Democracy is slowly being
reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens
of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people
(about one-third of the population). The military, which took over full
responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at
the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the
country's stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the
2007 presidential election, but still look to the UN Integrated Office in
Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) - a civilian UN mission - to support efforts to
consolidate peace. The new government's priorities include furthering
development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.
Geography
Sierra Leone
Location:
Western Africa, bordering the
North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia
Geographic coordinates:
8 30 N, 11 30 W
Map references:
Africa
Area:
total: 71,740 sq km
land: 71,620 sq km water: 120 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than South
Carolina
Land boundaries:
total: 958 km
border countries: Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km
total: 0.38 cu km/yr
(5%/3%/92%) per capita: 69 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards:
dry, sand-laden harmattan winds
blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms
Environment - current issues:
rapid population growth
pressuring the environment; overharvesting of timber, expansion of cattle
grazing, and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and
soil exhaustion; civil war depleted natural resources; overfishing
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified:
Environmental Modification
Geography - note:
rainfall along the coast can
reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places
along coastal, western Africa
total: 17.5 years
male: 17.2 years female: 17.8 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.282% (2008 est.)
Birth rate:
45.08 births/1,000 population
(2008 est.)
Death rate:
22.26 deaths/1,000 population
(2008 est.)
Net migration rate:
1 migrant(s)/1,000 population
note: refugees currently in surrounding countries are slowly
returning (2005 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03
male(s)/female under 15 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 15-64
years: 0.92 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.86
male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2008
est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 156.48
deaths/1,000 live births male: 173.59 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 138.85 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 40.93
years male: 38.64 years female: 43.28 years (2008
est.)
Total fertility rate:
5.95 children born/woman (2008
est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
7% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
170,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
11,000 (2001 est.)
Major infectious diseases:
degree of risk: very
high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal
diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases:
malaria and yellow fever water contact disease: schistosomiasis
aerosolized dust or soil contact disease: Lassa fever (2008)
Nationality:
noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
adjective: Sierra Leonean
Ethnic groups:
20 African ethnic groups 90%
(Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole (Krio) 10% (descendants of freed
Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th
century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of
Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians
Religions:
Muslim 60%, Christian 10%,
indigenous beliefs 30%
Languages:
English (official, regular use
limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south),
Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole,
spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the
Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the
population but understood by 95%)
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and
over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic total
population: 35.1% male: 46.9% female: 24.4%
(2004 est.)
Government
Sierra Leone
Country name:
conventional long form:
Republic of Sierra Leone conventional short form: Sierra Leone
local long form: Republic of Sierra Leone local short
form: Sierra Leone
Government type:
constitutional democracy
Capital:
name: Freetown
geographic coordinates: 8 30 N, 13 15 W time
difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard
Time)
Administrative divisions:
3 provinces and 1 area*;
Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western*
Independence:
27 April 1961 (from UK)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 27 April
(1961)
Constitution:
1 October 1991; subsequently
amended several times
Legal system:
based on English law and
customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state:
President Ernest Bai KOROMA (since 17 September 2007); note - the
president is both the chief of state and head of government head of
government: President Ernest Bai KOROMA (since 17 September 2007)
cabinet: Ministers of State appointed by the president with the
approval of the House of Representatives; the cabinet is responsible to
the president elections: president elected by popular vote for
a five-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held 11
August 2007 and 8 September 2007 (next to be held in 2012) election
results: second round results; percent of vote - Ernest Bai KOROMA
54.6%, Solomon BEREWA 45.4%
Legislative branch:
unicameral Parliament (124
seats; 112 members elected by popular vote, 12 filled by paramount chiefs
elected in separate elections; to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held on 11 August 2007 (next to be held in
2012) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by
party - APC 59, SLPP 43, PMDC 10
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court; Appeals Court;
High Court
Political parties and leaders:
All People's Congress or APC
[Ernest Bai KOROMA]; Peace and Liberation Party or PLP [Darlington
MORRISON]; People's Movement for Democratic Change or PMDC [Charles
MARGAI]; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP [Solomon BEREWA]; numerous
others
chief of mission:
Ambassador Bockari Kortu STEVENS chancery: 1701 19th Street NW,
Washington, DC 20009 telephone: [1] (202) 939-9261 through 9263
FAX: [1] (202) 483-1793
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Thomas N. HULL embassy: Corner of Walpole and Siaka
Stevens Streets, Freetown mailing address: use embassy street
address telephone: [232] (22) 515 000 or [232] (76) 515 000
FAX: [232] (22) 225471
Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of
light green (top), white, and light blue
Economy
Sierra Leone
Economy - overview:
Sierra Leone is an extremely
poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it
possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its
physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious
social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of
the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture.
Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of
light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining
remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly
half of Sierra Leone's exports. The fate of the economy depends upon the
maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid
from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and
supplement government revenues. The IMF has completed a Poverty Reduction
and Growth Facility program that helped stabilize economic growth and
reduce inflation. A recent increase in political stability has led to a
revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and
rutile mining.
foodstuffs, machinery and
equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals
Imports - partners:
Cote d'Ivoire 9.3%, US 7.7%,
China 7.7%, Brazil 6.9%, UK 6.7%, Netherlands 5.5%, South Africa 4.5%,
India 4.3%, France 4.2% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient:
$343.4 million (2005 est.)
Debt - external:
$1.61 billion (2003 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
Currency (code):
leone (SLL)
Currency code:
SLL
Exchange rates:
leones per US dollar - NA
(2007), 2,961.7 (2006), 2,889.6 (2005), 2,701.3 (2004), 2,347.9 (2003)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications
Sierra Leone
Telephones - main lines in use:
24,000 (2002)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
113,200 (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment:
marginal telephone service domestic: the national microwave
radio relay trunk system connects Freetown to Bo and Kenema
international: country code - 232; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2000)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1, FM 9, shortwave 1 (2001)
Radios:
1.12 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
2 (1999)
Televisions:
53,000 (1997)
Internet country code:
.sl
Internet hosts:
46 (2007)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2001)
Internet users:
10,000 (2005)
Transportation
Sierra Leone
Airports:
10 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 1 over
3,047 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 9 914 to
1,523 m: 7 under 914 m: 2 (2007)
Heliports:
2 (2007)
Roadways:
total: 11,300 km
paved: 904 km unpaved: 10,396 km (2002)
Waterways:
800 km (600 km year round)
(2005)
Merchant marine:
total: 113 ships (1000
GRT or over) 314,549 GRT/419,409 DWT by type: bulk carrier 1,
cargo 85, chemical tanker 4, combination ore/oil 1, container 4, liquefied
gas 1, livestock carrier 1, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum
tanker 7, roll on/roll off 4 foreign-owned: 47 (Belgium 1,
China 8, Greece 1, Romania 2, Russia 5, Syria 8, Turkey 7, Ukraine 8, UAE
7) (2007)
Ports and terminals:
Freetown, Pepel, Sherbro
Islands
Military
Sierra Leone
Military branches:
Republic of Sierra Leone Armed
Forces (RSLAF): Army (includes Navy (Maritime Wing), Air Wing) (2008)
Military service age and obligation:
17 years 6 months of age for
voluntary military service (younger with parental consent); no
conscription (2008)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49:
1,315,561 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 671,418
(2008 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.3% (2006)
Transnational Issues
Sierra Leone
Disputes - international:
as domestic fighting among
disparate ethnic groups, rebel groups, warlords, and youth gangs in Cote
d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone gradually abate, the number of
refugees in border areas has begun to slowly dwindle; UN Mission in Sierra
Leone (UNAMSIL) has maintained over 4,000 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone
since 1999; Sierra Leone considers excessive Guinea's definition of the
flood plain limits to define the left bank boundary of the Makona and Moa
rivers and protests Guinea's continued occupation of these lands including
the hamlet of Yenga occupied since 1998
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of
origin): 27,311 (Liberia) (2007)
