| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Western Area, Eastern Province | |
| Languages | |
| Lebanese, Krio, English | |
| Religion | |
| Islam and Christianity |
Sierra Leonean-Lebanese is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone who are descendant of Lebanese settlers from Lebanon who came to Sierra Leone during the late nineteenth century.
Lebanese immigrants first came to West Africa in the mid 19th century when a silk-worm crisis struck the area, then part of the Ottoman Empire. The first Lebanese in Sierra Leone arrived in 1893, the first groups being Maronite Christians. Beginning in 1903, Shia Muslim Lebanese began to arrive from South Lebanon where there was an agricultural crunch. By the start of World War I, Lebanese had become somewhat economically powerful in Sierra Leone due to their expansion of trading interests into the interior. In 1919, Lebanese were blamed for a rice scarcity in the country, and riots broke out against them. This is one of the first major incidents that have led to the Lebanese as having a negative image in Sierra Leone[1].
More recently, contacts between some Sierra Leonean-Lebanese with Israel has played a role in Sierra Leone's diamond mining industry. Their involvement in diamonds has also caused many to mistrust Lebanese in Sierra Leone in the wake of the Sierra Leone Civil War, where other Sierra Leonean-Lebanese were claimed to have connections with Hezbollah, and the trade of diamonds for weapons[2].
Diamonds were discovered in Kono District, in eastern Sierra Leone in 1930, and that same year, as word of the discovery spread, the first Lebanese trader arrived in Kono from Freetown and set up shop, ahead of colonial officials who did not want to establish a district office there until two years later. They were also ahead of the British-owned Sierra Leone Selection Trust, which was granted exclusive diamond mining and prospecting rights for the entire country in 1935. From that time until 1956, when an alluvial diamond mining scheme was enacted, it was illegal for anyone not working for the Trust to deal in any way with diamonds. However, illicit mining activities were rampant, with many Sierra Leonean-Lebanese subsequently settling in Kono and funding Africans to mine and sell their finds to them.” In the 1950s, the illicit diamond mining and smuggling increased dramatically, and it was estimated that 20% of all diamonds reaching the world’s diamond markets were smuggled from Sierra Leone, largely through Liberia and mainly by Lebanese. Since the 1950s, “diamonds have been the linchpin of Sierra Leonean-Lebanese business and a range of subterranean political activities in Sierra Leone.