UNDP PRESS RELEASE The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sierra Leone is pleased to announce the relaunch of its website, which can be accessed by logging onto www.sl.undp.org. The main purpose of the ‘UNDP Sierra Leone’ website is to inform local and international media, opinion leaders, bi-lateral and multilateral donor agencies and the general public on the UNDP’s strive for accelerating progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The (...)

A teenager has been jailed for at least 30 years for the murders of a woman at a christening and a student teacher. Roberto Malasi, 18, stabbed Ruth Okechukwu, 18, to death in Walworth, south-east London, in September 2005. Two weeks earlier, he shot Zainab Kalokoh(photo), 33, in the head when his gang raided a christening party in Peckham, south London. Diamond, 17, and Timy Babamuboni, 15, and Jude Odigie, 16, were detained for at least eight years for manslaughter. Old Bailey judge (...)

The death is announced of the late Ya Amina Dainkeh of 28 Teko Road, Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone. She passed away on January 12, 2007 and is survived by her chidren: Mrs. Mariatu Turay, Mr. Ibrahim Dainkeh(Parisco)in USA, and Abdul Dainkeh of the Ministry of Works,Sierra Leone. Her step-chidren: Alhajie Alusine Dainkeh,Osman Dainkeh, Salamatu Dainkeh, Fatmata Dainkeh, Alusine Dainkeh, Mamoud Dainkeh,Saidu Dainkeh,Yeabu Dainkeh, Ibrahim Dainkeh (USA), Sidique Dainkeh,Kadiatu Dainkeh,Adams (...)

The United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), in collaboration with UNDP, UNAIDS and the Government of Sierra Leone, organized a three day training session for young women at the FAWE Skills Training Centre for Commercial Sex Workers in Lungi from 8 to 10 February 2007. During the workshop, 60 participants from a particularly vulnerable group of women in the society will be trained by representatives of the Government (...)

Radio listeners in Sierra Leone will be treated to a week of engaging live programming when the BBC World Service brings its interactive English for Africa programmes on the biggest ever roadshow to Bo, Freetown and Kenema starting Monday, 5 February. The roadshow celebrates the launch of two new BBC frequencies; 94.5 FM in Bo and 95.3 FM in Kenema. BBC Presenter, Farayi Mungazi, will discuss the sporting headlines with Sierra Leoneans and listeners across the continent on the popular BBC (...)

"Mr. Hanciles clearly is a writer to behold because he attempts to be a fine journalist or commentator on public affairs in some of his writings we have seen from time to time. But as we stated in our opening paragraph, he is presently making his stout allegations of defamation against the Mayor on tenuous grounds." By John Lansana Musa, USA. Oswald Hanciles, a contributor to the Patriotic Vanguard and other mass media, has alleged in a parenthetical allegation that Winstanley R Bankole (...)

Youth for Sierra Leone Improvement (YSLI) is hereby informing the general public/electorate, the government of Sierra Leone, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), all political parties, the Sierra Leone Association Of Journalists (SLAJ ), UNIOSIL, the UN Special Representative to Sierra Leone, the European Union, the US Embassy, the British High Commission in Sierra Leone, the Chinese Consulate, Amnesty International, the National (...)

PRESS RELEASE The trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor(photo) is slated to begin this spring, as ordered by a Judge of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. The case against Mr. Taylor, who is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the civil war in Sierra Leone from 1996 through 2002, will begin on June 4. At the Taylor Status Conference held on January 26 at the trial venue in The Hague, it was announced that the date for (...)

By Gibril Koroma, Vancouver, Canada. Barely a few days after the PMDC leadership announced the joining of their party by Hinga Norman and other former warring faction leaders, the Patriotic Vanguard has been reliably informed that yet another big fish in Sierra Leonean political circles is about to join that party. The PMDC North America Chairman, Dr. Baimba Kamara(photo) revealed this to me earlier today when I called him for an exclusive interview. Dr. Kamara, based in the USA, (...)

By Our Correspondent Freetown is the scene of a riot Saturday between some youths and the police. Apparently, a taxi cab driver was pouring a gallon of petrol into his taxi cab tank Saturday afternoon around Cole Farm,Wilkinson Road, when a policeman approached him and accused him of stealing the petrol. The cab driver rejected the accusation, intimating that he bought the petrol. He was pouring it into his tank because he had ran out of petrol. The policeman demanded that the (...)