Encyclopedia
Sierra Leone, officially the
Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in
West Africa. It is bordered by
Guinea on the north and
Liberia on the south, with the
Atlantic Ocean on the west. The name Sierra Leone was adapted from the
Portuguese name for the country:
Serra Leoa. The literal meaning is "Lionesse Mountain." During the 1700s Sierra Leone was an important centre of the
Transatlantic Slave Trade. The capital
Freetown was founded in 1792 by the Sierra Leone Company as a home for
Black Britons who had fought for the
British in the
American Revolutionary War.
In 1808, Freetown became a
British Crown Colony, and in 1896, the interior of the country became a British Protectorate. The Crown Colony and Protectorate joined and gained independence in 1961. From 1991 to 2000, the country suffered greatly under a devastating
civil war. To end the civil war,
UN and
British forces disarmed 17,000 militia and rebels, in the largest UN
peacekeeping act of the decade. The average life span of a Sierra Leonean is 38 years for men and 42 years for women. [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sl.html#People]
History
The written history of Sierra Leone began in 1536, when the
Portuguese explorer Pedro da Cintra landed and named the country.
Europeans used the land as a source for
slaves, but in 1792
Freetown was established as a haven for Black Loyalist ex-slaves who had initially been settled in
Nova Scotia after the
American Revolutionary War.
In 1808, Sierra Leone became a British
Crown Colony, which it remained until halfway through the 20th century, when the process of de-colonization was commenced. This culminated in independence on April 27, 1961. Sir
Milton Margai was the first prime minister.
Sierra Leone became a one-party state in the early 1970s. The country suffered a civil war beginning in 1991, with the Revolutionary United Front , led by Foday Sankoh, attacking government soldiers and civilians indiscriminately . This resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people many of whom became refugees in neighboring countries. A military
coup on May 25, 1997 briefly replaced then President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah. Kabbah was reinstated in March 1998 after the junta was ousted by the Nigerian-led
ECOMOG forces.
The Lomé Peace Accord, signed on July 7, 1999 in
Lomé,
Togo offered hope that the country would be able to terminate the period of civil chaos that had engulfed it, and rebuild its devastated economy and infrastructure. As of late 1999, up to 6,000 UNAMSIL peacekeepers were in the process of deploying to bolster the peace accord.
In May 2000, the situation in the country deteriorated to such an extent that British troops were deployed in Operation Palliser to evacuate foreign nationals and establish order. They stabilized the situation, and were the catalyst for a ceasefire and ending of the civil war. United Nations peacekeeping forces withdrew at the end of 2005.
Politics
The head of state and government is the president, who is elected every five years . He appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers. The Sierra Leonean parliament is
unicameral, with 124 seats. 112 members are elected concurrently with the presidential elections; the other 12 seats are filled by paramount chiefs from each of the country's 12 administrative districts.
Local Government elections were held in 2004 , electing 456 councillors sitting in 19 local councils.
Administrative Divisions
Main articles: Provinces of Sierra Leone, Districts of Sierra LeoneSierra Leone is divided into three provinces and one area, and subdivided into 14
districts.
The
provinces include:
Districts: see
Districts of Sierra LeoneGeography
Much of Sierra Leone's coastline consists of
mangrove swamps, with the exception of the
peninsula on which the capital city Freetown is located. The rest of Sierra Leone is mostly plateau covered by forests, with mountains in the northeast of the country . The climate is tropical, with a rainy season from May to December.
Major cities are the capital
Freetown,
Koidu ,
Bo,
Kenema and
Makeni.
Economy
"Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. It has the lowest average income in the world. It does have substantial
mineral and fishery resources and agricultural potential. However, the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development, following an 11-year civil war. About two-thirds of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market." [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sl.html]
Economic development has always been hampered by an overdependence on mineral exploitation. Successive governments and the population as a whole have always believed that "diamonds and gold" are sufficient generators of foreign currency earnings and lure for investment. As a result large scale agriculture of commodity products, industrial development and sustainable investments have been neglected by governments. The economy could thus be described as one which is "exploitative" and based on the extraction of unsustainable resources or non reusable assets.
There are plans to reopen
bauxite and
rutile mines shut down during the conflict. The major source of hard currency consists of the mining of
diamonds. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad.
But beyond these purely economic factors, Sierra Leone also suffers from endemic official corruption. Government officials in successive governments have shown themselves more interested in lining their own pockets than improving the lives of average Sierra Leoneans. This is Sierra Leone's principal barrier to development.
Demographics
There are about 14 different ethnic groups living in Sierra Leone, which together make up about 99% of the population. The most important tribes are the Temne and Mende , both forming about one third of the population. There is a sizeable number of Krios, descendants of
enslaved Africans, freed in
London in the late 1700s and later returned to West Africa. Other groups include the Limba, Susu, Madingo, Kono, Yalunka. The tribes are distinct in some of their music, traditions, cultures. At the same time, there are many overlapping traditions.
Although
English is the official language, it is understood by only a minority, as most people speak their tribe's own language. The Krio language, based on English and African languages, is however spoken by most of the population. Islam and Christianity both claim many adherents in Sierra Leone. Statistics for Islam in Sierra Leone estimate a Muslim population of 3,610,585, representing around 60 percent of the country's total population. Sierra Leoneans also adhere to traditional African religious practices.
Sierra Leone is the worst nation in the world for
childbirth, having the highest Maternal Mortality Ratio , or risk of maternal death, of any country. The MMR of Sierra Leone, according to a report from the World Health Organization in the year 2000, is 2,000 maternal deaths per live 100,000 births. The extremely high MMR is principally due to a lack of capacity to deal with
obstetric complications such as
haemorrhage, obstructed labour, ectoptic gestation, puerperal sepsis, and complications caused by unsafe
abortion. Those situations were aggravated by the rebellion and the detrimental effects on distribution of reproductive health services due to the massive displacement of people, destruction of medical infrastructure and hospital equipment, rural inaccessibility, poor and disadvantageous accessibility to basic medical service.
Miscellaneous topics
External links
Government
News
Overviews
- [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sl.html CIA World Factbook - Sierra Leone]
- directory category
Tourism
- official site
- Travel and Tourism information
Discussion
- Discussion forum at SierraLeone.com
Other
- The Kposowa Foundation is dedicated to rebuilding the essential infrastructure and school buildings of Bumpe High School and the creation of jobs in Bumpe, Sierra Leone, West Africa. The head of the foundation is a U.S. born princess of the Mende people.
- - Bamboo Hut Bar and Restaurant. Freetown's premier restaurant serving up the food of Sierra Leone with authentic flavours and recipes
- - The Leonenet Community is a free e-mail Discussion Listserv for discussing issues that are relevant to Sierra Leone
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- Sierra Leone music, showbiz and entertainment information
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- - Peace striving NGO, working with projects in Sierra Leone
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