Background: Since 1991 civil war between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (well over one-third of the population) many of whom are now refugees in neighboring countries. A peace agreement signed in July 1999 collapsed in May 2000 after the RUF took over 500 UN peacekeepers hostage. The RUF stepped up attacks on Guinea in December 2000 despite a cease-fire that it signed with the Freetown government one month earlier. As of late 2000 up to 13,000 UN peacekeepers were protecting the capital and key towns in the south. A UK force of 750 was helping to reinforce security and train the Sierra Leone army.

Geographic coordinates: 8 30 N 11 30 W

Map reference: Africa

Area
Total: 71,740 km²
Land: 71,620 km²
Water: 120 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than South Carolina

Land boundaries
Total: 958 km
Border countries: (2) Guinea 652 km; , Liberia 306 km

Coastline: 402 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 200 NM
Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate: tropical; hot humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)

Terrain: coastal belt of mangrove swamps wooded hill country upland plateau mountains in east

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
Extremes highest point: Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m

Natural resources: diamonds titanium ore bauxite iron ore gold chromite

Land use
Arable land: 7%
Permanent crops: 1%
Permanent pastures: 31%
Forests and woodland: 28%
Other: 33% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 290 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: dry sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms dust storms

Population: 5,426,618 (July 2001 est.)
Growth rate: 3.61% (2001 est.)
Below poverty line: 68% (1989 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Sierra Leonean
Adjective: Sierra Leonean

Ethnic groups: 20 native African tribes 90% (Temne 30% Mende 30% other 30%) Creole 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

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%)

Religions: Muslim 60% indigenous beliefs 30% Christian 10%

Age structure
0-14 years: 44.73% (male 1,190,207; female 1,237,326)
15-64 years: 52.12% (male 1,351,455; female 1,477,155)
65 years and over: 3.15% (male 84,364; female 86,111) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.61% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 45.11 births/1000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 19.19 deaths/1000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate
Note: by the end of 1999 refugees from Sierra Leone are assumed to be returning

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 depleting natural resources; overfishing
International agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Wetlands
International agreements signed but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.03 male/female
Under 15 years: 0.96 male/female
15-64 years: 0.91 male/female
65 years and over: 0.98 male/female
Total population: 0.94 male/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 146.52 deaths/1000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 45.6 years
Male: 42.69 years
Female: 48.61 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.01 children born/woman (2001 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 2.99% (1999 est.)
People living with hivaids: 68,000 (1999 est.)
Deaths: 8,200 (1999 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic
Total population: 31.4%
Male: 45.4%
Female: 18.2% (1995 est.)

Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone
Conventional short form: Sierra Leone

Government type: constitutional democracy

Capital: Freetown

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 Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (since 29 March 1996, reinstated 10 March 1998); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Head of government: President Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (since 29 March 1996, reinstated 10 March 1998); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
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; election held 26-27 February and 15 March 1996 (next to be held NA September 2001); note - president's tenure of office is limited to two five-year terms
Election results: Ahmad Tejan KABBAH elected president; percent of vote - Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (SLPP) 59.5%, John KAREFA-SMART (UNPP) 40.5%

Legislative branch
Elections: last held 26-27 February 1996 (next to be held NA 2001)
Election results: percent of vote by party - SLPP 36.1%, UNPP 21.6%, PDP 15.3%, APC 5.7%, NUP 5.3%, DCP 4.8%, other 11.2%; seats by party - SLPP 27, UNPP 17, PDP 12, APC 5, NUP 4, DCP 3; note - first elections since the former House of Representatives was shut down by the military coup of 29 April 1992

Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Appeals Court; High Court

Political parties and leaders: All People's Congress or APC [Edward Mohammed TURAY chairman]; Democratic Centre Party or DCP [Adu Aiah KOROMA]; National Democratic Alliance or NDA [Amadu M. B. JALLOH]; National Republican Party or NRP [Sahr Stephen MAMBU]; National Unity Party or NUP [Dr. John KARIMU chairman]; People's Democratic Party or PDP [Thaimu BANGURA chairman]; People's Progressive Party or PPP [Abass Chernok BUNDU chairman]; Revolutionary United Front Party or RUFP [Foday SANKOH chairman]; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP [President Ahmad Tejan KABBAH chairman]; United National People's Party or UNPP [John KARIFA-SMART in exile Raymond KAMARA acting leader]

International organization participation: ACP AfDB C CCC ECA ECOWAS FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICFTU ICRM IDA IDB IFAD IFC IFRCS ILO IMF IMO Intelsat (nonsignatory user) Interpol IOC ITU NAM OAU OIC OPCW UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNIDO UPU WCL WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador John Ernest LEIGH
In the us chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20,009
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 939-9,261 through 9,263
In the us fax: [1] (202) 483-1793
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Joseph H. MELROSE, Jr.
From the us embassy: Corner of Walpole and Siaka Stevens Streets, Freetown
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [232] (22) 226,481 through 226,485
From the us fax: [232] (22) 225,471

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of light green (top) white and light blue

Economy overview: Sierra Leone is an extremely poor African nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. It does have substantial mineral agricultural and fishery resources. However the economic and social infrastructure is not well developed and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. About two-thirds of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture. Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Bauxite and rutile mines have been shut down by civil strife. The major source of hard currency is found in the mining of diamonds the large majority of which are smuggled out of the country. The resurgence of internal warfare in 1999 brought another substantial drop in GDP with GNP recovering part of the way in 2000. The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad.

Real gdp growth rate: 4.2% (2000 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $510 (2000 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 43%
Industry: 26%
Services: 31% (1999)

Agriculture products: rice coffee cocoa palm kernels palm oil peanuts; poultry cattle sheep pigs; fish

Industries: mining (diamonds); small-scale manufacturing (beverages textiles cigarettes footwear); petroleum refining

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Labor force
Note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)
By occupation agriculture: NA%
By occupation industry: NA%
By occupation services: NA%

Unemployment rate: NA%

Population below poverty line: 68% (1989 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 0.5%
Highest 10: 43.6% (1989)

Budget
Revenues: $96 million
Expenditures: $351 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 15% (2000 est.)

Exports: $65 million (f.o.b. 2000 est.)
Commodities: diamonds rutile cocoa coffee fish
Partners: Belgium 38% US 6% Italy 4% UK 4% (1999)

Imports: $145 million (f.o.b. 2000 est.)
Commodities: foodstuffs machinery and equipment fuels and lubricants chemicals
Partners: UK 34% US 8% Italy 7% Nigeria 5% (1999)

Debt external: $1.28 billion (1999)

Exchange rates: leones per US dollar - 1653.39 (January 2001) 2,092 (2000) 1804.20 (1999) 1563.62 (1998) 981.48 (1997) 920.73 (1996)

Electricity
Production: 240 million kWh (1999)
Production by source fossil fuel: 100%
Production by source hydro: 0%
Production by source nuclear: 0%
Production by source other: 0% (1999)
Consumption: 223.2 million kWh (1999)
Exports: 0 kWh (1999)
Imports: 0 kWh (1999)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 17,000 (1997)
Mobile cellular: 650 (1999)

Telephone system
General assessment: marginal telephone and telegraph service
Domestic: national microwave radio relay trunk system, made unserviceable by military activities, is now operating from Freetown to Bo and Kenema (April 2001)
International: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Internet
Country code: .sl
Service providers isps: 1 (2000)
Users: 2000 (2000)

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $46 million (FY96/97)
Percent of gdp: 2% (FY96/97)

Airports: 11 (2000 est.)
With paved runways total: 1
With paved runways over 3047 m: 1 (2000 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 10
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 7
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.)

Heliports: 1 (2000 est.)

Railways
Total: 84 km used on a limited basis because the mine at Marampa is closed
Narrow gauge: 84 km 1.067-m gauge

Waterways: 800 km (of which 600 km navigable year round)

Merchant marine
Total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,057 GRT/3,498 DWT
Ships by type: cargo 1 (2000 est.)