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The Latest Breaking News from Freetown

Synthetic drugs are having devastating effects around the world, from Sierra Leone to the UK

In the blistering heat of Freetown, Sierra Leone, young men gather on street corners, their limbs swollen, eyes glazed. They are the victims of kush, a cheap and deadly synthetic drug sweeping the country.

The Conversation

Chimp refuge shuts doors to tourists in deforestation protest

Workers said deforestation in the area was fuelled by ‘land grabbing’ for development

The Independent UK

‘Smoking to survive’: How Sierra Leone’s youth got hooked on kush

A cheap synthetic drug known as kush is ravaging West Africa and its epicentre is Sierra Leone. The government has declared kush a public health emergency, but poverty and trauma are slowing efforts by communities to help unhook young people from its sometimes deadly hold.

Radio France Internationale

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Why Freetown’s celebrated tree planting scheme won’t work for other African cities, or the planet

More than a million trees have been planted in the city of Freetown in Sierra Leone since 2020. This reforestation scheme, known as “FreetownTheTreeTown”, has been celebrated for its innovative approach to climate action, with ambitious plans to plant another 5 million trees by 2030 and 20 million more by…

The Conversation

From a colonial hill town to Idris Elba’s island masterplan: what do these Sierra Leone developments tell us about urban elites?

Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in the 1790s. Over the following century, it became a truly cosmopolitan port city as people from across western Africa and the Americas made it their home.

The Conversation

'We fall and we rise': Some amputees in Sierra Leone turn to farming to combat discrimination

Sierra Leone's brutal civil war from 1991-2002 created about 28,000 amputees

The Independent UK

Sierra Leone Student Tackles Toxic Air Pollution

In his small Freetown workshop, engineering student James Samba tinkered with batteries and electrical parts he hoped could help clean up Sierra Leone's polluting public transport system.

International Business Times

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Ib Kamara's guide to Freetown, Sierra Leone: Tokeh Beach, cassava leaf stew and Empire nightclub

The creative director at Off-White and editor-in-chief of Dazed tells Joe Bromley about the city where he was born

Evening Standard

Sierra Leone begins nationwide rollout of Ebola vaccine a decade after deadly outbreak

Sierra Leone has started a nationwide rollout of the single-dose Ebola vaccine

The Independent UK

The stunning African winter beach holiday with new direct flights from London

The Gatwick and Freetown route launches in December, and Sarah Marshall shares why you should make the trip this winter

The Independent UK

Gangs’stories: The Sierra Leonian gangster who gave up violence and drugs for poetry

For the past five years, the GANGS project, a European Research Council-funded project led by Dennis Rodgers, has been studying global gang dynamics in a comparative perspective. When understood in a nuanced manner that goes beyond the usual stereotypes and Manichean representations, gangs and gangsters arguably constitute fundamental lenses through…

The Conversation

‘Now you can have rest in your home’: the mirror roofs cooling homes in Freetown

Initial results show homes in Sierra Leone’s capital fitted with heat-reflective roofing sheets can be up to 6C cooler

The Guardian - UK

Namibian Pride: activists hail overturning of law that banned same-sex acts between men.

A top court in Namibia has ruled colonial-era laws banning same-sex relationships were unconstitutional, in a case brought by a local LGBTQ+ activist. Also in the programme, Kenyan protesters call for a national shutdown to oppose new tax hikes. We also visit Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, where a chimpanzee refuge…

France 24

Kush: The synthetic drug ravaging the youth of an African country

Sierra Leone this year declared a war on the cheap synthetic drug, calling it an epidemic and a national threat

The Independent UK

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Al Jazeera

In Sierra Leone, climate change worsens human trafficking of the poor

Sierra Leone’s poorest communities have long been prey to human traffickers. Climate change is making things worse.

France 24

Sierra Leone clashes were failed coup attempt, government says

Sierra Leone is now treating Sunday's clashes that killed 21 people in the capital Freetown as a failed coup attempt. Thirteen military officers and one civilian are under arrest. Meanwhile, 11 miners have lost their lives in South Africa after an elevator carrying 86 workers plunged 200 metres at a…

Al Jazeera

Sierra Leone attacks were a failed coup attempt, officials say

Information minister says 13 military officers arrested in relation to the weekend assault in capital Freetown.

Al Jazeera

Uneasy calm in Sierra Leone as Freetown uprising reveals underlying tension

Sunday’s attacks came as deep resentment swells among Sierra Leoneans feeling the bite of a flailing economy.

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Radio France Internationale

Curfew partially lifted in Sierra Leone capital after Sunday violence

Daily life resumed amid a heavy security presence in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Monday, as the government partially lifted a curfew imposed after armed clashes erupted in the city.

International Business Times

Curfew Partially Lifted In SLeone Capital After Clashes Killed 13 Soldiers

Clashes that shook Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Sunday left 13 dead in the ranks of the army loyal to the government, and were orchestrated by active and retired soldiers, the army spokesperson said Monday.

International Business Times

S.Leone Under Curfew After Military Armoury Attacked

Armed clashes erupted in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Sunday in what the government said was an attack on a military armoury, as it imposed an immediate national curfew.

International Business Times

S.Leone Imposes Curfew After Military Armoury Attacked

A military armoury in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown came under attack on Sunday, the government announced, as it imposed an immediate national curfew.

France 24

Sierra Leone declares nationwide curfew after attack on Freetown army barracks

Sierra Leone’s president declared a nationwide curfew Sunday after gunmen attacked the military's main and largest barracks in the West African nation's capital and then overran detention centers, including a major prison.

Al Jazeera

Sierra Leone imposes nationwide curfew after military barracks attacked

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio claims ‘calm restored’ after government said the attack was repelled.

The Guardian - UK

‘It’s like smoking poison’: Sierra Leone’s youth battle addiction to a mystery drug

No one seems to know what’s in it or where it comes from. Yet the ‘kush devil’ is destroying young African lives. At a rehab centre in Freetown, staff and users are fighting back

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