Sierra Leone

U.N. Birthday Rocks for Its Peacemakers

Jim Luce | Posted 11.06.2009 | New York

Read More: India, Aterciopelados, Summer Olympics Beijing 2008, U.N. Department of Public Information, Emmanuel Jal, U.N. Day Concert 2009 a Tribute to Peacekeeping, Humanitarian, Shankhar Mahadevan, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, The War Against War, Angelique Kidjo, Cnn International, Jayashri Wyatt, Sierra Leone, Global Citizens, Wyclef Jean, Lauren Saffa, U.N. Secretary General, Norway, Lang Lang, Salman & Samina Global Wellness Initiative, Earth Wind and Fire, Xian Song & Dance Troupe, Africa, Zahir Hussain, Senegal, Leonardo Dicaprio, Cotonou, U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operation, Oslo, Education Sans Mutilation, Wikipedia, Rwanda, Melissa Etheridge, Sting, South Asia, Berlin Philharmonic, Entwined Twins, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Pakistan, Isha Sesay, Culture Project, You Are Not Alone, Amnesty International, Blood Diamond, Shrinivas Uppalapu, Julianne Hoffenberg, John Mahavishnu McLaughlin, Benin, New York, Junoon, Barack Obama, Time 100, Colombia, Killing Me Softly, Ghatam, The First Time Ever, General Assembly, Salman Ahmad, Fisher Stevens, Interfaith Dialogue, Thought Leaders, Steven Lawrence, China, Bbc, Allan Buchman, National Geographic, Day-O, United Nations, Jim Luce, Harry Belafonte, Paris, Injustice, Vienna Philharmonic, Sudan, She Mama Africa, Selvaganesh Vinayakaram, Malaika, Cancion Protesta, John Lee, Sister Fa, Samir Chatterjee, Blue Helmets, Roberta Flack Singing, War Child Film, Berlin, Grammy-Award, Mridangam, Cross-Cultural Dialogue, Nile Rodgers, Indi-Jazz Fusion, Afghanistan, Kanjira, Eleanor Roosevelt, Freedom of Expression Award, Nobel Peace Prize, We Are the World, Alain Le Roy, God Grew Tired of Us, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, The Price of Silence, Two Sheps That Pass., Female Genital Mutilation, Emma McCune, Orphans International Worldwide, Haiti, New York Times, U.N. Peacekeepers, Swahili, Alicia Keys, Hutu-Tutsi Conflict, Sufi Rock, Remember Shakti, Michael Owen, USA for Africa, New York News

Jim Luce

Flashbulbs popping non-stop, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations in New York, entered the U.N. General Assembly Hall in New ...

Shine On Sierra Leone: Building Sustainable, Permanent Schools And Houses

Tiffany Persons | Posted 11.04.2009 | Impact


Tiffany Persons

In 2006, I saw an article about earth-bag building. I was thrilled that we could use this method for the schoolhouse we were planning to build in Sierra Leone. But then our plans changed.

Somali pirates: Behind the news

WorldFocus.org | WorldFocus.org | Posted 10.19.2009 | Home


Connie Kargbo is an associate producer at Worldfocus and a native of Sierra Leone.  She writes here of the story behind Somali piracy. There is news...

Vermont Funeral-Home Owner Gives Big To Hospitals, Orphanage

Huffington Post | Jonathan Daniel Harris | Posted 10.15.2009 | Impact


Don Smith doesn't have a single cause. His friend refers to him as a "strategic philanthropist." This Burlington, Vermont, funeral-home owner and oper...

West Africa: Flooding Claims 187 Lives, Says UN

AFP | Posted 09.22.2009 | World


DAKAR (AFP) Flash floods have claimed 187 lives and affected 635,273 people in west Africa since the rainy season started in June, the UN Office for t...

221 Missing After Sierra Leone Boat Capsizes

AP | CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY | Posted 11.10.2009 | World


FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — More than 200 people, including many schoolchildren returning from holidays, were missing and feared dead Thursday, a d...

Bajah & The Dry Eye Crew Give Voice to the Voiceless in Sierra Leone

Modiba | Posted 08.31.2009 | World


Modiba

This is HuffPost World's regular feature that highlights interesting musicians and musical trends around the world. Know of a great musician doing g...

Ex-Liberian leader denies looting Sierra Leone

AP | ARTHUR MAX | Posted 08.20.2009 | Home


Former Liberian President Charles Taylor issued a challenge at his war crimes trial Monday to find any bank account owned by him holding illicit funds or "blood diamonds" from the civil war in Sierra Leone.

In his second week of testimony in his defense, Taylor denied any role in forming the guerrilla force that invaded Sierra Leone in 1991, that he helped plan the rebel incursion, that he trained the rebel forces or that he commanded their operations.

"I was never involved. It's a lie," he told the U.N-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone sitting in The Hague.

Taylor is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture and recruiting child soldiers for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, whose signature crime was to amputate civilians' limbs, ears and noses to intimidate the population into submission.

He is the first African head of state to be brought before an international court for war crimes.

Why The ICC Should Speak Out on Iran

Christopher Santora | Posted 08.17.2009 | World


Christopher Santora

Of the many criticisms levied against the international community's efforts to promote accountability, perhaps the most pervasive critique is a rather simple one -- the lack of consistency.

Charles Taylor: Nothing Wrong With Displaying Human Skulls At Roadblocks, Symbol Used At Western Universities Too

AP | MIKE CORDER | Posted 08.16.2009 | World


THE HAGUE, Netherlands — In an unusual defense against war crimes charges, former Liberian President Charles Taylor told judges Thursday that he...

Charles Taylor War Crimes Defense Begins

AP | MIKE CORDER | Posted 08.13.2009 | World


THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will take the stand to assert that he was trying to bring peace to Sierra Leon...

Senator Leahy Holds the Future of the Peace Corps in His Hands

Laurence Leamer | Posted 08.06.2009 | Politics


Laurence Leamer

Thursday, Leahy will have the power to give birth to a bold new Peace Corps or possibly to destroy that dream forever.

It's Time to Make Mothers a Priority

Sia Nyama Koroma | Posted 08.03.2009 | World


Sia Nyama Koroma

Maternal mortality has sadly become the rule not the exception. But this can change. We have the knowledge and the skills to deliver -- we just need the political will and resources to support us.

The Dance of the Child Soldiers

John Feffer | Posted 07.17.2009 | World


John Feffer

David Alan Harris, a choreographer and therapist, tells the riveting story of how young men in Sierra Leone, who show no outward emotion about their past atrocities, slowly come to terms with their experiences -- through dance.

Charles Taylor Converts To Judaism, Who Could Be Worse? (POLL)

Huffington Post | Posted 07.06.2009 | World


Via Foreign Policy, one of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor's wives told BBC Radio today that her husband is converting to Judaism. He will pr...

Pulitzer Prize 2009 Winners List

AP | The Associated Press | Posted 05.21.2009 | Media


The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists: JOURNALISM:...

Violence Against Press Often Goes Unpunished And Unsolved In 14 Countries

AP | JOHN HEILPRIN | Posted 04.23.2009 | Media


UNITED NATIONS — Gunmen on motorcycles riddled Lasantha Wickramatunga's windscreen with bullets on his way to work in January. The 52-year-old S...

Genital Mutilation: African Women Risk Lives To Fight For Others

The Independent | Katrina Manson | Posted 03.30.2009 | World


The female journalist was snatched by members of a secret society, forcibly stripped and made to parade naked through the streets. It might sound like...

Boy Soldier Defends His Book

AP | HILLEL ITALIE | Posted 03.28.2008 | Media


NEW YORK — Ishmael Beah, author of a best-selling memoir about his time as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, disputes newspaper reports that he had...