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Sierra Leone -- News -- 2010
UN-Backed Court Hands Down Final Rulings
03.01.2010
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In October 2009, the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) has upheld
the convictions and sentences passed on three former rebels in the last judgment
by the tribunal to be handed down in the West African nation.
The three former leaders of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
were convicted earlier this year for atrocities committed during
Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war.
The charges include forced marriage as a crime against humanity and
attacks against UN peacekeepers - the first time that an international
criminal tribunal has entered guilty verdicts for both charges.
The acting Prosecutor of the Court, Joseph Kamara, welcomed today's judgment,
calling it "a final condemnation of one of the most brutal and notorious rebel groups in modern times.
With today's judgment, the Court's trial proceedings in Sierra Leone now complete.
It has now delivered final judgements in all three of its Freetown-based trials,
with eight accused persons convicted.
Sierra Leone -- Analyses -- 2010
"Sierra Leone Is Now Ready For High Return investment" - President Koroma
03.01.2010
"There was a time when shocks of this
crisis would have thrown Sierra Leone into turmoil,
or perhaps even turned the clock back to the 1990s
when my country was engulfed by economic crisis,
political instability and civil war.
I can tell you today that time has passed.
Our economy grew by 6.4% in 2007, 5.5% in 2008 and,
despite the most adverse global conditions in decades,
is projected to grow at 4% in 2009, more than double
the average for the rest of Africa.
Of course, we have not escaped completely unscathed
from the global downturn. Mineral exports in the first
half of 2009 fell by more than a third from the same
period in 2008, remittances by 30%. Ordinary Sierra
Leoneans have been hit hard by high fuel and food prices.
It is a long term mission, and we recognise that there
is still much work to be done. But I am proud of the
achievements we have made so far." -
said the President yesterday.
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Bulgarian