On 21 May 2008, the Independent Media Commission (IMC), Sierra Leone's media regulatory body, cleared Unity Radio, a station operated by the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), of four allegations of misconduct. MFWA's correspondent reported that the decision was made after Unity Radio was forcibly shut down on 8 May on the orders of the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo.

The decision by Sierra Leone’s war crimes court to reject sentence reductions for two convicted militia members because they fought for a “legitimate cause” is crucial in ensuring justice for all victims of human rights violations, Human Rights Watch has said.

Political parties in Sierra Leone have underscored their commitment to holding peaceful local council elections in July at an inter-party dialogue meeting hosted by the United Nations. The main political parties in Sierra Leone have agreed to refrain from engaging in “any activity which is detrimental to the holding of a peaceful election.”

Unity Radio, a station run by the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), was on May 8, 2008 shut down on the orders of the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the closure according to Kargbo, was due to the installation of an illegal antenna which disturbed the transmission of other radio stations, and the fact that SLPP did not go through the right procedures to register Unity Radio.

Police in Sierra Leone have detained a former government ombudsman on corruption charges, authorities said on Friday, in the first high-level arrest since a new government took office last year pledging to tackle graft.

The report "Country at a Crossroads: Challenges Facing Young People in Sierra Leone Six Years after the War" is based on the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children's February 2008 visit to Sierra Leone to look at young people's needs, what services appear to be working and what more is needed. Country at a Crossroads
highlights how six years after the war, young people in Sierra Leone continue to lack opportunities and face barriers to achieving quality education.

How can aid effectiveness in Sierra Leone be improved? This European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) report reveals piecemeal progress in improving aid effectiveness. It focuses on issues of accountability and ownership to analyse who sets the policy agenda and identify obstacles to the development of an accountable, democratic and country-driven aid system.

Journalists in Sierra Leone are challenging laws that criminalize free speech and authorize prison terms of up to seven years for those who criticize the government. The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) filed the lawsuit with the country's Supreme Court last week, seeking to overturn Sierra Leone's criminal libel and false news laws. The laws allow prison sentences for expression that "excite(s) disaffection" against the government or "injure(s) the reputation" of the government or individual officials.

Sierra Leone's war crimes court on Friday rejected an appeal by three former militia leaders against long jail sentences handed down last July for atrocities committed during the former British colony's civil war. "The court finds no reason to interfere (with the sentences)," Presiding Judge George Gelaga King told the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Muhamed Oury Bah, freelance Sierra Leonean journalist and former reporter of banned Banjul-based The Independent newspaper has fled The Gambia in the face of persecution by agents of the notoriously feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Bah and his family fled The Gambia on January 20, 2008 following repeated physical attacks, and threats against his life.

Five districts in the country will soon benefit from a health service project, themed "strengthening district health services in Sierra Leone", funded by the African Development Bank - AfDB- and the government of Sierra Leone. This was disclosed by the Sierra Leone Ministry Of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) during the launching on Wednesday January 30, this year, at the Miatta Conference Hall in the capital Freetown.

Fire fighters have so far recovered the bodies of at least 17 people who were killed as a result of three separate explosions in the centre of the capital Freetown. The blasts also caused the hospitalisation of five other seriously injured people. It is not clear what might have cause the explosion which happened in shop belonging to a Lebanese trader jammed with people busy buying second-hand clothing. Early reports said a gas leakage might have caused the blasts. Most Sierra Leoneans depend on gas cookers for cooking.

Sierra Leone’s economy has, over the years, relied heavily on the mining sector in general and diamonds in particular. However, between 1991 and 2000 the country was comprehensively destroyed in a brutal civil war that engulfed the West African state. Seven years after the war was declared over, the country is still struggling to reactivate economic activities from yesteryear - despite praise from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for its economic progress during the post-conflict transition.

Former president of Sierra Leone, Mr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, will lead the Commonwealth Observers Group (COG) in the elections. Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Don McKinnon, announced on Thursday that the former president would lead a team of observers composed of 13 eminent persons drawn from 11 Commonwealth countries. He added that the observers would be in the country from December 18 to January 1.

Sierra Leone's new president has asked the country's anti-corruption body to probe ex-government ministers and other senior officials for alleged graft. Ernest Bai Koroma said this would set an example by making all accountable. He made the announcement after being presented with an audit into the state of corruption in Sierra Leone.

Suspects belonging to both the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC) and the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples' Party (SLPP), 17 in all, have been released from police custody in Kono, eastern Sierra Leone. Suspects belonging to both the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC) and the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples' Party (SLPP), 17 in all, have been released from police custody in Kono, eastern Sierra Leone.

Liberia is granting citizenship to 2,600 Sierra Leonean refugees who chose to stay in the country after the end of a 10-year civil war back home, a government official has said. The refugees, who will go through a process of naturalisation, started receiving portions of farmland this week being dished out at Bensonville, 60 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of the capital.

Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma promised "zero tolerance" on Thursday for corruption in his country after a leaked government report said rampant official graft had swallowed up donor funds. Speaking at his formal inauguration in Freetown, the 54-year-old former insurance executive called for a change of attitude in the West African state to leave behind nearly two decades of poverty and conflict.

Six years after the end of the conflict in Sierra Leone, little has been done to ensure that survivors of sexual violence receive justice, acknowledgment of their suffering, or full, meaningful and effective reparations. The unimaginable brutality of violations committed against up to a third of Sierra Leone’s mostly rural women and girls has been well documented; however the government has failed to effectively address the physical, psychological and economic impact of these crimes on the survivors.

At a mass rally held in Makeni in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone, Amnesty International members and hundreds of other local activists called on the newly elected government of Sierra Leone to commit to ensuring justice and full reparations for the tens of thousands of Sierra Leonean women who have been the victims of sexual violence.