SIERRA LEONE: Sierra Leone polls mark break with "blood diamond" past

Sierra Leone prepares for parliamentary elections hoping to leave behind 11 years of a civil war fuelled by "blood diamonds". Sierra Leone holds presidential and parliamentary polls on Saturday (August 11), the first since U.N. peacekeepers left two years ago and a watershed in its recovery from an 11-year civil war fuelled by "blood diamonds". President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a war-time leader re-elected on a wave of euphoria after a 2002 peace deal, is stepping down under the constitution amid dismay at his Sierra Leone People's Party's (SLPP) failure to provide water, power or decent roads in one of the world's poorest countries. "If there is electricity a structure will be in place, so the next government should remember to solve the electricity problem in this country. We, the people of this country are tired of black outs, that's the main thing so that investoes will come to this country," said Prince Ken Moore, a Freetown resident the day after an opposition rally in the capital on Wednesday (August 8). The war spawned images of drug-crazed child soldiers who hacked off people's limbs, but young Sierra Leoneans now have a chance to decide their nation's fate at the ballot box. Residents in Freetown are aware of the importance of this election. Alie Kalawa, a student, says the SLPP didn't do enough to rebuild the country after the war. "Although they tried to restore the peace, some of their promises they made they did not fulfill them, like the construction of the Lungi bridge, the roads and when you look at the standard of living within the community, it's very low and energy and power also is slow, so at this time we have all opened our eyes and we want development in the state," Kalawa said. Well over half the 2.6 million voters are under 35. Ernest Bai Koroma's opposition All People's Congress (APC) is mounting a strong challenge -- unusual in a region where ruling parties often coast to victory. Ballots have been transported by army trucks, canoes and even porters to the furthest reaches of the savannahs and jungles of the interior, observers say. Foreign donors have footed two-thirds of the $28 million bill, but many remain concerned the torrential downpours of the rainy season could disrupt voting in rural areas. In the coastal capital Freetown exuberant rallies have filled the city with colour as crowds donned red T-shirts for the APC, green for the SLPP and orange for the breakaway PMDC, which threatens to drain the ruling party's support. Young people, many of whom drifted into Freetown after the war, are angry at 60 percent unemployment. "We want to see changes in this country, we are suffering here, we want to work. Right now we are suffering down here, some of us are educated but we don't have jobs. SLPP has made us fed up with them, we are tired with SLPP, we need a new government," said Bamba Kamara, a young unemployed man. Presidential candidates need more than 55 percent of the ballot to win in the first round without a run-off vote, which would probably be held in early September. Kabbah's anointed SLPP successor, Vice-President Solomon Berewa, has promised to crack down on widespread graft and dismiss any official who fails to deliver on government targets. Anger at corruption was at the root of the Revolutionary United Front rebellion, funded by illegal "blood diamond" sales but observers play down the likelihood of violence at the polls. In Freetown, police pace the streets with megaphones and handwritten signs discouraging violence. Political leaders and musicians have also spoken out against any clashes. Some foreign observers say problems could come in the days after the elections, as the results begin to trickle in, and there are expectations that the APC could take an early lead in Freetown but lose ground in rural areas, which account for most of the 5 million population. But officials complain some Paramount Chiefs, the powerful customary rulers of Sierra Leone's interior and mostly regarded as pro-SLPP, are trying to influence how their subjects vote.

ITN Source | August 9, 2007

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