Troubles in Sierra Leone

As proof that we really are going to Sierra Leone and not just traipsing around the world to while away a year...

The much-anticipated run-off election for the Presidency of Sierra Leone is coming up at the end of this week. Unlike with the first round, which was a stunning success, campaigning this time around has been fraught with difficulty. Twenty people, for example, were hurt in a recent clash.

The two presidential candidates (Ernest Koroma, who took 44% of the vote the first time around, and current vice president Solomon Berewa, who took 38%) are urging their supporters not to resort to violence and have themselves promised the current president not to "use militia"...one wonders what that means. Or whether those promises are true. Meanwhile, President Kabbah has threatened declaring a "state of emergency."

Hard to know what to think of all this...