TRAVEL
TIPS
| Driving |
TBA |
| Currency |
(SLL)
Leone |
| Electrical |
230 Volts |
| Telephones |
Country
Code 232 |
Travel
Warning
Diamond-rich Sierra Leone is one of the world's most impoverished
countries. Rampant corruption and ten years of bloody civil war
has left the nation in tatters. Although the war was declared
over in January 2002, the peace is fragile.
In March 1998, the elected
government of Sierra Leone was restored by Ecomog (a West African
coalition of peacekeepers), following a military coup in May 1997.
Fighting and looting during the coup, and the restoration of government,
caused extensive damage to cities and villages, with heavy casualties.
January 1999 saw the storming of Freetown by RUF (Revolutionary
United Front) rebels. Several thousand civilians were killed during
the assault, and many more were brutally maimed.
Ecomog troops withdrew in
1999, and a UN peacekeeping force secured Freetown in early 2000.
The UN placed sanctions on the sale of diamonds from Sierra Leone,
which were being smuggled through Liberia to fund the RUF rebel
resistance, but the illegal trade continues. Ceasefire agreements
were made between the government and the RUF and other rebel groups,
providing for the disarmament of the rebels in exchange for a
share in government. Renewed violence marred the disarmament process;
for example, in mid-2000, several hundred UN troops were taken
hostage by rebels.
In addition to the UN force,
the UK got involved, training a new army and establishing a new
police force. Serious disarmament got underway in mid-2001, and
by January 2002, the war was deemed to be over. The country went
ahead with delayed elections in May 2002, with incumbent President
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and his Sierra Leone People's Party winning
by a landslide. The relatively peaceful election campaign and
Kabbah's vow to fight corruption are seen as hopeful signs for
a nation weary of war.
Despite recent positive developments,
Sierra Leone remains highly unstable, and the US, UK and Australian
governments are still advising their citizens not to travel there.
It is estimated that over two million people in the Bo, Kenema
and Freetown regions were displaced by the war. Many of these
are now in the process of being resettled. Armed crime in all
parts of the country is also a problem. Hope may spring eternal,
but in a country where there are so many refugees, the continuing
potential to return to bloody civil war, the world's highest infant
mortality rate, widespread child prostitution and rampaging sexually
transmitted diseases, it is likely that Sierra Leone will remain
off-limits to tourists for the short term at least.
