Sierra Leone information minister says weekend attack was a failed coup
Freetown, Sierra LeoneReuters Sierra Leone’s government said on Tuesday that attacks on several locations in the capital Freetown on Sunday were a failed attempt to overthrow the government led mostly by bodyguards of former President Ernest Bai Koroma. The West African nation’s information minister Chernor Bah, and the chief of defence staff Lt General Patrick […]
Twenty killed in Sierra Leone attack and nearly 2,000 prisoners escape
Freetown, Sierra LeoneReuters Twenty people were killed and nearly 2,000 inmates escaped during Sunday’s attack on a military barracks, a prison and other locations in Sierra Leone, officials said on Monday. The West African country was thrown into panic in the early hours when the assailants sent gunfire ringing across the capital Freetown. The government […]
Snapshot: Freetown, Sierra Leone
See RANDOM INSTITUTE’s image…
Storm fells Sierra Leone’s historic cotton tree, a symbol of freedom
Freetown, Sierra LeoneReuters A giant tree that towered over Sierra Leone’s capital for centuries and symbolised freedom to its early residents crashed down overnight during a heavy rainstorm. President Julius Maada Bio called the toppling of the famed tree “a great loss to the nation” as crowds gathered to look at the wrecked trunk. An […]
Extreme heat: How ‘chief heat officers’ keep cities cool as the world warms
ANASTASIA MOLONEY, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how more and more cities are creating the new role as hotter summers cause surging health problems and economic pain in urban areas…
Freetown in shock after dozens killed in Sierra Leone protests
Freetown, Sierra Leone Reuters Dozens died in anti-government protests in Sierra Leone, police and other sources said on Thursday, sharply raising the death toll from the previous day’s clashes as shocked citizens stayed mostly behind closed doors in the capital Freetown. Six police officers and at least 21 civilians were killed, the sources said, as […]
Sierra Leone imposes nationwide curfew amid deadly anti-government protests
Freetown, Sierra Leone Reuters At least two police officers and one civilian died after a day of anti-government protests in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, staff at the city’s main mortuary said on Wednesday. Sierra Leone’s government previously said there had been deaths, but did not say how many, as protesters threw rocks and burned tyres […]
Climate migration: From Dhaka to Freetown, cities on alert
KIM HARRISBERG and CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on calls from city mayors in climate vulnerable nations for cash and a bigger say in forging policies to deal with displacement caused by drought, storms and flooding…
Invest in nature and reap cash benefits, World Economic Forum urges cities
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation After a landslide in 2017 killed 1,141 people and left more than 3,000 homeless in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, the recovery plan included training residents to plant 21,000 native trees to reduce the risk of future disasters on bare hillsides. Amid erratic and unusually heavy rains, as well as urban expansion, […]
Ninety-nine killed in fuel tanker blast in Sierra Leone capital
Freetown, Sierra LeoneReuters At least 99 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the capital of Sierra Leone late on Friday when a fuel tanker exploded following a collision, local authorities said. Emergency crews worked to clear the scene on Saturday in Freetown’s eastern suburb of Wellington where a burnt body and the […]