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 "Lion Mountain." During the 1700s Sierra Leone was an important center of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. The capital Freetown was founded in 1787 (received its charter in 1792) by the Sierra Leone Company as a home for enslaved Africans who had fought for the British in the American War of Independence. In 1808, Freetown became a BritishCrown 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 2002, 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 expectancy at birth of a Sierra Leonean is 38 years for males and 43 years for females. [1]
Archaeological findings show that Sierra Leone has been inhabited for thousands of years. Traditional historiography has customarily presented it as peopled by successive waves of invaders; but the language pattern suggests that the coastal Bulom (Sherbro), Temne, and Limba have been in continuous settled occupation for a long time, with subsequent sporadic immigration from inland by Mande-speaking peoples, including Vai, Loko, and Mende. They organized themselves in small political units—independent kingdoms or chiefdoms — whose rulers' powers were checked by councils. Secret societies, notably the Poro secret society, also exercised political power as well as instructing initiates in the customs of the country.
Portuguese voyagers gave the name Serra Lyoa (Lion Mountains), later change to Sierra Leone by the British. From the 15th century onward, European traders congregated near the site of present-day Freetown, under the protection of African rulers, who welcomed them for the commercial opportunities they provided, exchanging imported manufactured goods for ivory and slaves to be employed across the Atlantic
File:Sl-map.gifMap of Sierra Leone showing the capital Freetown
During the American Revolutionary War (1775–83) enslaved Africans were promised freedom if they sided with the British and many did. A group of freed slaves arrived in Sierra Leone from England in 1787 to form a settlement. The ones who finished the voyage and arrived at the Sierra Leone Peninsula bought land from local Temne leaders and established the Province of Freedom near present-day Freetown. Many of the settlers died of disease in the first year. A renewed attempt at settlement was made in 1792. These settlers were English-speaking, and many were literate and Christian. Muslim traders brought Islam, which became firmly established in the northern Province and subsequently spread through the rest of the country.
In 1807, Great Britain outlawed the trade of enslaved Africans, and in early 1808 the British government took over Freetown from the financially troubled company, using it as a naval base for fighting the traffic in slaves. Between 1808 and 1864 approximately 50,000 liberated Africans settled at Freetown. Protestant missionaries were active there, and in 1827 they founded Fourah Bay College, where Sierra Leoneans were educated and became active as missionaries, traders, and civil servants along the Sierra Leone coast and on Sherbro Island as well as in other regions in West Africa, especially among the Yoruba people.
The Colonial Era
During the periods 1821 to 1827, 1843 to 1850, and 1866 to 1874, British holdings on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) were placed under the governor of Sierra Leone. In 1863 an advisory legislative council was established in Sierra Leone. The British were reluctant to assume added responsibility by increasing the size of the colony, but in 1896 the interior was proclaimed a British protectorate, mainly in order to forestall French ambitions in the region, and the Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone was established.
The protectorate was ruled “indirectly” (i.e., through the rulers of the numerous small states, rather than by creating an entirely new administrative structure) and a hut tax was imposed in 1898 to pay for administrative costs. The Africans protested the tax in 1898 and fought the British in a war later became known as the Hut Tax War of 1898. The uprisings, led in the north by Bai Bureh and in the south by Kai Londo, started on the 27th April 1896 and lasted over two years. The Sandé and Poro secret societies played a great role in mobilizing resistance to the British.
Under the British, little economic development was undertaken in the protectorate until the 1950s, although a railroad was built and the production for export of palm products and peanuts was encouraged.
After World War II, Africans were given more political responsibility, and educational opportunities were enlarged. In the economic sphere, mining (especially of diamonds and iron ore) increased greatly. The Creoles of the colony, who had been largely excluded from higher government posts in favor of the British, sought a larger voice in the affairs of Sierra Leone. A constitution adopted in 1951 gave additional power to Africans. However, the Creoles were a small minority in the combined colony and protectorate, and in the elections of 1951 the protectorate-based Sierra Leone People's Party(SLPP), led by Sir Milton Augustus Margai (a Mende), emerged victorious.
An Independent Nation
On April 271961, SirMilton Margai led Sierra Leone to independence from Great Britain; and became the nation's first Prime minister. He died three years later in 1964 and was succeeded by his brother, SirAlbert Margai. Albert Margai was highly criticized during his three year reign as prime minister; he was accused of corruption and of a policy of affirmative action in favor of the Mende tribe. In a closely contested general elections in March 1967, Sierra Leone Governor General Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston declared Siaka Stevens, candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) and Mayor of Freetown as the new Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. However, a military coup led by BrigadierDavid Lansana ousted Stevens within a few hours after he took office. Lansana insisted the determination of office should await the election of the tribal representatives to the house.
On March 23, 1968, a group of senior military officers, lead by BrigadierAndrew Juxon-Smith overrode this action by seizing control of the government, arresting Bragadier Lansana, and suspended the constitution. The group constituted itself as the National Reformation Council (NRC) with brigadier Andrew Juxon Smith as its chairman.
On April 1968, the NRC was overthrown by a group of soldiers who called themselves, the Anti-Corruption Revolutionary Movement (ACRM), lead by BrigadierJohn Amadu Bangura. The ACRM improsoned NRC members, restored the constitution; returned the nation to parliamentary government;, and reinstated Siaka Stevens as prime minister. The following years were marked by considerable unrest, caused by ethnic and army disaffection with the central government.
On April 19, 1971 Parliament declared Sierra Leone to be a republic. Siaka Stevens, then prime minister, became the nation's first president. Guinean troops requested by Stevens to support his government were in the country from 1971 to 1973. Parliamentary elections were held in 1973; Stevens APC party won 74 seats and the opposition SLPP party won 15 seats in parliament. An alleged plot to overthrow Stevens failed in July 1974. The leaders of the unsuccessful Coup were tried and executed, and in March 1976, he was elected without opposition for a second five-year term as president. In 1978, a new constitution was adopted, creating a one-party state; The 1978 constitution made the APC the only legal political party in Sierra Leone.
Siaka Probyn Stevens, who had been President of Sierra Leone for eighteen years, retired from that position in November 1985, although he continued his role as chairman of the ruling APC party. In August 1985, the APC named commander of the Republic of Sierra Leone military forces, Major GeneralJoseph Saidu Momoh, Stevens' own choice, as the party candidate to succeed him. Momoh was elected President in a one-party referendum on October 1, 1985. A formal inauguration was held in January 1986, and new parliamentary elections were held in May 1986. Following an alleged attempt to overthrow president Momoh in March 1987, over 60 senior government officials were arrested, including First Vice-PresidentFrancis Minah, who was removed from office.
In October 1990, President Momoh set up a constitutional review commission to review the 1978 one-party constitution with a view to broadening the existing political process, guaranteeing fundamental human rights and the rule of law, and strengthening and consolidating the democratic foundation and structure of the nation. The commission, in its report presented January 1991, recommended re-establishment of a multi-party system of government. Based on that recommendation, a constitution was approved by Parliament in July 1991 and ratified in September; it became effective on October 1, 1991.
The outbreak of corruption within the government, and mismanagement of diamond and mineral resources are main reasons civil war broke out in Sierra Leone. With the breakdown of all state structures, complemented by the effective suppression of all civilian opposition, wide corridors of Sierra Leonean society were opened up to the trafficking of arms and ammunitions. Drugs also eroded national and regional security as well as facilitating crime within the country.
In addition to these internal tensions, the brutal civil war going on in neighbouring Liberia played an undeniable role in the actual outbreak of fighting in Sierra Leone. Charles Taylor, the then leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) helped form the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under former Sierra Leone army corporal, Foday Sankoh. Taylor’s plan was to use the RUF to force the government of Sierra Leone to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States Military Group (ECOMOG) that was preventing him from seizing the Liberian capital, Monrovia. The RUF launched its first attack in villages near the eastern town of Kailahun in March, 1991 from Liberia.
On April 29, 1992, a group of young military officers led by a 25-year-old CaptainValentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by the government failure to deal with rebels, launched a military coup, which sent president Momoh into exile in Guinea and established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Strasser as President. On May 2, Valentine Strasser arrested two senior officers under the APC Administration, after they have being accused of organizing a counter coup against him; Major K. M. S. Dumbuya and Bambay Kamara, Inspector General of Sierra Leone Police Forces under the Mommoh Administration . They were held at the Pademba Road prison in Freetown, and the two were allegedlyexecuted under the command of vice presidentSergeantSolomon Musa.
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh government in repelling the RUF. More and more of the country fell to RUF fighters, so that by 1995 they held much of the countryside and were on the doorsteps of the national capital Freetown. To retrieve the situation, 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. In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, President Strasser was ousted in a coup led by his minister of defence BrigadierJulius Maada Bio.
Promises of a return to civilian rule were fulfilled by Bio, who handed power over to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, of the Sierra Leone People's party, after the conclusion of presidential elections in early 1996. Kabbah's government reached a cease-fire in the war with former CorporalFoday Sankoh-lead, Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which had launched its first attacks in 1991; rebel terror attacks continued, however, apparently aided by Liberia.
The United Nations imposed sanctions against the military government in October 1997, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sent in it forces led by Nigeria. Clashes between the rebels and Ecowas troops followed in the capital, forcing 12,000 Freetown residents to flee the capital. In February, 1998 Ecowas troops drove the rebels out of Freetown, and president Kabbah was returned to office on March 10, 1998. However, rebel forces remained firmly in control of the Northern Province, the Kono diamond field, and areas along the Liberian border.
In January, 1999 Over 6,000 people were killed in fighting between Ecowas troops and the rebels in the Western Area. In March, Nigeria announced it would withdraw its forces by May. A peace accord was signed in July between President Kabbah and Foday Sankoh, leader of the RUF. The agreement granted the rebels seats in a new government and forces a general amnesty from prosecution. The government had largely ceased functioning effectively, however, and at least half of its territory remained under rebel control.
In October, the United Nations agreed to send peacekeepers to help restore order and disarm the rebels. The first of the 6,000-member force began arriving in December, and the Security Council voted in February, 2000, to increase the UN forces to 11,000 (and subsequently to 13,000). In May, when nearly all Nigerian forces had left and UN forces were attempting to disarm the RUF in the Eastern province, Sankoh's forces clashed with the UN troops, and some 500 peacekeepers were taken hostage as the peace accord effectively collapsed.
An 800-member British force entered the country to secure Western Freetown and evacuate Europeans; some also acted in support of the forces fighting the RUF, including Koroma's AFRC group. After Sankoh was captured in Freetown, the hostages were gradually released by the RUF, but clashes between the UN forces and the RUF continued, and in July the West Side Boys — part of the AFRC — clashed with the peacekeepers. In the same month the UN Security Council placed a ban on the sale of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone in an attempt to undermine the funding of the RUF. In late August, senior RUF commanderSam Bockarie became head of the RUF; also, British troops training the Sierra Leone army were taken hostage by the West Side Boys, but were freed by a British raid in September.
General elections scheduled for early 2001 were postponed, due to the insecurity caused by the civil war. In May, 2001, sanctions were imposed on Liberia because of its support for the rebels, and UN peacekeepers began to make headway in disarming the various factions. Although disarmament of rebel and progovernment militias proceeded slowly and fighting continued to occur.
End of civil War
In January, 2002, most of the estimated 45,000 fighters had surrendered their weapons. As disarmament progressed, the government began to re-assert its authority in formerly rebel-held areas. By early 2002, most of the ex-combatants were disarmed and demobilized, although many still awaited re-integration assistance. In a ceremony on 18 January 2002, President Kabbah declared the civil war officially over; an estimated 50,000 people were killed; a further 500,000 people were displaced in neighbouring countries.
Post civil war
Presidential and parliamentary elections were finally held in May, 2002. President Kabbah was re-elected, gaining 70% of the vote, and his Sierra Leone People's Party won a majority of the parliamentary seats.
The Sierra Leonean government asked the United Nations to help set up a Special Court for Sierra Leone, which would try those who "bear the greatest responsibility for the commission of war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the civil war." On January 16, 2002, the UN and Government of Sierra Leone signed an agreement establishing the Court in the national capital Freetown.
In June, 2003, The UN disarmament and rehabilitation program for Sierra Leone's fighters was completed. In September, 2004, UN forces returned primary responsibility for security in the area around the capital city to Sierra Leone's police and armed forces in September; it was the last part of the country to be turned over.
The Sierra Leonean parliament is unicameral, with 124 seats. 112 members are elected concurrently with the presidential elections; the other twelve seats are filled by Paramount Chiefs from each of the country's twelve administrative districts. All members serve five-year terms. The parliament is currently dominated by the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).
Local Government elections were held in 2004 (for the first time since 1972), electing 456 councillors sitting in nineteen local councils.
The Republic of Sierra Leone is composed of three provinces and one area; the provinces are further divided into twelve districts.
Column-generating template families
The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using ((col-float)) with ((col-end)) instead of ((col-float-end)) would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.
† Can template handle the basic wiki markup{| | || |- |}used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as (((!)), ((!)), ((!!)), ((!-)), ((!))))—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.
Sierra Leone along with Liberia, and Guinea formed the Manor River Union (MRU). The Manor River Union is primarily designed to implement development project and promote regional economic integration between the three nations.
Sierra Leone has maintained cordial relations with the west, in particular with former colony, the United Kingdom. Sierra Leone also maitains diplomatic relations with China, Libya, Iran, and Cuba.
Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa, north of the equator. With a land area of 71,740 square kilometers (27,699 square miles). Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea to the north and northeast, Liberia to the south and southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
There are a wide variety of ecological and agricultural zones to which people have adapted. Starting in the west, Sierra Leone has some 400 kilometers (250 miles) of coastline, giving it both bountiful marine resources and attractive tourist potential. This is followed by low-lying mangrove swamps, rain-forested plains and farmland, and finally a mountainous plateau in the east, where Mount Bintumani rises to 1,948 meters (6,390 ft). The climate is tropical, with two seasons determining the agricultural cycle: the rainy season from May to November, followed by the dry season from December to May, which includes harmattan, when cool, dry winds blow in off the Sahara Desert. The national capital Freetown sits on a coastal peninsula, situated next to the Sierra Leone Harbor, the world's third largest natural harbor. This prime location historically made Sierra Leone the center of trade and colonial administration in the region
Sierra Leone is 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. In addition to this there is greater freedom of movement and the successful rehabilitation and resettlement of residential areas. In 2001, Sierra Leone attracted US$4 million in foreign direct investment. The country has also enjoyed an improvement in the terms of trade as a result of the lower of international petroleum prices.
The country’s main economic sectors include mining, agriculture and fisheries. The mining of diamonds, bauxite and rutile provides the major source of hard currency. Agriculture employs two-thirds of the country’s six million population with most involved in subsistence agriculture. The sector accounted for 51% of the country’s GDP. Sierra Leone’s manufacturing sector continues to develop and consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. In 2002 the country’s GDP was US$789.4 million.
Despite its successes and development, the Sierra Leone economy still faces some significant challenges. There is a high rate of 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 of Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone’s currency is the Leone(Le). The central bank of the country is the Bank of Sierra Leone which is located in the national capital Freetown. the bank is run by the bank president and executives. this year's elected president was Tolu Semocle Pratt. The central Bank objectives include:
promotion of monetary stability and sound financial structure
maintenance of the internal and external values of the Leone
promotion of credit and exchange conditions
issuance and distribution of notes and currency in the country
conducive to balanced economy growth
formulation and implementation of monetary policy
banker and advisor to the Government in financial and economic matters
management of domestic and foreign debt
acting as custodian of the country’s reserve approved foreign exchange
acting as banker to the Commercial Banks
supervision and regulation of activities of commercial banks and other financial institutions
administration of the operations of structural adjustment programmes where the bank has specific responsibilities
diamond certification
the Bank of Sierra Leone is a 100 percent state-owned corporate body.
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 utilised at some hotels and restaurants, for which visitors should check in advance with local managements. Sierra Leone does not have internationally linked ATM machines.
Travellers Cheques may be utilised at major hotels or cashed at banks and at a few limited shop outlets.
Currency Exchange: It is important that Sierra Leone exchange regulations be observed. For example, it is illegal to exchange money with unlicensed money dealers. All transactions may only made at banks or recognised foreign exchange bureaux.
Education
Like most English-speaking West African nations, Sierra Leone has a 6-3-3-4 education system with six of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, and three years of senior secondary schools. Education in Sierra Leone is offered in private and government-sponsored public schools; it is not compulsory. Primary schools usually start from ages five to 12, and secondary schools usually start from 13 years and obove.
The country's two main Universities are the Fourah Bay College in Freetown, founded in 1827, and Njala University in Bo and Njala, founded in 1963. Technical institutes, several vocational schools, and trade centres, are available throughout thecountry.
Sierra Leone has an estimated population of 6,144,562 people, the majority being children and youth. Sierra Leone largest and commercial cities are Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Koidu and Makeni.
Although English is the official language spoken in schools and government administration, Krio (language derived from English and several African languages and is native to the Sierra Leone Krio people), is the de factonational language spoken throughout the country. The Krio language is widely spoken among all the tribes in Sierra Leone.
Ethnicity
The population of Sierra Leone comprises about eighteen ethnic groups; each with its own language and customs, the two largest of these being the Mende and Temne about equal in numbers representing 60% of the country's population.[3] The Mende predominates in the Southern Province, the Temne likewise to the Northern Province. The third largest ethnic group is the Limba, representing 8.5% of the population. Like the Temne, the Limba are mostly found in the Northern Province. The fourth largest ethnic group in the country is the Kono, who mostly live in the Eastern Province, particulaly in the Kono District. The Krios (Descendants of freed slaves who came to Freetown from the West Indies, North America and Britain) make up 3% of the population, but their language is the national Lingua Franca spoken throughout Sierra Leone. Most Krios live in the Western Area, particulaly the national capital Freetown. Other minority ethnic groups in the country are the Loko, Sherbro, Mandinka, Kissi, Kuranko, Fula, Susu, Yalunka, and Vai. Some of the original local languages - Bullom, Krim and Gallinas - are hardly spoken in Sierra Leone today (Language death). A small number of Sierra Leoneans originated from Lebanon, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
The Sierra Leone constitution provides freedom of religion and the government generally protects this right, and does not tolerate its abuse.
Unlike many other countries, the religious and tribal mix of Sierra Leone rarely causes religious or tribal conflict.
Environment
Logging, mining, and slash and burn, deforestation for alternative land use - such as cattle grazing - have produced a dramatic decrease of forested land in Sierra Leone since the 1980s.
Until 2002, Sierra Leone lacked a forest management system due to a brutal civil war that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. On paper, 55 protected areas covered 4.5 percent 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.
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, the most important surviving fragment of rainforest in Sierra Leone.
Deforestation rates have increased 7.3 percent since the end of the civil war.
The Sierra Leone constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and freedom of the press; however, the government at times restricts these rights in practice. Dozens of newspapers are published in the country, most of them are privately run and are often critical of the government.
Under legislation enacted in 1980, all newspapers must register with the Ministry of Information and pay a sizable registration fees.
All major cities in the country run their own radio stations. Inaugurated in 1963, The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service(SLBS) is the government-run station in charge of television and radio broadcasting in the country. The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (Unomsil) operates radio services, broadcasting news of UN activities and human rights information, as well as music and news. FM relays of BBC World Service and Radio France Internationale are on the air in Freetown. Radio Sierra Leone, the oldest broadcasting service in English-speaking West Africa, broadcasts mainly in English, with regular news and discussion programs on several topics.
Football (soccer) is by far the most popular sport in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone national football team popularly known as the Leone Stars represents the country in international football competitions. The team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but they have participated in the 1994 and 1996 African Cup of Nations.
The Sierra Leone cricket team is among the best in West Africa. They became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2002. [1] They made their international debut at the 2004 African Affiliates Championship, where they finished last out of the eight teams. They returned at the equivalent tournament in 2006, Division Three of the African region of the World Cricket League, where they had a major improvement, this time finishing as runners-up to Mozambique, and only just missing out on promotion to Division Two.
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-based players.
Sierra Leone in Literature
File:Ahomunccovercartoon.jpgHomunculus cover illustration by Dudley Vine
Sierra Leone is the setting for Hugh Paxton's horror/action novel Homunculus(first published in hardback ISBN 978-0230000490 by Macmillan UK in October 2006 and now available in paperback (March 2007), ISBN 978-0230007369). Hugh Paxton's novel juxtaposes the cruel horrific realities of the war in Sierra Leone with a similarly horrific fantasy - the exploitation of the war for the trade in blood diamonds and for the testing, demonstration and sale by auction of bio-weapons to a select clientele of international arms dealers and mercenaries. The weapons in question are the homunculi - frightful bio-robots composed of human body parts and powered by moonshine that were created by an insane alchemist to provide strategic psychological warfare, assassination and area denial services.
- www.focus-on-sierra-leone.co.uk - On 20 March 2001, the Government of Sierra Leone submitted a ‘without notice’ application to the Chancery Division of the High Court in London and obtained an order to freeze the accounts of one Edward Davenport.
0.335
