Sierra Leone ( ), officially the
Republic
of Sierra Leone, is a country in
West Africa.
It is bordered by Guinea
in the
northeast, Liberia
in the
southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra
Leone covers a total area of and has a population estimated at 6.4
million. The country has a
tropical
climate, with a diverse environment ranging from
savannah to
rainforests.
Freetown
is the
capital, seat of government, and largest city. Bo
is the second largest city. Other major cities in
the country with a population over 100,000 are Kenema
, Koidu Town
and Makeni
.
The
country is home to Fourah Bay College
, the oldest university in
West Africa, established in 1827. The
Njala University in the country's second
largest city of Bo is the other major university in the country.
Sierra
Leone is home to the third largest natural harbours in the world, the Queen Elizabeth
II Quay
(also known as the QE II Quay and locally as the
Deep Water Quay or Government Warf).
English is the
official language
of Sierra Leone spoken at
schools, government
administration and by the
media. The
Krio language (a language derived from
English and several African languages and native to the
Sierra Leone Krio people) is the
national language of Sierra Leone
and is the most widely spoken language in virtually all parts of
Sierra Leone. The Krio language is spoken by at least 95% of Sierra
Leone's population and unites all the different
ethnic groups, especially in their trade and
interaction with each other
[4527].. In December 2002, Sierra Leone’s
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah named
Bengali as an "official language" in
recognition of the work of 5,300 troops from Bangladesh in the
peace-keeping force.Sierra Leone is officially home to fifteen
ethnic groups, each with its own
language
and
costume; however, the two largest and
most dominant are the
Mende and
Temne, each comprises 30% of the
population. The Mende are predominantly found in South-eastern
Sierra Leone and the
Temne predominate
in Northern Sierra Leone. The two ethnic groups are major rivals,
particularly in
politics.
Early inhabitants of Sierra Leone included the
Sherbro,
Temne
and
Limba, and peoples,
and later the
Mende, who knew the
country as Romarong, and the
Kono who
settled in the East of the country. In 1462, it was visited by the
Portuguese explorer
Pedro da Cintra, who gave it its name Serra
de Leão, meaning 'Lion Mountains'.
Sierra Leone became an important centre of the
transatlantic trade in slaves until
1792 when Freetown was founded by the
Sierra Leone Company as a home for
formerly
enslaved African Americans. In 1808, Freetown became
a
British Crown Colony, and in 1896, the interior of the
country became a British
Protectorate;
in 1961, the two combined and gained
independence.
Over two decades of government neglect of the interior followed by
the spilling over of the Liberian conflict into its borders
eventually led to the
Sierra
Leone Civil War, which began in 1991 and was resolved in 2000
after the
United Nations led by
Nigeria defeated the rebel forces and restored the civilian
government elected in 1998 to Freetown.
Since then, almost 72,500 former combatants have been disarmed and
the country has reestablished a functioning
democracy. The
Special Court for Sierra
Leone was set up in 2002 to deal with
war
crimes and
crimes against
humanity committed since 1996.
Sierra Leone is the second lowest ranked country on the
Human Development Index and seventh
lowest on the
Human Poverty
Index, suffering from endemic
corruption and
suppression of the press.
History
Early History
finds show that Sierra Leone has been inhabited continuously for at
least 2,500 years, populated by successive movements from other
parts of Africa. The use of
iron was introduced
to Sierra Leone by the 9th century, and by AD 1000
agriculture was being practiced by coastal
tribes. Sierra Leone's dense tropical rainforest largely protected
it from the influence of any precolonial African empires and from
further
Islamic colonization, which
were unable to penetrate through it until the 18th century.
European contacts with Sierra Leone were among the first in
West Africa. In 1462, Portuguese
explorer
Pedro da Cintra mapped the
hills surrounding what is now Freetown Harbour, naming shaped
formation
Serra de Leão (Portuguese for
Lion
Mountains). The Italian rendering of this geographic formation
is
Sierra Leone, which became the country's name.
Soon after Portuguese traders arrived at the harbour and by 1495 a
fort that acted as a
trading post had been built.
The Portuguese
were joined by the Dutch
and French
; all of them
using Sierra Leone as a trading point for slaves. In 1562 the
English joined the trade in human beings when
Sir John Hawkins enslaved 300 people
'by the sword and partly by other means'.
Enslavement and Freedom
An 1835 illustration of liberated
Africans arriving in Sierra Leone.
In 1787, a plan was established to settle some of London's
"
Black Poor" in Sierra Leone in what was
called the "
Province of
Freedom". A number of "Black Poor" arrived off the coast of
Sierra Leone on May 15, 1787, accompanied by some English
tradesmen. This was organized by the
St. George's Bay Company, composed
of British
philanthropists who
preferred it as a solution to continuing to financially support
them in London. Many of the "Black poor" were
African Americans, who had been promised
their freedom for joining the British Army during the
American Revolution, but also included
other African and
Asian inhabitants of
London.
Disease and hostility from the indigenous people nearly eliminated
the first group of colonists. Through intervention by
Thomas Peters, the
Sierra Leone Company was established to
relocate another group of formerly enslaved Africans, this time
nearly 1,200
Black Nova
Scotians, most of whom had escaped enslavement in the United
States. Given the most barren land in Nova Scotia, many had died
from the harsh winters there.
They established a settlement at Freetown in 1792 led
by Peters. It was joined by other groups of freed Africans
and became the first African-American haven for formerly enslaved
Africans.
The colony of Freetown in 1856.
Though the English
abolitionist
Granville Sharp originally planned
Sierra Leone as a
utopian community, the
directors of the Sierra Leone
Company refused to allow the settlers to take
freehold of the land. Knowing how
Highland Clearances benefited Scottish
landlords but not tenants, the settlers revolted in 1799.
The revolt
was only put down by the arrival of over 500 Jamaican
Maroons, who also
arrived via Nova Scotia.
Thousands of formerly enslaved Africans were returned to or
liberated in Freetown. Most chose to remain in Sierra Leone. These
returned Africans were from many areas of Africa, but principally
the west coast. They joined the previous settlers and together
became known as Creole or
Krio
people.
Cut off from their homes and traditions, they assimilated some
aspects of British styles of inhabitants and built a flourishing
trade of flowers and beads on the West African coast. The
lingua franca of the colony was
Krio, a
creole
language rooted in 18th century African American English, which
quickly spread across the region as a common language of trade and
Christian mission. In the 1790s, blacks voted for the first time in
elections, as did women.
Colonial era
In the
early 20th century, Freetown served as the residence of the British
governor who also ruled the Gold Coast (now Ghana
) and the
Gambia
settlements. Sierra Leone also served as the educational
centre of British West Africa.
Fourah Bay College, established in 1827, rapidly became a magnet for
English-speaking Africans on the West Coast. For more than a
century, it was the only European-style
university in western
Sub-Saharan Africa.
During Sierra Leone's colonial history,
indigenous people mounted
several unsuccessful revolts against British rule and Krio
domination. The most notable was the
Hut Tax war of 1898. Its first leader
was Bai Bureh, a Temne chief who refused to recognize the
British-imposed tax on "huts" (dwellings). The tax was generally
regarded by the native chiefs as an attack on their
sovereignty.After the British issued a warrant
to arrest Bai Bureh alleging that he had refused to pay taxes, he
brought fighters from several Temne villages under his command, and
from Limba, Loko, Soso, Kissi, and Mandinka villages.
Bureh's fighters had the advantage over the vastly more powerful
British for several months of the war. Hundreds of British troops
and hundreds of Bureh's fighters were killed.Bai Bureh was finally
captured on November 11, 1898 and sent into
exile in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), while 96 of
his comrades were hanged by the British.
The defeat of the natives in the Hut Tax war ended large scale
organised resistance to colonialism; however resistance continued
throughout the colonial period in the form of intermittent rioting
and chaotic labour disturbances. Riots in 1955 and 1956 involved
"many tens of thousands" of natives in the protectorate.
One notable event in 1935 was the granting of a
monopoly on
mineral mining to the
Sierra Leone Selection Trust
run by
De Beers, which was scheduled to
last 98 years.
An independent nation
The 1924 Sierra Leone constitution was replaced in November 1951 by
a new one which united the formerly separate Colonial and
Protectorate legislatures and — most importantly — provided a
framework for
decolonization. In 1951
Sir Milton Margai,
an ethnic
Mende and the leading
politician from the
Protectorate
oversaw the drafting of a new constitution which triggered the
process of
decolonization. In 1953
Sierra Leone was granted local ministerial powers and Margai was
made
Chief Minister. The new
constitution ensured Sierra Leone a parliamentary system within the
Commonwealth of Nations and
was formally adopted in 1958.
Margai
led the Sierra Leone delegation at the
constitutional conferences that were held with British Colonial
Secretary Iain Macleod in London
in
1960. On April 27, 1961, Milton Margai led Sierra Leone to
independence from the United Kingdom.
Thousands of Sierra Leoneans throughout the nation took to the
street to celebrate their Independence. The nation held its
first general
elections on May 27, 1962 and Margai was elected Sierra Leone's
first Prime Minister by a landslide. Milton Margai's
political party, the
Sierra Leone People's Party
(SLPP), won by large margins in the nation's first general election
under universal adult
suffrage in May
1962.
Upon Margai's death on April 28, 1964, his brother,
Sir Albert Margai who was
Sierra Leone
Minister of Finance
under Milton's government was chosen by Parliament to be the
country's next prime minister. Sir Albert was sworn in as Sierra
Leone's second Prime Minister the same day his brother died at a
ceremony held at the state house in Freetown.
Sir Albert was highly criticized during his three-year rule as
prime minister. He was accused of
corruption and of favouritism toward
his own
Mende ethnic group. He also tried to establish a
one-party state but met fierce
resistance from the opposition
All
People's Congress (APC) and ultimately abandoned the idea.
During Albert Margai's administration, The Mende increased their
influence both in the
civil service
and the army. Most of the top military and government positions
were held by Mendes, and Mende country (the South-Eastern part of
Sierra Leone) received preferential treatment.
In closely contested general elections in March 1967, Sierra Leone
Governor General Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston
declared the new prime minister to be
Siaka Stevens, candidate of the
All People's Congress and
Mayor of Freetown. Stevens was sworn in as Sierra
Leone's third Prime Minister on May 17, 1967 in Freetown. Hours
after taking office,
Stevens was
ousted in a bloodless coup led by the commander of the
The Sierra Leone Armed Forces,
Brigadier David
Lansana, an ethnic Mende and a prominent supporter of Albert
Margai who had appointed him in 1964 as the commander of the Sierra
Leone Armed Forces. Brigadier Lansana insisted that the
determination of office should await the election of the tribal
representatives to the House of Representative.
Stevens was placed under
house arrest and
martial
law was declared. But a group of senior military officers
overrode this action by seizing control of the government on March
23, 1968, arresting
Lansana and
suspending the constitution. The group constituted itself as the
National Reformation
Council with
Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman.
Brigadier Juxon-Smith was a member of the minority
Krio ethnic group who reside mostly in Freetown.
In April 1968, the
NRC
was overthrown by a group of military officers who called
themselves the Anti-Corruption Revolutionary Movement (ACRM), led
by
Brigadier General John Amadu Bangura, an ethnic Limba. The
ACRM imprisoned senior
NRC members, restored the
constitution and reinstated
Stevens as
Prime Minister.After the return to
civilian
rule, by-elections were held (beginning in autumn 1968) and an
all-APC cabinet was appointed. Calm was not completely restored. In
November 1968, Stevens declared a
state of emergency after disturbance in
the provinces.
Stevens had campaigned on a platform of socialist principles.
However, when he became Prime Minister he abandoned his
pre-election promises and employed an authoritarian model of
governance. Many senior officers in the Sierra Leone military were
greatly disappointed but none could confront Stevens. Brigadier
General Bangura who had reinstated Stevens as Prime Minister was
widely considered the only person who could put the brakes on
Stevens. Bangura was a magnetic and popular figure among Sierra
Leoneans. The army was devoted to him and this made him potentially
dangerous to Steven's new agenda in the shifting political climate
of Sierra Leone. In January 1970, Bangura was arrested and charged
with
conspiracy and plotting to
commit a coup against the Stevens government. He was
convicted and
sentenced to death by
execution. On March 29, 1970, Stevens had Bangura
hanged at the Kissy Road in central Freetown.
In March 1971 the government survived an unsuccessful military
coup. The coup leaders were executed, including several senior
officers in the army and some senior government officials.
On April 19, 1971, parliament declared Sierra Leone a
Republic. Siaka Stevens' title was changed from
Prime Minister to President.
Guinean troops
requested by Stevens to support his government were in the country
from 1971 to 1973. The opposition SLPP boycotted the 1973
general election, alleging widespread intimidation and proceedural
obstruction. .
In 1973 president Stevens and president
William Tolbert of Liberia signed a treaty
forming the
Mano River Union to
facilitate trade between Sierra Leone and Liberia – with Guinea
joining in 1980 under president
Sekou
Toure.
In 1975 Sierra Leone joint the Economic
Community of West African States
(commonly known as ECOWAS
) and in 1980
the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU) was hosted in Freetown.
An alleged plot to overthrow president Stevens failed in 1974 and
its leaders were executed. In March 1976, Stevens was elected
without opposition for a second five-year term as president. On
July 19, 1975, 14 senior army and government officials including
Brigadier David Lansana, former cabinet minister
Mohamed Sorie Forna, Brigadier
Ibrahim Bash Taqi,
Lieutenant and
Habib Lansana Kamara were executed
after being convicted for allegedly attempting a coup to topple
president Stevens' government.
In early 1977 a major anti-government demonstration by students
occurred in the country against the APC one-party rule and
deteriorating economic conditions. But the demonstration was put
down by the police and the army.
In the national parliamentary election of May 1977, the APC won 74
seats and the main opposition, the SLPP, won 15. The SLPP condemned
the election, alleged widespread vote-rigging and voter
intimidation. In 1978, parliament approved a new constitution
making the country a
one-party
state. The 1978 referendum made the
APC the only legal political party in
Sierra Leone.
Under the APC regimes headed by Stevens, the
Limba, Stevens' own ethnic
group, enjoyed strong influence in the government and civil
service. During the 1970s, another major ethnic group, the
Temne joined the
Mende in opposition to the APC government. But
after Stevens appointed a Temne,
Sorie Ibrahim Koroma as vice-president
in 1978, the Temne appeared to have emerged as the second most
influential group in the government, after the Limba.
Stevens is generally criticised for dictatorial methods and
government corruption, but, on a positive note, he reduced the
ethnic polarisation in government by incorporating members of
various groups into his all-dominating APC.
Siaka Stevens retired in November, 1985 after being in power for 18
years, but continued to be chairman of the APC. The APC named a new
presidential candidate to succeed Stevens. He was
Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, the commander of the
Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, and Stevens' own choice to
succeed him. Like Stevens, Momoh was also a member of the minority
Limba ethnic group. Joseph Saidu Momoh was elected President in a
one-party referendum as the only contesting candidate. Momoh was
sworn in as Sierra Leone's second president on November 28, 1985 at
an
inauguration ceremony held at the
State House in Freetown. A one party parliamentary elections
between APC members were held in May, 1986.
President Momoh strong links with the army and his verbal attacks
on corruption earned him much needed initial support among Sierra
Leoneans. With the lack of new faces in the new APC cabinet under
president Momoh and the return of many of the old faces from
Stevens government, criticisms soon arose that Momoh was simply
perpetuating the rule of Stevens. The next couple of years under
the Momoh administration were characterised by corruption, which
Momoh defused by sacking several senior army officials and cabinet
ministers. To formalise his war against corruption, President Momoh
announced a
Code of Conduct for
Political Leaders and Public Servants"
After an alleged attempt to overthrow President Momoh in March
1987, more than 60 senior government officials were arrested,
including Vice-President
Francis
Minah, who was removed from office, convicted for plotting the
coup, and executed by
hanging in 1989 along
with 5 others.
Multi-party constitution and Revolutionary United Front
rebellion
In October 1990, president
Momoh
set up a constitutional review commission to review the 1978
one-party constitution. Based on the commission recommendations a
constitution re-establishing a multi-party system was approved by
Parliament by a 60% majority vote, becoming effective on October 1,
1991. By November 1991, political oppostion became active once
again in Sierra Leone. But there was great suspicion that
Momoh was not serious, and
APC rule was increasingly marked by
abuses of power.
Civil war broke out, mainly due to
government corruption and mismanagement
of
diamond resources.
Besides the internal
ripeness, the brutal civil war going on in neighboring Liberia played an
undeniable role in the outbreak of fighting in Sierra Leone.
Charles Taylor—then leader of the
National Patriotic
Front of Liberia—reportedly helped form the Revolutionary United Front under
the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Saybana
Sankoh, an ethnic Temne from Tonkolili District
in Northern Sierra Leone. Sankoh was a
British trained former army corporal who had also undergone
guerrilla training in Libya. Taylor’s aim was for the RUF to attack
the bases of Nigerian dominated peacekeeping troops in Freetown who
were opposed to his rebel movement in Liberia.
The RUF,
led by Sankoh and backed by Taylor, launched its first attack in
villages in Kailahun
District
in eastern Sierra Leone from Liberia on March 23,
1991. The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a
crumbling economy and corruption, was unable to put up significant
resistance.
Within a month of entering Sierra Leone from
Liberia, the RUF controlled much of the Eastern Province, including
the diamond areas of Kailahun and Kono District
. Forced recruitment of
child soldiers was also an early feature of
the rebel strategy.
On April
29, 1992, a group of six young soldiers in
the Sierra Leonean army, apparently frustrated by the government's
failure to deal with the rebels and a revolt
over salary pay launched a military
coup which sent president Momoh into exile
in Guinea [4528]. The young solders were
Colonel Tom Nyuma,
Sergon Solomon A.J.
Musa,
Captain Samuel
Komba Kambo,
Brigadier-General
Julius Maada Bio,
Colonel Yahya Kanu,
Lieutenant Colonel Komba Mondeh and were led by 25-year-old
captain
Valentine Strasser, who
belonged to the
Krio ethnic group. The
soldiers established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC)
with Yahya Kanu as its chairman. But Kanu was
assassinated by fellow NPRC members, who
accused him of trying to negotiate with the toppled APC
administration. On May 4, 1992, 25-year-old Valentine Strasser took
over as chairman of the NPRC and Head of State of Sierra Leone.
S.A.J. Musa, one of the leaders of the coup and a close friend of
Strasser, took over as Vice-Chairman of the NPRC. Many Sierra
Leoneans nationwide rushed into the streets to celebrate the NPRC's
takeover from the 23-year dictatorial APC regime, which they
perceived as corrupt. The NPRC junta immediately suspended the 1991
Constitution, declared a
state of
emergency, banned all political parties, limited
freedom of speech and
freedom of the press, and enacted a
rule-by-decree policy. The NPRC Junters maintained relations with
ECOWAS and support for ECOMOG troops in Sierra Leone which was
fighting in Liberia. The army and police officers were granted
unlimited powers of administrative detention without charge or
trial, and challenges against such detentions in court were
precluded.
In December 1992 a coup attempt led by Sgt.
Lamin Bangura to toppled the NPRC
administration lead by Strasser was foiled and it led to the
execution of seventeen soldiers in the Sierra Leone Army, including
Sgt. Bangura. By mid 1993 captain Strasser announced a plan to hand
over the government to civilian rule by 1996.
James Jonah was appointed by the NPRC Junta as
the chairman of the new Interim Sierra Leone National Electoral
Commission, in charge of the demarcation of electoral boundaries
and voters registration. In 1994 the NPRC junters proposed a change
in the age restriction in the Sierra Leonean constitution which
stated only Sierra Leoneans over the age of 40 are eligible for the
presidency, thus excluding Strasser and others in the NPRC.
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh-led APC
government in repelling the RUF. More and more of the country fell
to RUF fighters, and by 1995 they held much of the diamond-rich
Eastern Province and were at the edge of Freetown. In response, the
NPRC hired several hundred mercenaries from the private firm
Executive Outcomes. Within a
month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra
Leone’s borders. During this time corruption had erupted within
senior NPRC members. On July 5, Strasser dismissed his childhood
friend Musa as deputy chairman of the NPRC and appointed Julius
Maada Bio to succeed him. Some senior NPRC members, including Bio,
Nyuma and Mondeh, were unhappy with Strasser's handling of the
peace process.
In
January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted
in a coup by fellow NPRC members led by his deputy Brigadier
General Julius Maada Bio, an ethnic Mende from Bonthe
District
. Bio
claimed that Strasser was attempting to amend the age restriction
aspect of the constitution in order to perpetrate his hold on
power. Bio reinstated the Constitution and called for general
elections. In the second round of presidential elections in early
1996,
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, and
ethnic
Mandingo and
the candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), won 59% of
the vote, over
John Karefa-Smart,
an ethnic
Sherbro and the candidate
of the
United National
People's Party who won 41%. Bio fulfilled promises of a return
to
civilian rule, and handed power to
Kabbah. President Tejan Kabbah's SLPP party also won a majority of
the seats in Parliament.
In 1996,
Major General Johnny Paul Koroma who hail from the
Limba ethnic group from Kono District was allegedly involved in an attempt to overthrow
the government of president
Kabbah. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and
imprisoned at Freetown's Pademba Road
Prison. But some top-rank Army officers were unhappy
with this decision, and on May 25, 1997, a group of soldiers who
called themselves the
Armed Forces Revolutionary
Council overthrew
Kabbah. The
AFRC released
Koroma from prison and installed
him as their chairman of the NPRC and Head of State of the country,
with Foday Sankoh as the Vice-Chairman.
Koroma suspended the constitution, banned
demonstrations, shut down all
private radio stations in the country and invited the
RUF to join his government. The
Kamajors, a group of traditional fighters mostly from the Mende
ethnic group under the command of deputy
Defense Minister Samuel Hinga Norman remained loyal to
President Kabbah. The Kamajors defended the Bo, the country's
second largest city from the Junter and continue their attack
against the AFRC and RUF in south-eastern Sierra Leone
After 10
months in office, the junta was ousted by the Nigeria
-led ECOMOG forces, and the
democratically elected government of president Kabbah was reinstated in March
1998. Hundreds of
civilians who had
been accused of helping the
AFRC government were
illegally detained.
Courts-martial
were held for soldiers accused of assisting the
AFRC government.
Twenty-four of these were found guilty and were executed without
appeal in October 1998.
On January 6, 1999, AFRC made another
unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government, causing many
deaths and much destruction of property in and around Freetown.
In October, the
United Nations agreed
to send
peacekeeper to help restore
order and disarm the rebels. The first of the 6,000-member force
began arriving in December, and the
UN Security Council voted in February
2000 to increase the force to 11,000, and later to 13,000.
But in
May, when nearly all Nigerian forces had left and UN forces were trying to disarm
the RUF in eastern Sierra
Leone, Sankoh's forces clashed with the
UN troops, and some 500 peacekeepers were taken hostage as the peace accord effectively
collapsed. The
hostage crisis
resulted in more fighting between the
RUF and the government.
Between 1991 and 2001, about 50,000 people were killed in
Sierra Leone's civil war.
Hundreds of thousands of people were forced
from their homes, and many became refugees in Guinea and Liberia. In
2001, UN forces moved into rebel-held areas and began to disarm
rebel soldiers. By January 2002, the war was declared over. In May,
Kabbah was reelected president.
By 2004, the disarmament process was complete. Also in 2004, a
UN-backed
war crimes court began holding
trials of senior leaders from both sides of the war. In December
2005, UN peacekeeping forces pulled out of Sierra Leone.
In August 2007, Sierra Leone held presidential and parliamentary
elections. However, no presidential candidate won a majority of
votes. A runoff election was held in September 2007, and
Ernest Bai Koroma, the candidate of the
APC and an ethnic
Temne from the north
was elected president.
There is
an increase in the number of drug
cartels, many from Colombia
, who are starting to use Sierra Leone as a base to
ship drugs on to Europe. It is feared that this may lead to increased
corruption and violence and may turn the country, like neighboring
Guinea-Bissau
, into a narco
state.
Geography and climate
Sierra Leone is located on the
west
coast of Africa, between the 7th and 10th
parallels north of the
equator.
Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea to the north
and northeast, Liberia to the south
and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
The country has a total area of , divided into a land area of and
water of . The country has four distinct geographical regions.
In
eastern Sierra Leone the plateau is
interspersed with high mountains, where
Mount
Bintumani
reaches ,
the highest point in the country. The upper part of the
drainage basin of the
Moa River is located in the south of this
region.
The centre of the country is a region of
lowland plains, containing
forests,
bush and
farmland, that occupies about 43% of
Sierra Leone's land area. The northern section of this has been
categorised by the
World Wildlife
Fund as part of the
Guinean forest-savanna mosaic
ecoregion, while the south is
rain-forested plains and farmland. In the west Sierra Leone has
some of Atlantic
coastline, giving it both
bountiful marine resources and attractive
tourist potential. The coast has areas low-lying
mangrove swamps.
The national capital Freetown sits on a coastal peninsula, situated next to the Sierra Leone
Harbor, the world's third largest natural harbour.
The
climate is
tropical, with two
seasons
determining the agricultural cycle: the
rainy season from May to November, and a
dry season from December to May, which
includes
harmattan, when cool, dry winds
blow in off the
Sahara Desert and the
night-time temperature can be as low as . The average temperature
is and varies from around to during the year.
Environment
Logging,
mining,
slash and burn, and
deforestation for
land conversion - such as cattle grazing -
have dramatically diminished forested land in Sierra Leone since
the 1980s. Correspondingly the
habitat for
the
African Wild Dog,
Lycaon pictus, has been decreased, such
that this canid is deemed to have been extirpated in Sierra
Leone.
Until 2002, Sierra Leone lacked a forest management system due to a
brutal civil war that caused tens of thousands of deaths.
Deforestation rates have increased 7.3% since the end of the civil
war. On paper, 55 protected areas covered 4.5% of Sierra Leone as
of 2003. The country has 2,090 known
species
of higher plants, 147
mammals, 626
birds, 67
reptiles, 35
amphibians, and 99
fish
species.
The
Environmental
Justice Foundation has documented how the number of
illegal fishing vessels in Sierra Leone's
waters has multiplied in recent years. The amount of illegal
fishing has significantly depleted fish stocks, depriving local
fishing communities of an important resource for survival. The
situation is particularly serious as fishing provides the only
source of income for many communities in a country still recovering
from over a decade of civil war.
In June 2005, the
Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Bird Life International agreed
to support a conservation-
sustainable development project in
the
Gola Forest in southeastern Sierra
Leone, an important surviving fragment of
rainforest in Sierra Leone.
Government and politics
Sierra Leone is a
constitutional
republic with a
directly
elected president and a
unicameral legislature. The current
system of government in Sierra Leone, established under the 1991
Constitution, is modeled on the following structure of government:
the
Legislature, the
Executive and the
Judiciary.
Within the confines of the 1991 Constitution, supreme legislative
powers are vested in
Parliament, which is the law
making body of the nation. Supreme executive authority rests in the
president and members of his cabinet and judicial power with the
judiciary of which the
Chief Justice
is head.
The president is the
head of state,
the
head of government and the
commander-in-chief of the
Sierra Leone Armed Forces
and the
Sierra Leone Police. The
president appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers, which must be
approved by the Parliament. The president is elected by
popular vote to a maximum of two five-year
terms. The president is the highest and most influentialposition
within the government of Sierra Leone.
To be elected president of Sierra Leone, a candidate must gain at
least 55% of the vote. If no candidate gets 55%, there is to be a
second-round runoff between the top
two candidates.
The current president of Sierra Leone is
Ernest Bai Koroma, who was sworn in on
September 17, 2007, shortly after being declared the winner of a
tense run-off election over the
incumbent
Vice president,
Solomon Berewa of the Sierra Leone
People's Party (SLPP).
Next to the president is the
Vice president, who is the
second-highest ranking government official in the executive branch
of the Sierra Leone Government. As designated by the Sierra Leone
Constitution, the vice president is to become the new president of
Sierra Leone upon the death, resignation, or removal of the
president by parliament and to assume the Presidency temporarily
while the president is abroad, or otherwise temporarily unable to
fulfill his or her duties. The vice president is elected jointly
with the president as his or her
running
mate. Sierra Leone's current vice president is
Samuel Sam-Sumana, sworn in on September
17, 2007.
The
Parliament of Sierra
Leone is
unicameral, with 124 seats.
Each of the country's fourteen districts is represented in
parliament. 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.
The current parliament in the August 2007 Parliamentary elections
is made up of three political parties with the following
representations; the
All People's
Congress (APC) 59 seats, the
Sierra Leone People's Party
(SLPP) 43 seats, and the
Peoples Movement for
Democratic Change (PMDC) 10 seats.The most recent parliamentary
elections were held on August 11, 2007. The
All People's Congress (APC), won 59 of
112 parliamentary seats; the
Sierra Leone People's Party
(SLPP) won 43; and the
People's Movement for
Democratic Change (PMDC) won 10. To be qualified as Member of
Parliament, the person must be a citizen of Sierra Leone, must be
at least 21 years old, must be able to speak, read and write the
English language with a degree of proficiency to enable him to
actively take part in proceedings in Parliament; and must not have
any criminal conviction.
Since independence in 1961, Sierra Leone's politics has been
dominated by two major political parties, the
Sierra Leone People's Party
(SLPP), and the ruling
All
People's Congress (APC), although other minor political parties
have also existed but with no significant supports.
The
judicial power of Sierra Leone is vested in the judiciary, headed by the Chief Justice and comprising the Sierra Leone
Supreme Court
, which is the highest court in the country and its
ruling therefore cannot be appealed; High Court of Justice; the
Court of Appeal; the magistrate courts; and traditional courts in
rural villages.The president appoints
and parliament approves Justices for the three courts. The
Judiciary have jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters
throughout the country. The current Sierra Leone's
Chief Justice is
Umu Hawa Tejan Jalloh, who was
appointed by President Ernest Bai Koroma and took office on January
25, 2008 upon his confirmation by parliament. She is the first
woman in the history of Sierra Leone to hold such position.
Foreign relations
The Sierra Leone Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Relations, headed by
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Zainab Hawa Bangura is
responsible for foreign policy of Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone has
diplomatic relations that include China, Libya
, Iran
, and
Cuba
. Sierra Leone has good relations with
the West, including the United States
and has maintained historical ties with the United Kingdom and
other former
British colonies through
membership of the
Commonwealth
of Nations.
Former
President Siaka Stevens' government
had sought closer relations with other West
African countries under the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) a policy continued by the current.
Sierra
Leone, along with Liberia and Guinea form the
Mano River Union (MRU) primarily
designed to implement development projects and promote regional
economic integration between
the three countries.
Sierra Leone is also a member of the
United Nations and its specialized agencies,
the
African Union, the
African Development Bank (AFDB),
the
Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Sierra
Leone is also a member of the
International Criminal Court
with a
Bilateral Immunity
Agreement of protection for the
US military (as covered under
Article 98).
Provinces and districts
The 14 districts of Sierra
Leone.
The
Republic of Sierra Leone is composed of three provinces: the
Northern
Province
, Southern Province
and the Eastern Province
and one other region called the Western Area
. The provinces are further divided into 12
districts, and the districts are further divided into chiefdoms,
except for the Western Area.
| District |
|
Area km2 |
Province |
Population (2004 census) |
Population (2008 estimates) |
Bombali District |
Makeni |
7,985 |
Northern Province |
408,390 |
424,100 |
Koinadugu District |
Kabala |
12,121 |
265,758 |
|
Port Loko District |
Port
Loko |
5,719 |
455,746 |
483,752 |
| Tonkolili District |
Magburaka |
7,003 |
347,197 |
370,425 |
Kambia District |
Kambia |
3,108 |
270,462 |
299,725 |
Kenema District |
Kenema |
6,053 |
Eastern Province |
497,948 |
522,656 |
| Kono District |
Koidu
Town |
5,641 |
335,401 |
|
| Kailahun District |
Kailahun |
3,859 |
358,190 |
389,253 |
Bo District |
Bo |
5,473.6 |
Southern Province |
463,668 |
527,131 |
| Bonthe District |
Mattru Jong |
3,468 |
129,947 |
137,155 [4529] |
Pujehun District |
Gandorhun |
4,105 |
228,392 |
262,073 |
Moyamba District |
Moyamba |
6,902 |
260,910 |
|
| Western Area Urban
District |
Freetown |
3,568 |
Western Area |
1,272,873 |
1,473,873 |
| Western Area Rural
District |
Freetown |
4,175 |
174,249 |
205,400 |
|
Major cities
| City |
2004 census |
Current population estimate |
| Freetown |
772,873 |
1,070,200 |
| Bo |
149,957 |
206,769 |
| Kenema |
128,402 |
164,125 [4530]. |
| Koidu
Town |
80,025 |
111,800 |
| Makeni |
82,840 |
105,900 |
|
- The populations quoted above for the five largest cities are
estimates from the sources cited. Different sources give different
estimates. Some claim that Magburaka should be included in the above list, but one
source estimates the population at only 14,915, whilst another puts
it as high as 85,313.
Economy
Sierra Leone is slowly emerging from a protracted civil war and is
showing signs of a successful transition.
Investor and
consumer confidence continue to rise,
adding impetus to the country’s economic recovery. There is greater
freedom of movement and the successful re-habitation and
resettlement of residential areas.
Rich in
minerals, Sierra Leone has relied
on
mining, especially
diamonds, for its economic base. The country is
among the top 10 diamond producing nations in the world.
Mineral exports remain the main
foreign currency earner. Sierra Leone is a
major producer of gem-quality diamonds. Though rich in diamonds, it
has historically struggled to manage their exploitation and
export.
Annual production of Sierra Leone's diamond estimates range between
$250–300 million
U.S
dollar. Some of that is
smuggled,
where it is possibly used for
money
laundering or financing illicit activities. Formal exports have
dramatically improved since the civil war with efforts to improve
the management of them having some success. In October 2000, a
UN-approved certification system for exporting diamonds from the
country was put in place and led to a dramatic increase in legal
exports. In 2001, the government created a mining community
development fund, which returns a portion of diamond export taxes
to diamond mining communities. The fund was created to raise local
communities' stake in the legal diamond trade
Sierra Leone is perhaps best known for its
blood diamonds that were mined and sold for
high prices during the
civil war.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, economic growth rate slowed because of a decline in the mining sector and increasing corruption among government officials.
By the 1990s economic activity was declining and economic
infrastructure had become seriously degraded. Over the next decade
much of the formal economy was destroyed in the country’s civil
war. Since the end of hostilities in January 2002, massive
infusions of outside assistance have helped Sierra Leone begin to
recover. Much of the recovery will depend on the success of the
government's efforts to limit corruption by officials, which many
feel was the chief cause for the civil war. A key indicator of
success will be the effectiveness of government management of its
diamond sector.
Sierra Leone has one of the world's largest deposits of
rutile, a
titanium ore used as
paint pigment and
welding rod coatings.
Sierra Rutile Limited, owned by a
consortium of United States and European investors, began
commercial mining operations near the city of Bonthe
, in the
Southern Province, in early 1979. It was then the largest
non-petroleum US investment in West Africa. The export of 88,000
tons realized $75 million in export earnings in 1990. In 1990,
the company and the government made a new agreement on the terms of
the company's concession in Sierra Leone. Rutile and
bauxite mining operations were suspended when rebels
invaded the mining sites in 1995, but exports resumed in
2005.
About two-thirds of the population engages in
subsistence agriculture, which
accounts for 52.5% of national income. The government is trying to
increase food and
cash crop production and
upgrade small farmer skills. The government works with several
foreign donors to operate integrated rural development and
agricultural projects.
Despite its successes and development, the Sierra Leone economy
still faces significant challenges. There is high
unemployment, particularly among the youth and
ex-combatants. Authorities have been slow to implement reforms in
the civil service, and the pace of the privatisation programme is
also slacking and donors have urged its advancement.
Currency
Sierra Leone’s
currency is the
Leone. The
central bank of the country is the
Bank of Sierra Leone which is located
in the capital, Freetown.
Sierra Leone operates a floating
exchange
rate system, and foreign currencies can be exchanged at any of
the commercial banks, recognised foreign exchange
bureaux and most
hotels.
Credit card use is limited in Sierra
Leone, though they may be used at some hotels and
restaurants. There are a few internationally
linked
automated teller
machines that accept
Visa cards in
Freetown operated by ProCredit Bank.
Religion
Sierra Leone is a predominantly
Muslim
nation. Followers of
Islam are estimated to
comprise 65% of Sierra Leone's population.
Muslim predominate in
all of the country's three provinces and plus the Western Area. those of Christianity
30%, and those of African
indigenous religion, 5%. [4531][4532].
The Sierra Leone constitution provides
freedom of religion and the government
generally protects this right and does not tolerate its abuse.
Unlike many other African countries, the religious diversity of
Sierra Leone has seldom led to conflict.
Demographics
.]]The 2009
UN estimate of Sierra Leone's
population is 6.4m. Freetown, with an estimated population of
1,070,200, is the capital, largest city and the hub of the economy,
commercial, educational and cultural centre of the country. Bo is
the
second city with an
estimated population of 269,000.
Other cities with an estimated population
over 100,000 are Kenema, Koidu Town and Makeni.
Although English is the
official
language spoken at
schools, government
administration and by the
media,
Krio (language derived from English and
several African languages and native to the
Sierra Leone Krio people) is the
most widely spoken language in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone.
The Krio language is spoken by 95%
[4533] of the country's population and unites
all the different
ethnic groups,
especially in their trade and interaction with each other.
According to the
World Refugee Survey 2008, published by
the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Sierra Leone had a
population of 8,700
refugees and asylum
seekers at the end of 2007.
Nearly 20,000 Liberian refugees voluntarily
returned to Liberia over the
course of 2007. Of the refugees remaining in Sierra Leone,
nearly all were Liberian.
The life expectancy of Sierra Leone is 41 years.
Ethnic groups
The Sierra Leone government officially recognizes sixteen
ethnic groups, each with its own language and
custom. The two largest and most dominant are the
Mende and
Temne,
each comprises 30% of the population about 1,888,000 members each).
The Mende
predominate in the South-Eastern Provinces; the Temne likewise predominate in the
Northern
Province and the Western Area. Sierra Leone's national
politics centers on the competition between the
north, dominated by the Temne and the south-east dominated by the
Mende.
The
Limba are the third
largest ethnic group at 8.5% of the country's total population and
are one of the earliest inhabitant of Sierra Leone.
The Limba are
primarily found in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone,
particulaly in Bombali
District.
The fouth
largest ethnic group are the Mandingo (they are the
descendants of the Mandinka traders from Guinea who
immigrated to Sierra Leone between 1840 to
about 1898), they make up 7.8% of the
population and they are primarily found in the North and in Eastern
Sierra Leone. The Mandinka are primarily
muslim at over 99% and
Islam
dominates the religious and cultural practices.
The
Kono make up 7% of the country's
population and they are primarily found in in Kono District in Eastern Sierra Leone, where they form the
largest ethnic group. The Kono are primarily
diamond miners.
The
Krio (descendants of freed West Indians
slaves from the West Indies
and freed African
American slaves from the United States which landed in Freetown
between 1787 and about 1885) are primarily found in the capital
city of Freetown and its surrounding Western Area. Creole culture is unlike that of all other
ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, and it is typical of
Western culture and ideals.
The
Fula (descendants of
17th and 18
century Fulani settlers from the Fouta Djalon region of Guinea ) live
primarily in the north and the Western Area of Sierra Leone.
The Fula are primarily traders and like their Mandingo and
Susu neighbohood, the Fula are primarily
muslim at over 99% and
Islam dominates the religious and cultural practices.
Umu Hawa Tejan Jalloh, current
Chief Justice of Sierra Leone is an
ethnic Fula
Much
smaller ethnic groups are the Kuranko
in the north; the Loko in the north,
with the Susu and Yalunka in the far north in Kambia
District around the
border with Guinea.
The
Kissi and the much smaller group of
Vai are further inland in
Kailahun
District in the East next to the border with Liberia.
On the
coast in Bonthe District in the south are the Sherbro . The Sierra Leonean-Lebanese (descendants
of Lebanese settlers who settled in Sierra Leone during the
late 19th century) make up nearly 1% of the population and they are
predominantly found in the Western Area and in the diamond region in south-eastern Sierra
Leone.
In the past, Sierra Leoneans were noted for their
educational achievements, trading activity,
entrepreneurial skills, and
arts and
crafts work, particularly
wood
carving. Many are part of larger ethnic networks extending into
several countries, which link West African states in the area. But
the level of education and
infrastructure has declined sharply over the
last 30 years.
List of Sierra
Leoneans
Education
Education in Sierra Leone is legally required for all children for
six years at
primary level (Class
P1-P6) and three years in junior
secondary education, but a shortage of
schools and teachers has made implementation impossible. Two thirds
of the adult population of the country are illiterate. The
Sierra Leone Civil War resulted in
the destruction of 1,270 primary schools and in 2001 67 percent of
all school-age children were out of school. The situation has
improved considerably since then with primary school enrollment
doubling between 2001 and 2005 and the reconstruction of many
schools since the end of the war. Students at primary schools are
usually 6 to 12 years old, and in secondary schools 13 to 18.
Primary education is free and
compulsory in government-sponsored
public
schools.
The
country has three universities, the
University
of Sierra Leone
, founded as Fourah Bay College in 1827 (the oldest university in West Africa) ,
and Njala University, primarily
located in Bo
District, which was
established as the Njala Agricultural Experimental Station in 1910
and became a university in 2005. Teacher training colleges
and religious seminaries are found in many parts of the
country.
Health
Healthcare is provided by the government, among others. All medical
care is generally charged for in Sierra Leone The country has a
very high
infant mortality and a
very low
life expectancy. The
country suffers from
epidemic outbreaks of
diseases including
yellow fever,
cholera,
lassa
fever and
meningitis. The prevalence
of
HIV/AIDS in the population is 1.6
percent, higher than the world average of 1 percent but lower than
the average of 6.1 percent in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Military
The Military of Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra
Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), are the unified
armed forces of Sierra Leone responsible for
the territorial security of Sierra Leone's
border and defending the national interests of Sierra
Leone within the framework of its international obligations. The
armed forces were formed after independence in 1961, on the basis
of elements of the former British
Royal West African Frontier
Force present in the country. The Sierra Leone Armed Forces
currently consist of around 15,500 personnel, comprising the
largest Sierra Leone Army, the Sierra Leone Navy and the Sierra
Leone Air Wing . The president of Sierra Leone is the
Commander in Chief of the military, with
the Military of Defence responsible for defense policy and the
formulation of the armed forces. Th current Sierra Leone Defense
Minister is
Ret.
Major Alfred Paolo Conteh.
The Military of Sierra Leone also has a
Chief of the Defence
Staff who is a uniformed
military
official responsible for the administration and the operational
control of the Sierra Leone military .
Brigadier General Alfred Nelson-Williams who was
appointed by president Koroma succeeded the retired
Major General Edward Sam M’boma on 12 September
2008 as the Chief of Defense Staff of the Military.
Before Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961 the military was
known as the Royal Sierra Leone Military Force. The military seized
control in 1968, bringing the
National Reformation Council
into power. On 19 April 1971, when Sierra Leone became a
republic, the Royal Sierra Leone Military Forces
were renamed the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Force (RSLMF).
The RSLMF remained a single service organization until 1979, when
the Sierra Leone Navy was established. It then remained largely
unchanged for 16 years until in 1995 when Defence Headquarters was
established and the Sierra Leone Air Wing formed. This gave the
need for the RSLMF to be renamed the Armed Forces of the Republic
of Sierra Leone (AFRSL). The civil war in Sierra Leone is reducing
the military so there for the defense is being weakend.
Law enforcement
Law enforcement in Sierra Leone is primarily the responsibility of
the
Sierra Leone Police (SLP).
Sierra Leone Police was established by the
British colony back in
1894 and is one of the oldest police forces in
West Africa. The key mission of the Sierra Leone
Police include to
prevent crime, to
protect life and
property, To detect and
prosecute offenders, To maintain
public order, To ensure
safety and
security, To
enhance access to
justice. The Sierra Leone
Police is headed by the
Inspector General of Police, the
professional head of the Sierra Leone Police force and is appointed
by the
President of Sierra
Leone. Each one of Sierra Leone's 14
districts is headed by a District
Police commissioner who is the
professional head of their respective district.
The Districts Police
Commissioners report directly to the Inspector General of Police at
the Sierra Leone Police headquarters in Freetown. The current Inspector General of Police is
Brima Acha Kamara who was
appointed to the position by former president
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
Media
Media in Sierra Leone began with the introduction of the first
printing press in Africa at the start
of the nineteenth century. A strong
journalistic tradition developed with the
creation of a number of
newspapers. In the
1860s, the country became a journalist hub for Africa, with
professionals travelling to the country from across the continent.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the industry went into
decline, and when radio was introduced in the 1930s, it became the
primary communication media in the country. The
Sierra Leone Broadcasting
Service (SLBS) was created by the government in 1934 making it
the earliest
English language
radio broadcaster service in West Africa. The
service began broadcasting television in 1963, with coverage
extended to all the districts in the country in 1978.
Print
media is not widely read in Sierra Leone, especially outside
Freetown, partially due to the low levels of literacy in the country. In 2007 there were
15 daily newspapers in the country, as well as those published
weekly. Among newspaper readership, young people are likely to read
newspapers weekly and older people daily. The majority of
newspapers are privately-run and are often critical of the
government. The standard of print journalism tends to be low due to
lack of training, and people trust the information published in
newspapers less than that found on the radio.
Radio is the most-popular and most-trusted media in Sierra Leone,
with 85% of people having access to a radio and 72% of people in
the country listening to the radio daily.
These levels do vary
between areas of the country, with the Western Area having the highest levels and Kailahun the lowest. Stations mainly consist of local
commercial stations with a limited broadcast range, combined with a
few stations with national coverage. The
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNIOSIL) runs one of the most popular stations in the country,
broadcasting programs in a range of languages. Content includes
news of UN activities and human rights information, as well as
music and news. The UN missions will withdraw in 2008 and the UN
Radio's future is uncertain. There is also a government station run
by the SLBS that transmits on
FM and short-wave.
FM relays of
BBC World Service,
Radio France
Internationale and
Voice of
America are also broadcast.
Outside the capital Freetown
television
is not watched by a great many people. There are two national, free
terrestrial television
stations in Sierra Leone, one run by the government SLBS and the
other a private station, ABC Television-Africa (ABC). In 2007, a
pay-per-view service was also introduced by GTV as part of a
pan-African television service in addition to the nine year old
sub-saharan Digital satellite television service (DStv) originating
from Multichoice Africa in South Africa.
Internet access in Sierra Leone has been sparse but
is on the increase, especially since the introduction of
wireless services across the country.
There are nine
Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) operating in the country. Freetown has
a city wide wireless network and
Internet
cafes and other businesses offering internet access. Problems
experienced with access to the Internet include an intermittent
electricity supply and a slow connection speed in the country
outside Freetown.
The Sierra Leone constitution guarantees
freedom of speech, and
freedom of the press; however, the
government maintains strong control of media, and at times
restricts these rights in practice. Some subjects are seen as taboo
by society and members of the political elite; imprisonment and
violence have been used by the political establishment against
journalists. Under legislation enacted in 1980, all newspapers must
register with the Ministry of Information and pay sizable
registration fees. The Criminal
Libel Law,
including Seditious Libel Law of 1965, is used to control what is
published in the media. In 2006, President
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah committed to reforming
the laws governing the press and media to create a freer system for
journalists to work in, but in 2007, Sierra Leone was
ranked
as having the 121st least-free press in the world, with the press
less-free, in comparison to other countries, than in 2006.
Music of Sierra Leone
see also:
Palm-wine music,
Gumbe, Afropop
Transportation
There are a number of systems of transport in Sierra Leone, which
has a road, air and water infrastructure, including a network of
highways and several airports.
Air
There are ten
regional airports in
Sierra Leone, and one
international airport.
The Lungi
International Airport
located in the coastal town
of Lungi
in Northern Sierra Leone is the primary airport for
domestic and international travel to or from Sierra Leone.
Passengers cross the river to Aberdeen
Heliports in Freetown by
hovercraft,
ferry or a
helicopter. Helicopters are also
available from the airport to other major cities in the country.
The airport has
paved runways longer than 3,047m. The other airports have
unpaved runways, and seven have runways 914 to 1,523 metres long;
the remaining two have shorter runways.
Prohibition from E.U. air operations
This country appears on the E.U. list of prohibited countries with
regard to the certification of airlines. This means that no airline
which is Sierra Leone registered may operate services of any kind
within the European Union. This is due to substandard safety
standards.
Water
Sierra Leone has the third largest
natural harbor in the world, where
international shipping berth at the Queen Elizabeth II Quay in
Government Wharf in central Freetown. There are 800 km of
waterways in Sierra Leone, of which 600 km are navigable
year-round.
Major port cities are Bonthe, Freetown, Sherbro
Island
and Pepel
.
Highways
There are 11,700 kilometers of
highways in
Sierra Leone, of which 936 km are paved.
Sierra Leone highways
are linked to Conakry
, Guinea, and
Monrovia
, Liberia.
Sports
Football
Football (soccer) is by far the
most popular sport in Sierra Leone. The national football team,
popularly known as the
Leone Stars,
represents the country in international competitions. It has never
qualified for the
FIFA World Cup but
participated in the
1994
and
1996 African Cup of
Nations. The country's national television network, The Sierra
Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) broadcasts the live match, along
with several radio stations throughout the country. Some well known
Sierra Leonean footballers include the team captain
Mohamed Kallon,
Julius Gibrilla Woobay,
Al Bangura,
Paul Kpaka,
Rodney Strasser,
Ahmed Deen,
Samuel
Barlay,
Kewullay Conteh Albert Jarrett and
Kei
Kamara
The
Sierra Leone
National Premier League is the top football league, controlled
by the
Sierra Leone
Football Association. The two biggest and most successful
football clubs are
East End Lions and
Mighty Blackpool, but
Kallon F.C. has enjoyed contemporary success.
Kallon
F.C. won the Premier League and the Sierra Leonean FA Cup in 2006, and
eliminated 2006 Nigerian Premier
League Champions Ocean Boys FC in
the 2007 CAF Champions League
first qualifying round, but later lost to ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast
in the second qualifying round for the group
stage.
The
Sierra Leone U-17 football team, nicknamed
the Sierra Stars, finished as runner-up at the 2003 African U-17
Championship in Swaziland
, but came in last place in their group at the
2003 FIFA U-17 World
Championship in Finland.
Cricket
The
Sierra Leone cricket
team represents Sierra Leone in international cricket
competitions, and is among the best in
West
Africa. It became an affiliate member of the
International Cricket Council
in 2002. It made its international debut at the 2004 African
Affiliates Championship, where it finished last of eight teams.
But at
the equivalent tournament in 2006, Division Three of the African
region of the World Cricket League, it finished as runner-up to Mozambique
, and just missed a promotion to Division
Two.
Basketball
The Sierra Leone national basketball team represents Sierra Leone
in international men's
basketball
competitions and is controlled by the Sierra Leone Basketball
Federation. The squad is mostly home-based, with a few foreign
players.
See also
Notes
Book references
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Further reading
- Nicol, Davidson, Regionalism and the New International
Economic Order; UNITAR-CEESTEM-Club of Rome conference at the
United Nations, Pergamon Press, 1981.
- Mwakikagile, Godfrey (2001). The Modern African State:
Quest for Transformation, Chapter Two: Anarchy and Mercenaries
in Sierra Leone: The Powerless African State, pp. 19 – 72.
Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Huntington, New York; Mwakikagile,
Godfrey, Military Coups in West Africa Since The Sixties,
Chapter Twelve: Sierra Leone, pp. 183 – 196, Nova Science
Publishers, 2001.
External links
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