After almost a decade in immigration detention Mohamed Coker was told he would be put on a plane to Sierra Leone within hours Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast “My dad was murdered there. The people that murdered my dad are still around … I fear the same thing will happen to me.” Mohamed Coker, 33, spoke to Guardian Australia on his way to the airport. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup ..read more

The mooted memorial to the navy’s West Africa Squadron seems to be an attempt to rewrite history in a more favourable light My fight to honour the Africans buried on St Helena St Helena urged to return remains of enslaved people to Africa Until very recently, most people in Britain would have said that this country’s most significant involvement in the transatlantic slave trade was our heroic decision to abolish it. In the past few years, this culturally ingrained consensus has been challenged by a renewed attention to Britain’s long-lasting legacy of slavery – and to the many families and i ..read more

Actor and his childhood friend planning development on Sherbro to be a public-private partnership Idris Elba has shared details of his “dream” to turn an island off the coast of Sierra Leone, the country where his father was born, into an environmentally friendly smart city. The actor is working with his childhood friend to develop Sherbro, which is roughly the size of the Isle of Man, after the island was given enough autonomy by the west African nation’s government to allow the work to go ahead ..read more

Activists will cross the continent visiting areas where the practice is prevalent to revive progress in protecting women and girls African female genital mutilation survivors will lead thousands of campaigners in a two-year “caravan campaign” across the continent, calling for an end to the practice. Organised by #FrontlineEndingFGM, a group of grassroots activists and organisations in Africa will cover about 7,400 miles (12,000km) across 20 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan and Cameroon ..read more

Children’s parents and those who performed the procedure are in police custody, according to local reports Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM). Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports ..read more

Government says attempt to break into an armoury in Freetown has been repelled and calm restored Armed clashes erupted in Sierra Leone’s capital on Sunday after what the government said was an attack on a military armoury, as it imposed an immediate nationwide curfew. Witnesses said they had heard gunshots and explosions in the Wilberforce district of Freetown, where the armoury and a number of embassies are located ..read more

Only a third of countries with climate crisis plans include access to sexual, maternal and newborn health services, UNFPA report finds Only a third of countries include sexual and reproductive health in their national plans to tackle the climate crisis, the UN has warned. Of the 119 countries that have published plans, only 38 include access to contraception, maternal and newborn health services and just 15 make any reference to violence against women, according to a report published by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and Queen Mary University of London on Tuesday ..read more

Spectacular ancient trees stir deep feelings, as the felling of Sycamore Gap showed. Here are more noble specimens, including one whose survival is a deep-rooted puzzle The act of vandalism in which Northumberland’s famous Sycamore Gap tree was felled last month has produced an outpouring of love and grief. Locals and tourists have shared their memories of the 300-year-old former winner of England’s tree of the year competition, which stood in a gap in Hadrian’s Wall: two nearby residents even crocheted their own tribute to it. In honour, then, of the Sycamore Gap tree, we branch out to take a ..read more

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 One thing is certain in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, says 18-year-old Abdullah: you are never far from a kush dealer. Some call its impact the “kush devil”. For Abdullah, addiction resulted in him dropping out of school and begging on the street. Now he is staying at the City of Rest Rehabilitation Centre, one of Sierra Leone’s only rehab facilities. A single joint of kush can cost 5 leones (20p), which can add u ..read more

The state-of-the-art facility will bring huge improvements to care in the country but it is also challenging gender roles in the construction industry In Kono District, in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, where diamond-rich earth was once exploited to fund a decade-long civil war, a new legacy is being built in its capital, Koidu. Behind a steel fence, the rooms of a new maternity centre, the Maternal Center of Excellence, are emerging – and about 60% of those wearing hard hats on site are women. Most are working in construction for the first time and are conscious they are helping to bui ..read more