The News Review:

- Sierra Leone ready to sign cluster bomb ban
- Sierra Leone: Peace Building Funds Shrink
- ‘Sierra Leone Ready to Move Forward’ – WHO
- Sierra Leone: Conciliation Resources Hosts Ugandan Delegation
- Sierra Leone to Participate in World Urban Youth Forum
- Sierra Leone: President Koroma to Celebrate with IIC

Sierra Leone ready to sign cluster bomb ban
Awoko, Sierra Leone 
Choithrams Supermarket and Mr Shola Williams 7 Bus Park. Awoko Newspaper Your Preferred Option. Sierra Leone ready to sign cluster bomb ban

The Government of Sierra Leone is ready and committed to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3rd December, to ban cluster bombs. This was disclosed by Abdulai Baratay, Personnel Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, at a press conference organized by the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC), at the China Friendship Organization, Brookfields. He assured the CMC that his Ministry would play a pivotal role in not only signing the treaty but also ratifying it. Baratay noted that, the campaign against cluster bombs would not be sustainable without the interventions of Civil Society Organizations and the media. He also launched and signed the Peoples Treaty and urged Sierra Leoneans to also sign the treaty locally as CMC campaigners hoped to collect 1,500 signatures.

Sierra Leone: Peace Building Funds Shrink
AllAfrica.com, Washington 
Vandi Minah, however, noted that the problem of resource unpredictability was still critical, saying the secretary-general’s initial allocation of $35 million from the Peacebuilding Fund in March 2007 had been exhausted. GA_googleFillSlot(”AllAfrica_Story_Inset”); He noted that the Commission’s engagement in Sierra Leone, as one of the pioneer beneficiaries, had had a positive impact on the government’s peacebuilding efforts. The range of bilateral and multilateral interventions intended to support projects in promoting democracy, good governance, the energy sector, justice and security reform, youth employment and empowerment continued to show promising signs of consolidating peace in the country. It could be recalled that the country requested its partners to scale up their assistance to the resource-mobilization drive launched at high-level stakeholder meetings in May, in order to expedite implementation of the Sierra Leone Cooperation Framework.

‘Sierra Leone Ready to Move Forward’ – WHO
Awoko, Sierra Leone 
Choithrams Supermarket and Mr Shola Williams 7 Bus Park. Awoko Newspaper Your Preferred Option. ?Sierra Leone Ready to Move Forward? – WHO

The World Health Organization’s monthly health journal, October edition, states that the health sector in Sierra Leone is ready to move forward. The journal puts in the spotlight developments made in Pharmacovigilance (public health protection and education) at the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone (PBSL). The WHO endorsed that the Pharmacy Board “is achieving its stated mission of assuring the safety, efficacy and quality of all drugs used in the country”. After its assessment of the Pharmacy Board in August this year, the World Health Organization stated in its monthly journal that “it is well equipped, with access to the internet, having database of all legally imported medicines and that there a total of 49 Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) in the database of the Pharmacy Board. The article reckoned that the ADRs are assessed on a quarterly basis by a committee of Pharmacist and other health professionals.

Sierra Leone: Conciliation Resources Hosts Ugandan Delegation
AllAfrica.com, Washington 
CR works mostly in West Africa, Uganda and the Causcasus in peace building, development and preventing violence. They support civil society and youths at the community level. They have been in Sierra Leone since 1996, and have worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court. In Uganda, CR has been working to peacefully end the war in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the government. The Ugandan group was in the country to learn about the peace process and post-conflict reconstruction, as well as to share their own experiences. It included representatives from the office of the Prime Minister, academics, students and members of civil society organizations. “The countries are different in culture, but there are lots of commonalities,” said Kennedy Tumutegyereize, CR’s Uganda and Sudan borders programme director, explaining that some aspects of the wars in the two countries are the same, such as the use of child soldiers.

Sierra Leone to Participate in World Urban Youth Forum
Awareness Times, Sierra Leone 
B Taylor-Kamara Foundation Inc, will sponsor the participation of 22-year-old Lliyasu Kindi Bah, a leading member of Young Leaders-Sierra Leone (YLSL) to this year’s UN Habitat’s World Urban Youth Forum at Nanjing in the People’s Republic of China. This back-to-back session is scheduled for the first week in November, 2008. YLSL, a non-profit entity formed in 2003 fosters a platform for young Sierra Leonean professionals at home and the Diaspora, to participate in nation building through youth dialogue, education, advocacy, networking and development. It organizes workshops, conferences and training programs aimed at enhancing the participation and contribution of young people in decision making on matters pertinent to their welfare. One of the Foundation’s Trustees, Ishmael Taylor-Kamara said they were particularly pleased to make it possible for Ms.
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Sierra Leone: President Koroma to Celebrate with IIC
AllAfrica.com, Washington 
Nduka O Anyaso Friday told journalists at their Bathurst Street head office that he would be pleased “to have the President and other high profile personalities, from within and outside the country, to join them celebrate this very important occasion. GA_googleFillSlot(”AllAfrica_Story_Inset”); The occasion, which starts with a public lecture at the British Council hall themed: ‘insurance as catalyst for economic development,’ marks the institution’s exemplary performance since it started operations in the country some five years ago. He said over the years the institution has provided quality services and financial security to both national and international business partners and that the level of trust and commitment demonstrated have put the institution among first class insurance companies in Sierra Leone. “We started operations in 2003. We are celebrating our achievement because of the level of sustainability of the cooperation from government and our numerous customers. “The forum is to be chaired by Ken Aghoghovbia, director of ICC West Africa and Special Risk Africa Reinsurance Corporation. “Prominent among our line of activities is the anniversary dinner of which President Ernest Bai Koroma is to serve as our special guest of honor,” he said adding that the celebration would be followed by a golf course at the Freetown Golf club.