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• Sierra Leone is located on the west coast of Africa, on the shores of Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Guinea in the north and Liberia in the south.

  The country was thrown into civil war in 1991 after the Revolutionary Unified Front invaded. Tens of thousands of people died before the conflict ended in 2002 when British and United Nations forces defeated rebel troops. An estimated two million people were turned into refugees by the conflict.

• Fast Facts

  1. Full name: Republic of Sierra Leone
  2. Capital: Freetown
  3. Government: Constitutional Democracy
  4. Population: 6,294,774 (July 2008 est.)CIA: The World Factbook
  5. Currency: Leone
  6. Official language: English
  7. Declared independence: April 27, 1961
  8. Time zone: Greenwich Mean Time
  9. Country code: 232
  10. Major religion: Muslim (60%)CIA: The World Factbook

• Economics and Poverty

  Though transitioning from the disastrous effects of the civil war, Sierra Leone still ranks low on the Human Poverty Index with one of the worst standards of living in the world. The country has a rich |mining industry, with diamonds as one of their top exports. The United Nations has certified their extraction process and diamond exports have been on the rise since 2000. Conflict diamond mining in Sierra Leone was chronicled in the 2006 film Blood Diamond. Much of the country still works as self-employed farmers, and unemployment is still rampant.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Africa | Guinea | Liberia | Atlantic Ocean | Sierra Leone Explosion

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