S. Leone main opposition to pick presidential candidate

Sierra Leone's main opposition party kicked off a three-day national convention Friday during which members will choose a presidential candidate to run in 2012 elections. A separate vote will also be held to choose a party leader for the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). On Sunday, 19 candidates will vie to represent the party in next year's elections against President Ernest Koroma. Among them is former Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio who ruled the country for three months in 1996 after seizing power in a coup. Koroma, elected in 2007, will be running for a second term for the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC). Party members will also choose a new leader, with current leader John Benjamin, a thriving businessman and one-time Secretary of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC), on Saturday defending his position against challenger Abass Bundu, a former executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The NPRC overthrew the government of President Joseph Momoh in 1992, a year after a rebellion began by the Revolutionary United Front which led to a brutal decade long civil war. Sierra Leone has more than 20 political parties but only six have been active in recent months mapping out plans for the coming elections, the date of which has not yet been set. Armed police cordoned off a wide area around the convention venue as the meeting got underway. The assistant inspector general of police in the western area of Freetown, Phillip Wellington, said "over 300 police officers have been drafted for the convention."