Industries: diamond mining; small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining, small commercial ship repair
Sierra Leone is a nation in western-Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea to the north and Liberia to the southeast. In the coastal west there is a belt of mangrove swamps; beyond these is extensive lowland plains, farmland and wooded hill country; in the east is an upland plateau and also mountains. Rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa.
Sierra Leone has the lowest Human Development Index of any nation in the world, because of a combination of low life expectancy, high illiteracy, economic poverty, low access to potable water, and other factors.
Sierra Leone's major environmental 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; the civil war has depleted natural resources; and, overfishing. It is susceptible to dry, sand-laden harmattan winds which blow from the Sahara Desert (December to February); and from sandstorms and dust storms.
The capitol, Freetown was established with British backing as a site for former slaves, primarily from the United States via Nova Scotia and from the West Indies. However, 90% of the population is descended from indigenous ethnic groups. Independence from Great Britain came in 1961. In 1991, Sierra Leone descended into civil war (a civil war was already underway in neighboring Liberia). 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.
Economy
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.
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