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WELCOME TO THIS EDITION |
....AND ALSO TO THIS ONE |
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Remembering January 6,
1999 and how hell was let loose on Sierra Leone |
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....AND HOW THE "INDEPENDENT
JOURNALISTS" WERE FORCED OUT INTO THE OPEN... |
...Africa's history over the
last fifty years has been blighted by two areas of weakness.
These have been capacity - the ability to design and deliver
policies; and accountability - how well a state answers to its
people. Improvements in both are first and foremost the
responsibility of African countries and people.....Africa
Report
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LEST WE
FORGET - A GOOD JOB BY CONCORD TIMES NEWSPAPER
Colleagues at the Concord
Times
newspaper must be praised for organising a memorial
lecture that brings to life the work of a colleague,
James Oguoguo
who was targeted and killed by junta operatives during
their murderous January 1999 campaign against civilians
and all those they perceived as enemies.
Journalists
perceived to be supportive of the democratic process and
had condemned the May 25, 1997 take-over by the junta
were favourite targets as were Nigerian civilians and
woe betide you should you combine both qualities as
James did. James Oguoguo was a Nigerian and a journalist
who had settled in Sierra Leone and was a keen
commentator on issues affecting the country. He was
marked for death.....and even after all this, the
anti-Nigerian sentiment reared its ugly head again when
even though the APC party led by Ernest Bai Koroma had
been declared the winner in the 2007 elections,
Nigerians and their property were attacked and
comprehensively looted. Why this anti-Nigeria feeling?
Because it was the Nigerian-led ECOMOG forces that
prevented the massive slaughter of civilians when the
junta seized power on May 25, 1997. Had ECOMOG withdrawn
as demanded by the junta, Rwanda on a ratio scale, would
have been like just another Sunday picnic!!!! So now you
have an idea just why AFRC Mk 11 led by Ernest Bai
Koroma was not that keen to be reminded of the
atrocities committed by "persons" he's so desperate to
protect - like Idrissa Kamara aka Leatherboot.
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BEIJING
2008 - THE OLYMPIC GAMES
As the
Beijing Olympics
draw to a close the Sierra Herald salutes the winners
and losers - more especially those losers who took
defeat on
the
chin knowing that at the end of the day, winners and
losers will, in true traditional sense, live to compete
another day in true sporting spirit. And we pay a very
special tribute to the Chinese - for organising such a
wonderful and we daresay awesome experience that kept TV
viewers all over the globe glued to the screen. We
salute the Chinese for graciously accepting the judges
reversal after Team GB launched a protest against their
female Taekwondo double Olympic champion and a star in
her own rights 25 year old
Chen Zhong. We think the "most un-gentlemanly"
conduct medal has to be awarded to Cuba's
Angel Matos in the same sport who lost it and is now
banned for life as reports the Guardian.
And may we ask,
whatever happened to the Sierra Leone contingent and
dream? With just 2 athletes accompanied by 6 or more
officials, little wonder that one website commenting on
the chances of Sierra Leone getting a medal noted - "Beijing
Outlook: Sierra Leone is not expected to
contend for a medal at the Beijing Games"
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Breaking News- Monday August 18
- Pakistan's President Pervez
Musharraf resigns.
Pakistan's former
military strong man General Pervez
Musharraf has in an unexpected move,
resigned. This he stated, in a
nation-wide broadcast to the nation
as analysts jockey to predict what
happens next. People power at work
and a warning to President Ernest
Koroma and his "Task Force" that
there's a limit to what the people
can stomach. Here was a man who had
survived at least three
assassination attempts, who believed
he had the support of the men in
uniform, but when the time came, he
saw the signs and decided to
announce that he was leaving
prompting joyous outbursts in areas
of the opposition as well as
creating a sombre moment for
reflection on what happens next in
the West's fight against groups
thought to be bent on the
destruction of Western values and
way of life. No one expected today's
announcements and indeed there are
suggestions that he could have opted
for this line of action to avoid
impeachment proceedings by his
political opponents. Whether this
will satisfy those baying for his
blood remains to be seen but
observers tend to think that in a
somewhat bizarre move, this could be
another demonstration of Musharraf's
"commitment to democracy".
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11 years ago today
in 1997 - We remember
the many who were killed, raped and brutalised by the AFRC/RUF coalition of evil otherwise known as the beasts
It was on this day, August 18,
eleven years ago in 1997 during junta occupation that beasts in human forms calling themselves operatives
of the unrecognised thing which was passing itself as a
government showed another side of its true colour.
Students had vowed that despite threats they were going
out on the streets all over the country to protest
against the massive human rights violations that were
being committed against what was effectively a hostage
civilian population. They were calling for the
re-instatement of the barely one year old civilian
government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and
condemning the illegal junta for ousting the
democratically-elected government. What followed was raw
terror visited upon students, anyone who looked like a
student and indeed anyone who was believed to be
supporting the student action. Up to this day, no one
knows exactly how many were killed, raped, dispossessed
or traumatised beyond imagination. It was during those
days of sheer terror that Allieu Kamara, junta spokesman
went on the BBC to tell the world that students had been
found in possession of AK-47 rifles.
On this day, August 18,
let us remember all those who perished, who were
subjected to acts of sheer terror and deprivation by
drug-infused gangs of the junta. Let us pray for the
sweet repose of the dead and continue to pray that the
Good Lord in His mercies will continue to comfort
surviving victims.
And among those who
planned and carried out this assault on students and
other civilians is a beast hand-picked by President
Ernest Bai Koroma to feed off the sweat of those he had
murdered, tortured, dispossessed and raped - junta
activist Idrissa Kamara aka Leatherboot. Not true? Then
let there be an investigation into the activities of
this killer who was also implicated in the murder of
protesters around Foday Sankoh's residence.
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THAT
RECENT STATE HOUSE ATTACK ON JOURNALISTS - NOT THAT
STRANGE UNDER JUNTA RULE IN 1997.....SO LIKE AFRC LIKE
THE ERNEST KOROMA ADMINISTRATION? WE HOPE NOT.... 
Quite a lot has been said
and written about the police attack on journalists at
State House who went to cover one event. It was sad,
very sad and unfortunate, but then if you were to
analyse all the operatives of the Ernest Koroma
government, you would notice that what is posing as a
democratic government is in reality, the AFRC/RUF beasts
of no nation minus its RUF component. Be so good as to
ask one survivor, Kelvin Lewis, Editor of the AWOKO
newspaper how he was detained, harassed and threatened
when he went to cover an event at State House during
junta rule. He could well have disappeared, but for the
timely intervention of the late A K Sesay who had been a
respected member of the Njala University College
fraternity during his college days. So like the junta in
1997, so would this Ernest Koroma thing evolve into
another lawless, vile and anti-people set-up if the
people fail to check the excesses of the present
administration. And do not believe any apologist who
claims that Ernest Koroma is not aware of these cases of
violence and intimidation. You can bet your bottom
dollar that he is a part and parcel of all that goes on
under his watch!!!!
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SOMETHING GOOD, SOMETHING WORTH YOUR WHILE AND SOMETHING
FOR YOUR LIBRARY
A booklet dealing with the
mother country's history has now been released.
Titled
"Sierra Leone - The milestones in the history of a
country in important date from 500 BC to 1902 AD", the
compiler of this publication states that the booklet has
been put together as a means of learning about the
history of Sierra Leone in the important dates. Arnold
Awooner Gordon, the author believes that at one time
Sierra Leoneans could be found heading the civil service
in Nigeria, Ghana and the Gambia. Sierra Leone merchants
chartered ships and traded between the United Kingdom
and West Africa and was one of the first West African
countries to train other Africans in professions such as
medicine, law etc"
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Proverbs 22:29
“Seest thou a
man diligent in his business? He shall stand before
kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”

And so do we, at the Sierra Herald say
"Hearty Congratulations" to Kelvin Lewis, Editor of the
AWOKO newspaper for his untiring effort to
make the work of staff and himself not only wholesome,
but would give readers just the kind of newspaper this
humble son of the soil had always desired.
Here is a man who throughout the troubles in Sierra
Leone persevered after so many personal horrors visited
upon him including his incarceration in a metal
container at Cockerill during junta rule after he had
his back slashed by a drug-infused machete-wielding
junta thug on August 18, 1997. Here is a man who braved
all the odds to save all within his reach including
mother Mrs Harolda Lewis when beasts in human form
attempted to raze Freetown to the ground, putting all in
their way to the sword. Kelvin Lewis survived it all and
today the Sierra Herald is proud to be associated with
his newspapers and his efforts to make things better.
Whoever said good things cannot come out of the mother
country?
Congratulations
and long may the Good Lord in His mercies reward you and
yours for all the good work you continue to do in the
mother country.
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GOOD
NEWS DOES COME OUT OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY - THE STORY OF
ALIE KAMARA 
The Freetown-based "AWOKO"
newspaper has, on its online edition this week, a story
which is bound to bring joy, immense joy to the faces
and hearts of the good and well-meaning. According to
the AWOKO report, PIKIN BIZNESS, a philanthropist
organisation based in Freetown saw the plight of Alie
Kamara and did all it could to save the life of one more
Sierra Leonean still in his teens. Good show PIKIN
BIZNESS and the Sierra Herald would urge other
organisations and individuals to emulate this kind of
noble venture that helps the less-privileged in the
mother country. All thanks and praise to the Lord for
the life of Alie!!! Here was a young man suffering from
a terrible affliction that could have been corrected,
but was left to the vagaries of the country's health
delivery system until the intervention of PIKIN BIZNESS.
And a message to some
of those occupying the seat of power. Kindly do not
forget that you used boys and girls of Alie's age in
your orgy of rape, murder, forced recruitment and
beastly conduct. You can start atoning by helping
children like Alie as well as your surviving victims.
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Wednesday July
30, 2008
- THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE - KARADZIC
ARRIVES IN THE HAGUE. THE BEAST OF BOSNIA TO FINALLY
ACCOUNT FOR HIS DEEDS.
The wheels of justice may
seem to move slowly when it comes to exposing and
catching human rights abusers, putting them on trial and
allowing justice to take its course. It may look slow,
sometimes very slow and frustrating but eventually the
good who refuse to be put off end up winning and putting
murderers, torturers, rapists and their supporters
behind bars. And so it is with the Beast of Bosnia aka
the Butcher of Bosnia, who thought nothing wrong in
murdering civilians in cold blood. Radan Karadzic was
this morning flown to the Hague where he faces a number
of counts relating to
war crimes, crimes against
humanity and murder.
This monster will be
tried by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia and it should be noted that among the
charges are those relating to wilful killing.
Update:
Thursday July 31 -
The Beast of Bosnia is finally in court
The Sierra Herald would
therefore encourage all those who have evidence of
Idrissa Kamara (Leatherboot) and his type, now serving
their chief patron Ernest Bai Koroma to forward same to
the Sierra Herald so that he and his type will stop
their gloating over surviving victims. There will be no
protection from President Ernest Bai Koroma, you can be
assured. No blanket amnesty will protect Leatherboot and
his type from individual wilful killings.
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...AND
FROM THE SEWERS AND THE PIT OF THE ABOMINABLE COMETH THE
BOGEY-MEN/WOMEN PARADING AS JOURNALISTS. ERNEST BAI
KOROMA DOES NO WRONG. HE IS ALWAYS RIGHT. SO IS "HER
EXCELLENCY".
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AT LAST
A
BBC MEMORIAL FOR ALL JOURNALISTS KILLED WHILE TRYING
TO REPORT EVENTS AS THEY HAPPEN. MAY THEIR SOULS REST IN
PERFECT PEACE
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Sunday June 8,
2008
- BBC and foreign media reporter Nasteh Dahir Farah
targeted and murdered in Somalia
The murder last evening of
prominent Somali journalist Nasteh Dahir Farah
in his own home country Somalia highlights once more the
dangers faced by journalists who brave all odds to
report events on the ground as they unfold and as
witnessed by them. Nasteh Dahir Farah who is also Vice
President of the National Union of Somali Journalists
(NUSOJ) and in his
mid-thirties was reportedly shot at close range by so
far unidentified gunmen. The Press rights group, the
International Federation of Journalists is among
many such that has unreservedly condemned this latest
murder of a journalist for going about his lawful
duties. According to IFJ, the NUSOJ has not only
condemned the murder of its Vice President but was of
the considered view that "he was the victim of a
targeted assassination as he returned to his home.
He was attacked by an armed gang
who shot him several times in the stomach and chest.
Nasteh, who worked for the
BBC Somali Service, the
Associated Press,
AP as well as for Reuters died within minutes of being
admitted to hospital.
“Once again a leading journalist has been struck down in
appalling circumstances,” said Jim Boumelha, IFJ
President. “It’s time for action not words from
governments to address the crisis in Somalia and to
protect our people.”
Like Freetown during
junta days?
And the constitution
according to the Ibrahim Seaga Shaw and Gibril Koroma
Expo Times during junta rule
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Former
Liberian VP Blah reveals all - ...among
others the circumstances leading to the death of RUF/AFRC
top operative Sam Bockarie.
MORE
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Heard on the BBC One TV output from the
lips of a guest who is an author -
" I have come across PhD
holders who are really stupid...and the basis of their stupidity
is anchored on their inability to accept that they could be
wrong" |
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DENIALS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES IN SIERRA LEONE - THE GIBRIL GBANABOME KOROMA UNREPENTANT
AFRC/RUF JUNTA APOLOGISTS - THEIR LATEST LIE
Just as the Holocaust deniers want
to rewrite history and say that Nazi Death and Concentration
Camps were a World War II myth,
so
too are apologists for the butchers during junta rule between
May 1997 and February 1998 and the January 6, 1999 massacres
want the world to believe that nothing of the sort occurred in
Sierra Leone. Even though Gibril Gbanabome Koroma, could no
doubt have clearly omitted the role of his newspaper the Expo
Times in justifying the atrocities of the junta as he
deceived the Canadian immigration authorities on why he wants
protection from Lt General Dallaire's country, it is
unbelievable almost to the point of the absurd that he would
continue to abuse this welcome and protection from Canada by
re-inventing his type who supported the junta during Sierra
Leone's trying times.
His latest is making a
journalist out of one Sullay Adekulay
(on his unapologetic and
unrepentant online junta machine) who was never known in
journalistic circles in Sierra Leone, who was never a member of
the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, SLAJ as claimed by
his mentor Sheka Tarawallie and who has managed like Tarawallie,
Seaga Shaw and his brother to deceive their way into an
organisation that caters for the protection of journalists
fleeing prosecution, the EJN thus putting the organisation's
good name and noble intentions into disrepute.
In fact what is even more
worrying is that this so-called creation of Gibril Gbanabome
Koroma when challenged at the EJN meeting in 2007 denied that he
had ever claimed to be journalist!!!! His performance at that
meeting then clearly demonstrated that he was brought into EJN
as part of the Seaga Shaw-Gbanabome-Sheka Tarawallie axis who
harassed all those opposing the unrecognised (both nationally
and internationally) repressive, brutal and murderous AFRC/RUF
junta.
Indeed! It is like allowing
Khieu Samphan (PhD from France) to seat on a board that
seeks to protect victims of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia!!!!
It is such
blatant hoodwinking, cover up and outright falsehood that create
problems for genuine asylum seekers wanting to avail themselves
of the protection offered by countries like the United Kingdom.
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MAY 3 - WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
DAY - 2008
Supporters of human rights
abusers, rapists and murderers may try to rewrite history,
distort events of what really happened in the mother country
Sierra Leone during those turbulent and terrible years
especially under the jackboots of the beasts (read AFRC/RUF
junta) during their seizure of power from May 29, 1997 to
February 1998, but they will never succeed as survivors will
always be there to tell and write about the truth. From the
summary executions of civilians (eg 6 innocent civilians who
were taken to Cockerill for summary execution because they had
travelled from Lungi to Freetown by boat. Lungi was then
regarded as enemy territory because of the junta belief that
their gadfly 98.1 FM was located there). The January 6, 1999 and
the Mabaylla massacres of September 1997 cap it all.
NEVER AGAIN, WE SAY NEVER AGAIN
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CAN WE ALLOW
JOURNALISTS USING THEIR CONNECTIONS WITH WHATEVER JUNTA OR
GOVERNMENT TO FINGER PERCEIVED OPPONENTS FOR HARASSMENT, TORTURE
AND MURDER.
WE SAY, NEVER AGAIN
And just for the records, we
reproduce 2 items published by Expo Times during junta rule.
Kindly note that the junta was never recognised by the
international community, nor by the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans who escaped from their clutches using whatever means.
What we have reproduced is a part of the Expo Times newspaper
campaign to keep the junta in power at whatever cost.
1.
Condemning rights group Amnesty
International for exposing abuses by the junta (The Expo
Times justifying summary executions, among others.)
2.
Basking in the limelight of
the junta excesses (Please note the due recognition of the
illegal, brutal, murderous and human rights abusing regime by
the Expo Times.)
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The Sierra Herald Reminder published in 2004 - equally relevant to the
new "demi-god" Ernest Bai Koroma who does no wrong in the eyes of the
gbatolites.
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September 4, 2007
Ten
years ago today, residents in the capital Freetown witnessed the extent
to which desperate men and women would go to maintain any form of grip
on power. For on this day ten years ago, the world became very much
aware of what beasts in human form are capable of doing to their fellow
human beings as the horrors of the Mabaylla massacre were laid bare.
The Johnny Paul junta claimed it was the
handiwork of ECOMOG forces who had heavy guns at Lungi across the
estuary. The villain even went as far as to
send off something to the
regional body, ECOWAS to complain stating "the Nigerians are actively
and deliberately encouraging and orchestrating a genocidal civil war".
Not satisfied with this and knowing he
could not explain why RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fragments as well
as bullet and shell casings were to be found in the general area of the
attack on civilians, Johnny Paul Koroma became a "preacher man"
overnight with
a so-termed "prayer"
concocted by his gbatolites who saw no wrong in the AFRC/RUF coalition
of evil. What he and others in the know forgot and
could have brushed aside was the rather harmless but clearly deep
warning that God is not fooled and there is always a price to be paid
for using His name in vain!!!!
Residents were not fooled. They knew who
carried out the murders.
They
knew that those spent shell casings that were to be found along Goderich
Street and other areas were not from ECOMOG guns!!!! Anyone who dared to openly state that the
junta was responsible or even dared to mention that they did not believe
the junta version were shot out of hand as a warning to others as those
who survived the initial blasts at Mabaylla discovered. ......and in all this, junta journalists in
the pay of the coalition of evil helped spread the junta propaganda of
death - even going the distance in fingering colleagues thought to be
against the murderous regime, especially those believed to have had
doubts over the junta version!!!!
MORE............AND
EVEN MORE
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....AND THE APOLOGIST WHO CONTINUES TO LIVE IN DENIAL AS HE MILKS
CHARITIES IN EUROPE AND WHEREVER ---- CONCEALING HIS TRUE ROLE IN
THE PERSECUTION OF JOURNALISTS DURING THE MURDEROUS JUNTA RULE
IN SIERRA LEONE BETWEEN MAY 1997 AND FEBRUARY 1998...... |
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......THE
SEARCH CONTINUES -
STILL LOOKING
FOR AN EDITOR....GET IN TOUCH PLEASE..... |
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"When those who are trained in our
noble profession, journalism that is, take a back seat, what do you
expect of journalism in the mother country? It gets picked up by
opportunistic, self-seeking and criminally-inclined vermin and sewer
rats who thinking that it is a free for all art would want to use it in
the furtherance of their evil machinations including continued support
for our tormentors, the AFRC/RUF coalition of evil otherwise known as
the beasts".
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WHY WE REFUSE TO BE PUT OFF -
SUPPORTERS OF THE BEASTS MUST COME OUT CLEAN |
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WE SHALL CONTINUE HUNTING
THEM UNTIL THE JUNTA SUPPORTERS TELL THE WORLD WHAT THEY DID IN PRIVATE
AND IN PUBLIC IN FURTHERING THE AGENDA OF THE AFRC/RUF COALITION OF EVIL
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE BEASTS -
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