Sierra-leone - Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community

The height of gender discrimination, Sierra Leone woman barred from becoming chief

Gilbert — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:59:33 +0000

Members of a Sierra Leone traditional group have besieged a woman’s house and stopped her from going home after she launched a legal bid to become a chief. Elizabeth Simbiwa Sogbo-Tortu was barred from an election to the chiefdom because she...

Sierra Leone police enlist youth volunteers as young as 10 years

Ivan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:07:26 +0000

Sierra Leone has launched an initiative to enlist boys as young as 10 as crime-fighting volunteers in Freetown. Police chief Chris Charley said the capital, which is blighted by rampant criminality, would be divided into 860 zones with 10...

Peace Corps to return to Sierra Leone

John — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:53:46 +0000

U.S. and Sierra Leone government officials have agreed to re-establish a Peace Corps program in Sierra Leone after a 15-year absence, the Peace Corps said Monday. Glenn Fedzer, the charge d’affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Freetown, and...

Flooding claims 187 lives in west Africa

Ademola — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:05:02 +0000

Flash floods have claimed 187 lives and affected 635,273 people in west Africa since the rainy season started in June, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced on Tuesday. The nation with the highest death toll,...

221 Missing After Sierra Leone Boat Capsizes

CJ — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:50:43 +0000

Sierra Leone — More than 200 people, including many schoolchildren returning from holidays, were missing and feared dead Thursday, a day after a boat capsized at sea, authorities said. Thirty-nine passengers have been rescued so far off the...

Singing to Stop the Fighting in Sierra Leone

Kunal — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:56:03 +0000

On a gray and rainy Saturday, five young men are gathered at the Body Guard music studio in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. The modest one-story building has only two rooms and no sign out front. Inside, the walls are lined with a velveteen...

Blood diamond scheme is failing - Is somebody listening?

Takudzwa — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:58:24 +0000

The Kimberley Process certification scheme, which aims to stop the use of diamonds to fund conflict, is failing, according to a campaign group.

Warming outstripping Africa’s ability to feed itself

Earnest — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:01:23 +0000

By mid-century, climate change may have outrun the ability of Africa’s farmers to adapt to rising temperatures, threatening the continent’s precarious food security, warns a new study. Growing seasons throughout nearly all of Africa in...

Soccer Team Stuns Sierra Leone -- By Coming Home

Mary — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:24:16 +0000

A boys’ soccer team from Sierra Leone won silver at a tournament in Sweden, but were hailed as champions in their poor West African homeland — because they all came...

Zain rebrands Celtel Africa operations

Frederick — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:13:16 +0000

Zain Group has rebranded its entire Africa operations from Celtel to Zain. The move brings the mobile operator’s Middle East and African mobile operations under the same name. Two-thirds of the firm’s over 50 million customers are in...