Freetown (ICRC) – The Sierra Leonean Minister of Defence, Major Alfred Palo Conteh, officially launched a new manual on the law of armed conflict in the capital Freetown today.

Twenty-three officers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) have just completed a five-day refresher course on integrating international humanitarian law (IHL) into training and practice.

A four-man delegation from the Louise Arthur Grimes Law School of the University of Liberia and the ICRC have returned from the 3rd National Moot Court competition in international humanitarian law (IHL) held in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

A team of three students from the Department of Law, Fourah Bay College, have emerged as winners of the third National Moot Court Competition on international humanitarian law (IHL) organized by the ICRC in Sierra Leone. Teams representing six different colleges from across the country took part in this year's competition.

As part of the ICRC's mandate to support states in raising awareness of international humanitarian law (IHL), six colleges from two universities in Sierra Leone will participate in this year's Moot Court Competition on international humanitarian law (IHL).

Three students from the communication department of Fourah Bay College, Freetown, will represent Sierra Leone in this year's pan-African moot court competition in international humanitarian law (IHL), to be held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 25 November – 2 December 2006.

The ICRC sub-delegation in Kenema will close on the last day of October after 15 years of protecting and assisting people in southeast Sierra Leone, both during and after the armed conflict there.

Fifteen senior officers, including the Inspector General of the Sierra Leone Police Force (SLP), are taking part in a two-day orientation and planning workshop as part of the ICRC's attempts to complement efforts of other actors in police training and development.

Between 18 and 25 August 2006, twenty-one Liberian and Ivorian children separated from their families due to conflicts in the sub-region returned to their homes under the auspices of the ICRC.

Geneva (ICRC) – Students from various colleges in Sierra Leone will compete tomorrow in the national stage of the second intercollegiate moot court competition in international humanitarian law. This year, for the first time, the competition is open to all colleges in the country.

The ICRC is proud to announce that the final version of the "IHL Code of Conduct for the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF)" has been printed.

On 21 December the ICRC reunited 15 Liberian minors with relatives, several years after armed conflict forced them to flee into Sierra Leone, where they lost contact with those at home

The following was issued as a press release by the ICRC's delegation in Freetown.

Geneva (ICRC) - Years of armed conflict and internal disturbances in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea have left thousands of people without news of their families, including innumerable children who became separated from their parents in the midst of the chaos.

The following was issued as a press release by the ICRC delegation in Freetown

Last week the ICRC repatriated seven unaccompanied children from Guinea to Sierra Leone by road and reunited them with their families in various parts of the country.

Freetown (ICRC) – Some 400 former Liberian fighters began returning home today from internment in Sierra Leone’s Mape and Mafanta Camps.

Last week the ICRC and the Liberia National Red Cross Society launched a large-scale tracing campaign in five West African countries.

Freetown/Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reunited ten Liberian children living as refugees in Sierra Leone with their families in Liberia. This is the first such cross-border reunification since tensions in Liberia started more than a year ago.

The conflicts in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire have turned tens of thousands of Liberians into refugees in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire.

Helping women to resettle and rebuild their lives after years of conflict is a priority for the ICRC in Sierra Leone.