REVIEW OF SIERRA LEONE MEDIA REPORTS

Public Information Office (PIO) of UNIOSIL – 29 May 2008

 

[Disclaimer: Excerpts below are from print media and news agency dispatches. UNIOSIL cannot vouch for the accuracy of the media reports].

 

United Nations, international community observe International Day of UN Peacekeepers

The United Nations and the International Community have observed this year’s International Day of UN Peacekeepers by paying tribute to men and women who had served and continue to serve in UN Peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication, courage; and at the same time honour the memory of those who had lost their lives in the course of peace. According to Awoko, UN Peacekeeping is a unique and dynamic instrument, developed by the United Nations as a way of helping countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace.

 

Special Court indicted CDF loss appeal

The Appeals Chamber of the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone reportedly, yesterday increased the jail sentences of two members of the former pro-Government Civil Defence Forces (CDF) as they lost their appeal. Moinina Fofana and Alieu Kodewa were in October 2007 found guilty by the Trial Chamber and sentenced to current jail terms of six and eight years respectively, which the Appeals Chamber increased to fifteen and twenty years respectively with effect form 29 may 2003 reports Concord Times. “We are pleased that the Appeals Judges increased the length of the sentences imposed by the Trial Chamber” Special Court Prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, is quoted as saying.

 

German Government provides financial support to Sierra Leone Police

It is reported in New Vision that the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany had consented to provide one million four hundred thousand Euros towards the infrastructural development of the Sierra Leone Police Force. Making the disclosure to the press, the Inspector General of Police said the funds would be used specifically to face-lift the Ross Road Police Barracks in Freetown; the Gedema Police Barracks in the east of the country and the Police training School at Hastings in the outskirts of Freetown.

 

NEC declares commencement of campaign for Local Council Election

The Chairman for the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Dr. Christiana Thorpe, has declared 9 June to 3 July as campaign period for the coming Local Council Election. She told journalists at a press briefing at the NEC headquarters in Wellington that the nomination list had been finalized and that no amendment would be acceptable. She said 1,380 aspirants would be vying for Councilors and Mayors in the Local Council Election. Director of Operations NEC, N’jah Conteh, said voter registration would be conducted on 29 May to 1 June and would target mostly those that would be 18 years by 4 July; the electorates who have changed residences and those who did not register during the past Presidential and Parliamentary elections, Awoko and The News report.

 

No Election in 27 wards

New Vision reports the Operations Officer at the National Electoral Commission (NEC) disclosing at a Press Conference convened at the NEC Wellington Industrial Estate that Local Government Election would not be conducted in 27 wards, where only one candidate was nominated under the ruling All Peoples Congress and who would therefore be declared unopposed.

 

 

 

 

 

Former Opposing Political Parties on moves to join forces

The Exclusive reports that the formerly opposing Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) and the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) have been negotiating to form a unified reconciliation group to unseat the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC). Top representatives of the two parties reportedly held a successful meeting in Freetown where they mapped put strategies to reach their goal. The sum of 40, 000 US dollars has been raised by the two parties’ membership in the Diaspora to finance their political endeavour. Among the reported reason for bridging the gap is to save the country from the allegedly tribalistic disposition of the ruling APC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Compiled by UNIOSIL, Public Information Office)