53/16 | Death puts feuds on hold
The country won a respite from the increasingly bitter pre-electoral campaigning among the major parties as all sides united in sympathy for President Ernest Bai Koroma after the death of his mother on 6 July. Alice Rosaline Koroma a former schoolteacher
3rd Aug 2012
5 (AAC)/9 | President Sall’s priorities
Macky Sall will celebrate his first 100 days in office in July. The new President is making discrete changes to relations with Asian countries established under his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade. President Wade sought to expand relations and shift Senegal a
30th Jun 2012
53/13 | Justice denied
The mid-May visit to Zimbabwe by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navanethem Pillay was disastrous. She came at the invitation of Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa who blocked discussion of human rights in Zimbabwe at last year’s UN forum
22nd Jun 2012
53/12 | Faultlines in the foundations
Private foundations such as those run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and financier George Soros can marshal funds in Africa to rival the aid budgets of agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank. Although foundations run by former political l
8th Jun 2012
53/12 | Warning to future Taylors
Trial Chamber II of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on 30 May sentenced Charles Ghankay Taylor to 50 years in prison for his central role in the vicious war in Sierra Leone. The SCSL presided over by Samoan Judge Richard Lussick
8th Jun 2012
5 (AAC)/8 | Undiplomatic diplomats
China is Sierra Leone’s largest foreign investor. However you would not know that from the chaotic state of Sierra Leone’s mission in Beijing which has had to change three ambassadors since 2010 amidst a series of corruption scandals. A new Ambassador
1st Jun 2012
53/10 | Champagne for the candidates
When the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) chose Julius Maada Bio to compete against President Ernest Bai Koroma last year the pro-government media reckoned the November 2012 polls were as good as over. The aggressive pro-government website Cocorioko re
11th May 2012
53/10 | Return of the RUF
As Sierra Leone absorbs the guilty verdict on Liberian former President Charles Ghankay Taylor for ‘aiding and abetting’ Revolutionary United Front rebels the Revolutionary United Front Party a civilian political party formed from the RUF militia is ba
11th May 2012
5 (AAC)/7 | Amarendra Khatua
In late March seconded from the External Affairs Ministry where he headed the passport division Amarendra Khatua was appointed Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan to mediate between the two warring parties. India also wants to protect its assets the
4th May 2012
53/9 | Koroma’s UN fear
The atmosphere is warming up even though elections are still over six months away. Worries are growing that President Ernest Bai Koroma’s All People’s Congress (APC) is ramping up ethnic and political tensions in what promises to be a close contest with
27th Apr 2012
