Hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans may not be allowed to vote in forthcoming elections because of shortcomings within the recently ended registration process, the NGO Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) said on Friday.

As the name implies, Monitor, a project of the Campaign for Good Governance, has been closely monitoring the registration process with a nation-wide team that observed nearly one thousand centers in all the districts except Kambia.

At least 5,000 Sierra Leoneans and Liberians arrived at the border town of Jendema, after fleeing fighting between Liberian government troops and dissidents, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Monday.

Internally displaced women and girls suffered high rates of rape and other abuses during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said in a report released on Wednesday. The report, 'War-Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone: A Population-Based Assessment', said 53 percent of displaced women and girls who had "face to face" contact with Revolutionary United Front (RUF)rebels experienced some form of sexual violence.

The United Nations and Sierra Leone's government on Wednesday agreed to establish a unique war crimes tribunal to try those most responsible for atrocities in a civil war noted for its horrific treatment of civilians, particularly children.

If the Special Court for Sierra Leone is to tackle impunity effectively and fairly and contribute to the peace and reconciliation process, the independence of the prosecutor must be assured and monitored, adequate and sustained funding must be guaranteed, and a clear relationship between the Special Court and Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established," Amnesty International has said.

A symbolic weapons burning ceremony took place at Lungi, north of the capital Freetown, on Friday to mark the end of a decade of civil conflict in Sierra Leone. During the event 3,000 weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were destroyed, Francis Kai-Kai, Executive Secretary of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, told IRIN on Friday.

A visiting UN team has begun a series of meetings in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on "practical arrangements for the establishment and operation" of a special war crimes court in the West African country, the UN News service reported on Tuesday.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has authorised a war crimes tribunal to be set up in Sierra Leone despite a big shortfall in funding pledges from the world body's member-nations.

More than 3,500 Sierra Leonean returnees have finally been repatriated to their place of origin, in Kambia district northwest Sierra Leone. "Their return home means that peace has really returned to Sierra Leone," a UNHCR press release on Thursday quoted a woman from the hosting village in Lungi's Lokomasama Chiefdom, north of the capital Freetown as saying.

Armed fighters of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) were reportedly heading for Kungbor town on the Sierra Leonean border area in an attempt to regroup, a government statement said on Sunday.

The highly energetic surgeon will be a self-starter whose skills complements the dynamic Sierra Leone surgical programs. Provide and coordinate training in trauma and emergency care for relevant hospital staff.

Issues surrounding the withdrawal of Guinean troops from their base near Koindu in eastern Kailahun District of Sierra Leone, will have to be resolved by the governments of the two countries, according to the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

The chairman of the Political and Peace Council of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Omrie Golley, told IRIN on Tuesday that he has put his resignation on hold following "various pressures" from some quarters within and outside Sierra Leone.

Politicians, former rebels and civil society representatives have given the thumbs up to a new election system in Sierra Leone at a three-day national consultative meeting in the capital, Freetown.

Sierra Leone's government and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels agreed on Thursday to take "immediate action to facilitate fast disarmament" in all the country's districts by 30 November, a statement from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) said.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) last week distributed over 1,000 metric mt of food under various programmes in Guinea. The bulk of the supplies - more than 600 mt - went to refugees in the southwestern region of Kissidougou. Other recipients included children and pregnant and nursing women in nutritional centres in Albadaria, north of Kissidougou, and internally displaced persons in the eastern area of Kerouane, WFP said on Friday.

A top government official in Sierra Leone was arrested with his wife Thursday on accusations they smuggled diamonds out of the West African nation, officials said.

Sierra Leone's transport and communications minister was arrested with his wife Thursday on accusations of diamond smuggling in the war-ruined West African nation, officials said.