Sierra Leone marks anniversary of mudslide tragedy

Sierra Leone marks anniversary of mudslide tragedy

President Julius Maada Bio paid respects to the victims and families of Sierra Leone’s 2017 landslide tragedy, promising during the memorial events to create a National Disaster Preparedness and Management Agency to prevent future catastrophes. “Today, we remember all our brothers, sisters and children who lost their lives in this…

Sierra Leone cracks down on corruption, APC officials arrested

In Sierra Leone, former vice president Victor Foh and former mines minister Mansaray Minkailu were arrested Thursday as part of new President Julius Maada Bio’s aggressive crackdown on corruption. Despite claims that the arrests are politically motivated, Maada Bio – the Sierra Leone People’s Party candidate elected in a disputed…

Sierra Leone: Maada Bio inauguration marred by stampede

In Sierra Leone, at least one person has died and another 20 were injured during the inauguration ceremony for President Julius Maada Bio in Freetown on Saturday. “The death figure may rise because we are still taking injured people from the stadium,” a Red Cross official, Unisa Carew, told Agence…

Maada Bio wins Sierra Leone election

Julius Maada Bio, the opposition candidate of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), has won the country’s presidential election runoff with 51.8 percent of the votes, the National Election Commission (NEC) announced late Wednesday. Maada Bio received 1,319,406 votes, narrowly defeating All People’s Congress (APC) candidate Samura Kamara, who took 48.2 percent…

Sierra Leone set to move ahead with delayed runoff election

Officials in Sierra Leone will hold the runoff presidential election originally planned for today on Saturday, following a last-minute High Court ruling that allows the voting to proceed. While a decision was welcome news to the National Election Commission, it also meant a delay because of the logistics required, said…

Sierra Leone to see Kamara, Maada Bio runoff election

Sierra Leone will hold a runoff election between the top two presidential contenders on March 27, now that last week’s results are tallied and it’s clear that neither leading candidate picked up the necessary 55 percent of the vote. Mohamed Conteh, chairman of the National Election Commission, announced the results…

Opposition cries foul as Sierra Leone tallies votes

The vote count remains under way in Sierra Leone, where election officials report a relatively smooth process – but there’s no results so far, and at least some disputes over just how well the election went. “Because we value accuracy above speed, there may be times when the tally takes…