CIA World Fact Book, 2004/Sierra Leone


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!| Background:
 * The 1991 to 2002 civil war between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) 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. With the support of the UN peacekeeping force and contributions from the World Bank and international community, demobilization and disarmament of the RUF and Civil Defense Forces (CDF) combatants has been completed. National elections were held in May 2002 and the government continues to slowly reestablish its authority. However, the gradual withdrawal of most UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) peacekeepers in 2004 and early 2005, deteriorating political and economic conditions in Guinea, and the tenuous security situation in neighboring Liberia may present challenges to the continuation of Sierra Leone's stability.
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!| Location: !| Geographic coordinates: !| Map references: !| Area: land: 71,620 sq km water: 120 sq km !| Area - comparative: !| Land boundaries: border countries: Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km !| Coastline: !| Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm !| Climate: !| Terrain: !| Elevation extremes: highest point: Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m !| Natural resources: !| Land use: permanent crops: 0.89% other: 92.13% (2001) !| Irrigated land: !| Natural hazards: !| Environment - current issues: !| Environment - international agreements: signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification !| Geography - note:
 * Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia
 * 8 30 N, 11 30 W
 * Africa
 * total: 71,740 sq km
 * slightly smaller than South Carolina
 * total: 958 km
 * 402 km
 * territorial sea: 12 nm
 * tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to December); winter dry season (December to April)
 * coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east
 * lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
 * diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite
 * arable land: 6.98%
 * 290 sq km (1998 est.)
 * dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms
 * 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
 * party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
 * rainfall along the coast can reach 495 cm (195 inches) a year, making it one of the wettest places along coastal, western Africa
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!| Population: !| Age structure: 15-64 years: 52% (male 1,458,610; female 1,599,109) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 91,232; female 99,490) (2004 est.) !| Median age: male: 17.2 years female: 17.8 years (2004 est.) !| Population growth rate: !| Birth rate: !| Death rate: !| Net migration rate: note: refugees currently in surrounding countries are slowly returning (2004 est.) !| Sex ratio: under 15 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.92 male(s)/female total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2004 est.) !| Infant mortality rate: female: 127.32 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) male: 162.64 deaths/1,000 live births !| Life expectancy at birth: male: 40.23 years female: 45.21 years (2004 est.) !| Total fertility rate: !| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: !| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: !| HIV/AIDS - deaths: !| Major infectious diseases: overall degree of risk: very high (2004) !| Nationality: adjective: Sierra Leonean !| Ethnic groups: !| Religions: !| Languages: !| Literacy: total population: 31.4% male: 45.4% female: 18.2% (1995 est.)
 * 5,883,889 (July 2004 est.)
 * 0-14 years: 44.8% (male 1,291,621; female 1,343,827)
 * total: 17.5 years
 * 2.27% (2004 est.)
 * 43.34 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
 * 20.62 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
 * 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population
 * at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
 * total: 145.24 deaths/1,000 live births
 * total population: 42.69 years
 * 5.79 children born/woman (2004 est.)
 * 7% (2001 est.)
 * 170,000 (2001 est.)
 * 11,000 (2001 est.)
 * typhoid fever, malaria, yellow fever, Lassa fever, schistosomiasis
 * noun: Sierra Leonean(s)
 * 20 native African tribes 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
 * Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%
 * 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%)
 * definition: age 15 and over can read and write English, Mende, Temne, or Arabic
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!| Country name: conventional short form: Sierra Leone !| Government type: !| Capital: !| Administrative divisions: !| Independence: !| National holiday: !| Constitution: !| Legal system: !| Suffrage: !| Executive branch: 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 last held 14 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2007); note - president's tenure of office is limited to two five-year terms election results: Ahmad Tejan KABBAH reelected president; percent of vote - Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (SLPP) 70.6%, Ernest KOROMA (APC) 22.4% !| Legislative branch: elections: last held 14 May 2002 (next to be held NA May 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - SLPP 70.06%, APC 22.35%, PLP 3%, others 4.59%; seats by party - SLPP 83, APC 27, PLP 2 !| Judicial branch: !| Political parties and leaders: !| Political pressure groups and leaders: !| International organization participation: !| Diplomatic representation in the US: FAX: [1] (202) 483-1793 telephone: [1] (202) 939-9261 through 9263 chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 !| Diplomatic representation from the US: embassy: Corner of Walpole and Siaka Stevens Streets, Freetown mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [232] (22) 226481 through 226485 FAX: [232] (22) 225471 !| Flag description:
 * conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone
 * constitutional democracy
 * Freetown
 * 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western*
 * 27 April 1961 (from UK)
 * Independence Day, 27 April (1961)
 * 1 October 1991; subsequently amended several times
 * based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
 * 18 years of age; universal
 * 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
 * unicameral Parliament (124 seats - 112 elected by popular vote, 12 filled by paramount chiefs elected in separate elections; members serve five-year terms)
 * Supreme Court; Appeals Court; High Court
 * All People's Congress or APC [Ben KANU]; Peace and Liberation Party or PLP [Darlington MORRISON, interim chairman]; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP [Sama BANYA]; numerous others
 * Trade Unions and Student Unions
 * ACP, AfDB, AU, C, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
 * chief of mission: Ambassador Ibrahim M. KAMARA
 * chief of mission: Ambassador Peter Russell CHAVEAS
 * three equal horizontal bands of light green (top), white, and light blue
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!| Economy - overview: !| GDP: !| GDP - real growth rate: !| GDP - per capita: !| GDP - composition by sector: industry: 31% services: 21% (2001 est.) !| Population below poverty line: !| Household income or consumption by percentage share: highest 10%: 43.6% (1989) !| Distribution of family income - Gini index: !| Inflation rate (consumer prices): !| Labor force: !| Labor force - by occupation: !| Unemployment rate: !| Budget: expenditures: $351 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2000 est.) !| Agriculture - products: !| Industries: !| Industrial production growth rate: !| Electricity - production: !| Electricity - consumption: !| Electricity - exports: !| Electricity - imports: !| Oil - production: !| Oil - consumption: !| Oil - exports: !| Oil - imports: !| Exports: !| Exports - commodities: !| Exports - partners: !| Imports: !| Imports - commodities: !| Imports - partners: !| Debt - external: !| Economic aid - recipient: !| Currency: !| Currency code: !| Exchange rates: !| Fiscal year:
 * 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, following a 11-year civil war. 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. Plans continue to reopen bauxite and rutile mines shut down during the conflict. The major source of hard currency consists of the mining of diamonds. 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 to supplement government revenues.
 * purchasing power parity - $3.057 billion (2003 est.)
 * 6.5% (2003 est.)
 * purchasing power parity - $500 (2003 est.)
 * agriculture: 49%
 * 68% (1989 est.)
 * lowest 10%: 0.5%
 * 62.9 (1989)
 * 1% (2002 est.)
 * 1.369 million (1981 est.)
 * agriculture NA, industry NA, services NA
 * NA
 * revenues: $96 million
 * rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts; poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs; fish
 * mining (diamonds); small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear); petroleum refining
 * NA
 * 250.1 million kWh (2001)
 * 232.6 million kWh (2001)
 * 0 kWh (2001)
 * 0 kWh (2001)
 * 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
 * 6,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
 * NA (2001)
 * NA (2001)
 * $49 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
 * diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish (1999)
 * Belgium 61.2%, Germany 14.2%, UK 4.5%, US 4.5% (2003)
 * $264 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
 * foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals (1995)
 * Germany 23.7%, UK 9.9%, Cote d'Ivoire 7.4%, France 7.4%, US 5.3%, Netherlands 5.1%, Ukraine 4.6% (2003)
 * $1.5 billion (2002 est.)
 * $103 million (2001 est.)
 * leone (SLL)
 * SLL
 * leones per US dollar - 2,347.94 (2003), 2,099.03 (2002), 1,986.15 (2001), 2,092.12 (2000), 1,804.19 (1999)
 * calendar year
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!| Telephones - main lines in use: !| Telephones - mobile cellular: !| Telephone system: 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) !| Radio broadcast stations: !| Radios: !| Television broadcast stations: !| Televisions: !| Internet country code: !| Internet hosts: !| Internet Service Providers (ISPs): !| Internet users:
 * 24,000 (2002)
 * 67,000 (2002)
 * general assessment: marginal telephone and telegraph service
 * AM 1, FM 9, shortwave 1 (1999)
 * 1.12 million (1997)
 * 2 (1999)
 * 53,000 (1997)
 * .sl
 * 277 (2004)
 * 1 (2001)
 * 8,000 (2002)
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!| Highways: paved: 895 km unpaved: 10,435 km (1999) !| Waterways: !| Ports and harbors: !| Merchant marine: by type: cargo 2 (2004 est.) !| Airports: !| Airports - with paved runways: over 3,047 m: 1 (2004 est.) !| Airports - with unpaved runways: under 914 m: 2 (2004 est.) 914 to 1,523 m: 7 !| Heliports:
 * total: 11,330 km
 * 800 km (2003)
 * Bonthe, Freetown, Pepel
 * total: 2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 7,435 GRT/8,750 DWT
 * 10 (2003 est.)
 * total: 1
 * total: 9
 * 2 (2003 est.)
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!| Military branches: !| Military manpower - military age and obligation: !| Military manpower - availability: !| Military manpower - fit for military service: !| Military expenditures - dollar figure: !| Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
 * Army (RSLAF)
 * 18 years of age (est.); no conscription (2001)
 * males age 15-49: 1,265,140 (2004 est.)
 * males age 15-49: 614,338 (2004 est.)
 * $11.7 million (2003)
 * 1.5% (2003)
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