In Freetown, the smashed-up capital of Sierra Leone, where hotels charge New York prices for rooms and meals, another moneyed elite (both local and foreign) inflates the price of everything from toothpaste to bananas.

ECONOMIST: Distorted war economies

He was flown by air ambulance from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, earlier this month with suspected malaria or typhoid, but was finally diagnosed as having Lassa fever after a battery of specialist tests.

BBC: Tropical virus man 'fighting for life'

The BBC's Mark Doyle in the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown, says traditional chiefs and victims of the war watching the proceedings by video link breathed a sigh of relief when the verdict was read out.

BBC: Charles Taylor guilty of aiding Sierra Leone war crimes

The capital of Sierra Leone may be less brutalised than some other parts of the country, but its people are nonetheless physically and psychologically scarred by years of warfare, and this week they had to watch as foreign aid workers were pulled out.

ECONOMIST: Hopeless Africa

The U.N. decided to move Taylor's trial from Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, to the Hague last year because of concerns that Taylor's presence would harm stability and security in the region.

CNN: Charles Taylor refutes 'malicious' accusations at war crimes trial