A community portal about Sierra Leone with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea on the north and Liberia on...
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A community portal about Sierra Leone with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea on the north and Liberia on the south, with the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The name Sierra Leone was adapted from the Portuguese name for the country: Serra Leoa. The literal meaning is "Lioness Mountain." During the 1700s Sierra Leone was an important centre of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The capital Freetown was founded in 1792 by the Sierra Leone Company as a home for Black Britons who had fought for the British in the American Revolutionary War.
Eight former Sierra Leone rebels convicted of civil war atrocities left the country in a UN chartered plane Saturday to serve their prison sentences in Rwanda, a court spokesman said. "The eight convicts of the Special Court for Sierra Leone left shortly after 0400 GMT on a UN chartered plane to Kigali, Rwanda," spokesman Peter Andersen told AFP. He added that the men -- three former leaders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), three ex-leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council... Read Full Story
Sierra Leone's UN-backed tribunal upheld Monday sentences of up to 52 years in prison for three former rebel leaders in its last ever judgement to be handed down in Freetown. Although the court accepted certain grounds for appeal by the defendants, the five-judge panel confirmed the sentences for Issa Hassan Sesay (52 years), Morris Kallon (40 years) and Augustine Gbao (25 years). The three men were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing a decade of rapes and... Read Full Story
The UN-backed Sierra Leone tribunal was poised Monday to hand down its last ever verdict in Freetown against the perpetrators of atrocities during the country's brutal civil war. The last ruling will be in the appeal of Issa Hassan Sesay, 39, Morris Kallon, 45, and Augustine Gbao, 61, three former rebel leaders convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing a spree of rapes and killings. Once the appeals verdict against the former leaders of the Revolutionary United Front... Read Full Story
Due to my travel schedule, I have extended the 2008 Pledge to November 30, 2010. That means you have 2 full years to lend your support to the cause!!!! As you can see below, we have collected several school supplies and more than $2,500 in cash. My goal is collect at least $10,000. In the December issue of Elle magazine , there is an excellent article on "Hope Diamonds" and various philanthropic efforts in Sierra Leone by celebrities and others in the international community. The article... Read Full Story
FREETOWN (Reuters) - A boat carrying children in Sierra Leone back from their school holidays capsized in a heavy storm off the capital Freetown, killing at least 80 of its 150 passengers, police said on Wednesday. Emergency services rescued 36 people and were continuing the search for more survivors from the wreck on Tuesday, federal police spokesman Ibrahim Samuro told reporters. "The rest are still missing. The vessel cannot be traced," Samuro said of the search effort off the coast by... Read Full Story
Around 200 people, including a large number of children, are missing feared drowned after a boat sank off the coast of Sierra Leone, the government said on Thursday. At least 241 passengers were on board the vessel when it sank on Tuesday night southeast of the capital Freetown, but the overall number could be more than 300, said deputy transport minister Osmond Hanciles. "The official list showed 241 passengers on board and these were only those who had cargoes on board and totally excluded... Read Full Story
FREETOWN (Reuters) - The death toll in a shipwreck in Sierra Leone could rise from the 80 victims reported earlier as dozens of passengers are still missing, a maritime official said on Thursday. The boat, originally thought to be carrying 150 people, mostly children returning from their school holidays, was caught in a heavy storm off the capital, Freetown, on Tuesday. But the harbormaster at Tombo suburb said on Thursday there were more passengers on board than previously thought. "The... Read Full Story
High seas and strong winds on Friday hampered the search for victims of a Sierra Leone ferry sinking blamed on overloading and the arrogance of the captain, which left more than 200 people feared drowned. Navy and army divers were at the scene of Tuesday's disaster but were being prevented from carrying out search operations due to the deteriorating weather conditions. "Nature has conspired against us. The weather is bad, winds are blowing at over 60 miles (96 kilometres) an hour, the sea is... Read Full Story
Military police patrolled a volatile suburb in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown Saturday after angry crowds set up road blocks and threatened to burn a police station afire after three youths were shot dead. "The youths threatened to burn down the... police post" in Rotifunk, north of Freetown, police spokesman Assistant Superintendent Ibrahim Samura said. Samura said police had fired live rounds on a rowdy crowd on Wednesday after tear gas failed, in which three youths were killed. The... Read Full Story
The captain of a ferry that sank off Sierra Leone leaving more than 200 people feared drowned ignored warnings that it was about to capsize, survivors said Friday. A senior police officer meanwhile said the main cause of the disaster appeared to be overloading. Police said only 38 people were known to have survived after the ferry, the Teh Teh, overturned and sank in just a few minutes after a storm suddenly blew up on Tuesday night. Estimates of the numbers on board ranged from 268 to more... Read Full Story
