A 30-member United Nations Security Council delegation arrives in Freetown this morning for a 1-day official working visit. The delegation will leave tonight. However, according to the US embassy in Freetown, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Susan Rice, will not be with the team and will leave Abidjan for New York. The embassy information officer, Mark Carr, would not give any reasons for this.
While here, the delegation will hold talks with President Ernest Bai Koroma, civil society organisations, women’s groups and the diplomatic community. The delegation will also address issues raised in the last UN Security Council report on Sierra Leone. They include political violence ahead of the November polls, concerns over the neutrality or not of the security forces, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation which was midwifed by the UN and commissioned by its secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, and the Independent Media Commission amid concerns that sections of the media are stoking up divisiveness and opening wounds.
(c) Politico 23 May 2012
