REVIEW OF SIERRA LEONE MEDIA REPORTS
Public Information Office (PIO) of UNIOSIL – 26 March 2008
[Disclaimer: Excerpts below are from print media and news agency dispatches. UNIOSIL cannot vouch for the accuracy of the media reports].
Fatal land dispute on Ester day at Mile 91
Easter Monday celebrations at Mile 91 in the Yoni Chiefdom, Tonkolili district, were reportedly brought to a halt following the brutal killing of two school going pupils over a land fracas between two villages. During the incident shots were fired by the police and panic engulfed the township. The northern region police commander reportedly confirmed that one of the victims was axed to death. The land dispute that led to the violence was long standing between the people of Masorie and Makomba villages. A ruling at local court level in 2006 giving right to Makomba was overturned at an appealed trial at the Customary Law Office, which angered the people of Makomba. On Easter day, the people of Masorie took a walk to the contested land, when they were attacked by the aggrieved people of Makomba, repot New Vision, Independent Observer and For di People.
Anyone caught in electoral fraud will be dealt with according to law - NEC Commissioner warns
The Northern Regional Commissioner of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Mr. Al-Gassimu Jah reportedly warned political parties and civil society in the region that the days of election fraud in Sierra Leone were over and that candidates seeking political office should endeavour to work very hard to win the hearts of the electorates, The Exclusive writes. During a sensitization tour of the northern region on NEC’s preparedness for the Bye and Local Council elections, Mr. Jah assured his audiences that the Commission was determined to ensure that the two elections would be free, fair, transparent and violence-free. “Anyone caught in electoral fraud will be dealt with according to the law,” he warned.
Guinean troops allegedly forced thousands of villagers out of Yenga
A report in today’s Concord Times, says thousands of inhabitants in Yenga on the eastern border with Guinea had reportedly fled their villages from alleged threats by Guinean forces. The Paramount Chief of Luawa Chiefdom, Mohamed Kailondo Banya, reportedly told Vice President Sam Sumana during his latest visit to the chiefdom that seven villages around Yenga had been disserted due to daily threats from the Guinean forces deployed there since the civil conflict that engulfed the country. “Our people are still under Guinean threat; and thousands of residents have disserted their villages for fear of losing their lives,” he said. Chief Banya called on the government to make Yenga a top priority; and seek a peaceful resolution to the impasse.
Brewing chieftaincy tussle plagues Tonkolo Limba chiefdom
The Standard Times reports of brewing tension between Ruling Houses in the Tonko Limba chiefdom in the Kambia District. The report implicates the minister of Local Government in masterminding the authority of Paramount Chief Momoh Kandeh Kogba Bangura of the Madina Ruling House in favour of Regent Chief Kallie Fatmata of the Bubuya Ruling House, who now wields more power in the chiefdom. PC Kogba Bangura is reportedly accused of close collaboration with, and supporting the former ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party- SLPP. The report describes the situation as “unpredictable”.
(Compiled by UNIOSIL, Public Information Office)