Illegal mining is continuing in the eastern region of Sierra Leone despite government efforts to ban the trade in 'conflict' diamonds.

Liberia's President, Charles Taylor, on Friday announced the reopening of its borders with neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea, the pro-government Radio Liberia International (RLI) reported.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned for the safety of seven Sierra Leonean journalists, all longtime critics of the government who received identical anonymous death threats during the last week.

The human rights group, Amnesty International (AI) in a new report, is urging the international community to honour its commitments to Sierra Leoneans and bring to justice the perpetrators of serious rights abuses there.

Fifteen months after British troops intervened in the Sierra Leone crisis, much has changed for the better. To achieve this, the British, who ruled Sierra Leone as a colony until its independence in 1961, have established what amounts to a de facto trusteeship.

Government soldiers and rebels in Sierra Leone are no longer restless since a ceasefire agreement signed last November ended 10 years of civil war. “It’s been like paradise since that time,” said Sule Musa, editor of the independent newspaper, the Advisor.

Seventy-nine former child combatants of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) were returned to their families on Tuesday in Kailahun, after spending six weeks at an interim care centre run by Save the Children Fund (SCF)-UK.

Former refugees reluctant to return to their homes in Kono District, eastern Sierra Leone, have agreed to temporary relocation to the southern area of Taiama, UNHCR Information Officer Isa Blyden told IRIN on Friday.

Recent atrocities against civilians in two districts of northern and eastern Sierra Leone are the most serious in several months, Human Rights Watch said today. These atrocities include the killing of over twenty civilians by pro-government militias.

With a ban on diamond mining in Sierra Leone, announced 18 July, hopes abound that there will now be an end to violence. But the diamond trade is deeply entrenched and some doubt that the ban will work. A Gemini New Service correspondent reports from Kenema - in the heart of Sierra Leone's 'blood diamond' mining region.

Rape and other forms of sexual abuse are becoming more common in Sierra Leone, and greater numbers of young victims are reporting their experience to the authorities, Gladys Brima, one of the founding members of a recently established Women's Help Line (WHL), told IRIN on Thursday.

Another 83 fighters from opposing sides in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war disarmed on Thursday, marking the resumption of the stalled process in the eastern district of Kono, The UN Mission in Sierra Leone reported.

The United States is to give US$5 million to a special United Nations fund to help kick start a proposed Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal during its first year.

Disarmament of ex-fighters from Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front is raising hopes that children forced into service with the anti-government group will finally win their freedom.

The Rival militia began disarming in the diamond-rich eastern town of Koidu on Monday in a 26-day effort which, observers said, will mark a decisive phase in ending Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war if it is sustained.

Chiefdoms in southern and eastern Sierra Leone will soon receive tens of thousands of dollars as their share of proceeds from the sale of diamonds mined in their region, Mineral Resources Minister Mohammed Deen told IRIN on Thursday.

Sierra Leone's Catholic Church has launched an international appeal for funds to rebuild the education sector, the Missionary News Agency (MISNA) reported on Tuesday. Aid is needed most in the northern and eastern provinces, where fighting destroyed many private and public school buildings, MISNA quoted the Bishop of the northern town of Makeni, Giorgio Biguzzi, as saying.

The football matches, parade, arts and craft exhibition and dance that marked World Refugee Day in Danane, 600 km west of Abidjan, may have allowed the many Liberians and Sierra Leoneans there to escape for just a while from the harsh reality of displacement. The relaxed atmosphere offered the refugees a sneak peek into what most are looking for: a life free of insecurity and instability.

The World Diamond Council, representing all segments of the global diamond industry, has joined 100 international human rights groups, in calling for swift passage of legislation to bar US imports of diamonds from conflict areas.