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Brutal Murder of Fanny Ann Eddy, Lesbian and Gay Activist from Sierra Leone
Hans Binswanger, Senior Advisor, Africa Region, World Bank - Hbinswanger@worldbank.org
October 02, 2004

Dear Friends,

Fanny Ann Viola Eddy, the courageous lesbian and gay activist from Sierra Leone, and founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLAGA), has been brutally murdered last Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Assailants entered the office of SLLAGA at night when nobody was in the entire building, and after apparently raping and stabbing her head with a sharp object, finally broke her neck. The lesbian and gay community of Sierra Leone is in deep shock and totally frightened by this event.

Fanny Ann is survived by a son of about ten years.

Fanny Ann worked as an activist in both Sierra Leone and in southern Africa. I knew her from three visits to Sierra Leone in the last two years, in which I regularly met with the SLLAGA members, who were wresting with how to grow their organization in a hostile environment. I met her again at the recent All Africa Symposium on Human Rights in Johannesburg, where she was elected to the interim steering committee of the All Africa Rights Initiative. She was extremely courageous, a fighter, and very hard working. She and her contribution to lesbian and gay rights in Africa will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

I am devastated, and express my deepest sympathy to her son and family, SLLAGA and all her friends.

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