Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia and is bordered by Guinea to the north. With a land area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate and with a variety of environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. According to the 2015 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 7,092,113, with Freetown serving as both the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are further subdivided into 16 districts.
Under prime minister Siaka Stevens of the All People's Congress (APC), the country adopted a new constitution in 1971, transforming Sierra Leone into a presidential republic with Stevens as the inaugural president. After declaring the APC the sole legal party in 1978, Stevens was succeeded by Joseph Saidu Momoh in 1985. Momoh's enactment of a new constitution in 1991 reintroduced a multi-party system. That year, a protracted civil war initiated, featuring the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, leading to significant turmoil. The conflict, characterized by multiple coups d'état, persisted for 11 years. Intervention by ECOMOG forces and later the United Kingdom resulted in the defeat of the RUF in 2002, ushering in a period of relative stability and recovery efforts. The remaining two main political parties are the APC and the SLPP. (Full article...)
In early 1996, Kabbah was elected leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) and was the party's presidential candidate in the country's first free presidential election later that year. He was elected with 59% of the vote, defeating his closest rival, John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party (UNPP), who had 40% in the runoff vote and conceded defeat. International observers declared the election free and fair. Kabbah campaigned on a promise to end the civil war if elected president. During his inauguration speech as president, Kabbah repeated the promise to end the civil war, which he indeed achieved later in his presidency. (Full article...)
Image 2Temne leader Bai Bureh seen here in 1898 after his surrender, sitting relaxed in his traditional dress with a handkerchief in his hands, while a Sierra Leonean West African Frontier Force soldier stands guard next to him (from Sierra Leone)
Image 4Sierra Leone's total population, from 1961 to 2013 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 5Temne leader Bai Bureh seen here in 1898 after his surrender, sitting relaxed in his traditional dress with a handkerchief in his hands, while a Sierra Leonean West African Frontier Force soldier stands guard next to him (from Sierra Leone)
Image 24A proportional representation of Sierra Leone exports, 2019 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 25The Sierra Leone Supreme Court in the capital Freetown, the highest and most powerful court in the country (from Sierra Leone)
Image 26Isata Mahoi shown editing radio programmes in Talking Drum studio Freetown; she is also an actress in the Sierra Leone radio soap opera Atunda Ayenda (from Sierra Leone)
Image 33Isata Mahoi shown editing radio programmes in Talking Drum studio Freetown; she is also an actress in the Sierra Leone radio soap opera Atunda Ayenda (from Sierra Leone)
Image 34An 1835 illustration of liberated Africans arriving in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
Image 35An APC political rally in the northern town of Kabala outside the home of supporters of the rival SLPP in 1968 (from Sierra Leone)
Image 40Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55) (from Sierra Leone)
Image 41British West African Campaign troops in Freetown, 1914–1916. Published caption: "British expeditionary force preparing to embark at Freetown to attack the German Cameroons, the main object of the attack being the port of Duala. Auxiliary native troops were freely used in African warfare." (from Sierra Leone)
Image 48A farmer with his rice harvest in Sierra Leone. Two-thirds of Sierra Leone's population are directly involved in subsistence agriculture. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 49Rice farming in Rolako (from Sierra Leone)
Image 50A farmer with his rice harvest in Sierra Leone. Two-thirds of Sierra Leone's population are directly involved in subsistence agriculture. (from Sierra Leone)
Image 61British West African Campaign troops in Freetown, 1914–1916. Published caption: "British expeditionary force preparing to embark at Freetown to attack the German Cameroons, the main object of the attack being the port of Duala. Auxiliary native troops were freely used in African warfare." (from Sierra Leone)
Image 62A mosque and a church in Sierra Leone (from Sierra Leone)
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