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Seychelles (continued)  potatoes, cassava, bananas; broiler chickens; large share of food needs imported; expansion of tuna fishing under way

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY78-88), $23 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1978-87), $297 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $5 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $56 million

Currency: Seychelles rupee (plural—rupees); 1 Seychelles rupee (SRe) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Seychelles rupees (SR) per US$1—5.4884 (January 1990), 5.6457 (1989), 5.3836 (1988), 5.6000 (1987), 6.1768 (1986), 7.1343 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Highways: 260 km total; 160 km bituminous, 100 km crushed stone or earth

Ports: Victoria

Merchant marine: 1 refrigerated cargo (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,827 GRT/2,170 DWT

Civil air: 3 major transport aircraft

Airports: 14 total, 14 usable; 8 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: direct radio communications with adjacent islands and African coastal countries; 13,000 telephones; stations—2 AM, no FM, 1 TV; 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT earth station; USAF tracking station

Defense Forces

Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Militia

Military manpower: males 15-49, 17,073; 8,776 fit for military service

Defense expenditures: 6% of GDP, or $12 million (1990 est.)  Sierra Leone



Geography

Total area: 71,740 km²; land area: 71,620 km²

Comparative area: slightly smaller than South Carolina

Land boundaries: 958 km total; Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km

Coastline: 402 km

Maritime claims:
 * Territorial sea: 200 nm

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

Natural resources: diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite

Land use: 25% arable land; 2% permanent crops; 31% meadows and pastures; 29% forest and woodland; 13% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Environment: extensive mangrove swamps hinder access to sea; deforestation; soil degradation

People

Population: 4,165,953 (July 1990), growth rate 2.6% (1990)

Birth rate: 47 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 21 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 154 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 42 years male, 47 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 6.2 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—Sierra Leonean(s); adjective—Sierra Leonean

Ethnic divisions: 99% native African (30% Temne, 30% Mende); 1% Creole, European, Lebanese, and Asian; 13 tribes

Religion: 30% Muslim, 30% indigenous beliefs, 10% Christian, 30% other or none

Language: English (official); regular use limited to literate minority; principal vernaculars are Mende in south and Temne in north; Krio is the language of the resettled ex-slave population of the Freetown area and is lingua franca

Literacy: 31% (1986)

Labor force: 1,369,000 (est.); 65% agriculture, 19% industry, 16% services (1981); only about 65,000 earn wages (1985); 55% of population of working age

Organized labor: 35% of wage earners

Government

Long-form name: Republic of Sierra Leone

Type: republic under presidential regime

Capital: Freetown

Administrative divisions: 4 provinces; Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western

Independence: 27 April 1961 (from UK)

Constitution: 14 June 1978

Legal system: based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Republic Day, 27 April (1961)

Executive branch: president, two vice presidents, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral House of Representatives

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government—President Gen. Joseph Saidu MOMOH (since 28 November 1985); First Vice President Abu Bakar KAMARA (since 4 April 1987); Second Vice President Salia JUSU-SHERIFF (since 4 April 1987)

Political parties and leaders: only party All People's Congress (APC), Gen. Joseph Saidu Momoh

Suffrage: universal at age 21

Elections: President—last held 1 October 1985 (next to be held October 1992); results—Gen. Joseph Saidu Momoh was elected without opposition;

House of Representatives—last held 30 May 1986 (next to be held May 1991); results—APC is the only party; seats—(127 total, 105 elected) APC 105

Communists: no party, although there are a few Communists and a slightly larger number of sympathizers

Member of: ACP, AfDB, Commonwealth, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB—Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTERPOL, IPU, 278