Topic: Freetown

Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years in prison (+video)

An international court proceeding ended Wednesday with the sentencing of Taylor, who was convicted of aiding and abetting numerous war crimes in Sierra Leone.

Change Agent Tacugama gives sanctuary to chimpanzees - through war and peace

Even an 11-year civil war couldn't stop Bala Amarasekaran from rescuing and rehabilitating chimps in Sierra Leone.

Africa Rising: With film school, can Sierra Leone change 'Blood Diamond' image?

The film 'Blood Diamond' scared off tourists and investors. Now Sierra Leoneons want to tell their own stories in film, and Ahmed Mansaray has a film school to show them how.
12/14/2011 03:24 pm

Change Agent Mercy ship brings basic hospital care to West Africa

The Africa Mercy, a charity-funded hospital ship docked in Sierra Leone, provides the most sophisticated medical facility in the region.
11/18/2011 09:40 am

Mr. Blair goes to Africa

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has brought his experience in governance to Africa, where he and a cohort of consultants advise leaders on such things as health care and private investment.
08/24/2011 05:01 pm

Africa Monitor West Africa Rising: Mobile-phone banking making slow but steady inroads

Service providers are looking to introduce banking by phone, which revolutionized Kenya, to western Africa. But the lack of a dominant, single provider poses new challenges.
07/12/2011 05:09 pm

Africa Monitor West Africa Rising: Can big infrastructure projects help Sierra Leone lure investors?

At an investment conference in the capital city of Freetown last week, President Ernest Bai Koroma described his hopes to build a massive new bridge, new airport, and new city in the sleepy village of Lungi.
05/31/2011 03:36 pm

Africa Monitor West Africa Rising: Leaders tout Sierra Leone's first value-added factory since the war

Mango juice concentrate is now churning out of a factory’s gleaming steel machinery in Sierra Leone. It's the country's first significant value-added export since it fell into civil war in 1991.
05/10/2011 03:08 pm

Difference Maker Sabrina Mahtani provides legal aid to female prisoners in Sierra Leone

Sabrina Mahtani helps women in prison (often innocent) in Sierra Leone's rough, overcrowded prisons
05/09/2011 11:55 am

Africa Monitor As Sierra Leone celebrates its 50th birthday, a look back

Tonight in Freetown – Sierra Leone’s dusty, sprawling, and party-loving capital – the independence festivities will continue well past midnight.
04/27/2011 05:33 pm

The peacebuilders: Making conflict resolution permanent

Out of the UN comes a new idea for ending war. Peacebuilders: An intensive process that gives permission for foreign 'interference' in conflict resolution.
04/02/2011 04:58 pm

As Charles Taylor boycotts trial, Sierra Leone's war-battered residents hope for justice

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor faces indictments on 11 counts, including murder, rape, sexual slavery, and the use of child soldiers in a brutal civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone.
02/09/2011 12:11 pm

Africa Monitor West Africa Rising: World Bank offers Internet 'revolution' to Sierra Leone, Liberia

The World Bank’s board of directors last week approved an underwater fiber-optic cable project that promises to bring 'a major infrastructural revolution' to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
01/25/2011 02:43 pm

Gbagbo stands strong despite threats of military intervention in Ivory Coast

Security analysts say that despite talk of military intervention to oust Ivory Coast Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, an effective attempt by international forces is unlikely.
12/27/2010 09:33 am

Africa Monitor Massive iron ore project brings mining tensions back to Sierra Leone

The London-based African Minerals firm claims its efforts to mine a whopping 11.7 billion tons of iron ore will bring $1.75 billion in foreign investment to Sierra Leone.
12/12/2010 04:15 pm

Africa Monitor Surest sign of 'peacebuilding' in Sierra Leone? A trash truck.

Forget the lack of rebels roaming villages or how many fewer women now face sexual violence, the best sign that Sierra Leone is moving past its brutal civil war is the fact that a trash truck now plies the streets of Freetown.
07/26/2010 05:15 pm

Rhode Island and much of Northeast hit by historic floods, helped by emergency response

Safety officials may not have built arks, but emergency response workers in Rhode Island and across the Northeast made extraordinary efforts to protect residents as historic floods swept the region.
03/31/2010 08:52 pm

In Pictures Aftermath

Charles Taylor war crimes trial gets mixed reviews in Liberia

During four months of testimony, Charles Taylor, the former leader of Liberia, denied committing war crimes. He said he was the victim of a US and British conspiracy. The prosecution now begins its cross-examination in The Hague.
11/11/2009 12:00 am

Global News Blog Lubanga trial: Is an army of child soldiers a war crime?

Legal experts say the war crimes trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga is helping to curtail the practice, though child soldiers continue to fight in a number of conflicts.
10/08/2009 01:00 am

Sierra Leone verdict warns world's warlords

Rebel leaders Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, and Augustine Gbao were found guilty Wednesday on more than a dozen counts each of crimes against humanity.
02/27/2009 12:00 am

Denmark's hippie haven faces shutdown

Christiania has flown its own flag for decades now, but the Danish government and real estate interests say, Enough!
02/17/2009 12:00 am

For 'fufu' in Freetown, this African diner’s the place

Sadia Pratt – aka ‘Mama’ – runs a gem of Sierra Leonean cuisine not found in tour books.
10/20/2008 01:00 am

Sierra Leonean designer redefines African couture

For modern urban women hopping a bus or grabbing a cab, the head wrap and billowing fabric are literal stumbling blocks.
10/08/2008 01:00 am

Sierra Leoneans look for peace through full truth about war crime

Human rights activist John Caulker looks beyond the high-profile and costly prosecutions to village-level reconciliation.
07/08/2008 01:00 am