Former boy soldier visits Sierra Leone for first time since best-selling book published

Author Ishmael Beah has disputed newspaper reports that the best-selling memoir of his time as a child soldier contained inconsistencies, during an interview marking his first return to Sierra Leone since the book was published.

Beah defended his version of events in "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier," saying the 2007 book is based on personal recollection and was not a historical account.

"I decided to write because I wanted to shed light on this experience from my own personal point of view. I never claimed I was going to write a history of the war," he told The Associated Press Tuesday. "Only Ishmael Beah can tell his …