SIERRA LEONE: Run-off election in Sierra Leone exposes ethnic fault lines

Sierra Leone will hold a presidential run-off on September 8. Leading opposition candidate Ernest Koroma squares off against the country's vice president Solomon Barewa of the ruling party, amid fears of violence. Final campaigning is underway in Sierra Leone ahead of a presidential run-off. All Peoples' Congress (APC) leader Ernest Bai Koroma, who came first in an August 11 poll with 44 percent of votes, faces Vice President Solomon Berewa of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), who won 38 percent. Koroma's APC is in a strong position because of backing from SLPP dissident Charles Margai and his PMDC party, which has created an opposition majority in the new parliament. The polls have revealed ethnic fault lines in the nation of more than five million people. The APC, which garnered the most seats in parliament, enjoys strong support among the northern Temne and Limba groups. The SLPP commands votes in the south, where the Mende people dominate. Koroma and other leaders went on a campaign tour of the south at the end of last week to try and sway voters there. "We believe that you have accepted this alliance and we believe that all of us have changed the history of Sierra Leone, tribalism is no more, nepotism is no more, corruption is no more, SLPP go pack and go," Koroma said at an opposition rally in the southern town of Bo, referring to his alliance with Margai. But Koroma had to cut the tour short when his convoy was attacked by stone-throwing supporters of ruling party. SLPP officials said the attack was a response to provocation by APC supporters who set ablaze a local party office during Koroma's trip. "Political scenario here is based on tribal and regional sentiment, that is what we had wanted to bridge, but you can not bridge this, even in a decade, it is very difficult. So one has to equally protect our people because if you think of the mayhem that was created by the APC in those days on our people in the south and the east, I definitely have to support tribal political way of doing things in our own area here," said Emmanuel Saidu, an SLPP supporter in Bo. But Koroma has already won some hearts in the south. "We know that this particular election when the APC comes to power it will be positive change," said businesswoman Sarah Kamara in the southern town of Kenema. These are the first elections in the former British colony since U.N. peacekeepers left the country two years after a 1991-2002 civil war, one of Africa's most brutal conflicts. But several violent clashes between supporters of the rival parties has sparked fears that the country could return to internal conflict.

ITN Source | September 5, 2007

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