SIERRA LEONE: Tense Sierra Leone awaits election result

Accusations of fraud and intimidation fly in Sierra Leone presidential election but fears of violence prove unfounded. Voters in Sierra Leone were on Sunday (September 9) anxiously listening to the first estimated results provided by local radio station after a tense presidential run-off which went peacefully despite fears of violence. Both sides accused the other of fraud and intimidation and observers reported ballot stuffing. Saturday's presidential run-off vote, the culmination of polls seen as a key test of stability in the West African state after a 1991-2002 civil war, will elect a successor to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who is standing down after two terms. Moseray Sankoh, a money changer at the black market, was hopeful that the elections will bring peace to his country. "The way the elections went on yesterday, we the Sierra Leoneans are glad , because we are expecting peace although some people wanted to bring violence in, but at this time the way the election went on we are pleased," he said. President Kabbah has backed vice-president Solomon Berewa, but local media said early trends gave a slight edge to opposition All People's Congress (APC) leader Ernest Bai Koroma who won an Aug. 11 poll and whose alliance will control the next parliament. The first round exposed regional and ethnic rifts between the pro-APC north and west -- including the coastal capital Freetown -- and the south and east, where Kabbah's hitherto ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is strong. Tensions spilled over into violence when Koroma ventured into traditional SLPP country to canvass votes, along with SLPP dissident Charles Margai, a southerner who came third in the August 11 vote and then threw his weight behind Koroma. The APC said there was widespread double-voting in the large southeastern town of Kenema, and said five of its agents had been kidnapped and attacked with machetes in the southern city of Bo, Sierra Leone's second city and an SLPP stronghold. Abdulai Bangura, a car painter in Freetown, said there was still some sporadically violence in some areas. "In terms of violence, my own assessment towards violence, western are here where am staying is violence free the only thing you must expect some hiccups where some people become suspicious of other areas , the only area that has a problem when we listen to the radio is in Kailahun and kenema." Kailahun is in the eastern diamond mining area. Its gems fuelled the 11-year civil war in which 50,000 people were killed. Drug-crazed militia fighters, many just children, hacked hands, feet and other body parts off hundreds of people. The National Election Watch (NEW), which represents 347 civil society groups and fielded 5,420 observers in more than 80 percent of polling stations, said Saturday's polls were more orderly than on Aug. 11, but said there had been some fraud. Each candidate's camp accused the other of harassment. Christina Thorpe, chairman of of Sierra Leone's National Electoral Commission, was pleased with the way the voting went. "I think it has gone well I think the whole thing, am pretty satisfied with how it happened ,the turnout was good there are issolated hitches," she said. The polls are the first since U.N. peacekeepers left two years ago.

ITN Source | September 10, 2007

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