Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia and is bordered by Guinea to the north. With a land area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate and with a variety of environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. According to the 2015 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 7,092,113, with Freetown serving as both the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into 16 districts.
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor is a Liberian former politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003 as a result of the Second Liberian Civil War and growing international pressure.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, Kabbah spent many years working for the United Nations Development Programme. He retired from the United Nations and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992.
Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, OOR, OBE was a Sierra Leonean politician and military officer who served as the second President of Sierra Leone from November 1985 to 29 April 1992.
Dolores Balderamos-García is a Belizean lawyer, politician, activist, broadcaster and author.
Ernest Bai Koroma is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018.
Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007, to March 17, 2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) in the 2007 presidential election, alongside presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma. The APC ticket defeated the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) presidential candidate Solomon Berewa and vice presidential candidate Momodou Koroma. Sam-Sumana took office as vice president on September 17, 2007.
The Week is an Indian news magazine founded in the year 1982 and published by The Malayala Manorama Co. Pvt. Ltd. The magazine is published from Kochi and is currently printed in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kottayam. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is the largest circulated English news magazine in India.
Gavin Karl O'Reilly is a Dublin-born businessman with Irish and Australian citizenship. He is the son of Sir Tony O'Reilly and Susan Cameron.
Commonwealth Observer Groups are groups formed to monitor elections in various countries around the world. Each group is usually made up of various statesmen from various countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. The job of each Group is to assess whether the elections are conducted fairly. At the end of the observation period, reports are written and submitted to the Commonwealth headquarters. The following are such groups formed to date:
Sierra Leone competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This marked the nation's tenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1968 Summer Olympics. The Sierra Leone delegation included two track and field athletes; Ibrahim Turay, a sprinter and Ola Sesay, a long jumper. Sesay and Turay were selected as flag bearers for the opening and closing ceremonies respectively. Neither of the two athletes progressed beyond the first round.
Worldcrunch is a Paris-based English language news website that curates and translates news from international media sources or partner organizations. It was launched in 2011 and was founded by Jeff Israely, former bureau chief for Time Magazine in Europe, and Irène Toporkoff, former CEO of Ask.com France and Angie Interactive. In the words of Jeff Israely, it aims for "The professional selection and translation of the best, most relevant stories in the foreign-language media."
The News Lens (TNL) is an independent digital media based in Taiwan, founded by Joey Chung and Mario Yang in 2013, with multilingual versions in Chinese, English and Japanese. Since 2017, it has maintained content partnerships with other outlets such as Time and Fortune. Article categories include politics, economics, technology, society, and more.
Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi is a Saudi writer, journalist and media expert based in Saudi Arabia. Al-Harthi has been the CEO of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority since August 2020, and the President of the Arab States Broadcasting Union since December 2021. His experience extends to more than 20 years in the fields of traditional and new media. Al-Harthi is also the President of the Saudi Media Forum since 2019, and the President of the Saudi Media Award. Additionally, he is a board member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), and a member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Journalists Association. He is the editor-in-chief of a group of magazines and websites such as Arrajol, Sayidaty and AboutHer, owned by the Saudi Research and Marketing Group.
Femi Claudius Cole is a Sierra Leonean politician. In 2016 she founded the Unity Party, making her the first Sierra Leonean woman to form a political party. In 2018, she was the first woman to run for the office of President of Sierra Leone. She is the only woman party leader in Sierra Leone.
Pamella Makotsi-Sittoni is a Kenyan journalist and an author who currently serves the Executive Editor and Managing Editor of the Daily Nation at the Nation Media Group (NMG). She was named the position in 2019, making her the first woman to hold such position in the publishing house’s history.
Beata Botlhoko Kasale was a Botswana publisher and founding editor of The Voice Newspaper. With over 30 years in Journalism, Kasale co-founded The Voice Newspaper, formerly The Francistowner Extra, in 1993 together with Donald Laurence Moore in Francistown and commonly referred to as “the mother of the media industry in Botswana”.
Anna Nimiriano is a South Sudanese journalist who is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Juba Monitor. Nimiriano is South Sudan's only female Editor-in-Chief and was the winner of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award 2019 Africa.
