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Sierra Leone born award-winning African writer, Aminatta Forna, has observed that the country, once a conflict zone, was changing.

"The International Monetary Fund IMF) projects 36 per cent growth. You see it in Sierra Leone. Roads have been paved and lot of wealth. Some riots have also broken out. People are talking about the resource curse. The more politicized and educated middle class will have to safeguard democracy," Forna said.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Tuesday issued a warning to a high-level visiting UN Secretary-General panel meeting this week in Monrovia to address the future of international poverty reduction efforts.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner noted that “economic losses due to poor water and sanitation access globally are costing $260 billion (US) every year”, according to the African Press Organisation.

Following his reelection in November President Ernest Bai Koroma for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone appointed a blind person as Deputy Minister. Former broadcaster and musician, Mustapha Bai Atilla was appointed Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs.

This is part of the Military Barracks of the 9^th Battalion of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF). The soldiers sleep here with their families. Photo was taken on Tuesday 22 January 2013, months after the Chief of Defense Staff of RSLAF, Major General Samuel Omar Williams, had expressed grave concerns over the “perennial problem of accommodation” in the army.

By Aminata Phidelia Allie

The Country Representative of the German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association (GLRA), Dr. Yvonne Harding says leprosy is a curable disease. She made this statement at the Health and Sanitation Ministry in Freetown in commemoration of the 60^th World Leprosy Day on the theme, “Stop the Stigma and Discrimination against Leprosy: A World without Stigma”.