Improved radio coverage set for Sierra Leone poll

This is according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL), which is a civilian UN mission established to support the government's efforts to consolidate peace.

Drawn from all over the country, the temporary staff have just completed a two-day training workshop in Freetown, organised by UNIOSIL's Public Information Office, on balanced and fair elections reporting.

The training involved coverage of political parties' rallies, reporting on voting, counting, tallying and election results, the historical importance of the 2007 polls and gender perspectives.

The temporary radio broadcasters were also briefed on the Political Parties Code of Conduct and the Sierra Leone media code of conduct on objective and fair electoral reporting, UNIOSIL said in a news release.

The new reporters, 16 of whom are women, are all expected to file their reports from 3 to 17 August.

Voters in the small West African nation, which emerged in 2002 from a decade-long civil war, will go to the polls on 11 August.

The government is slowly re-establishing its authority after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people. This represents about one-third of the population.

The last UN peacekeepers withdrew in December 2005 leaving full responsibility for security with domestic forces.

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution.

While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development.

Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market.

The International Monetary Fund has completed a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program that helped stabilise economic growth and reduce inflation.

A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews