Drug traffic fuels addiction in Sierra Leone

Jan 26 2013 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at Al Jazeera English on January 26, 2013.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – Leaning against a wall, his eyes red and glazed over, Patrick Hindowa described how he spends his days getting high. “I got no job here,” he explained. “Whatever [drugs] I’m going to be able to do, I’m going to do. Because I really don’t have nothing.”

Huddled at the end of a narrow alleyway downtown, Hindowa and two friends shared stories of addiction and life on the street.

“My mother died, my father died,” recalled Bakar Sesay. “Since then – since I was a kid – I chose the street life. Coke and all that.” The 20-year-old said that he has used drugs since he was seven.

The group listed heroin as their favourite, with freebased cocaine a close second. When hard drugs were not available, they turn to marijuana, alcohol, amphetamines, or prescription pills – anything, really. “From the time we wake up, ’till the time we go to sleep,” one said.

Substance abuse has long been a problem for the impoverished West African country. Throughout the 1990s, a civil war gained international notoriety for the role played by drug-fuelled teenagers, who committed atrocities and launched an anarchic attack on the capital. The effects of marijuana, alcohol, and amphetamines contributed to the violence. When the conflict ended in 2002, many combatants returned home addicted to those substances.

In recent years, harder drugs – cocaine and, to a lesser extent, heroin – have become increasingly available, authorities and health practitioners say. They blame West Africa’s growing role as a transit route for the global narcotics trade. Cocaine comes from Latin America and heroin from Southeast Asia, officials explained, and through such countries as Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The drugs then continue on to Europe and North America.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

Africa’s digital election trackers

Dec 12 2012 under International, sierra leone | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at Al Jazeera English on December 12, 2012.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – Harry Kargbo barely slept the night before Sierra Leone’s recent election for president. “I was so excited,” he said. “I was up until 1 AM the night before. I was thinking, ‘What will happen tomorrow? What will tomorrow look like?’”

Four hours later, Kargbo was up and out the door. Armed with nothing more than a mobile phone, he spent the next 10 hours navigating his way through a vehicle ban and police checkpoints, observing voting at polling stations around this West African country’s capital, Freetown, and reporting on what he saw using the basic text messaging function on his phone.

“It was an inspiration for me to cover the election of my country,” Kargbo said. “People’s perception of Sierra Leone is to know it as war-torn – the place of blood diamonds… So it was to change perceptions.”

The 24-year-old student was one of 45 citizen journalists who filed reports for Radar, a UK-based organisation that ran a training and monitoring project for Sierra Leone’s election on November 17. The text messages sent by volunteers such as Kargbo were directed by a Google Labs project to a Gmail account, where they were received and analysed by Radar’s team in the UK. The reports sent via SMS – the technology on which text messages are carried – were then posted to a Tumblr website, pegged to a Google Map, and disseminated on Twitter.

“I think it [SMS] is one of the most powerful tools that we have for transparency and accountability,” said Libby Powell, Radar’s founder. “Everybody has a phone in their pocket and therefore has the ability to send messages out. And on a digital, global level, it gives a chance for everybody to read about what is happening in places that they can’t easily visit.”

Electronic monitoring

Radar’s project is one of many examples of how a diverse range of information in sub-Saharan Africa – on everything from elections to regional drug shortages – is increasingly being monitored electronically. SMS and web-mapping services such as Google Maps are favourite tools for these efforts.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

Voices from election day in Sierra Leone

Dec 2 2012 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

On November 17, 2012, Sierra Leone held national elections that were largely peaceful and without major incidents. In the weeks before, during, and after the vote, I conducted dozens of interviews with every sort of stakeholder. Here are three memorable conversations that never made it into published articles.

“On election day, I was so excited. I was up to 1:00 a.m. the night before. I was thinking, ‘What will happen tomorrow? What will tomorrow look like?’ I was thinking about it until I fell asleep. At 5:30 a.m., I got up with my iPhone. I had charged it all night and it was fully charged. And then I went out. The first [polling] center I went to, I saw a large number of people in the queue. And it was 6:00 a.m. I said, ‘Wow, people are very happy to come out and vote. That is lovely. Because I can recall – in 1996, I was a very young boy. But I can recall that people were afraid to vote because they said that if you went out there to go and vote, your hand would be cut off. Because during that time, we were in the rebel war. But this time, a lot of people were out there….It was an inspiration for me to cover the election of my country.” – Harry Kargo, 24 years old, election observer for On Our Radar in Freetown.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

Transcript: Speech of Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma on the occasion of his swearing-in

Nov 25 2012 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

A transcript of remarks by Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma delivered on the occasion of his swearing-in at the State House on November 23, 2012. The speech was made shortly after it was announced by the National Electoral Commission that Koroma was elected to a second term in office.

Related content: “High hopes for Sierra Leone president’s second term,” published on November 24, 2012, at Al Jazeera English.

“Honorable Speaker of the House, my lady, the Chief Justice, members of the diplomatic and consular core, fellow Sierra Leoneans, by the grace of God, I have again been elected as your president. The people have spoken. And their collective will has prevailed. I give praise and thanks to the almighty god for the great honor bestowed upon me to lead this great nation for a second time.

“This is a win for every Sierra Leonean. And I thank Sierra Leoneans for bringing about this victory for the land that we love. Sierra Leoneans displayed maturity, patience, and tolerance during the elections. These are enduring Sierra Leonean values. And we must continue to display them to sustain our peace, our democracy, and our development.

“We deeply appreciate the commitment of the National Electoral Commission, the Political Party Registration Commission, and the security forces. Through the Constitution of this country, and the sacred tenants of democracy, peace and security. We also applaud the many other state agencies, domestic and international monitors, civil society groups, and the media, for their positive contributions to ensuring credible, transparent, and peaceful elections in the country.

“My fellow Sierra Leoneans, you have given me and my party – the All People’s Congress – the mandate to govern our country for the next five years. You endorsed the achievements we made with the Agenda for Change, and asked us to continue on with the Agenda for Prosperity. This is my new contract with you.”

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

High hopes for Sierra Leone president’s second term

Nov 24 2012 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at Al Jazeera English on November 24, 2012.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – Ernest Bai Koroma generally appeared at ease during his campaign for a second term as the president of Sierra Leone. Even when pushing crowds breached his entourage of bodyguards, the 59-year-old maintained a smile.

That confidence proved well-founded. Late Saturday, it was announced Koroma won 58.7 per cent of the vote – enough to avoid a runoff many anticipated he would have contest with opposition frontrunner Julius Maada Bio.

“You have given me and my party…the mandate to govern our country for the next five years,” Koroma said in a speech made shortly after results were released. “We will focus on creating jobs for youths and on training our youths to seize the immense employment opportunities we are creating.”

Koroma, a former insurance executive who entered politics in 2001, largely campaigned on the accomplishments of his first term in office.

His government is credited with rebuilding roads and restoring electricity to the capital and other cities after an 11-year civil war left infrastructure devastated. Foreign investors have started to return in recent years, promising much-needed tax revenue for the state and jobs for the country’s impoverished population of 5.5 million. And an initiative providing free healthcare for pregnant women, new mothers, and children under five has also proven popular.

Speaking at the State House, Koroma said that his government would continue with infrastructure projects and use his second term in office to bring paved roads and electricity to every region of the country. He also listed foreign investment and agriculture as priorities, and repeatedly emphasized a need to focus on youths.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

In photos: A peaceful election day in Sierra Leone

Nov 17 2012 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

Today the people of Sierra Leone voted in a democratic election that passed without any major incidents. It was the third national contest since the country emerged from an 11-year civil war that ended in 2002.

Hundreds of volunteers slept overnight at polling stations and people began lining up to vote as early as 2:00 a.m.

“I’m doing this to help my country,” said Chernor Bah, one of those volunteers who, since he is just 19 years old, was voting for the first time in his life. “This is for development. It is for our prosperity.”

When we started the day at 6:30 a.m. in Freetown’s west, the woman at the very front of the line was Degba Sesay, 74 years old. “Today, we feel fine,” she said. “No violence.”

Here’s a selection of photographs from around the capital city.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

Ghosts of civil war haunt Sierra Leone polls

Nov 16 2012 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at Al Jazeera English on November 16, 2012.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – Bashiru Conteh was one of thousands of child soldiers unwillingly drafted into a civil war that saw more than 50,000 people killed. It was 15 years ago and he was just a boy when he was forced to fight, but Conteh said that he remembers everything.

Ahead of elections on November 17, the young man recalled encounters “in the bush” with Eldred Collins, one of ten candidates running for president of Sierra Leone. During the war, Collins was the spokesperson for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the most notorious of several rebel groups that terrorized much of the country from 1991 to 2002.

The thought of Collins takes his mind back to the war, Conteh said.

“I see him with the red beret on his head, I see him in an open jeep, I see him with a couple of RUF fighters behind him, with their RPGs and their guns,” he recounted. “I still see him punishing fighters who refused to take commands. I see him giving orders to fighters to carry out attacks, and even commit atrocities like amputations, the burning of houses, and killings.”

Conteh, who lost his mother and father in the conflict, argued that the political manifestation of the RUF – the Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP) – has no place in the country’s fragile democracy. “It rekindles the bitterness, the pain, the agony that people went through during the 11 years of civil war,” he said.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

Sierra Leone Women Struggle to Be Heard

Nov 16 2012 under sierra leone | Leave a comment

Photo Damon van der Linde.

A version of this article was originally published at Think Africa Press on November 16, 2012.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – In 2009, Elizabeth Torto ran in an election for paramount chief of Kono District, Sierra Leone. Her father held the position before he passed away, as did his father, and Torto’s great grandfather before that.

“It was my inherited right that I be paramount chief,” she tells Think Africa Press. But there had never been a female chief of Kono. “There was violence,” Torto recalls, “the community divided. The United Nations intervened because of what they were hearing on the radio.”

Media reports from that time describe incidents in which members of the all-male Paro Society blocked roads leading out of the district capital of Koidu and attacked vehicles suspected of carrying Torto. The UN hastily facilitated a helicopter evacuation to Freetown.

Torto refused to give up, and took the matter to the courts. There, she encountered the same sort of opposition that had interrupted her campaign in Kono. “There was a judge. He said, ‘My hands are tied. This one comes from above,” Torto continues.

Reflecting on the situation, Torto says she wished she had known women in positions of power who she could have called on to assist her. “It would have made things much easier,” she concludes.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

Youths used as ‘pawns’ ahead of Sierra Leone polls

Nov 2 2012 under sierra leone | 1 Comment

A version of this article was originally published at Al Jazeera English on November 2, 2012.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – At the edge of a rally for Sierra Leone’s largest opposition party, a group of teenagers harassed people exiting taxis on their way to the march. The youths shouted slogans in support of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) and attempted to block their rivals’ way.

Mohamed Kaigbo, an 18-year-old dressed in the APC’s colours of red and white, said that all of his friends are planning to vote for President Ernest Bai Koroma when the election is held on November 17.

“We have light, water, and all these things that APC brought us,” Kaigbo continued. “We like APC. They take care of us.” The young man also said that he expects to receive SL$80,000 ($18) for each political rally he attends ahead of the vote.

Kaigbo explained that money, food, and alcohol, are provided by a local representative of the APC; in exchange, he ensures that his group of friends make a public show of their support.

Youths play one of the most-visible roles in Sierra Leone political campaigns. They run at the front of parades, host concerts where crowds dance to party anthems, and this year, took the lead in voter registration drives. They’re also widely blamed for violence during election seasons.

Youths throwing stones

On October 27, ten people were injured in what the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) described as APC youths throwing stones. The incident occurred in the diamond-rich area of Kono, a key swing district. The SLPP has also claimed that APC supporters stabbed two of its members in Freetown, the capital, as they made their way home from another party function held on the same day.

The European Union Election Observation Mission in Sierra Leone has identified possible violence as stakeholders’ ‘”main concern” threatening the electoral process. Advocates for youth argue that young people are not at fault. They maintain that political elites take advantage of a marginalised segment of society struggling with high rates of unemployment and poverty.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.

In Monrovia, Taylor supporters angry with a guilty verdict for a former Liberian president

Apr 26 2012 under liberia | 4 Comments

Today (April 26), the UN-backed international Special Court for Sierra Leone found former Liberian president Charles Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It was the first time since the Nuremberg trials that a former head of state has ever been convicted by an international court.

Taylor was accused of supporting and directing members of a rebel movement in neighbouring Sierra Leone during an 11-year civil war that left 50,000 dead.

A summary of the court’s judgement. And from the Guardian:

Between 1996 and 2002, the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which Taylor supported, was found by the court to have committed crimes involving terrorising civilian populations, murder, rape, sexual slavery and enforced amputations in Sierra Leone.

Judge Richard Lussick of Samoa said more than 1,000 children had the letters “RUF” carved into their backs to prevent them escaping. Children were used to amputate limbs, guard diamond mines and hunt for food. Some were involved in fighting.

….

Taylor continued privately fuelling the conflict by providing arms and ammunition to the RUF in Sierra Leone, the judge said. His clandestine dealing helped undermine the peace process even when there was a regional arms embargo in force.

I spent my morning in Monrovia waiting for the verdict at an impromptu rally of pro-Taylor supporters that formed nearby a BBC News camp.

To continue reading this post click the "Read more" link.