The disarmament and peace process in Sierra Leone is getting new impetus from a pilot programme in four chiefdoms that encourages communities to turn in small arms in return for support for local development projects. The initiative will also strengthen national weapons control measures. It builds on progress in disarmament since the 1999 Lome peace accords and the Abuja ceasefire agreement the following year that ended a devastating civil war.

Some 220,000 internally displaced Sierra Leoneans were resettled in their areas of origin by the end of 2002, according to UN figures, officially ending the situation of internal displacement in the country and further consolidating its recovery after more than a decade of devastating civil war. But many IDPs returned to areas with no basic infrastructure or social services in place, creating acute humanitarian needs and causing some to drift back to urban areas. Resettlement assistance was only provided for registered IDPs, not for the many thousands who were either unregistered, or who did not wish to be resettled for various reasons. Homelessness in the urban districts of Freetown has become a serious problem. This is according to the latest update for the country by the Global IDP Project.

The UN refugee agency has signed an agreement with the government of Sierra Leone and various non–governmental organisations (NGOs) to combat the deadly Lassa fever that has so far infected 80 people in the country's refugee camps and nearby host communities.

A man looked at a video screen on a camcorder in shock and wonder. He started crying. "That's my daughter in there," he said. "I had no idea that she was still alive." After learning that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was caring for her since her release by rebel forces in Sierra Leone, he begged her to come home. The IRC videotaped this plea to show his daughter, and eventually was able to reunite them.

Paul Kamara, founder and editor of the privately-owned daily For Di People, was released on 11 March after serving four months of a six-month sentence for libelling a judge. The authorities granted him two months' remission of sentence.

The Sierra Leone Special Court's announcement of its first seven indictments is a tremendous step forward for the cause of justice in Sierra Leone, Human Rights Watch says. The Sierra Leone Special Court Prosecutor, David Crane, has announced indictments against Foday Saybana Sankoh, Johnny Paul Koroma, Sam Bockarie, Issa Hassan Sesay, Alex Tamba Brima, Morris Kallon and Sam Hinga Norman, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law.

Kountaya camp exploded in song and dance last Saturday as Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugee women gathered at the camp in Guinea's Albadaria district to mark International Women's Day, which was observed all over the world on March 8.

At the conclusion of a week-long visit to Sierra Leone Under-Secretary-General Olara A. Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, has called upon the international community to continue to support the country in the peace-building period so that the impressive gains made so far in the rehabilitation and protection of war-affected children can be strengthened and sustained.

The purpose is to lead Oxfam GB's work in Sierra Leone by working with the Regional Management Centre and other organisations to bring about change through Oxfam's programme and influence.

Liberia's government said on Thursday that former Kamajor militiamen from Sierra Leone were fighting alongside the rebel Liberians United Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) in the western part of the country.

When the author Aminatta Forna returned to Rogbonko, the village in Sierra Leone where her late father was born, she found a community too poor to educate its children. So she decided to found a school.

The Sierra Leone TRC is currently looking for up to six investigators to work on a one year contract pursuing the objectives of the TRC, that is, the investigation of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law during the conflict in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 1999. The positions are rated at approximately the P4-P5 level, and salary can run up to about $7,000 per month. Please send c.v.s and other relevant information to [email][email protected]

A year after the official end of the decade-long war in Sierra Leone, the peace is enduring, but Christian Aid partners believe there is a long way to go before they can enjoy permanent peace. Abu Brima of Christian Aid partner Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) says: "The war can only really be over when we begin to address some of the root causes."

The widespread and systematic use of rape and other sexual violence during the ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone is documented in a new Human Rights Watch report. The 75-page report, "We'll Kill You If You Cry:" Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict, presents evidence of horrific abuses against women and girls in every region of the country by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as other rebel, government and international peacekeeping forces.

Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) must start serious work if it is to avoid losing the confidence of civil society and international donors.  There are still considerable problems with management issues, funding and, in particular, the performance of the commissioners and its partner, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Statement takers have been sent out this month to begin collecting stories from all citizens who wish to come forward, but this is just a first step. Civil society also must be brought back into the process to assist with education, to act as a watchdog and to encourage popular participation in the TRC, says the International Crisis Group.

CREDO, an international human rights organisation based in Senegal and London and focusing on work in Africa, has welcomed the swearing in of the judges of the Special War Crimes Court on Sierra Leone. However, the organisation says it is concerned at the waning enthusiasm of the international community and donor countries for the Truth and Reconciliation process in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone's youth believe that to achieve peace, degradation and instability must be eliminated from their communities and their everyday lives, according to a paper from the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and  Children. Recommendations from the paper include a need for increased support from the international community and increased access to education.

A 16-day campaign targeting violence against women was launched on Monday in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, by the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

The IRC seeks a Field Coordinator for its Sierra Leone program based in Kono to act as the senior staff member and represent IRC in an official capacity in the district.

The United Nations has launched a new initiative aimed at providing assistance to help more than 50 million people in 30 countries and regions of the world that are ravaged by armed conflicts and other crises. The United Nations is calling on the international community to provide over US$3 billion to help aid some 50 million people in "failed states" or in counties facing civil war or devastated by armed conflicts.