Although still vulnerable to sudden economic and political shocks, Sierra Leone is on the up and is undergoing a gradual recovery from civil war. Most recently Michael von der Schulenberg, the executive representative of the Secretary-General for the UN Peace Building Office in Sierra Leone, informed the Security Council that the nation still needs worldwide support as it gets ready for 2012 elections. On the whole he felt Sierra Leone’s recovery from its 11-year civil war has been a successful one.
Help is flowing in from all corners of the globe. Leading the way with financial assistance are the US, the EU and Irish Aid, which have proposed to pay for a large voting support project to be organised by UN operations in Sierra Leone. The country held elections in August 2007, which had a high turnout and were overall free, credible and fair according to official observers. In November 2009 the government of Sierra Leone signed an agreement with the US to re-establish, after a 16-year absence, a Sierra Leonean Peace Corps programme.
Road to recovery
The largest city in Sierra Leone is its capital, Freetown, which is also the country’s economic and financial centre. The other major cities for business are Bo, Kenema, Koidu Town and Makeni. Sierra Leone has often been referred to as the poorest yet richest nation in the world as it is rich in mineral resources, possessing rare and valuable mineral types in large quantities. The country, one of the world’s key diamond producing nations and producers of gold, bauxite and titanium, was often criticised for allowing its people to live in poverty in spite of all the natural wealth.
Looking back it is difficult to exactly pinpoint a single cause for the Sierra Leonean war, which began on March 23, 1991. It is estimated that perhaps as many as 100,000 people lost their lives and extraordinarily a similarly high number of Sierra Leonean’s were mutilated. The conflict began with a rebel invasion at Sierra Leone’s border with Liberia which led to hundreds of thousands of families being displaced during the war. Later the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) took responsibility for the rebellion when it announced it was combating the corrupt middle-class in Freetown. Human Rights Watch commenting on the Sierra Leonean war noted that a combination of innate issues may have given rise to the war. Amongst those contributing causes, corruption, severe poverty, a weak rule of law, monopolisation of power, and the unfair allotment of the country’s enormous natural resources would have been the key triggers.
Now the world is watching however, as Sierra Leone’s new story is being written and it appears to be a positive one. Huge celebrations took place only recently as Sierra Leone rejoiced in its regained independence which took place on April 27, 1961. The excitement of the country’s fiftieth independence anniversary has absorbed the nation with the key theme plastered across the streets, “50 years forward – celebrating a new Sierra Leone”. The progress is remarkable and great efforts are being made by all parties.
The nation has now – for the first time since 2005 – moved up from 167th to 158th on the United Nations Human Development Index. In addition to this achievement Sierra Leone and its people have accomplished other goals and met milestones they set themselves. In unison the country established a special court in a pact with the UN to try those who are to be liable for serious contraventions of both intercontinental humanitarian and Sierra Leonean law. It managed to disarm perpetrators of the civil war, since the end of the war in 2002, and the usage of weapons in political and racial clashes has almost entirely vanished. There has been moreover a successful reintegration of victims which were originally internally displaced. The country has also received international credit for having taken serious steps towards the reduction of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria.
The former splendour seems to have returned through vigorous rebuilding and cleaning projects under the rule of the All People’s Congress Government. Sierra Leone’s newfound confidence, having made enormous strides since the end of the civil conflict, is ready to embark on a new and momentous chapter of progress and growth. Its golden Jubilee has given the nation an opportunity to reflect, and learn the lessons of the past 50 years. It seems a key priority to the leaders of the country is to continue their efforts in reducing poverty within their nation. The government is also rather swiftly breaking ground in furthering the country’s infrastructure, bringing in foreign and domestic investments, and rebuilding its agricultural industry. Sierra Leone and its people can once again stand tall and contribute to their country’s growth as it is also increasingly becoming a model of peace and reconciliation.
Sierra Leone overview
Explorer Pedro da Cintra back in 1462 saw the high mountains when sailing down the West African coast, now the Freetown peninsula, and decided to call them Serra de Leão, Portuguese for “Lion Mountains”. Later British colonisation modified the name to Sierra Leone. Comprising a land area of around 27.700 square miles and located on the west coast of Africa, north of the equator, Sierra Leone is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea to the north and Liberia to the south.
The name of the capital Freetown emerged around the eighteenth century when the slave trade began to be banned and Sierra Leone became a relocation site for freed slaves shipped over from England and the Americas. The British navy guarded the West African coast, from around 1807 until the 1860s, and intercepted trading ships to free human cargo and release them in Freetown.
When in 1808 Sierra Leone became a British crown colony and was ruled under a colonial governor the British administration applied a strategy of indirect ruling, which relied on indigenous us establishments to preserve order and execute colonial policies. Sierra Leoneans attempted several times to rise against British power, most famously in the 1898 “Hut Tax rebellion” which happened as a retort to attempts by the British to force an annual tax on all houses in the country.
Sierra Leone came to be known as the educational centre of British West Africa when in 1827 Fourah Bay College, the only university to exist for over 100 years in the western sub Saharan region of Africa, was established.
Sierra Leone finally became politically independent of Great Britain on April 27, 1961 and just celebrated its 50-year anniversary with numerous street parties and celebrations.
