The News Review:

- Sierra Leone’s music crusader
- Friends stand by accused police officer
- SENEGAL: Cholera breaks out in Dakar for first time in eight years

Sierra Leone’s music crusader
BBC News – Oct 26, 2004
And with politicians and even the president attending his concerts, he does have the ear of the whole nation. Music, he believes, can change things for the better, as was evident during the brutal civil war. “Music brought peace to Sierra Leone. During the war all our songs were based on peace, reconciliation, love and unity. “Now there is another war, which is corruption. Targeting the bossesAt the age of eight, Daddy Saj, whose name is short for sir junior, joined a church choir and in his teens he found inspiration from western rap artistes…
His new album Densay Densay (Rumours, Rumours), also aims to change attitudes, with sexual harassment his next target. Women in Sierra Leone often have no choice but to sleep with their employers to keep their jobs, he says. “In my song Watin dae be – what’s happening, I tell the bosses and the big guns that it’s a bad practice. “So the government and media will take up the message that it’s not a way of life. And does Daddy Saj ever think of going into politics himself?”Absolutely not. I’m a musician – I attack the negative to bring positive changes to society.

Friends stand by accused police officer
The Age – Oct 26, 2004
It is not known if Halloran’s lawyers will lodge a defence. Their line all along has been that there is no evidence againsthim, particularly as the girl has said in the witness box and instatements that the sex did not happen. Meanwhile a third friend of Halloran’s has travelled to SierraLeone in a show of support as he fights the charges. PoliceAssociation welfare officer Kay Murphy is on holiday in Freetownvisiting Halloran, who is a long-time friend and colleague. MsMurphy declined to be interviewed by The Age when she wasapproached outside her hotel, stating only that she was there tosupport him during the trial. Police Association secretary Paul Mullett said yesterday thather trip was self-funded and had nothing to do with her role at theassociation. “What she does or where she goes on holidays is apersonal issue for her,” Senior Sergeant Mullett said.

SENEGAL: Cholera breaks out in Dakar for first time in eight years
IRINnews.org – Oct 26, 2004
Doctor Bassirou Johnson, an epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health, told IRIN that 66 cases of the highly infectious water-borne disease had been reported in slum areas of the ciy since 11 October, but there had so far been no deaths. “We have had no cholera cases since 1996, so the disease may well have come from abroad since we are surrounded by the disease,” Johnson said. There have been serious outbreaks of cholera in Guinea and Sierra Leone for the past four months. Doctor Pape Salif Sow, the head of the infectious diseases department of Fann university teaching hospital, where most of the Senegalese cholera patients are being treated, said that wherever the disease came from, it had found a fertile breeding area in the slum areas of Dakar, a city of 2. âThe cases came from areas such as Reubeuss, Medina, Guediawaye and Pikine where there are sanitation problems, inadequate water and waste management, stagnant water which all favour the spread of cholera,â Sow told IRIN. âThat is why we are insisting in messages through the media that people change their behaviour by washing their hands with soap, by avoiding food from street stalls and by avoiding drinking water sold in plastic bags,â he added…
Doctor Balla Conde, the heath coordinator of the Guinea Red Cross Society told IRIN by telephone from Conakry that there had been 1,075 cases of cholera and 93 deaths from the disease in the country since July, but the situation had been brought under control. The outbreak in Guinea, which was concentrated in the capital Conakry and coastal areas near the Sierra Leone border, eventually spread to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Amelia Gabba, the health coordinator of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, told IRIN by telephone from Freetown that Sierra Leone had recorded 633 cases of cholera and 56 deaths from the disease up to 19 September. She pointed out that a sharp decrease in the number of new cases had led to the closure of three of the four cholera treatment units which had been opened in Freetown to deal with the crisis. Cholera epidemics are normally caused by poor sanitation and polluted drinking water. They are a perenniel hazard during the rainy season in much of West Africa as latrines overflow and wells become polluted. Theme(s): (IRIN).