Sierra Leone: Current Status
http://org.newtrier.k12.il.us/academics/faculty/hjelmgren/africa09proj3lev.html
Ariel Berger
World History- Hjelmgren
5/7/09 Period 2
Sierra Leone is a country that has gone through a lot in its past, including a decade long civil war. Now, as the country is getting back on its feet, many things are changing for the good. There are new government leaders, trade and agriculture is doing well, and the tourism industry is starting to pick up again.
Sierra Leone’s government is currently a constitutional democracy. This is a democracy with a constitution that is the major law. The president is Ernest Koroma, and the vice president is Samual Sam-Sumana. Koroma, who is part of the ‘All Peoples Congress’ party, was elected in the 2007 election. Koroma won 815,523 votes and 44.3 percent of the votes (Presidential Election-2007). He beat the six other candidates who were each in a different political party.
The economy in Sierra Leone is based predominantly on agriculture. Half of the countries workers work in subsistence farming (Sierra Leone, CIA World Factbook). They grow and produce rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts, poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs, and fish (Sierra Leone, Infoplease). Tourists are welcomed in the country, but not many tourists come. This is because of the long civil war that has recently ending. Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain has said that Sierra Leone is being recognized as an emerging destination for tourism (Blair Pushes). Although the amount of tourists isn’t very large, it is the most dynamic and fastest growing industry (Tourism in Sierra Leone). The tourist attractions are very beach oriented; there are seven groups of beaches in the country. Other popular things to see are the Loma Mountains and the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary. It is also very popular to go fishing.
Sierra Leone has maintained relations to the west, particularly Britain. The country also maintains diplomatic relations with China, Libya, Cuba and Iran. Sierra Leone is a part of the UN and it’s specialized agencies. It has had relations with the United States since the nineteenth century. Today, the relationship is still cordial, with ethnic ties (Sierra Leone (4/09)).
One of Sierra Leone’s main allies is Britain. When Sierra Leone was having a lot of trouble keeping the country together, Britain helped with sending in troops to protect and help make Freetown, the capital, better. Its other allies are China, Libya, Cuba and Iran. This is because Sierra Leone maintains good relationships with them. Also, Sierra Leone’s main trading partners are Belgium, Germany, U.S., Britain, Côte d'Ivoire, China, Netherlands, South Africa and France.
Sixty percent of the people in Sierra Leone are Muslims. The second most practiced religion is Indigenous, which thirty percent follow. Ten percent of Sierra Leone’s citizens follow Christianity. None of these religions are connected to the state.
Annotated Bibliography
"BBC NEWS | Africa | Blair pushes Sierra Leone tourism." BBC NEWS | News
Front Page. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8022133.stm>
I really enjoyed using this website because it gave me a different countries perspective on Sierra Leone and how they were helping.
"National Tourist Board of Sierra Leone." Sierra Leone Travel and Tourism Information.
<http://www.visitsierraleone.org/nationaltouristboard.asp>
This website gave me a lot of information on how the tourism is doing in Sierra Leone. It also told me about why it is just starting to prosper now.
“Sierra Leone." CIA World Factbook. 23 Apr. 2009.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sl.html.
This website helped me because it gave me a lot of good basic and background information on the country. It also told me a lot of other information that helped me understand a lot more about the country.
"Sierra Leone." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary,
Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. —
Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107959.html
This website was really good because it gave me a lot of good information on trading and the countries history, to help see where it is now.
"Sierra Leone Web - National Electoral Commission - 2007 Presidential Election
Results." Presidential Election- 2007. http://www.sierra-leone.org/NEC-Presidential2007.html.
I likes this website because it let me see how all of the candidates did, and how the president came to be the president.
"Sierra Leone (04/09)." U.S. Department of State. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5475.htm#people>.
This source was helpful because it gave me a lot of information on Sierra Leone’s relationships with other countries and the UN. It also had a lot about many other topics.
http://org.newtrier.k12.il.us/academics/faculty/hjelmgren/africa09proj3lev.html
Last updated on May 22, 2009 by Ariel Berger
