant, spent nearly a year in jail while fighting deportation as the government tried to revoke his visa. He was released from custody in October after a U.S. district judge ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was violating his due process rights.

Kambo, 39, was part of a military government that took power in a bloodless coup in Sierra Leone in 1992. He has denied any involvement with the killings, which occurred after his government was in power.

The federal Board of Immigration Appeals said in a decision dated Wednesday that while Kambo may not have "directly participated in or actively assisted in" the 1992 killings, there is enough evidence to establish that he was "aware of these events and remained passive, continuing to serve in a leadership post" in the provisional government.

Kambo, a fuels analyst with a graduate degree from the University of Texas, has been living in Austin for the past 14 years with his wife and four U.S.-born children.

"While (Kambo's) conduct during his residence in the United States may have been commendable, it is not sufficient to offset the egregiousness of the adverse factors he presents," said the board of the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

The board heard the case on appeal from the Department of Homeland Security after an immigration judge granted Kambo's application for permanent residency in June.

The board said the judge was wrong to grant Kambo's application "in the exercise of discretion," which involves balancing factors for and against an applicant.

The case was sent back to the immigration judge, Gary Burkholder, said Simon Azar-Farr, Kambo's attorney. Azar-Farr, who said he received the decision Monday, said he will look at other possible ways for Kambo to get residency.

"Mr. Kambo can feel very proud that he was vindicated by the board of the accusation that he had participated in the extrajudicial killings," Azar-Farr said. "In this regard the government's accusation has failed."

Messages left for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. attorney's office in Texas that is handling the case were not returned Monday.

The Associated Press: Board: Deny U.S. Residency to African

Shake-up in Sierra Leone's power company

2007-11-27T16:16:00.007+01:00

Freetown, Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone's Minister of Energy and Power, Haj a Afsatu Kabba, has sacked four top officials of the National Power Authority (N P A), as part of plans to re-position the agency to actualize government's promise to restore electricity to Freetown 20 December.
The officials who were relieved of their jobs were General Manager Foday Mannah, Deputy Patrick Tarawally, Financial Controller Chrispin Wilson and Generation Engineer Alfred Vandy.

Sierra Leonean's best friend!

Mannah was replaced by Dr. Subaru Ahmed Kaloko, holder of a doctorate degree in Economics and Finance who will serve as Acting General Manager, while Dennis Gav e , who was NPA's Technical Director, now becomes Acting Deputy General Manager.
Speaking to journalists in Freetown, Kabbah said the decision to sack the offici als was taken to "bring back life" to the department.
"Employees have been going without salary for months, without medical attention, safety gear for months, while the managers live in luxury and comfort.
"Amidst this crisis, some security operatives were in collusion with some of the managers to divert thousands of gallons of black oil, diesel and engine oil out of the power house, while millions of dollars (in) donors' fund have not been accounted for," she said.
In addition, the Minister said, the management of the authority was unable to ma intain generation and distribution facilities or generate electricity and buy sp a re parts and equipment.
She said the development had led to frequent breakdown of power plants, while mo rale among workers had been low due to lack of professional development and refr e sher training.
State House sources said the Ministry of Energy and Power would keep a close eye on the performance of the new team, which will be assessed on a monthly basi s.
The Ministry of Energy and Power is under the direct supervision of President Er nest Bai Koroma.

Shake-up in Sierra Leone's power company | Afrique - Actualité et informations africaines

For Women, War's Over But Violence Goes On

2007-11-27T16:16:00.005+01:00

Musu, 23, does not want more children. She has trouble feeding the three she already has. She has paid for this decision with regular beatings and rape by her 45-year-old husband.

"The man was beating me every day, forcing me to give sex every day," Musu told IRIN from the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown, where she is staying with a distant relative after fleeing her husband.

"He wanted me to have more children. He beat me and beat me. I'm tired."

Musu said the local chief disregarded her pleas about abuse by the man she was forced to marry at age 16. She has not gone to the police "because I don't have any money... They always ask for money". Despite recent laws aimed at boosting women's legal status in Sierra Leone, powerlessness in the face of violence remains an everyday fact of life for countless women like Musu.

In a 1 November report Amnesty International said the legacy of the "unimaginable brutality" against women during the country's 1991-2002 civil war feeds violence against them today. During the war, some 250,000 women and girls - about a third of the female population - were brutally raped, tortured and kept as sex slaves, the report said.

While experts in Sierra Leone say women are increasingly coming forth to report rape and domestic violence to the police, such crimes are rampant and usually go unpunished.

That is partly for lack of resources for pursuing offenders, but mostly it is custom, rights advocates say. Musu said she reported her situation but was shunned. "Whenever you talk to the chief he will say 'the man is always right'," she told IRIN. "That's the custom."

It remains the prevailing attitude, according to Jamesina King, chairperson of Sierra Leone's Human Rights Commission. "It's typical," she said of the chief's reaction to Musu. The rights commission was recently in the north to educate communities about violence against women, and members found that many people are still unaware of women's rights or disregard their grievances.

Before running away to Freetown, Musu had fled several times to her parents' home near where she lived with her husband - in the northern town of Kabala some 170km from the capital - but they reprimanded her and persuaded her to return home.

"It's definitely a man's world, it's definitely a chief's world," Tania Bernath, Sierra Leone researcher with Amnesty International, told IRIN. She said that chiefs have considerable power and those eager to help bolster women's rights are scarce.

Even in cases where a chief considers domestic violence or sexual assault charges, the approach is generally to mediate in what is considered a family dispute. "There is still this idea that cases should be kept in the family," Bernath said.

In its recent report Amnesty said this only feeds the problem. "Mediation in rape cases contributes to impunity and facilitates state evasion of the obligation to ensure that violence against women is prosecuted."

Sierra Leone is a signatory to a number of international conventions including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The gender bill passed in July was hailed as giving women unprecedented rights. But Sierra Leone has a long way to go before laws on paper translate into changes in women's status.

Relevant Links

West Africa
Human Rights
Sierra Leone
Women and Gender

Sierra Leone is one of many countries around the world observing '16 days of activism', beginning on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women until 10 December, International Human Rights Day.

Rights advocates say Sierra Leone is making some progress. Just the fact that communities are talking about violence against women as a problem to be addressed is a significant step forward, the Human Rights Commission's King said.

allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: For Women, War's Over But Violence Goes On (Page 1 of 1)

Sierra Leone's diplomatic community probes development hitches

2007-11-27T16:16:00.003+01:00

Freetown, Sierra Leone - Members of the diplomatic community in Sierra Leone at the weekend embarked on a one-day field trip to two districts outside F reetown, in an effort to see first hand the problems affecting the growth of the districts.
The diplomats, from China, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, Britain and the US, as well as the Commissioner of the European Union and the Special Representative of the U nited Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), visited the southern B o district, some 272 kilometres from Freetown, and the Eastern Kenema District, 3 19 kilometers from the city.
According to United Nations Communications Officer Sheku Bakarr Kamara, the field trip enabled the diplomats to meet with provincial authorities, political parties, political parties registration commission, Sierra Leone Police, Office o f National Security, Civil Society Organizations and Paramount Chiefs to identif y the economic and social challenges being faced by the Southern and Eastern part s of the country.
A diplomat, who preferred anonymity, said two thirds of approved developmental p rojects costing tens of millions of US dollars were approved for the two areas.
"The trip will give us an opportunity to listen to what the people have to say t o us," the diplomat said

Sierra Leone's diplomatic community probes development hitches | Afrique - Actualité et informations africaines

UNDP DIRECTOR FOR CRISIS PREVENTION AND RECOVERY VISITS SIERRA LEONE

2007-11-27T16:16:00.001+01:00

Freetown, Sierra Leone --- Monday, 26 March 2007 --- The Director of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Ms. Kathleen Cravero, arrives in Freetown today from New York, on a three-day visit to Sierra Leone.

While in-country she will meet with relevant senior Government officials, development partners and non-governmental organizations, to discuss emerging issues regarding recovery, crisis prevention and peacebuilding affecting Sierra Leone. The visit of the Director will also serve as an opportunity for her to understand how best UNDP can support national efforts to address these development challenges and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals (MDGs).

Ms. Cravero was appointed to the position of Director of UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) in April 2005. In this capacity she leads the Bureau in its efforts to mainstream crisis prevention and recovery at all levels of UNDP’s work. The Bureau supports UNDP in reducing the risk and impact of natural disasters, preventing armed conflicts, and assisting recovery from crisis when it occurs. Specifically, the Bureau’s role is to consolidate UNDP’s crisis prevention and recovery knowledge and experience; provide a bridge between humanitarian response and the development work of UNDP; and be an advocate for crisis sensitivity in the context of development policy

Watford manager backs player at asylum tribunal | News | Guardian Unlimited Football

2007-11-27T16:04:00.001+01:00

Alhassan Bangura.

A football star facing deportation to his native Sierra Leone has appealed against the decision at an asylum and immigration tribunal.

Watford FC midfield player Al Bangura appeared at an appeal hearing in Hatton Cross today, backed by his manager, Adrian Boothroyd.

Boothroyd told the tribunal that deportation would spell professional disaster for the talented player and likened the move to Frank Sinatra singing at Batley Frontier Club in West Yorkshire.

He said: "If he were to go back there it would be an absolute disaster for him professionally.

"Al is a very, very big talent, apart from being a decent young man. "Playing at that level would be a massive backward step ... unrecoverable, in my opinion.

"He would go there and never be heard of again."

The 19-year-old came to the UK from Africa seeking asylum almost four years ago and was granted limited discretionary leave to remain.

It was claimed that Bangura, who has captained Watford, had fled witchcraft and threats to mutilate him in Sierra Leone. He then escaped his human traffickers while in London.

A further application to regularise his status was rejected, however.

Watford Labour MP Claire Ward is backing his case. Asked about the possibility of Bangura obtaining a work permit, Boothroyd later said it was a lot easier to get players into the system if you were one of the "top four" clubs - Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.

He said he wondered if "we would all be sat here" if a different club were involved. Boothroyd said of Bangura: "He tells the truth. He's got no reason not to tell the truth.

"He's an honourable guy. I think that we should give him the justice that he deserves."

He described Bangura as a hungry player with an infectious smile and enthusiasm for the game. Bangura, who earns a six-figure salary with the club, is expecting a baby with his girlfriend. They live together in a large Hertfordshire home.

Bangura escaped trafficking, witchcraft and threats to mutilate him in Sierra Leone before he found success at football in the UK.

He told the hearing that he had undergone therapy for nightmares about people chasing him and trying to "do something bad to me".

He said he had not contacted his family in Sierra Leone since his arrival in the UK.

"I have tried to but I don't really know how to get hold of them," he said.

But Nicholas Jariwalla, cross-examining, accused Bangura of lying about having contact with his family.

He was also accused of offering different accounts of how he arrived in the UK.

The hearing was told that one account involved two men trying to assault him but in an interview he said he had met an uncle named Eric in Paris. Bangura told the court that the man was not his uncle, adding: "That was my first interview. It was a really sad moment and embarrassing moment for me, that's all I can say."

Sanjay Lal, representing Bangura, said it was accepted that he had been trafficked to the UK. Bangura's girlfriend, 21-year-old Yabom Foona, came to the UK from Sierra Leone herself when she was seven-years-old.

She said she would not return there with the footballer if he had to go and she is applying for British citizenship.

"I have got a son to consider - my baby," she told the hearing. "Sierra Leone is not a place I would want to take my son."

Iain Moody, football operations manager for Watford FC, said the player was "clearly popular" with fans who had dedicated songs and websites to him.

He said Bangura carried out a lot of community work and that if he could legally be permitted to remain in the UK, the club would seek to retain his registration. Watford has already offered the player a contract until 2009.

Senior Immigration Judge Michael Clements reserved judgment and said a decision would be sent out within next 28 days.

The judge said he was not a follower of Watford or any other football club. He told the hearing: "You have enlightened me to football. I might watch a match. I might not. You never know."

After the hearing, Bangura's legal team said his case was "truly exceptional" and sent a message to children who had been trafficked.

His spokesman said: "He has established a family life. He is a talented footballer and taxpayer."

Watford manager backs player at asylum tribunal | News | Guardian Unlimited Football

Sierra Leone Plans Beneficiation Legislation

2007-11-26T15:53:00.005+01:00

Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma announced plans to introduce legislation that will ensure that most of the country’s diamonds are cut and polished locally before being exported.
According to a report by Reuters, Koroma said the new policy would be tabled in Parliament “as soon as possible.”
"We have not benefited as much as we should have from our mineral resources and that is why we are going to ... put in place a mining policy that will ensure that we move away from having low returns," Reuters cited Koroma as saying.
Koroma added that the new policy would not only add value to Sierra Leone’s diamond exports, but also enhance employment opportunities.
Koroma was elected president in September 2007 on an anti-corruption ticket, pledging to lift poverty levels in the country. The new government is looking to rebuild its image in the mining - and particularly the diamond - sector, given the role “blood diamonds” played in financing the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone, and given the industry’s potential to boost the country’s economy.
Sierra Leone produced 603,566 carats of diamonds valued at $125.3 million in 2006, of which all was exported, according to Kimberley Process statistics.

Diamonds.net News - Sierra Leone Plans Beneficiation Legislation

Commonwealth issues climate plan

2007-11-26T15:53:00.003+01:00

The Commonwealth represents two billion people globally

Leaders of Commonwealth states have drawn up an "action plan" to tackle climate change that falls short of any binding agreement.

The text, released after the second day of their summit in Uganda, is designed as a strong statement ahead of next month's UN climate talks.

But the 53-member group could not reach a consensus on binding emission cuts.

Meanwhile, India's Kamalesh Sharma has been appointed secretary general. He replaces New Zealand's Don McKinnon.

Mr McKinnon is stepping down at the end of his four-year term.

On Saturday, the Commonwealth leaders are working at a retreat on Lake Victoria, away from media attention.

Officials had said the summit would try to iron out differences between member states on climate change.

Divisions

Many Commonwealth nations, led by Britain, wanted an influential statement before next month's UN talks in Bali, which will discuss a new agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

But Canada had insisted that any statement should refer to the need for contributions from the world's major polluters, including the United States, which has so far resisted any binding targets.

Australia is also a major CO2 emitter. Like the US, its outgoing government has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

"There are clearly some (Commonwealth leaders) who are clearly not ready to use the term binding at this stage," Mr McKinnon said following Saturday's talks.

"The objective was to make a very strong political statement without getting caught up in too many technicalities ahead of Bali," he said, according to the AFP news agency.

A Commonwealth statement announced a shared goal "to achieve a comprehensive post-2012 global agreement that strengthens, broadens, and deepens current arrangements", AFP reported.

"This should include a long-term aspirational goal for emissions reduction to which all countries would contribute," the statement said.

The first day of the summit was marred by clashes between protesters and police in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Protesters denounced Britain's Queen Elizabeth for meeting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who they say abuses rights.

The three-day summit on Friday suspended Pakistan for civil rights violations under its emergency rule.

Brown optimism

A new global trade agreement is also on the summit's agenda.

It is one of the most divisive issues for the Commonwealth, which includes some of the world's wealthiest nations as well as some of the poorest.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday expressed optimism that a new deal could be reached in the next few weeks.

The talks have repeatedly stalled since their inception in Qatar's capital, Doha, in 2001.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Commonwealth issues climate plan

Diplomats investigate underdevelopment in parts of Sierra Leone

2007-11-26T15:53:00.001+01:00

Members of the diplomatic corps in Sierra Leone left here Sunday for a day's visit to the southern and eastern parts of the coun t ry to investigate the gross underdevelopment there, according to a PANA report.
The diplomats are from the Chinese, German, Ghanaian, Nigerian, British and Am erican Embassies and High Commissions, and the EU Commission as well as the Spec i al Representative of the United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOS I L).
Theyn will be visiting the southern Bo district, some 272 kilometres away, and the eastern Kenema District, about 319 kilometers from here.
According to the United Nations communications officer Sheku Bakarr Kamara, th e diplomats will meet with provincial authorities, political party officials, el e ctoral commission officials and other stakeholders like paramount chiefs to iden t ify the economic and social challenges facing those parts of the country.
A member of the diplomatic community who preferred anonymity said two thirds o f the developmental projects, costing tens of millions of US Dollars, had been a p proved for these two areas to enhance development.

Diplomats investigate underdevelopment in parts of Sierra Leone | Afrique - Actualité et informations africaines

Getting away from it all in world's most inhospitable locations

2007-11-25T13:09:00.001+01:00

HOLIDAYS in remote, untamed areas of the world are more than a minority pursuit.

The extremes of the two poles and their relatively untamed landscapes are increasingly attracting tourists.

Despite the relative expense of the holidays, last year more than 30,000 travellers visited Antarctica and its waters, either on cruises or to get involved in researching the area. The Arctic is proving even more popular, with almost 100,000 people travelling to the islands in the area.

However, concerns have been raised that this growing number of trips will damage areas already under pressure from global warming.

The Falkland Islands are already gearing up for a massive increase in the number of cruise ships visiting their shores in the coming year. According to the Lloyd's List maritime newspaper, it is expecting more than 81,000 passengers, up nearly 60 per cent on last year.

But with tastes for the exotic developing, the challenge of an untamed landscape is not enough for some.

Despite government advice, troubled, war-torn regions such as Sierra Leone and Chechnya are now being touted as viable resorts for the adventurous tourist.

Scotsman.com News - UK - Getting away from it all in world's most inhospitable locations

UN and partners urge stepped-up efforts to foster reconciliation in Sierra Leone

2007-11-25T13:08:00.005+01:00

The United Nations and Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission have teamed up with civil society groups to urge the country’s Government and the international community to intensify efforts to carry out recommendations made by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In a communiqué issued following a two-day consultation held in Freetown earlier this week, participants also called for the formulation of a comprehensive strategy with clear allocation of responsibilities to achieve this – and pointed out that the full support of donor countries is required for it to succeed.

The UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) said participants in the consultations encouraged civil society groups to raise public awareness about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations which “are critical for peace consolidation in Sierra Leone.”

In 2004, the seven-member Commission made a number of recommendations to deal with past abuses and violations and foster reconciliation in Sierra Leone, which is consolidating peace following a brutal, 11-year conflict.

They included the payment of reparations by the Government to amputees and other wounded victims, those who were sexually violated, and the widows and children who suffered deprivation, displacement, or worse between 1991 and 2002.

UN and partners urge stepped-up efforts to foster reconciliation in Sierra Leone

De Beers sells S.African Cullinan Diamond Mine

2007-11-25T13:08:00.003+01:00

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - The world's biggest diamond company De Beers said Thursday it was selling its historic Cullinan Diamond Mine in South Africa, where the largest ever diamond was found.

It said it was selling the mine for one billion rand (147 million US dollars, 99 million euros).

The sale of the mine, based 40 kilometres (24 miles) east of the capital Pretoria, to the Petra Diamonds Cullinan Consortium -- which has a strong black empowerment element -- completes De Beer's review of its mining portfolio in the country.

"This will enable De Beers to best use our capital to invest in exciting growth opportunities and to sustain a strong diamond mining business in South Africa for the future," said Gareth Penny, Managing Director of the De Beers Group.

"In this way De Beers is strengthening its commercial future in South Africa whilst helping to meet the government's aspirations for a diversified, transformed South African diamond industry."

The pan-African diamond mining group, Petra Diamonds is the second largest producer of diamonds in South Africa after De Beers and is partnered in the country by Thembinkosi Mining Investments (Pty) Ltd which "brings together a significant pool of empowerment players."

"This transaction is a transformational deal for Petra and reflects the opportunities DBCM is creating for new players in the diamond industry," said David Noko, managing director of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM)

The Cullinan Diamond Mine, established in 1902, is famous for the world's largest ever rough diamond, The Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered in 1905 and weighed over 3000 carats uncut.

The mine is also the world's only significant producer of rare blue diamonds.

"The Cullinan Diamond Mine is one of the most illustrious diamond mines in South Africa and we are delighted to have concluded this transaction which will ensure a viable and sustainable mining operation for many years to come," said Petra chief executive Johan Dippenaar.

"Over the last 100 years, Cullinan has played an integral part in writing the history of diamonds - giving the world its largest ever gem diamond, the Cullinan diamond, as well as many of the most famous and spectacular diamonds ever seen, including the two largest polished diamonds," he added."

Finance, Business and Company News - Yahoo!7

It's 100 percent about giving for Brother's Brother

2007-11-25T13:08:00.001+01:00

For 50 years, the Hingsons have used less to help more.

"I think there's a history of this," said Luke Hingson, president of the Manchester-based Brother's Brother Foundation. "Ever since my father founded the organization, we've been trying to make do with what we have. I think that's become institutionalized."

With shipments of medicine, books and shoes totaling $262 million last year and overhead costs of less than $1 million, Forbes.com recently ranked Brother's Brother as one of the most efficient charities in the country.

The foundation receives donations in bulk from companies, then ships the supplies to Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and a few places in the United States.

Rounded out, about 100 percent of what is donated to the foundation goes to its mission. Hingson, 55, of Moon said he doesn't plan to change anything heading into the busy holiday season.

"The idea being that 100 percent comes in and 100 percent goes out," he said.

Donations from companies tend to pick up at the holidays as they want to move inventory for tax purposes before the year ends, Hingson said. Medicines, however, tend to remain steady throughout the year because of expiration dates.

He said Mylan, Heinz and Alcoa are among local donors.

Brother's Brother will be distributing thousands of books to Madagascar, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Philippines and Jamaica in the coming month. Most of the books are textbooks.

Hingson's late father, Robert, an anesthesiologist, founded the organization in Cleveland in 1957 and moved it to Pittsburgh in 1968. The organization has shipped more than $2 billion in supplies over 50 years.

The organization operates with 10 full-time and three part-time employees, and relies on a volunteer distribution network. Brother's Brother partners with local organizations in receiving countries to deliver the products.

Dr. Chip Lambert, 46, of Sewickley, who serves as the organization's executive medical director, returned from Africa last week after taking a shipment of medical instruments to Malawi and Kenya.

Lambert traveled to Africa both for Brother's Brother, where he volunteers, and for the Medical Benevolence Foundation, for which he works full time. He works part time as an emergency room doctor at Allegheny General Hospital, North Side.

"I check the medical products that come in to see if they're viable and where we can ship them," Lambert said. "When medicines come in, they have an expiration date. We don't want to hold on to them."

It's 100 percent about giving for Brother's Brother - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Sierra Leone’s President plans infrastructure revamp

2007-11-24T15:37:00.007+01:00

“Our priority in terms of development is energy” – President Koroma

Sierra Leone plans major development of its infrastructure and will pursue reconciliation and deepen the peace process in an effort to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), President Ernest Bai Koroma said.

President Koroma told the Eastern Africa Journalism Programme in Uganda on 22 November 2007 that his government had put a generation of energy on top of its agenda to relaunch the economy and lift the lives of its people.

“We have just come out of a war situation which has been described as the most brutally fought war in Africa and we have gone through our humanitarian stabilisation period and elections,” he said at the end of a special seminar on how to better cover MDGs.

“We are faced with a situation which is that infrastructure in our country is down, the economy is yet to be relaunched and social services are terrible.

“Our priority in terms of development is energy. We believe it is only when you have energy that you will be able to unlock the other economic activities.”

Beyond energy, the government would direct most of its resources to infrastructure development of the country and the social services, with education as a priority then followed by health.

“We want to move the country in a different direction and we have to relaunch the economy, deepen the democratic process and consolidate the peace and reconciliation. It is important because what we want is a country that is united,” President Koroma said.

The seminar was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Governance and Institutional Development and Communications and Public Affairs Divisions and the Eastern Africa Journalism Programme. It was part-funded by the Commonwealth Media Development Fund.

Sierra Leone to boost diamond trade

2007-11-24T15:37:00.005+01:00

Kampala - Sierra Leone plans to introduce new laws on diamond trading to boost earnings by ensuring most of its stones are polished before being shipped out, say government officials.

President Ernest Bai Koroma, who won an election in September on a promise to tackle corruption and heal divisions in the war-torn country, said the new policy would be put before parliament "as soon as possible".

Koroma said: "We have not benefited as much as we should have from our mineral resources and that is why we are going to ... put in place a mining policy that will ensure that we move away from having low returns."

He declined to elaborate what the policy would entail or whether it would mean banning or imposing quotas on the export of raw stones.

But a Koroma aide working on government mining policy said: "The idea is to get finished products exported after treating them there ... legislation is inevitable."

Sierra Leone 'working hard'

This would also create work for thousands of jobless people, said Koroma, who was in Kampala for Friday's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

"It will not only add value but it will enhance employment opportunities," said Bai Koroma.

Sierra Leone was working hard to rebuild its economy and repair its image after a 1991-2002 civil war for control of its diamond fields, one of the most brutal in African history.

Despite the country's mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold, rutile and bauxite, around three-quarters of Sierra Leoneans lived below the poverty line. The government said this was because so many diamonds were smuggled out.

On Wednesday, Sierra Leone banned the export of mineral samples in an effort to stop smuggling, disappointing the diamond industry, which argued that the west African nation lacked adequate technology.

At the end of October, Minister of Mines Alhaji Abubakar Jalloh said he would review all mining contracts to clean-up corruption and cheating and increase the percentage of revenues that stay in Sierra Leone.

Under a scheme sponsored by the British government's development arm, foreign experts were trying to help the administration overhaul its mining sector.

The UK-led Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which aimed to ensure government and mining companies publish all transactions between them, was encouraging Sierra Leone to join.

S Leone to boost diamond trade: Africa: News: News24

Commonwealth a great global good, says new Secretary-General

2007-11-24T15:37:00.003+01:00

“We are a family of equals, not just a family of nations”

The Commonwealth’s new Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said today, 24 November 2007, that the variety of nations which the Commonwealth represents is a “unique force for good.”

The Commonwealth includes countries of every stage of development and has some of the largest states in the world and some of the smallest, Mr Sharma said. “We are a family of equals, not just a family of nations.”

Mr Sharma, 66, was speaking to journalists in Kampala, Uganda, shortly after Commonwealth leaders unanimously chose him to lead the 53-nation group. He will take office on 1 April 2008.

Mr Sharma, who is currently Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, said he had long believed that development is a multi-pronged pursuit. “Globalisation can’t just be a story of emerging economies. Partial globalisation is failed globalisation,” he said.

He added that as Secretary-General, he wished to pay “particular attention” to women and young people. Women are a litmus test for the way a society is going, he said, and the future belongs to youth: “To mainstream youth, through education, knowledge and awareness is a huge global challenge.”

Asked about the current challenges facing the Commonwealth, including issues of human rights, Mr Sharma said: “I believe very strongly that the collective problems of the world require collective solutions. We should try for convergence on all areas of global concern.”

He described the problems facing the Commonwealth’s 32 small states as “so pressing” he could not prioritise them. He said their issues would be pursued with vigour, particularly trade, an area in which the Commonwealth is already actively engaged.

“As Secretary-General, I will always be guided by the importance of outcomes,” he stressed.

Commonwealth Secretariat - Commonwealth a great global good, says new Secretary-General

Listen to the young, says Queen

2007-11-24T15:37:00.001+01:00

The Queen watched a cultural show depicting the history of Uganda

The Queen has urged Commonwealth leaders to use the "optimism and enthusiasm" of young people as a resource to help solve world problems.

She spoke at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) during her state visit to the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

The 50 leaders at the gathering represent two billion people globally.

Her comments came as Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth "pending restoration of democracy".

'Respect and rights'

For the first time Prince Charles also attended the Chogm.

Prior to the conference he toured one of Kampala's most impoverished districts and met former prostitutes who are being trained for legitimate work by a UK charity.

The Queen also spent time visiting other parts of the city.

On Thursday she toured an Aids clinic and shook hands with a HIV patient in public for the first time.

At the start of the three-day conference the Queen told delegates that a youth forum event held earlier in the week revealed people with a virtually boundless optimism and enthusiasm.

She said: "This is an energy that should be tapped more fully.

"Young people can and should play a part in the many global challenges that cannot be resolved by older generations alone, whether in the Commonwealth as a whole or in each of its member countries."

The Queen commended the gathered heads of government for their universal commitment to "respect for fundamental human rights".

She said: "The theme chosen for this Chogm, Transforming Societies, conveys a clear commitment to change for the better.

"No single society has achieved perfection, and there is no single recipe for success.

"No one could expect that. But we do know that giving people the greatest possible voice in the way they are governed, and the greatest possible access to education, are two of the most important ingredients."

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said the Commonwealth could help countries to transform their economies and way of life.

He told the gathering it was the duty of each nation to transform the lives of their rural poor.

President Museveni said: "You cannot, for instance, sustainably protect the environment if the majority of the people are still in primitive agriculture leading to the encroachment of forest reserves.

"Or if people are still using the biomass for cooking because they do not have electricity."

The organisation's outgoing secretary-general, New Zealander Don McKinnon, echoed the sentiments of the Queen.

He said: "[It] is young people - so often voiceless - who make up nearly half our number.

"Without them at the core of our planning, our budgeting and our doing, our Commonwealth has no future."

'Restore democracy'

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who also attended the meeting, used it as an opportunity to send out a message to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf who has declared a state of emergency and called off elections.

He told delegates: "President Musharraf has said that he will take steps necessary to restore democracy.

"The Commonwealth is strongly of the view that he must now do so.

"We will work with Pakistan and the Commonwealth to ensure Pakistan returns to its rightful position in the Commonwealth once the remaining steps are taken."

Pakistan said its suspension from the Commonwealth because of the imposition of emergency rule was "unreasonable and unjustified".

The Commonwealth had failed to appreciate Pakistan's "serious internal crisis", the foreign ministry said.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Listen to the young, says Queen

Political refugees thankful for freedom

2007-11-24T15:36:00.003+01:00

Jean-Claude Kalombo, Jariatu Sankoh Yillah and Lal Regmi came to give thanks Thursday for a community of support and a future free of persecution and torture.

They were among the guests at the first Thanksgiving dinner sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center, which helps victims of religious, racial and political persecution win asylum and possible permanent residency in the United States.

"We are part of an international effort to rehabilitate torture survivors," said Ernest Duff, executive director of the Denver- based center, which has offered legal, medical, mental health, translation and other services to at least 1,000 refugees from 53 countries over the past 11 years. The center is part of a national consortium of torture treatment programs across the United States, Duff said.

Regmi, 53, a former political leader in Nepal, said he came to the United States about a year ago after being detained and beaten by Maoist rebels in his country.

JEAN-CLAUDE KALOMBO: A refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, he has brought to the U.S. his wife, Fatuma, and their youngest child, 4-year-old William, above. (the Post / Helen H. Richardson)

He soon will have a first hearing on his claim for asylum.

Kalombo left the Democratic Republic of Congo, his home country, about four years ago with the story and scars that enabled him to win political asylum.

Kalombo, 42, said that as a member of his country's military, he was arrested when colleagues defected to a rebel group. He was accused of being a traitor with knowledge of the defection, and while detained, he was kicked and whipped, Kalombo said.

When a high military official offered him the chance to buy his way out of the country, Kalombo, facing possible death in detention, seized the opportunity. His family paid the bribe, and he traveled first to a neighboring country and then later to Belgium and the United States, using a borrowed passport.

With the assistance of the survivors center, Kalombo set out to convince U.S. immigration officials that he suffered persecution and torture and that his experience met the asylum standard. The scars on his body helped convince a judge, and Kalombo won political asylum.

The survivors center helps prepare the forensic evidence — such as showing that scars were the result of cigarette burns or other torture techniques — that aids asylum claims, said Regina Germain, the group's legal director.

With asylum status, refugees can work. Kalombo got a job at a Safeway warehouse. Asylum also enabled him to bring his wife, Fatuma, and their youngest child, William, 4, from his homeland to live with him.

As he sampled a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes, Kalombo said he must save enough to pay for DNA tests that will enable his five other children to join the family in the United States.

At the holiday dinner, Yillah was dressed in a bright green dress from her homeland, Sierra Leone, on Africa's west coast. She said she escaped from the civil-war-torn country about four years ago after being gang-raped by rebels because she was a member of a different ethnic group.

An immigration judge granted Yillah, 37, asylum, and she now works as a dishwasher, hoping her new status will allow her two children still in Sierra Leone to join her in Colorado. The government appealed the granting of asylum, seeking "additional analysis," Germain said. The case is now back with the initial judge.

At Thursday's dinner, Yillah thanked the center, its staff and volunteers.

"It changed my life, made me feel happy," she said. "I did not know how to write my name or speak English. It got me a lawyer, let me talk to my kids. I pray for them.

"I always felt Thanksgiving was a refugees' holiday," Germain said, adding that the Pilgrims were "the first boat people."

"We're remembering our roots," she said. "Thanksgiving is about making room for newcomers."

The Denver Post - Political refugees thankful for freedom

Fears for the life of leading Championship footballer who risks being deported to Sierra Leone

2007-11-24T15:36:00.001+01:00

Aidy Boothroyd today revealed his concern for the safety of Al Bangura, one of the Championship leaders' most promising footballers, if the teenager is found to be an illegal immigrant and deported back to Sierra Leone.

The Watford player's harrowing tale of being smuggled out of the war-torn country by a sex trafficker in 2004 was heard by an Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in June.

They granted the 19-year-old permission to stay in the United Kingdom but the Home Office appealed against that decision on a legal technicality and now Bangura's fate will rest on the outcome of Monday's immigration tribunal.

Staying power: Al Bangura has shown he can mix it with the best of them, like Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky in this Premier League game at Vicarage Road last December

Boss Boothroyd, who will plead on Bangura's behalf at the hearing, said: "As far as I'm concerned we're talking about a young man's life here. I'm very concerned about his safety. We're talking about a guy who has come over from a country that has been in civil war, where there have been some real atrocities.

"But here he's settled down, he has a fiancee who is seven months pregnant, he pays his taxes and he is a role model for young people. If ever there was a case for giving somebody a hand, and for the immigration policy that we've got being applied in the right way, this is it."

If Bangura is deported, he fears the consequences. "I'd get hurt," he said. "I won't be safe. If I go back something will happen to me. Someone will come straight up to me and stab me. I'll lose my life."

Bangura claims he first went into hiding in 2003 after being asked to join a secret sect that believed in extreme rituals that included self-mutilation.

However, he fell into the clutches of a Frenchman who promised he could get him into the UK but did not tell Bangura he was being groomed as a male prostitute.

When the youngster finally arrived in London he was taken to a house where, he says, two men attempted to rape him. He fled and claimed asylum as an unaccompanied minor.

Bangura's talent on the football pitch was later spotted by Watford scouts and he signed for the club's academy. He made his first-team debut in April 2005 and has made great strides.

He has already captained Watford despite his tender years, won man-of-the-match awards, and showed his commitment to the club by buying a house in the town.

Christopher Pelentrides, Bangura's solicitor, said: "I strongly believe my client's case is a truly exceptional one. To expect him to leave all this behind and return to Africa is clearly unjustified and disproportionate."

Bangura's plight has received the support of Watford MP Claire Ward, who said: "I've made a formal representation to the [Home Office] minister to consider this as an exceptional case because of his age and his circumstances.

"Al has built a life here, he contributes to the community and is not a cost to the UK."

Boothroyd is hopeful that Bangura will win the case. He said: "I have faith in our government and in our democracy. I'm sure whoever is sat in that chair on Monday has got good judgement and will make the right decision, which is that this guy gets a chance to stay in this country."

Fears for the life of leading Championship footballer who risks being deported to Sierra Leone | the Daily Mail

CHOGM 2007 - Opening Ceremony

2007-11-23T16:20:00.001+01:00

Your Majesty,

President Museveni,

Distinguished Heads of State and Government,

Representatives of Commonwealth organisations and civil society,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to join President Museveni in welcoming you to Kampala, and to thank him for hosting our meeting in this beautiful country of Uganda

I also thank Her Majesty the Queen, the Head of the Commonwealth, for being with us again.

There are many things which bind our Modern Commonwealth: our values, our language, our history, our institutions, our concerns and aspirations – and you, Your Majesty.

Thank you for all that you are to us.

If people are the lifeblood of the Commonwealth, then CHOGM is its heart.

When the heart beats strong, the body of the Commonwealth works at its best.

CHOGM is the place in which our political agenda is set, and from which all our activities flow.

It’s also the climax of a Commonwealth fortnight here in Uganda.

It follows gatherings of our young people, our civil society organisations, our business people, and our Foreign Ministers.

It debates and reflects the concerns of those groups.

Since we last met in Malta two years ago, a great deal has been done:

… entrenching democracy and promoting development …

… at the level of governments and of citizens …

… in policy work and in practical assistance …

… supporting good governance, and much more.

We have been hard at work, meeting the needs of our members and the challenges of our times.

Distinguished Heads of Government, the last time you met, you mandated us to address a number of issues. Let me mention four.

First, in the wake of the violence of terrorism and its consequences, you asked the Commonwealth – the embodiment of diversity – to explore how to make that diversity work better, and how to address the danger of extremism in our world.

The response of a group of our best minds is a new publication: Civil Paths to Peace.

It offers exciting ideas for the Commonwealth and for the wider world.

Second, you asked us to help bridge the so-called ‘digital divide’, and to use the extraordinary power and reach of technology as a tool for transformation.

So we launched and developed the Commonwealth Connects programme – helping governments develop ICT strategies, while, at the grassroots level, making technology available to all communities.

Third, you asked us to look at how we can maximise the trade and other economic links between ourselves.

We have been as clear about the many ways in which we do – and will – bring each other advantages … as about our Commonwealth role in the wider world, in which we continue to press for a better world trade deal, for all.

And fourth you charged us with reviewing the way we take on new members – both how we should do it, and what we should expect of them.

Our response shows how we can remain both true to our fundamental values, and open to growth.

A dynamic and evolving organisation, in a dynamic and evolving world.

Let me just raise two issues which you will be addressing.

One way or another, climate change is happening.

To all of us.

We already have Commonwealth action plans – and networks – in place.

But we need more.

You, Commonwealth Heads of Government, must respond here in Kampala.

The other is young people – so-often voiceless – who make up nearly half our number.

Without them at the core of our planning, our budgeting and our doing, our Commonwealth has no future.

Ladies and Gentlemen, for the last 8 years, I have had the great privilege of serving you as Secretary-General.

Two beacons have guided me in that time.

The first is the values for which this organizations stands.

Freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law – and opportunity for all, especially women and young people: those who need us most.

The second is perhaps best captured in a Maori saying from my homeland of New Zealand.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!

What is the most important thing in the world? People! People! People!

On Sunday, I shall formally take my leave of CHOGM.

But for now, I thank you, and I wish you all a happy and successful Meeting.

ENDS

Download the speech: Opening Ceremony, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Commonwealth Secretariat - Opening Ceremony, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

21 Heads of State Here for CHOGM

2007-11-23T12:32:00.001+01:00

AT LEAST 21 leaders had by press time arrived in Uganda for the long awaited Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit, which start in Kampala today. They were met by government ministers at both the new and old Entebbe airports.

The first to land at the old airport were the leaders of Botwana and Namibia. Presidents Festus Mogae and Hifikepunye Pohamba came aboard their private planes just after 3:00pm.

Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete also arrived in his presidential jet, together with the wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They landed shortly after the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who flew in aboard a jet marked "Sri Lanka".

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came with the biggest delegation. A few hundred people, mostly security guards, disembarked from his Boeing 737.

The Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, too, left nothing to chance. He jetted into Entebbe aboard a huge grey airbus, accompanied by 130 officials, while 40 Canadian security personnel awaited him on the ground.

The just elected president of Nigeria, Umara Musa Yar-adua, also travelled in his private jet, as did Ghana's President John Kufuor, Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika and Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Ten heads of government arrived on commercial flights. Kenya Airways carried the President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding.

The same flight also carried one of the youngest CHOGM members, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma, who became president just two months ago.

Five others came with Emirates. They included Malta's premier Lawrence Gonzi, Cyprus' president Tassos Papadopoulos, Samoa's Prime Minister Tulia'epa Malielegaoi and St Kitts & Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas.

Emirates also brought the only female leader in the Commonwealth club, New Zealand's premier Helen Clark.

Grenada's premier Keith Mitchel arrived on a chartered plane. Others expected last night were South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Gordon Brown, Prince Charles and Camilla.

Kenya's Mwai Kibaki is expected to arrive in Kampala today, dispelling rumours that the 76-year-old president, who is currently in a tight re-election campaign, would skip the summit.

Relevant Links

East Africa
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A few Commonwealth heads of state will not attend the summit because of elections or internal problems.

"At this stage, 48 delegations are attending. There are a couple of dropouts due to domestic political issues," Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth secretary General, told journalists last night.

Among the countries not attending are the Maldives, which is holding by-elections, Australia where elections are due on Saturday, St. Lucia and the Solomon Islands. The latter had "pressing political issues at home", McKinnon said.

allAfrica.com: Uganda: 21 Heads of State Here for CHOGM (Page 1 of 1)

Ex-Child Soldier Named UNICEF Advocate

2007-11-23T12:31:00.001+01:00

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Former child soldier and best-selling author Ishmael Beah has taken on a new role — showing children caught in conflict that there can be a better life after war and urging government leaders to help fund their return to society.

Beah, a 27-year-old survivor of Sierra Leone's civil war, was appointed UNICEF's first Advocate for Children Affected by War on Wednesday, saying he wants to show that his story of redemption need not be unique.

"For many observers, a child who has known nothing but war, a child for whom the Kalashnikov is the only way to make a living and for whom the bush is the most welcoming community, is a child lost forever for peace and development. I contest this view," Beah said. "For the sake of these children it is essential to prove that another life is possible."

Beah said he wants to generate the "political will" necessary to persuade world leaders not only to fund rehabilitation programs for children caught in conflict but to adopt laws that bar the recruitment of child soldiers and to ensure that those who make youngsters fight are held accountable.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said Beah's book, "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier," and his many public appearances, already have drawn public attention to the problem.

"He has helped to raise awareness like almost no one has been able to do — and so it is only appropriate that UNICEF should give him this more formal role to continue to speak strongly about the issue of child soldiers," she said.

Wednesday marked the 18th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty created to help prevent the kind of suffering that Beah endured.

"I think the issue of child soldiers has been largely an untold story — what it does to children, what happens to children," she said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Wednesday that despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the plight of children in armed conflict remains "particularly disturbing."

"Every year, thousands of children are killed and wounded as a direct result of fighting," he said. "And the number of child soldiers around the world is estimated at 250,000."

Beah's book traces his life from when Sierra Leone's war first touched him at age 12 through his struggle to regain his humanity after years of killing.

"For me, having survived this war was an extraordinary luck, and so also having an education, and I want to use that as a way to put a human face on this," he said.

"I hope to go to countries, speaking not only to the leaders but to the young people that are there — those that are going through the rehabilitation process — to know that there's a life beyond that, because I've once been there myself."

The Associated Press: Ex-Child Soldier Named UNICEF Advocate

Sierra Leone braces for return to titanium riches

2007-11-23T12:29:00.001+01:00

While Sierra Leone braces itself for the return of the titanium riches era, the country still has to tackle rampant corruption which is behind the failure of its citizens to benefit from its huge diamond resource.

WINDHOEK - When Mauritian-born mining magnate Jean-Raymond Boulle, announced his intention of reviving the Sierra Rutile mine in Sierra Leone after having acquired it from New York-quoted Nord Resources and Australia's Consolidated Rutile, in the peak of that country's mineral-funded civil war, he reportedly struggled to find investors prepared to gamble with the project.
The mine, in south western Sierra Leone, had closed due to the civil war, sparked mainly by the country's rich diamond resource, which ended in 2002.
According to a Financial Times (Deutschland) report in late October, Boulle explained that he "had acquired the world's biggest deposit of top-grade titanium ore, known as rutile, that he had high-level European and US diplomatic backing (with Walter Kansteiner, former US assistant secretary of state for African affairs as non-executive chairman of Titanium Resources Group), and that peace had returned and that attitudes changed.
The newspaper also reported that Boulle's record in picking winners, notably a highly lucrative nickel deposit at Canada's Voisey's Bay, as well as a €25 million European Union loan, reassured investors, resulting in Ospraie Management, a New York-based hedge fund, buying the biggest stake.
Rutile, a high titanium-bearing feedstock which is dredged from lakebed sludge, is used in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments used in paint, paper and plastics, titanium metal and industrial applications such as welding rods.
Last year, Boulle's company, AIM-quoted Titanium Resources Group spent US$100 million restarting production at both its rutile and bauxite properties in the country. While restarting the mine was a gamble for Boulle, this was the country's largest foreign direct investment post-civil war and the country was this week bracing for a return to the era before the war when titanium production contributed more than half of Sierra Leone's foreign currency earnings.

The company Monday invested US$27.5 million in commissioning a second dredge which will come online by December 2007, with the first shipments scheduled for January 2008. Production capacity of the two dredges will increase to 200,000 tons of rutile per annum, sending what President Ernest Bai Koroma describes as "clear signals to the international community that Sierra Leone is once again an attractive destination for investment".

Titanium Resources Group said the doubling of rutile production will help the company to further consolidate its position in rutile markets and increase market share to about 23%.

But getting to that annual production target would only be reached in 2008 after high fuel costs, that resulted in first half losses, have been eliminated, Andy Mills, a consultant at the group, told Mineweb.
The group reported a pretax loss of US$5.27 million compared with a loss of US$5.18 million last time, while sales rose due to demand to US$34.7 million from US$14.9 million year ago. Mills says that there is no link between fuel costs and levels of production, despite the fact that the company attributed its first half losses to increased fuel costs.

To reduce fuel costs, Titanium Resources is installing a new heavy fuel generator that will become operational in mid 2008.
A third dredge, which is expected to add capacity of 40,000 tons a year, is expected to come into production in mid-2008.
While Sierra Leone looks forward to the wealth that will be generated from its rutile resource, the country still has to tackle rampant corruption, the main reason behind the failure of its huge diamond resource to benefit most Sierra Leoneans, who remain amongst the poorest in the world.

Mineweb - JUNIOR MINING - Sierra Leone braces for return to titanium riches

Commonwealth flies flag for democracy

2007-11-23T12:27:00.003+01:00

The suspension of Pakistan from the councils of the Commonwealth raises the question of the value of an organisation whose principles of democratic values can be so easily cast aside.

The crisis in Pakistan came as the Commonwealth prepared to hold its biennial session, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (known informally as Chogm), in Uganda.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf was warned by a representative group of Commonwealth foreign ministers on 12 November that Pakistan would face suspension if he had not lifted the state of emergency and promised to hold elections by the time of the Uganda meeting.

It would be naive to suppose that such a threat has had much influence on the general. He marches to a different tune.

Pakistan has been suspended from the Commonwealth before - when General Musharraf took power in a coup in 1999. It came back in 2004 after progress towards democracy.

But the warning shows how democratic values have now become central to the Commonwealth.

The old ways

In the old days, Commonwealth meetings became notorious for the presence of coup leaders.

This began to change in 1987 when Chogm was being held in Vancouver. Fiji, where there had been a military coup, was suspended. It caused something of a stir, and even led to a reporter throwing a question to the Queen for the first time that anyone could remember.

She was a bit startled but answered: "It's very sad", before moving frostily on. The reporter (from Sky TV) was later lectured by a royal official in the hurt tone that only the British civil servant can muster: "I am sorry that it was a British reporter who felt he had to do that."

The Queen, incidentally, is formally the "head of the Commonwealth". This is not a hereditary position (nor does it have power) and it is interesting that Prince Charles is to attend this year's meeting for the first time, apparently to further his claim to take over eventually.

Vancouver and the following meeting in Kuala Lumpur were also notable for the rows over sanctions on South Africa, with the then UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher trying to hold back the tide.

New issues

Since then, many of the splits - between "old" and "new" Commonwealth, between richer and poorer - have subsided in a newer spirit of joint action in the newer fields of globalisation and global warming.

David Lidington, a British Conservative MP and foreign affairs spokesman (whose party once railed against the iniquities of the Commonwealth), said: "It does still have a value and its value will increase because of globalisation and the rise of the emerging economies as partners and competitors.

"The Commonwealth is not a substitute for anything, but provides a way for countries to discuss issues informally. This can help in the later formal negotiations. It is also a good place to discuss human rights and plural societies."

The Commonwealth was an early player in the climate change campaign with its declaration (it was fond of these at one time) in Langkawi in Malaysia in 1989 warning about the dangers. Several of its smaller island nations face obliteration if the sea level rises.

By 1991, the Commonwealth formalised its commitment to democracy, with the Harare Declaration in the capital of Zimbabwe. Ironically, Zimbabwe itself was suspended in 2002 and President Mugabe then withdrew from the Commonwealth the following year. Fiji has been suspended again because of another military coup there.

Applicants

Others, however, have come knocking on the door. South Africa came back, post apartheid, which is a major boost. Nobody doubts that one day Zimbabwe will return, too.

The latest applicant is Rwanda, the former Belgian colony, whose President Paul Kagame is expected to attend pre-Chogm meetings in Uganda.

President Kagame has moved away from Belgium and France as influences and is pressing English as a language for Rwandans. English is the common language of the Commonwealth and one of the unifying factors in this grouping of 53 mainly ex-British territories.

Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, joined in 1995, largely as a result of its positive experience of the Commonwealth in the battle against apartheid.

The reason for this interest is not hard to find. The Commonwealth provides a useful forum for countries of different sizes and backgrounds.

There would be no point in exaggerating its power - it has virtually none. But it has a certain influence (it has lobbied on a better deal for the developing world in trade) and its smaller members especially like the way in which they get a voice.

Its obituaries are premature.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Commonwealth flies flag for democracy

Africom: the ‘war on terror’ spreads to Africa

2007-11-23T12:27:00.001+01:00

US plans for Africa are about increasing its dominance and the grip of Western multinationals, writes Ken Olende, and they will only make the pe ople’s suffering worse

The US government is planning to take its “war on terror” into new territory – Africa. Plans to establish a network of US-friendly military bases and a cross-continent command structure are well underway.

Many Africans believe that an enlarged US military presence will intensify existing civil wars and fan the flames of ethnic conflict, while strengthening the grip of Western multinationals which are clamouring for Africa’s oil and natural resources.

It is in this light that we should see the recent Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. It is a war being waged for the US by proxy, and has already led to hundreds of thousands of people being killed or displaced – many more, in fact, than in the much publicised conflict in Darfur.

The invasion was launched against the United Islamic Courts (UIC) government – the first in 15 years that appeared able to stabilise Somalia – primarily because it would not accept US control.

The US pointed to a so-called “Islamist threat” and alleged the presence of Al Qaida, even though the UIC was not sympathetic to Al Qaida.

Growing US imperial ambitions became clearer in February this year when George Bush announced the creation of Africom – a new unified US military command for Africa.

Currently the main US base in Africa is in Djibouti, which borders Ethiopia, with some 1,800 personnel.

However, the US also has access to air bases and ports across Africa. It has established what it calls “lily pads” in several more – facilities maintained by local troops that can be used to extend the US military’s strike range.

Such facilities currently exist in Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.

For African governments there is a growing awareness that allying with the US military will make them into terrorist targets, in the same way that the British government’s support for the “war on terror” increased the risk of terrorist attacks.

A number of African governments – including those of Libya, Nigeria and South Africa – have distanced themselves from Africom.

Justification

Zambian minister Mike Mulongoti said that inviting Africom in would be “like allowing a giant to settle in your home”.

The US justification for establishing the project is spelled out in a report to Congress from this July: “The 1998 bombing of US embassies in East Africa highlighted the threat of terrorism to US interests on the continent.”

And in a crucial passage, the report notes, “Africa recently surpassed the Middle East as the US’s largest supplier of crude oil, further emphasising the continent’s strategic importance.”

The report goes on to liken Africom’s role to that of Southcom, which was established in 1983 to cover Central and South America while the US was undermining the left wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua and backing the death squads in El Salvador.

Africom became operational in October. It is currently based in Stuttgart, Germany.

Despite the undoubted economic benefits that housing up to 700 US staff would bring, so far Liberia – barely recovering after years of civil war – is the only African country to seriously offer to house the US’s headquarters.

In 1995, two years after its previous disastrous military intervention in Somalia, the US defence department stated that “ultimately we see very little traditional strategic interest in Africa”.

Since then things have changed dramatically. When George Bush announced plans in 2006 “to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025”, it was Africa he saw as the major alternative.

Initiative

Economic and imperial power are always combined. A 2005 report to the US Congress on progress in the “war on terror” was very concerned about Africa, partly because it wildly overestimated the influence and coherence of Al Qaida as an organisation.

That same year the US launched the Gulf of Guinea Guard Initiative to build up maritime security for ten countries down the west coast of Africa. The initiative affected the exact area where Africa’s main oil deposits are to be found.

A few months later some 700 US special forces engaged in a three week exercise training troops from Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.

These military operations go a long way to reinforcing the economic power of institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that police African economies with a heavy stick.

Even the most pro-Western leaders in Africa understand the role of these institutions in the creation of Africa’s debt crisis. The stranglehold of Western banks and multinationals has served to make an already dire economic situation worse for the majority of Africans.

Before his execution by the Nigerian state in 1995, Ken Saro Wiwa was exposing companies like Shell and BP, who were making millions from Nigeria’s oil wealth while local people suffered.

In October The Standard newspaper in Kenya, not usually particularly hostile to US interests, observed that the establishment of Africom coincided with Tanzania’s announcement that it had “hit commercially viable oil deposits along its coast. This comes just over one year after Uganda struck its own black gold in the west.”

Elusive

Oil is not the only economic reason for the return of US interest in Africa. There is a much more concrete reason for US sabre rattling in Africa than the often elusive presence of Al Qaida.

China is now second only to the US as Africa’s largest trading partner. Trade between Africa and China for 2007 is expected to reach $70 billion, up from $56 billion last year, and it is currently showing no sign of levelling off.

Other imperial powers are also trying to re-establish their influence.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has recently been travelling round Africa and the British military intervention in Sierra Leone was a part of the same process – as was Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa.

Local sub-imperialisms, such as South Africa and Nigeria, are also trying to assert their own influence – which is another reason why they are hostile to Africom’s crude assertion of US power.

The extremely uneven but nevertheless enormous growth of some African economies has had another effect – the creation of vast cities.

It is estimated that in 20 years the Gulf of Guinea will have more cities with a population of over one million than the US. The mass of people in these cities live in extreme poverty and they are hotbeds of resistance.

However the choice is not simply between accepting imperialist military and economic investment from Western powers, or investment from China, which also happens to be doing a roaring trade in arms sales to Africa.

It is also not about relying on a coalition of African nations to act independently of the major players.

Resistance movements in cities across Africa provide a third alternative. Workers and the poor have already stirred in Egypt, Nigeria, Guinea and South Africa.

The movements have yet to reach the levels achieved in Latin America, but the possibility does exist of massive struggles, across several countries, against both neoliberalism and imperialism.

Setting Sail on Thanksgiving Day

2007-11-23T12:26:00.001+01:00

The Crew of the Amistad is planning to celebrate Thanksgiving at sea - thankful for the favorable winds forecast and setting sail from Lanzarote to Freetown in Sierra Leone on Thanksgiving Thursday.

The Crew of the Freedom Schooner and the Staff of Amistad America invites All Friends and Supporters of the Atlantic Freedom Tour to share some thankful thoughts across Atlantic Ocean...

It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.

W. J. Cameron

Amistad America - Freedom Schooner Amistad's Atlantic Freedom Tour - Setting Sail on Thanksgiving Day

Queen shakes hand of HIV patient

2007-11-22T14:48:00.001+01:00

The Queen meets Steven and Grace Wakodo who are both HIV positive.

The Queen has shaken hands with an HIV patient while touring an Aids clinic during her state visit to Uganda.

Dozens of children and adults living with the virus were met by the monarch at treatment facilities established by the UK-based Aids charity Mildmay.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh saw an outpatients clinic and a newly expanded children's hospital in the country's capital, Kampala.

The Queen described Mildmay's work in Uganda as "impressive".

The handshake came when the Queen met Steven Wakodo, who is HIV positive and has been treated at the facility on a monthly basis since 2002.

The Queen was introduced to Mr Wakodo and stretched out her arm to shake his hand as he gave a short bow of his head.

A Mildmay staff member explained the medical history of the 40-year-old, who was joined by his 35-year-old wife, Grace, and 13-year-old daughter, Winternahwama - both of whom also have the virus - and his five-month-old daughter, Austraunt.

The handshake is likely to evoke memories of Diana, Princess of Wales, who famously punctured early myths about HIV by holding hands with a man with Aids on his sickbed in the late 1980s.

Music and dance

As the royal party toured the outpatient clinic's complex of buildings, they smiled as they were given a traditional welcome of high pitched yelps from staff and visitors.

The Queen and Duke watch an orphan performing at the HIV centre

Ruth Sims, a vice-president of Mildmay and founder of the Ugandan centre and hospital, said she wanted to show a different side to HIV patients.

She organised a number of colourful displays of African music and dance to contrast with negative impressions of those with HIV.

"I wanted to show these are normal children. What does it matter what they have got - you can treat them and they can get better," she said.

"I told the Queen that we tried to give her something that was different and that she would enjoy. She said to me, 'This is certainly different and I do enjoy it'."

Commonwealth leaders

The Queen is due to address the Ugandan parliament during her visit and attend a state banquet at the president's residence.

She is in the country ahead of Friday's Commonwealth heads of government meeting.

The conference, which is held every two years, is expected to be dominated by the state of emergency in Pakistan.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be joined later by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, who are also making an official visit to the country.

It will be the first time Prince Charles has been to a gathering of Commonwealth leaders held abroad.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Queen shakes hand of HIV patient

Titanium Resources commissions second dredge at Sierra Rutile mine

2007-11-22T14:47:00.003+01:00

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Titanium Resources Group Ltd said it has commissioned the second dredge at its Sierra Rutile mine in Sierra Leone to double rutile production capacity to 200,000 tonnes per annum.

The mining company said it expects the dredge to start commercial production in December and that the company expects to begin shipping the material produced by the dredge in the first quarter of 2008.

Titanium Resources Group said the doubling of rutile production will help the company to further consolidate its position in rutile markets and increase market share to about 23 pct.

"We are now focussed on expanding production capacity at Sierra Rutile by a further 40,000 tonnes with the development of a third dredge which we expect to complete in mid 2008," chief executive Len Comerford said in a statement.

Business finance news - currency market news - online UK currency markets - financial news - Interactive Investor

Mbeki to discuss Zimbabwe crisis

2007-11-22T14:44:00.001+01:00

South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to hold talks in Zimbabwe on his way to the Commonwealth meeting in the Uganda capital, Kampala.

Mr Mbeki's visit to Harare is aimed at helping the dialogue between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition.

All those involved are keeping their cards close to their chests, divulging very little about how things are going.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has also gone to Kampala.

Mr Mbeki has a mandate from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to ensure that future commitments from both sides are honoured.

The MDC is lobbying Commonwealth leaders

Mr Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says there has been notable progress.

He said he was confident that the agenda set through the South Africa-led mediation would address the fundamental concerns around elections due next year.

Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2003 after it was suspended because of allegations of poll rigging.

But Mr Tsvangirai told reporters in Kampala it was important for the body to continue engaging to ensure Zimbabwe is rescued from its political and economic crisis.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Mbeki to discuss Zimbabwe crisis

Kambo grateful for life on the outside

2007-11-22T14:43:00.001+01:00

Imagine being taken from your family, with no warning, and thrown behind bars without being able way to fight back.

That's what happened to Sam Kambo, a native of the West African country of Sierra Leone. But his detention happened here in Central Texas.

Kambo, a University of Texas graduate and employee of the Lower Colorado River Authority, is caught in an immigration battle that divides the country.

Before coming to the U.S. in 1994, Kambo was Sierra Leone's minister of energy. During his service, his party killed 29 people. A U.N. investigation found Kambo had nothing to do with it. But more than a decade later, a letter from the U.S. State Department claimed Kambo was involved, and his green card was denied in October 2006.

"I've been a peaceful citizen, a taxpayer, I've never committed any crime. I volunteer in the society. I teach math to underprivileged kids. I'm a model citizen," he said.

Kambo was considered a public enemy, according to the government, and placed in a cell alone in the Department of Homeland Security office in San Antonio. He was scheduled to be deported. Twice, a judge ordered he be released on bond. But both times, the government refused.

"Our hopes were just raising and falling. Every time we'd go there and pay, and we'd come back empty handed. It was hard," wife Hannan said.

The U.S. government has offered no direct link between Kambo and the execution of 29 prisoners in Sierra Leone. At an immigration hearing, the government offered a witness who testified that Kambo was the bodyguard of the leader of the coup in which the atrocities occurred. His attorney argued it's unfair to accuse him based on guilt by association.

Kambo spent almost a year jailed cell at the detention center in San Antonio.

"Every day, with the exception of weekends, I was thinking 'This is the day.' It was a hopeless place, but my friends gave me hope," Kambo said.

"It's incredible to be accused of ordering the killing of these people. Then you have to look into your heart and ask if Sam Kambo is capable, and no. It's impossible," friend Robert Cullick said.

Letters of support filled Kambo's cell, while generosity filled his home.
"Every day, I would say 'How would I pay the mortgage? Then you open the mailbox and there would be checks. And they just kept coming," Hanaan said.

Just nine days shy of Kambo's one-year anniversary in detention, a federal judge ruled the government had violated Kambo's right to due process.

"I just stood there for a few seconds. I didn't know what he was saying. I turned around, and his supporters said, 'he's free, he's free,'" Hanaan said.

That same day, Kambo walked out of detention and into the arms of his wife and children.

"It was one of the best days of my life. That day, freedom actually had resonance. Until you go what I went through, 356 days in a cage," he said.

But that freedom still has its conditions. He must check in with Department of Homeland Security in San Antonio every other week. There's also a pending appeal to put him back in detention. He's also awaiting word from the Board of Immigration Appeals whether he can stay in the United States.

"There's something very wrong when as the police, you also get to be the judge and the jury and you can keep the man in detention. That is the system we have in this country now, unfortunately," attorney Simon Azar-Farr said.

But the Kambos say they'll continue to fight to remain in the United States.

"People are doing everything in the world to send their kids to the U.S. It would have been selfish of me to go through the pains of detention and then to give up now. I think my kids would blame me when they grow up. It's a wonderful country. Look at all the wonderful things people have done for me," Sam said.

News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | LOCAL NEWS | Kambo grateful for life on the outside

SEED Initiative Promotes Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

2007-11-22T14:42:00.001+01:00

Most of us are probably unaware of where the ubiquitous potato originated, much less that more than 5,000 varieties can be identified in its ancestral homeland in the Andes Mountains.

But that could be changing through the work of an organization in Peru called T'ikapapa, which is linking small potato growers to specialty markets not only in the Andean region, but internationally.

SEED Partnerships

T'ikapapa is one of five winners of an international award that stresses the principles of innovative partnerships, sustainable development, and biodiversity protection.

The SEED Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development) is a multi-stakeholder partnership that grew out of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. One key mandate that came out of Johannesburg was to translate a set of global milestones known as the U.N. Millennium Development Goals into community-based action.

SEED's founding partners include: IUCN - World Conservation Union, the NGO Swiss Re, major United Nations offices such as the Environment Program, Development Program, and Global Compact – as well as the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Along with T'ikapapa, the other 2007 winners are:

A Vietnamese association of local businesses and community groups, called Bridging the Gap, which is developing products for herbal healing from plants grown by ethnic minorities in the highlands.

A coalition of NGOs and private sector organizations, Projeto Bagamen, which has created a unique program of community-based, eco-tourism for youth groups in parts of the Amazon basin and northern Brazil.

A partnership that is reintroducing native cereal and tuber crops, as well as organic farming techniques, in the Andean regions of Ecuador that are marketed by a women's organization.

An alliance in Sierra Leone comprising local authorities, traditional healers, and Njala University that is combining alternative medicine with a modern resort called the Tiwai Island Traditional Health and Fitness Village.

Two of the SEED winners – T'ikapapa's potato project in Peru and Bridging the Gap's herbal healing in Vietnam – are finalists in Global Challenge 2007, where people vote online for their favorite sustainable development project. (Global Challenge is sponsored by BBC World; its Web site is: http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/index.php.)

Sustainable Support

Unlike the more typical pattern, the SEED Awards don't mark the end of the process, but the beginning for these new and evolving partnerships. All five will now receive a 12-month program of support services designed, according to SEED, "to turn them from a good project into a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable partnership."

Even established businesses face difficulties bringing a new product to market, writes Ross Andrews, head of the SEED secretariat, in a U.N. newsletter, UN-Business Focal Point. "Imagine, then, the obstacles faced by a social entrepreneur in the developing world," he says.

But with effective support, Andrews points out, "evidence shows that such locally led, multi-stakeholder initiatives can be highly successful since they are rooted in the priorities and needs of local people, and bring together the relevant skills and knowledge that are suited to the local circumstances."

One of SEED's strengths is its ability to marshal those skills and knowledge from its many global partners and their respective networks of expertise and other resources.

"Perhaps the most valuable contribution that we can make is simply to facilitate contacts at the local, national, and international levels," says Helen Marquard, executive director of the SEED Initiative.

Potatoes, Plants, and Tourists

In the case of T'ikapapa, SEED is playing just such a networking role, according to Kurt Manrique, who represents two of T'ikapapa's partners, the Andina Initiative and the International Potato Center.

"The most important contribution that the SEED partners are providing is to pave the way for the introduction of native potato products to the international market," he says.

Marquard agrees. "T'ikapapa is hoping to break through with its native potatoes into international markets over the coming year, and is looking particularly to the United States," she says.

Marketing will be vital in Vietnam as well, where a private company and the Sa Pa Indigenous Medicinal Plants Association extract oils from several indigenous plants to make massage balms and soaps.

Moreover, the community will retain the intellectual property rights to its products, which have been used for generations by the H'mong and Dao peoples to treat flu symptoms, muscle and joint aches and pains, and to relieve insect bites.

For Brazil's Projeto Bagamen, "the idea is to promote local development through an activity that is run by the residents themselves," says co-founder Monica Keel in an interview with the W.K Kellogg Foundation.

"In addition to the visibility that comes with the award," she observes, "the strategic and technical support that we will receive over the next 12 months will be crucial.... This support will give us an important base to develop this new phase securely and wisely. The motto now is growth with quality."

At a recent SEED workshop in Pretoria that brought together the 2005 and 2007 winners, Helen Marquard says, "Many of the 2005 winners said the award's greatest value had simply been to open doors to partners and resources that had been closed before. Now they had a recognized status and position that has allowed them move forward."

At a recent award ceremony in Ecuador, U.S. Ambassador Linda Jewell congratulated Seed Winner “Grupo Nueva Vida” (New Life Group). Ambassador Jewell noted that that, “this award supports more than just another micro enterprise; it will improve the quality of life of poor rural Ecuadorians in Chimborazo.”

Daniel Reifsynder, Chairman of the SEED Board of Directors and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainable Development, sees the SEED partnerships as exemplifying how commitments can be translated into concrete, meaningful action.

"The SEED winners represent many different cultures and activities," he says, "but all of them encompass the three critical pillars of sustainable development – economic development, environmental stewardship, and social development," he said.

For more information, see the following:

SEED Initiative

State Department's Sustainable Development

State Department Fact Sheet on Sustainable Development

Listing of U.S. Government Web sites on Sustainable Development

SEED Initiative Promotes Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

Invitation To Presentation Of London Mining's Third Quarter Financial Results 2007

2007-11-22T14:40:00.000+01:00

London, Norway, Nov 20, 2007 - (Hugin via ABN Newswire) - London Mining Plc releases the company's third quarter 2007 financial results on 30 Friday November 2007. Managing Director Chris Brown and Deputy Managing Director Graeme Hossie will present the Company's third quarter financial result from 0830 CET at Felix Konferansesenter, Bryggetorget 3, Oslo. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session. The quarterly report and presentation will be available at the Oslo Stock Exchange, http://www.newsweb.no and London Mining's homepage, http://www.londonmining.co.uk For further information, please contact: London Mining Plc. Chris Brown Managing Director +44 (0) 20 7495 6210 About London Mining Plc London Mining Plc is incorporated and registered in the UK, and is a UK-based iron ore mining company with assets in Brazil, Sierra Leone, Greenland and Mexico. The company has a diversified portfolio with existing production and significant planned expansion. London Mining's management and board of directors have extensive mining and finance experience. The company has already raised privately approximately USD 125 million in equity and an additional USD 60 million in debt and acquired an operating iron ore mine in Brazil in May 2007. London Mining is listed at the Oslo Axess list of Oslo Stock Exchange, under the symbol LOND. Please also visit our website www.londonmining.co.uk for more information about our company and our operations.

Invitation To Presentation Of London Mining's Third Quarter Financial Results 2007

A gem of a football player

2007-11-22T14:39:00.001+01:00

GARDEN GROVE - He is just one, one of 52, one of a group brought together perhaps by the love of football or the wish to be among friends or maybe the desire to fit in.
Each has a reason for being here, but only one has his reason for being here.
“The civil war,” Sarh Hemmor says, and it’s clear this isn’t just another high school athlete.
This senior at Pacifica High is from Sierra Leone, the republic in West Africa famous for its precious diamonds and internal strife.
After a recent practice, Hemmor stood with a couple of teammates, discussing his homeland, matter-of-factly talking about dismemberment, about dodging death by moving from village to village based on radio reports of the whereabouts of the rebels.
“They kind of bombed our houses and all that,” he says. “It was really scary. These guys would come in at any time, in the middle of the night when you’re sleeping.”
Perhaps because he survived this violence, Hemmor arrived at Pacifica more than three years ago as a fresh breath of optimism. Initially teased because of his accent, he soon was embraced and celebrated, his classmates calling him “chief.”
He spoke only broken English but was fluent in friendship. His voice, thick and loud, attracted attention. His laugh, even thicker and louder, punctuated that attention.
This is a scene that sums up well Hemmor’s first days at Pacifica: For more than a month, he could not figure out how to work the combination on his locker. He never had seen such a thing. Didn’t matter, though. There was always someone there willing to open it for him.
“He was on the outside a little bit at first,” teammate Jason Middenway says. “Now he’s just another brother, another part of the family.”
Adds another teammate, Brett Bird, “It takes Sarh forever to walk between classes because everyone stops him to say ‘Hi.’ ”
Hemmor’s mother, Nikki, already had been living here with relatives for a few years when she sent for her son. She had seen the continuous images of unrest in Sierra Leone while watching CNN and feared for his safety.
When Hemmor’s plane landed, Los Angeles might as well have been another planet, so foreign was the environment to him.
The first time he heard a phone ring, he had to be reminded what the noise was. He never regularly had seen television. While leaving baggage claim at LAX, he didn’t understand why people stared as he carried a piece of luggage balanced on his head.
“The guy who picked me up there saw me carrying that bag and said, ‘No, no, no. This is America,’ ” says Hemmor, now 17. “Everything was so different, too different. I didn’t know anything about anything. It was way too funny.”
During his freshman year, one of the teachers gave an assignment that involved the use of a computer.
“What does a computer have to do with homework?” Hemmor asked one of his classmates. “Where I come from you barely see lights.”
It required a lot of extra work, before and after school, and still does. Hemmor meets with tutors regularly and remains amazed at how quickly even small children can work a computer keyboard.
Early on, noticing Hemmor’s athletic ability in gym class, a couple of fellow students asked if he planned to play football. He said, yes, he’d love to, thinking they were talking about soccer.
“If you guys really want me to play,” Hemmor told them, “you should help me with my homework.”
So they did, and, starting in his sophomore year, he attempted to hold up his part of the deal. Unfortunately, he never had seen American football. He didn’t know offense from defense, didn’t understand even the object.
Varsity coach Guy Gardner started by showing Hemmor video of a Pacifica game. He explained what a huddle was, what the sidelines were and how much a touchdown was worth.
“Six points seemed like a lot,” Hemmor says now. “I was thinking of soccer where everything’s worth one.”
After learning for two seasons – one of which was cut short by a broken arm – Hemmor is a varsity defensive lineman today. He doesn’t play a lot, but when he does, he’s all hustle and energy, succeeding with his athletic skills.
What he contributes mostly is attitude, an upbeat tempo accentuated by his locally famous laugh. Hemmor laughs while running practice-ending sprints. He laughs when the team is punished and has to run extra. He laughs at what others say and what he says, too.
“It’s addictive, that laugh,” Middenway says. “He tells jokes and you might not get them but you laugh anyway because of the way he laughs. It’s contagious.”
They’ve been hearing that sound at Pacifica going on four years now.
“Physically, he’s pretty well put together,” Gardner says. “But his character is what sets him apart. His attitude is infectious. Sarh’s just a positive guy.”
He’d like to return to Sierra Leone one day, maybe to teach kids there about American football. He loves to tease his friends at Pacifica about how he grew up petting lions and chasing tigers.
Asked if he stands out walking around school, Hemmor smiles and says, “Sure, I’m the only guy from Africa. Just ask for the African.”
Then he laughs his laugh again, this teenager who just last week was spotted carrying his books on his head.
Sierra Leone, the place with so many diamonds, apparently exports other gems.

Life: football, pacifica high school, sierra leone, garden grove, west africa, Sarh Hemmor - OCRegister.com

2010 World Cup costs skyrocket

2007-11-22T14:36:00.001+01:00

The price of staging the 2010 World Cup in South Africa could cost 20% more than originally estimated.

The South African government said that US$500m more will be needed to host the tournament than originally thought.

"Current projections suggest we might be facing an escalation of cost," deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi announced in Pretoria.

Moleketi said the government would work out how to finance the shortfall after a detailed cost calculation next month.

"We have dispatched all our technical teams to look into the projected escalation and put in extra capacity to interrogate on the spot the nature of the problem," he added.

The government has so far made available a budget of US$2.5 billion for the World Cup.

Moleketi blamed a rise in steel prices for the escalation in costs.

"The price structures are changing every day because of intense demand of the materials," said the minister.

Moleketi was still confident however, that preparations are still on schedule and said this weekend's preliminary draw in Durban would illustrate the country's organisational skills.

"The 2010 government World Cup unit is convinced that the implementation of all plans are still on target and within (our) timelines," he said.

"The preliminary draw in Durban will demonstrate our ability not only to host the tournament in 2010, but our organisational capacity to host such events.

"It will demonstrate that it is indeed Africa's time and the continent is ready."

BBC SPORT | Football | African | 2010 World Cup costs skyrocket

Greater Public Awareness Of Sierra Leone Rights

2007-11-21T15:15:00.001+01:00

Greater public awareness of Sierra Leone rights report aim of UN-backed review

Ongoing efforts to implement the findings of Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), meant to help heal rifts left by 11 years of bloody civil war, are the focus of a two-day meeting that began today in Freetown under the auspices of the United Nations and the country's main human rights body.

In 2004, the seven-member Commission made a number of recommendations to deal with past abuses and violations and foster reconciliation as the West African nation seeks to consolidate its hard-won peace.

In determining payment, the panel recommended meeting victims' needs in health, housing, pensions, education, skills training and micro-credit, community reparations and symbolic reparations.

The meeting that began today in the capital aims to review the status of the recommendations, increase greater public awareness about them and facilitate their implementation, according to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), which organized the event together with the national Human Rights Commission and a number of civil society groups.

Addressing the gathering, the Secretary-General's Executive Representative in Sierra Leone noted that the Commission's recommendations "seek to address root causes of the conflict, promote healing and national reconciliation, respond to the human rights needs of the victims of the conflict, address impunity, and prevent a relapse into conflict."

Victor Angelo, who also heads UNIOSIL, stressed that a genuine foundation for peace, security, economic and social development can only be laid in Sierra Leone if the recommendations are fully implemented.

He added that the UN and the Government have together identified the reparations programme as one of the priority areas for assistance under the UN Peacebuilding Fund, which provides funding to help address the root causes of conflict and facilitate the consolidation of peace. "The outcome of this Conference will be a tremendous assistance in moving forward on this programme," Mr. Angelo stated.

Also in Freetown today, UNIOSIL's Police Section began the first phase of a two-week training programme on traffic management, in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Police.

The programme aims to enhance and facilitate the free flow of traffic, particularly in the capital, as well as to re-organise the entire Traffic Department of the Police Force towards better service delivery.

Speaking at the inauguration of the training, Mr. Angelo noted that in a country like Sierra Leone, where 25 per cent of the population is concentrated in the capital and there are no rail services, people are completely dependent on road networks.

Stressing the vital need to ensure the free flow of traffic on the roads, he pointed out that "traffic congestion not only creates delays and inconvenience, but more importantly it has a direct effect on the national economy due to the loss of productive hours." Therefore, addressing traffic problems is critical to a country's development, as well as to its ability to compete in the global market.

A total of 125 officers across the country will benefit from the training.

Scoop: Greater Public Awareness Of Sierra Leone Rights

Cluff poised for production

2007-11-21T15:13:00.001+01:00

West Africa-focused Cluff Gold expects to start producing from Cote d'Ivoire in January at an annual rate of 100,000 oz.

Chairman and chief executive Algy Cluff says he expects the first gold 'pour' next month from Angovia in the Cote d'Ivoire. The estimated resource there was increased 50 per cent in September to 495,000 oz.

Cluff is also aiming to start producing after an April 'pour' at Kalsaka in Burkina Faso at the rate of 60,000 oz of gold a year. With anticipated cash costs (before capital and debt) of $275 an ounce at Angovia and $3,200 at Kalsaka — against today's $778 market price — he suggests the debt-free company could generate cash flow of more than £32 million a year.

That is almost half Cluff's AIM value of £70 million at 102p, up 11.5p today, and does not reflect the potential of the company's Baomahun project in Sierra Leone. This could hold 1.2 million oz and Cluff is thought to be considering buying out its joint venture partner.

Recommended by Growth Company Investor at 46p in 2005 and again at 78.5p last December, Cluff shares are 11.5p up today at 102p, valuing the company at £70.3 million. Hold on.

Growth Company Investor : Cluff poised for production

Prince Charles to attend first Commonwealth heads summit

2007-11-21T15:10:00.001+01:00

LONDON (AFP) — Prince Charles is to attend his first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting or CHOGM next week, amid speculation that the 53-nation body is preparing for life after Queen Elizabeth II.

The 59-year-old heir to the throne will be in Uganda alongside his 81-year-old mother, who leads the coalition of countries, the majority of which are former British colonies.

Charles will take part in some of the formal proceedings at the three-day summit in Kampala on November 23-25, as well as meet foreign ministers and heads of government in private talks on the shores of Lake Victoria.

But royal officials have insisted that contrary to recent media reports, the prince's presence is not designed to pave the way for his "succession" as head of the Commonwealth.

In a November 3 article, Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Commonwealth source as saying the question of whether Charles will inherit the title of head of the body is being actively considered.

Although the queen has been head of the Commonwealth since her accession to the throne in 1952, the position is not enshrined in law and her heir does not automatically succeed her in the role.

Instead it is for Commonwealth leaders to decide.

The newspaper said representatives of member countries are likely to discuss the issue informally when they gather for the queen's funeral and make a decision in the interregnum before Charles's coronation.

The queen is head of the Commonwealth but does not have to be head of state in member countries; in fact, only 16 of the 53 countries have the monarch as head of state, notably Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

But amid growing republican sentiment, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, by the time Charles becomes king the group of monarchies may have been reduced.

That could influence the balance of Commonwealth leaders wanting a royal as Commonwealth leader, the newspaper said.

And with Rwanda -- a former Belgian colony -- angling for Commonwealth membership and Portugal's former outpost Mozambique having joined, the desire for royal patronage could be dampened further.

One idea that has reportedly been mooted is for the role to be rotated.

The Mail on Sunday reported recently that Charles was launching a "diplomatic charm offensive" at the summit to ensure he, and his eldest son prince William, inherit the queen's long-standing role.

A royal official from Charles's official London residence, Clarence House, told AFP the reports about the prince's future role were speculation.

She said his first trip to Uganda with his second wife Camilla comes after an invitation from President Yoweri Museveni and he would tour aid and development projects in the country as well as take part in some of the summit formalities.

"The prince has a lot of links with various Commonwealth countries. He's visited Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Pakistan in the last year," she said.

"It's an opportunity for him to build on those links and catch up with the projects that he undertook when he was there."

AFP: Prince Charles to attend first Commonwealth heads summit

Carjackers Seek Luxe SUVs to Ship Abroad

2007-11-21T15:09:00.001+01:00

The FBI is trying to break up African carjacking rings that prey on suburbanites with luxury SUVs and quickly ship the vehicles abroad.

The crimes reached a harrowing climax last week when three men from Sierra Leone allegedly carjacked two women hours apart - one of whom grabbed their gun long enough to free her 7-year-old daughter from the back seat.

The gun went off during the scuffle, striking one suspect in the thumb.

"The thieves want the car intact. ... They get paid to deliver that vehicle with its keys," said Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green, whose office is prosecuting one of the two attacks Wednesday. "So the anti-theft devices in these vehicles are compromised because essentially they attack the driver."

A shootout with police ensued that night when the suspects drove the second stolen vehicle into a stakeout, officials said. Green's office has filed a long list of charges, including robbery and aggravated assault, against Unisa Kamara, 19, of Dale City, Va.; Jakuba Kamara, 29, of Philadelphia; and Omaru Sannoh, 20, the injured suspect.

While the trio await court hearings, police are trying to determine whether they have ties to a handful of other African carjacking "cells" they have pursued in the past year. At least five other African men have been charged in federal court in Philadelphia. One of them - Liberian refugee Musa Donzo - is set to be sentenced Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the FBI this month issued an alert for James "Tow-P" Dou, believed to head a Liberian group that pulled off a rash of area carjackings this summer.

The thieves have very specific vehicles in mind - with Range Rovers, Cadillac Escalades, BMWs and other pricey sport-utility vehicles topping the list. They might even have a specific order for a make and model, according to interviews with police, prosecutors and FBI officials.

And while some officials believe women are more often targeted, FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams isn't so sure.

"They see the (desired) car, they've got a gun and they want you out. I don't think it makes a difference if it's a man or a woman," she said.

The victims are often tailed until they drive home or to a remote location, although the woman who wrestled the gun from her attackers last week was confronted outside her day-care center.

Typically, the rings pay $500 to $1,500 to a young immigrant assigned to steal a car, investigators said. Other people in the ring forge titles, handle the shipping and get the vehicle from the port in Africa or Europe to the intended buyer, perhaps through several intermediaries, they said.

And while it's nothing new for stolen American cars to end up overseas, thieves are apparently resorting to carjacking because new luxury cars can be nearly impossible to steal without a key.

"They can't wait until the victim parks their car and steal it, because they need the key," said Philadelphia Police Lt. Frank Vanore. "But their propensity to violence is scary, because they're young males and they are obviously armed with firearms."

Donzo, who came to the U.S. in 2003, did well enough at a Philadelphia public high school to win admission to college. But instead of enrolling in the fall of 2006, he was arrested for trying to carjack a nurse at gunpoint outside her Bensalem home that September.

"Donzo pulled a gun from his waistband and told her to give him the keys," Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Gray said.

The plot failed when Donzo and an accomplice, even with the key, could not start the vehicle's tricky ignition system. He was convicted during a summer trial in which co-defendant Joseph Jarlee testified against him, Gray said.

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of more than 11 years in prison, not to mention the deportation that would likely follow.

Donzo's defense lawyer, Andrew F. Erba, did not return a telephone message Monday.

It was not immediately clear if Sannoh and the Kamaras had lawyers.

Carjackers Seek Luxe SUVs to Ship Abroad - Forbes.com

Kufuor Receives Special Greetings On Accident

2007-11-21T15:08:00.001+01:00

The Presidency has received a number of compliments following last Wednesday's motor accident involving President John Agyekum Kufuor.
A statement signed yesterday by Mr Andrew Awuni, press secretary to the president, said the compliments had come from distinguished personalities within Ghana and abroad, extending best wishes to President Kufuor.
'The messages largely share in the distress resulting from the incident, which potentially would have been more disturbing save the President's narrow escape. 'To this, the well-wishers convey their sympathies praying for his speedy recovery while renewing pledges and immense support for the administration.'
The presidential convoy was last Wendesday involved in an accident on the Airport - 37th Military Hospital Road but the President escaped unhurt.
The statement said hours after the incident, President Kufuor who was examined by his medical officers, was back at his desk to perform his official duties, granting audience to two separate delegations of chiefs from the Western and Eastern Regions.
Meanwhile, President Kufuor had had to review his official engagement for the day including an earlier scheduled participation in the investiture ceremony of President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, to allow for some rest.

Ghana General News of Friday, 16 November 2007 - Kufuor Receives Special Greetings On Accident

Sierra Leone bishop visits Hastings

2007-11-21T15:07:00.001+01:00

The Mayor and Bishop Julius

Bishop of Freetown in Sierra Leone Julius Lynch visited Hastings this week as part of his four week tour of the UK.

Headteacher of St Paul's primary in St Leonards, Pat Lock, on behalf of the Diocese of Chichester, accompanied Bishop Lynch on his visit to the town.
During his first visit to the borough, he was taken to three local primary schools who have link schools in Freetown, before going on to lunch with the Mayor and representatives of Hastings Borough Council.
After visiting St Clements and All Saints church, Old Town he was invited to the Town Hall to meet with members of the Hastings-Hastings twinning project that took place just over a year ago.

Sierra Leone bishop visits Hastings - Hastings Today - Back to Home Page

Ugandans eager for Queen's return

2007-11-21T15:06:00.001+01:00

William Hannington Kasozi, 81, has fond memories of the last time Queen Elizabeth visited Uganda.

The Queen was last in Uganda before independence in 1954

Working as a clerk in the national electricity company at the time, he got to meet the Queen in person.

"A few of us were selected," he tells me in his small brick house on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala.

"We got to shake her hand, she asked how we were, and we told her she was very welcome in Uganda."

Mr Kasozi thinks it is a miracle that he has lived to see the Queen's return, before she opens the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) on the 24 November.

He is unlikely to get to meet her in person this time.

But many people are just as excited about her visit.

It is the first time she has returned to the country since a trip in 1954 when she inaugurated the Owen Falls Dam, Uganda's first hydro-electric power station.

Much has changed since then.

The country gained independence from Britain eight years later and the Owen Falls Dam became known as Nalubaale.

The British monarchy has often been seen as a symbol of colonial rule and the repression and violence that that often entailed.

Huge outlay

But there is still great affection for the Queen. In a Kampala suburb, I met Aii Katongole, an artist who has captured the Queen's likeness in paint.

A lot of taxpayers' money has been used to prepare for the summit

Although he sells his work to make a living, he says he'll never sell his picture of the Queen.

"She makes me very happy," he says. "She's the mother of the 53 Commonwealth countries."

The Queen's visit might help to explain why many people are happy to accept the huge outlay that has been spent on the Commonwealth summit.

Many Kampalans want their city to look its best for its illustrious visitors.

At the main post office in Kampala, people tell me they are pleased that Chogm is taking place here.

"We think it'll be good for the country, increase tourism, and we're proud of it," says one man.

"A visit by the Queen is a very rare thing," another man tells me. "A privilege."

Burden

But not all think like that.

"If this is Chogm, then Chogm is useless," says one man I met outside the post office.

Chogm critics say hardly any money has been sent outside the capital

"It's become a burden to the common person, there's so much security and so many roadworks, people are not free to move around."

For months now the Ugandan government has been urging people here to get ready for Chogm.

It employed a sleek advertising agency to get its message across.

Works to repair and resurface roads across the city, including the main artery between Kampala and the international airport at Entebbe, have been going on throughout much of 2007.

Immigration stamps

Several new hotels have emerged from their cocoons of scaffolding.

Hundreds of extra policemen and women have been posted on street corners across the city.

Several new hotels have emerged from their cocoons of scaffolding

In the last two financial years, the government has spent close to $200m (about £100m) on projects linked to the three-day Commonwealth summit.

So how do they justify it?

"Yes, it's taken up a lot of taxpayers' money," admits Kagole Kivumbi, the government's Chogm spokesman. "But a big percentage of that has gone into facilities that will benefit the country long after the summit."

A glance at the Chogm budget, however, shows that $11,000 has also gone on buying umbrellas.

New rubber stamps for immigration officials cost $18,000 and around $200,000 has been spent on buying state-of-the-art Blackberry mobile phones for members of government.

Wafula Ogutto, the spokesman for the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, is not happy.

"We don't see where this money has been spent on the ground," he complains.

"Roads are not being repaired properly, just patched up, and hardly any money has been sent outside the capital, even though Ugandans are not just a few people in Kampala."

But the government and private investors point out that the real benefits of Chogm will not be felt for some time.

It is an opportunity, they argue, to present a different image of Uganda to a world that associates the country with former President Idi Amin and the Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Ugandans eager for Queen's return

2007-11-20T16:20:00.001+01:00

BHP boss claims merger with Rio has bilateral shareholder support

2007-11-20T14:12:00.003+01:00

BHP Billiton claimed yesterday that shareholders were supportive of its proposed mining mega-merger with Rio Tinto.

Marius Kloppers, the head of BHP, said that the investors in both Rio and BHP he had met so far had been broadly supportive of the rationale behind the deal.

He was speaking in South Africa, which he is visiting as part of a global roadshow to sell the group’s proposed £74 billion merger with its Anglo-Australian rival.

Mr Kloppers said that he had met around half of Rio’s UK shareholders and “slightly less” of its Australia-based investors.

“Shareholders own companies, not management, and they’ll eventually tell management what to do,” he said.

He added that BHP would “continue to seek engagement” with Rio Tinto’s board.

However, people in the Rio camp rejected Mr Klopper’s comments.

The company is understood to believe that it has the backing of its shareholders in its rejection of BHP’s three-for-one share offer.

About 60 to 70 per cent of BHP shareholders also hold stakes in Rio Tinto.

Rio is preparing to respond to Mr Kloppers’s investor charm offensive with a formal defence of its decision for rejecting as too low the proposed tie-up.

It is to use an existing iron ore seminar on November 26 to explain its rationale to shareholders.

Tom Albanese, the Rio chief executive, is expected to focus on alleged “hidden” assets, such as the company’s develpoment pipeline, which, he will say, are not reflected in the business’s present valuation.

The combination of the two groups would create a natural resources giant worth more than $350 billion (£171 billion), with leading positions in the iron ore, copper, aluminium and coal markets.

However, any proposed merger is likely to meet a series of regulatory challenges in the United States, Europe and Asia.

BHP claims that the deal would create savings of $3.7 billion annually.

Rumours that Rio was looking at turning the tables and mounting its own bid for BHP have been rejected by people close to the group.

However, it is thought to be examining potential “white knight” deals with other mining companies.

Titanium Resources Group, the AIM-listed, Sierra Leone-focused mining group, will announce today that it is to double production of the rutile whitening pigment used for paints and sunblock cream.

Its enlarged mine in the West African country still recovering from a decade of civil war will account for nearly one quarter of the world’s production of the titanium dioxide residue.

BHP boss claims merger with Rio has bilateral shareholder support - Times Online

S.Leone fuel freeze sparks chaos as price rise seen

2007-11-20T14:12:00.001+01:00

Filling stations halted sales in Sierra Leone on Monday in anticipation of a rise in prices, leaving taxi drivers short of fuel, public buildings without power and commuters stranded by the roadside.

World oil markets surged to record highs earlier this month, prompting speculation that governments which set or subsidise pump prices will have to raise them to compensate.

Officials at the West African country's National Petroleum Unit, which sets fuel prices, were unavailable for comment, but Energy Minister Haja Kabba said fuel retailers were expecting a price increase within hours.

"They think the price will go up, so the stations are holding back fuel so that they sell at increased price later," she said.

"It's deliberate: after they will hear the increase, maybe later today, they will start to sell at increased prices, but the increase in the amount won't be much," Kabba told Reuters, adding that her own building, Electricity House, had no power.

The Petroleum Unit, an autonomous state body supervised by the Ministry of Trade & Industry, at present pegs the retail price at 13,000 Leones ($4.30) for a gallon of either diesel, gasoline or kerosene.

The fuel panic marks an early test for President Ernest Bai Koroma's new government after his inauguration last week, when he repeated his pledge to resolve an energy crisis before a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters.

Sierra Leone, rated second from bottom of the most recent U.N. Development Index, relies heavily on gas-guzzling private generators for electricity as the public power grid has barely worked since a brutal 11-year civil war that ended in 2002.

Taxi drivers desperate to keep their battered vehicles moving on Freetown's pot-holed streets were offering as much as 20,000 Leones for a gallon of fuel on Monday, often to no avail.

"People are standing waiting for taxis everywhere, crying for them to stop. But I don't have anything inside my tank right now. You can't see even black market fuel for now," said taxi driver Osman Bah, 27, after a morning spent searching for fuel.

"We are all trying to offer more money but they refuse."

As queues and anger mounted, management relented and started selling fuel again at one station beside Freetown's ancient Cotton Tree, a major landmark and symbol of the country's past as a hub of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and then as a settlement for freed slaves.

"The queue is too much," said pump attendant Morrison Fofanah, 40, as waiting cars stood backed up in the road.

News | Africa - Reuters.com

Decimated Conflict Diamond Trade Survives in Europe

2007-11-20T14:11:00.007+01:00

Over 99 percent of the world's supply of diamonds now comes from sources free of conflict, according to the World Diamond Council. However, many of those "blood" diamonds that remain find their way to Europe.

For years it has been accepted that precious stones from rebel-held mines in Africa have raised billions of dollars on world markets to finance insurgencies in countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in violation of UN weapons and financial sanctions.

The "conflict" or "blood" diamond trade has recently grabbed the attention and imagination of the international community through dramatic real-life and fictional accounts of the effects it has on Africa. The publicity afforded blood diamonds has exposed them as the principle financing method for many civil wars and insurgencies raging on the African continent.

But a certification system called the Kimberley Process (KP) has done much to stem trade in conflict diamonds. Instituted by a coalition of governments, non-governmental organizations and the diamond industry in 2002, Kimberley requires rough diamonds to be sealed in tamper-resistant containers and have forgery-resistant, conflict-free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they cross an international border.

Difficulties applying international standards

Civil wars and insurgencies have been funded by the trade

While the UN-backed Kimberley Process has virtually eliminated the trade in conflict diamonds, there are still nations which suffer from what the European Commission called "serious difficulties of implementation."

Countries such as Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Venezuela and Zimbabwe still operate outside Kimberley and their diamonds continue to be traded on the international market. The trail from these countries has led many investigators to Europe, much to the concern of the European Union and individual European countries where the diamond trade is an integral part of their economies.

The European Union was the biggest destination for rough diamond imports in 2005, taking in 39 percent of the total of legitimately produced diamonds in value terms. Most were destined for cutting in Antwerp, Europe's diamond capital and the leading trading center for rough, uncut diamonds, with about 70 percent of the EU imports passing through the Belgian port.

Blood diamonds still reaching Europe

Even for experts, it can be nearly impossible to pick out blood diamonds

Some experts believe that despite a screening system introduced by the Antwerp World Diamond Center, a high percentage of blood diamonds still making it out of conflict zones are coming to Europe via Antwerp and other European diamond centers.

"The problem is that conflict diamonds very rarely come directly from the source country," said Annie Dunnebacke from non-governmental organization Global Witness' Conflict Diamond Campaign. "Rough and uncut diamonds can easily be smuggled over porous borders from places like the Ivory Coast and can obtain a Kimberley Process certificate from another country before being shipped to Europe."

Dunnebacke admitted that there is absolutely no doubt that conflict diamonds are on the European market, an assertion backed up by recent police investigations.

Smuggling rings smashed in Belgium, Switzerland

Investigators seized 14 million euros ($20 million) worth of diamonds believed to be from the Ivory Coast from a major diamond smuggling ring based in Antwerp in March. The on-going investigation also led to a number of Geneva-based firms that used fake certificates to import raw diamonds worth 370 million euros from countries outside the Kimberley Process before selling them to Belgian traders.

In 2004, eight Antwerp diamond traders were imprisoned for six years each after a similar investigation into a separate smuggling ring revealed that they had been involved in bringing uncut stones from Africa into Belgium.

Merchants who think they're dealing in clean diamonds can be fooled by fake certificates

Antwerp dealers routinely settle multi-million dollar transactions in cash and rarely offer receipts, according to a study on diamonds and conflict in Sierra Leone by the Partnership Africa Canada NGO. While illegal operations have a hand in keeping the trade alive in Europe, even legitimate enterprises could be unwittingly involved.

"It is extremely difficult to distinguish one uncut diamond from another, making it easy to mix illicit diamonds with legal stones," said Michael Fleshman, from Africa Recovery, a department of the United Nations' Africa Office. "Moreover, the principal world market for uncut diamonds, Antwerp, is legendary for the laxity of its regulations on the handling of the stones -- making it virtually impossible to determine their origins and ownership."

Europe moves slowly to slam the door

Europe took a step closer to shutting down the trade last week at the fifth plenary session of the Kimberley Process, chaired by the European Commission. During the session, the signatories of the Kimberley Process called on countries with trading and manufacturing centers to carry out effective enforcement measures to ensure adequate government oversight over the trade of rough diamonds.

The EU needs a pan-European database for traders, Dunnebacke said

Dunnebacke, however, said the EU needed to create a pan-European database of uncut diamond traders if it were to stand any chance of stopping the blood diamond trade within the bloc for good, since blood diamond traders targeted the EU states with laxer laws.

"While this is conjecture, it is believed that smugglers target European countries ... where regulations are less strict," she said, adding that Spain and Italy had some of the EU more lenient regulations. "You can't control all of the EU's borders, but if there was an EU trading list of people and businesses covered by the KP, then it would at least strengthen Europe's control of the conflict-diamond trade."

Decimated Conflict Diamond Trade Survives in Europe | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 15.11.2007

Blood Diamonds (Documentary)

2007-11-20T14:11:00.005+01:00

Time - 20:00 - 21:00 (1 hour long) GMT Sky ch. 105.

When - Tuesday 20th November on five.

The True Story.
Documentary series exploring infamous historical events. This instalment examines the little-known truth about how the worldwide diamond trade has funded wars across western and central Africa, leading to the deaths of millions of people.

This Documentary will be on today at 8.o clock GMT, on channal five / sky channal 105.

Five Online : Programme Description for Blood Diamonds (Documentary)

31-year-old Salone Lady bears Triplets

2007-11-20T14:11:00.003+01:00

In just few months after a young woman gave birth to triplets at the Wilberforce Barracks in the west end of Freetown, a 31-year-old-woman who resides at No. 3 Crab Town in the west end of the city also has delivered another set of triplets. The wife of Mr. Abubakarr Conteh whose name was given by her husband as Zainab gave birth to three bouncing baby boys on Tuesday the 13th of November 2007.

Speaking to our reporter who contacted them at their residence, the lucky father said he got married to Zainab just a year ago, and that they have since been praying for God to bless them with a child.

He said he is now happy that the Almighty God has answered their prayers. He disclosed that since Zainab got pregnant some eight months back, they regularly attended Church services to seek God’s guidance and protection for a safe delivery.

"Today is a historic day in our matrimonial home for God to bless us with these children. In actual fact, I was expecting only one child and more especially a boy, but to my greatest shock, I have been blessed with three boys", Mr. Conteh stated with joy.

While thanking God for his divine provision, he hastened to call on people to assist them as he was only preparing for one and he has got three. In a rather piteous tone, the father said his family is very poor hence can find it a bit an over burden to provide for all of them. "But I still hope to the grace of God", he concluded.

The blessed mother on her part said she was not expecting triplets as the period of pregnancy lasted for only eight months two weeks, not the normal nine months.

She said she when she started experiencing labour pains three days back, she went for prayers at the Burning Bush Church where Pastor Mani prayed for her and she afterwards gave birth to the triplets. The Pastor named the children after Moses, Joshua and Gabriel respectively.

31-year-old Salone Lady bears Triplets : Sierra Leone News

UN HIV estimates reduced to 33m

2007-11-20T14:11:00.001+01:00

The United Nations has reduced its estimates of how many people are infected with HIV in 2007 from nearly 40m to 33m.

Revised figures for India account for much of the decrease, experts say.

But the rate of new cases and mortality levels are declining, although figures still show that there are 6,800 new cases each day and over 5,700 deaths.

Africa has by far the most number of cases, while parts of Asia have the fastest growing rates of infections.

Some 22.5m in sub-Saharan Africa have HIV but the number of new cases - 1.7m a year - is a smaller increase than in previous years.

In Asia there are 4.9m people with the condition with Vietnam seeing a doubling of cases since 2000.

UNAids executive director Dr Peter Piot said: "The improved data presents us with a clearer picture of the Aids epidemic, one that reveals both challenges and opportunities.

"Unquestionably, we are beginning to see a return on investment.

"But we must expand our efforts in order to significantly reduced the impact of Aids worldwide."

The figures show there were 2.5m new cases in 2007, down from a peak in the late 1990s when there was over 3m new infections a year.

The fall in annual deaths to 2.1m has been put down to wider access to antiretroviral drug treatments.

It means some 33.2m have HIV, down from 39.5m in 2006.

UNAids said the figures for 2006 were likely to be inaccurate after an intensive assessment exercise in India showed fewer cases than estimated. Other countries, including Nigeria, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, also had their figures reduced.

Prevention

Experts say the true 2006 figure was likely to be about 32.7m.

Professor Brookmeyer, a US public health expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said having accurate figures was important in combating HIV.

"More accurate estimates and trends will ultimately lead to improvements in the design and evaluation of prevention programmes."

But Michael Weinstein, of the US group, the Aids Healthcare Foundation, questioned how accurate the latest figures were.

"Because the vast majority of people who are infected with HIV don't know it, there is actually no way to know if this new WHO figures is any more reliable than the previous estimation."

And the Terrence Higgins Trust said more needed to be done to tackle HIV in the UK as recent figures suggest the rate of new cases is rising.

Chief executive Nick Partridge said: "There is too little local investment and too little national focus on HIV which means our prevention efforts are not enough to keep it at bay.

"We need to refocus on HIV in the UK and reinvest in prevention, rather than stand by and watch the spiralling costs of treatment as ever more people test HIV positive."

HIV PREVALENCE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 2003-7

22.5m (68%) out of 33.2m people globally with HIV

61% are women

More than three-quarters of all Aids-related deaths in 2007

Southern Africa worst-affected in the region - prevalence above 15% in eight countries

South Africa has more HIV infections than any other country in the world

But HIV prevalence in most of region has reached or is approaching plateau

Source: UNAids

BBC NEWS | Health | UN HIV estimates reduced to 33m

Kallon signs for Saudi's Al Hilal

2007-11-20T13:57:00.001+01:00

Sierra Leone captain Mohammed Kallon has signed a pre-contract agreement with Saudi Arabian team Al Hilal.

Kallon previously played for French side Monaco

A one-and-a-half-year deal worth US$10m will be completed with the club once the 28-year-old striker has passed a medical examination.

It had been thought the former Monaco striker favoured a move to the English Premier League after he bought out the remaining seven months of his contract with the French club.

But Kallon, who had a previous spell in Saudi Arabia with Al Ittihad, says this move to the 12th club of his career is the best for his future.

"I have signed for Al Hilal and I hope to do well during my time there," Kallon said.

"Football is business and you have to think about your life after your career is over, Al Hilal's offer was very good.

"I am a family man and I have responsibilities, I don't just play because I want to be the best and the most popular.

Captain Kallon has paid team mates for playing for Sierra Leone

"I want to reap the benefit of my time in the game and use my funds for projects I have in mind," Kallon added.

One such project is the Sierra Leone national side and the payment of their players, a bill that Kallon has revealed he has picked up for the last two matches.

"This is my country and whatever I achieve in my career I owe to my homeland.

"I paid around US$60,000 to my team mates as it is important for them to be focussed in their play."

A move that seemingly paid dividends, with the Leone Stars sealing qualification for the 2010 World Cup draw with a goalless away draw 0-0 with Guinea Bissau.

Kallon had previously spoken about his dream of playing in the English Premier League but it seems the Leone Star has new goals in mind.

"I had offers from England, but in Monaco I paid no tax on my wages - so the move would have cost the club signing me more. Also there was the problem in gaining a work permit.

"I wanted to play in England to represent Sierra Leone and Africa but with this move I will just be doing this in the Middle East instead."

BBC SPORT | Football | African | Kallon signs for Saudi's Al Hilal

Probation time for Sierra Leone's new leaders

2007-11-19T13:50:00.007+01:00

Parts of this spectacularly sited coastal capital, set along the edges of a mountainous peninsula, have been transformed in the six years since the end of the civil war in 2001.

The buildings and factories that have gone up since hostilities ended show the potential for Sierra Leone.

But all the expectation will come to nothing if President Ernest Bai Koroma fails to address the rampant corruption and mismanagement.

President Koroma told me his policy on corruption was clear.

"I have sent out clear warnings to everybody, including members of my government, and I believe that in the next 36 months Sierra Leoneans will start seeing the turnaround."

Gates go up

In the neighbourhood of Godrich, on the outskirts of Freetown, teeming building sites are emerging from the swamps and mountainsides.

During the decade-long civil war this area was reduced to little more than a slum.

Now, an international company has built a modern brick factory in Godrich to cope with booming demand for building materials.

The same company is near to completing a gated estate of beachside luxury houses.

The "peace dividend" of development is there for all to see.

The new buildings show there are people with money to spend in Sierra Leone and the confidence they are making a safe investment.

But those outside the gated estate, or in other parts of Freetown, could be living in another country: day-labourers breaking rocks by hand and children in rags, darting in and out of open sewers next to their tin-shack homes.

Road signs

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world. The rich and the poor live side by side.

Godrich is still a rough and ready place with a potholed earth track running through it.

There are rumours that the road could soon be tarmacked - not least because President Koroma has his private residence in Godrich.

If the road is completed soon it could mean either that infrastructure work is advancing smoothly - which would of course be a good thing - or that Mr Koroma has used his presidential clout to improve a road near his own personal house.

That could be a signal to some Sierra Leoneans that despite all his talk of transparency and incorruptibility, he is not much different from the rest of the political class here.

Most Sierra Leoneans distrust politicians so much because of their track record as a group, that it is quite possible this latter interpretation will prevail even if the rebuilding of the Godrich road was scheduled before Mr Koroma came to power.

At his inauguration last week in the national sports stadium, President Koroma did several laps of honour in an open-topped car.

He was grinning broadly and waving his trademark white handkerchief - a handkerchief that he sorely needed to wipe away perspiration in the boiling heat of the packed stadium.

Massive corruption

In his inaugural speech President Koroma said: "I exercise zero tolerance towards corruption."

He spoke of changing "attitudes" - in other words the mentality and culture of corruption that are so deeply ingrained in Sierra Leonean society.

It is a massive job.

Corruption in Sierra Leone extends all the way from top officials taking kickbacks on government contracts to teachers telling children they have to pay if they want to go to class.

Rules and regulations may change. President Koroma told me, for example, that he would be making the anti-corruption commission completely independent of government.

But changing a whole culture is a challenge of a far greater order.

Everything may depend on the lead given by President Koroma and his team.

There are some signs in the top appointments he has made.

Respected team

The new head of the anti-corruption commission, Abdul Tejan Cole, is a lawyer who has a reputation for strict probity.

Sierra Leone's people are more used to corrupt government

"He's just incorruptible," says a close observer.

It is said that when Mr Cole was a lecturer in law at Freetown's Fourah Bay College, he was confronted with the task of marking an exam paper written by a younger member of his own family.

He is reported to have said he could not mark the paper because it might compromise his position.

The new Foreign Minister, Zainab Bangura, also has a track record of campaigning against corruption.

Before she entered politics, she was the head of the respected Sierra Leonean pressure group, The Campaign for Good Governance.

Mrs Bangura held a senior position in the United Nations peacekeeping operation in neighbouring Liberia before President Koroma asked her to be Sierra Leone's foreign minister - to her complete surprise.

On probation

A senior adviser to President Koroma, speaking on condition of anonymity, says: "The new team will be on probation to see how they perform."

In fact, it may be the other way around.

Some of the new ministers could, if they wanted, have careers and prospects outside Sierra Leone.

The new finance minister is a successful economist and the new defence minister spent a long time working in Britain.

It may be that the new top team in Freetown has put President Koroma on probation - to see how he performs and whether it is worth them sticking around in the sometimes murky world of Sierra Leonean politics.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Probation time for S Leone's new leaders

Young People kick off high-level Commonwealth meetings in Uganda

2007-11-19T13:50:00.005+01:00

Commonwealth Youth Forum 6 is officially opened in Entebbe

President Museveni and the First Lady Janet Museveni(c) pose for a group photo with the Commonwealth Youth Delegates at the Imperial resort Entebbe

The Sixth Commonwealth Youth Forum was opened in Entebbe, Uganda today, 14 November 2007, by the country’s President HE Yoweri Museveni.

Also present were Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha and Uganda’s Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, the Hon Syda Bbumba.

Dr Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Habitat, delivered the keynote address on how young people are now better equipped and educated to address the challenges and opportunities that urbanisation and globalisation present. She stressed that young people should be seen as a positive resource for development.

Young participants from 48 Commonwealth countries are gathering in Entebbe to discuss the key themes of Sustainable Development and Climate Change; Conflict Management; and Social Transformation and Health, including HIV/Aids and substance abuse. The theme for the 2007 Forum is ‘Breaking Barriers: Unleashing Young People’s Potential for Development.’

The Youth Forum is the first in a series of official Commonwealth summits in the lead up to the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which takes place from 23 to 25 November 2007.

Director of the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP), Dr Fatiha Serour, said: “Young people account for over half of the Commonwealth population and are therefore an important group to take part in CHOGM discussions.

“This is in line with the basic principle of the CYP programme which is that youth issues are development issues and as such, no national development, peace and security can be achieved without the participation of young people.

“For the first time, the Youth Forum will take up issues related to conflict management and social transformation, as well as one of this year’s key CHOGM themes, namely Respect and Understanding. We expect the discussions to be challenging, maybe sometimes painful, but overall, positive.”

The Forum will conclude on 20 November 2007 with the adoption of the Final Communiqué, which is usually presented to Commonwealth Foreign Ministers and Heads of Government at the CHOGM.

Commonwealth Secretariat - Young People kick off high-level Commonwealth meetings in Uganda