Sierra Leone, officially the
Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in
West Africa. It is bordered by
Guinea in the north,
Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of 71,740 km
2 (27,699 sq mi) and has a population estimated at 6.4 million. The country is a
constitutional republic comprising three provinces and the
Western Area, which are further divided into
fourteen districts.
The Sierra Leone government officially recognizes fifteen
ethnic groups, each with its own language and customs. The two largest and most influential are the
Mende and
Temne peoples, with each comprising 30% of the population.
Over two decades of government neglect of the interior followed by the spilling over of the Liberian conflict into its borders eventually led to the
Sierra Leone Civil War, which began in 1991 and was resolved in 2000 after the struggling Nigerian led
United Nations troops were heavily reinforced by a British force spearheaded by 42 Commando of the Royal Marines as well as several British Army units. The arrival of this force in what was codenamed OPERATION PALLISER resulted in the defeat of rebel forces and restored the civilian government elected in 1998 to Freetown. Since then, almost 72,500 former combatants have been disarmed and the country has reestablished a functioning
democracy. The
Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up in 2002 to deal with
war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed since 1996.
Sierra Leone is the second lowest ranked country on the
Human Development Index and seventh lowest on the
Human Poverty Index, suffering from endemic corruption and suppression of the press.
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