News Roundup

Lots of stories of interest today:

• South Africa is pitching in 4 million US bucks toward Liberia's foreign debt.
• The Waterside Bridge is still broken, and it appears no work is being done yet on this vital artery of Central Monrovia. It has been months already.
• The Independent newspaper has filed suit against the government alleging arbitrary-ness in the application of justice vs. the paper in the Knucklegate affair.
• The local human rights NGO FOHRD gave an hysterical address the other day warning that the Ellen Govt is becoming a "dictatorship". Meanwhile, the US State Department says that for the first time in decades, Liberia is free of political prisoners or polically motivated deaths and disappearances. (Not that the current US government is any judge on such matters!)
• Kenya Airways will start serving Monrovia via Accra, Ghana on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact +231 (0)6556693, (0)6554659, or (0)6534834.
• 25 witnesses have been lined up against Charles Taylor in The Hague, and the ICC says he's in good health.
• People have been stealing the new electrical wires in Monrovia, which is part of the cause for recent blackouts. Oh, and that the big new generator in Bushrod Island is broken.
• Conservation International is launching a US$1.4m USAID program to create a Civilian Conservation Corps around Sapo National Park and to develop alternative livelihood options for poachers and illegal gold miners.