The two biggest and most successful football clubs are East End Lions and Mighty Blackpool. The coastal swamp region extends along the Atlantic for about 200 miles (320 km). The country is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mano River Union, Commonwealth of Nations, IMF, World Bank, WTO, African Development Bank, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Major port cities are Bonthe, Freetown, Sherbro Island and Pepel. Protesters have been killed by security forces, as have prison rioters (in one incident at Pademba Road Prison, 30 inmates and one correction officer were killed). In other words, the population of Sierra Leone has grown almost three and half times it was in 1963 (2,180,355). Although the British government recommended leniency, Cardew insisted on sending the chief and two allies into exile in the Gold Coast; his government hanged 96 of the chief's warriors. It also has one of the lowest population densities in the country with just over 400,000 people recorded in the 2015 census. The APC, with its leader Siaka Stevens, narrowly won a small majority of seats in Parliament over the SLPP in a closely contested 1967 general election. 208,795 (2015); Goderich - York Urban Area: pop. The ACRM junta arrested many senior NRC members. Under President Stevens, the SSD had been a powerful personal force used to maintain his hold on power, independent from the Sierra Leone Military and Sierra Leone Police Force. The SLPP leadership, led by Sir Milton Margai, negotiated with the British and the educated Krio-dominated colony based in Freetown to achieve independence. [131] Each chiefdom has ruling families that were recognised at that time; the Tribal Authority, made up of local notables, elects the paramount chief from the ruling families. The district has the highest percentage, a total of 10.2%, making it the most populated in the country. The largest district geographically, Koinadugu, has a much lower density of 21.4 persons per square km. The third-largest ethnic group are the Limba at about 8.4% of the population. Stevens is generally criticised for dictatorial methods and government corruption, but on a positive note, he kept the country stable and from collapsing into civil war. The population of Bo is estimated at about 233,684 . To be elected president of Sierra Leone, a candidate must gain at least 55% of the vote. [159] There is also potential for several new hydroelectric plants to be opened on the Sewa River, Pampana River, Seli River, Moa River, and Little Scarcies. Oftentimes the documentation would be overwhelmingly subjective and would result in inaccurate entries, making them difficult to track. They reinstated the constitution and returned power to Stevens, who at last assumed the office of Prime Minister. 131,001. The Kuranko are primarily farmers; leaders among them have traditionally held several senior positions in the Military. [248][249][250][251][252][253] Some subjects are seen as taboo by society and members of the political elite; imprisonment and violence have been used by the political establishment against journalists. About 400 black and 60 white colonists reached Sierra Leone on 15 May 1787. The other airports have unpaved runways, and seven have runways from 914 to 1,523 metres (2,999 to 4,997 feet) long; the remaining two have shorter runways. Outside the capital Freetown and other major cities, television is not watched by a great many people, although Bo, Kenema and Makeni are served by their own relays of the main SLBC service. The Dominion of Sierra Leone retained a parliamentary system of government and was a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Sierra Leone had its own parliament and its own prime minister, and had the ability to make 100% of its own laws, however, as with countries such as Canada and Australia, Sierra Leone remained a "Dominion" and Queen Elizabeth was Queen of the independent Dominion of Sierra Leone. The soldiers immediately released Koroma from prison and installed him as their chairman and Head of State. ", War and state collapse: The case of Sierra Leone, "NPRC's Komba Kambo Speaks After Eleven Years Of Silence! As a result, Albert Margai became unpopular in the Creole community, many of whom had supported Sir Milton. The current speaker of the Sierra Leone parliament is Abass Bundu, who was elected by members of parliament on 21 January 2014. It is listed among countries of concern for emissions, as having Low Forest Cover with High Rates of Deforestation (LFHD). [3] [4] It is one of the sixteen Districts of Sierra Leone. Setting: Twenty-seven peripheral health units, five secondary hospitals and one tertiary hospital, Western Area District, Sierra Leone.Objectives: To describe reporting systems, monthly attendances and facility-based patterns of six non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the pre-Ebola and Ebola virus disease outbreak periods.Design: A cross-sectional study using programme data. Like Stevens, Momoh was also a member of the minority Limba ethnic group. Bai Sherbro was captured and with Bai Bureh, exiled to the Gold Coast (modern Ghana). The presidential election, in which neither candidate reached the required threshold of 55%, went to a second round of voting, in which Julius Maada Bio was elected with 51% of the vote. The Sherbro are primarily fisherman and farmers, and they are predominantly found in Bonthe District. [39] However, on the voyage between Plymouth, England and Sierra Leone, seventy European girlfriends and wives accompanied the Black Poor settlers. Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone's borders and cleared the RUF from the Kono diamond-producing areas of Sierra Leone. 50%. In the north, it comprises featureless seasonal swamps known as Bolilands (boli being a Temne word for those lands that are flooded in the rainy season and dry and hard in the dry season and on which only grass can grow). The Sierra Leone Police is headed by the Inspector General of Police, the professional head of the Sierra Leone Police force, who is appointed by the president of Sierra Leone. The Western Area Urban District is one of the 16 districts of Sierra Leone. [168], After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, the government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali an honorary official language in December 2002. Area: 77.1 mile - 124.1 km radius. The city is has a culturally diverse population of different religions and ethnicities. 267,266. When the Leone Stars win an important match, many youth across the county rush to the street to celebrate. The NPRC's efforts proved to be nearly ineffective as the ousted Momoh administration in repelling the RUF rebels. [21] Bio handed power over to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP, after the conclusion of elections in early 1996 which Kabbah won. [82], Stevens had Bangura arrested in 1970 and charged with conspiracy and treason. They are descendants of traders from Guinea who migrated to Sierra Leone during the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Its also the seat of the Sierra Leone government. One of the most popular tourist destinations in Sierra Leone is located in this province: Outamba-Kilimi National Park. [107] Mining and slash and burn for land conversion such as cattle grazing dramatically diminished forested land in Sierra Leone since the 1980s. Since 1985, the nation did not conduct any census for 19 years. The ratio of men and women in Koinadugu District, Sierra Leone. He was neither corrupt nor did he make a lavish display of his power or status. The most widely spoken language among different ethnic groups in the city is Krio. The president of the United Council of Imam is Sheikh Alhaji Muhammad Habib Sheriff. 50%. The APC named a new presidential candidate to succeed Stevens at party's last delegate conference, held in Freetown in November 1985. The districts are further divided into a total of 190 (prior to 2017, 149) chiefdoms,[1] whose elected leaders provided most of local government from 1896 to 2004, when they were supplemented by elected local councils. Reference Location: Bonthe District, Sierra Leone. The 1898 Hut Tax rebellion occurred as a response to British attempts to impose an annual tax on all houses in the country. Explanation: Boundaries of districts and chiefdoms according to the administrative reorganization of 2017. The war was later known as the Hut Tax War. In Kono District, a rural eastern region of 500,00 people, famous for its diamond mines and as the epicenter of Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, PIH is investing in every level of the health system. The interior contains a variety of landforms ranging from savanna-covered low plains to rocky scarp and hill country. The rice is prepared in numerous ways, and topped with a variety of sauces made from some of Sierra Leone's favourite toppings, including potato leaves, cassava leaves, crain crain, okra soup, fried fish and groundnut stew.[244]. These Liberated Africans or recaptives were sold for $20 a head as apprentices to the white settlers, Nova Scotian Settlers, and the Jamaican Maroons. [97] By the end of 2014 there were nearly 3000 deaths and about 10,000 cases of the disease in Sierra Leone. In Freetown there no particular ethnic group that dominates the population since it is home to all of Sierra Leone's people. [187] The United Council of Imams, is an influential Islamic religious body in Sierra Leone, that is made up of all imams of mosques throughout Sierra Leone. President Momoh's strong links with the army and his verbal attacks on corruption earned him much-needed initial support among Sierra Leoneans. The Temne and Mende people especially refused to pay, attacking and looting trading stations, and killing policemen, missionaries, and all those suspected of assisting the colonial government. Freetown More and more of the country fell into the hands RUF fighters, and by 1994 they had gotten control of much of the diamond-rich Eastern Province and were getting close toward the capital Freetown. Although women account for about 50 per cent of the population in Sierra Leone, only 28 per cent are household heads. Sierra Leone,[note 1] officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. Manga Sewa's father had several wives and dozens of children. The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) was created by the colonial government in 1934 making it the earliest English language radio broadcaster service in West Africa. [39] The Settlers built Freetown in the styles they knew from their lives in the American South; they also continued American fashion and American manners. Humphrey J. Fisher (1969), "Elections and Coups in Sierra Leone, 1967". On the voyage between Plymouth and Sierra Leone, 96 passengers died. The Sierra Leone cricket team represents Sierra Leone in international cricket competitions and is among the best in West Africa. Other figures are estimates from the source cited. [79] Due to the lack of access to basic education, women are the least prepared when it comes to processing business licences, registering names or contracting. The airport has paved runways longer than 3,047 metres (9,997 feet). Non-denominational Protestants form a significant minority of Sierra Leone's Christian population. The Sierra Leone Police under Bambay Kamara's leadership was accused of physical violence, arrest and intimidation against critics of President Momoh's government. It became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2002. Based on 2015 estimates of the population of Sierra Leone, 77% of the population are Muslims, 22% are Christians, and 1% practise African traditional religion. [71] In 1953, Sierra Leone was granted local ministerial powers and Margai was elected Chief Minister of Sierra Leone. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 90.2 (2012): 120-127F. [101], Sierra Leone is located on the southwest coast of West Africa, lying mostly between latitudes 7 and 10N (a small area is south of 7), and longitudes 10 and 14W. Sheikh Muhammad Taha Jalloh is the president of the Sierra Leone Supreme Islamic Council. While the broader community included some women, the Black Poor seems to have exclusively consisted of men, some of whom developed relationships with local women and often married them. The Western Area is divided into two districts. Makeni is home to Sierra Leone's incumbent President, Ernest Bai Koroma. This polygon shapefile contains the boundary of Sierra Leone (adm0). As of May 2014, the country's only international airport had regularly scheduled direct flights to London, Paris, Brussels and most major cities in West Africa. The Limba are primarily found in Northern Sierra Leone, particularly in Bombali, Kambia and Koinadugu District. During the British annexation in Sierra Leone, several chiefs in the northern and southern parts of the country were resisting the "hut tax" imposed by the colonial administrators but they used diplomacy to achieve their goal. [158] As a result, the commercialisation of firewood and coal has been a point of contention with aid donors and government agencies such as the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources and the Forestry Division. 130,725. The climate is tropical, with two seasons determining the agricultural cycle: the rainy season from May to November, and a dry season from December to May, which includes harmattan, when cool, dry winds blow in off the Sahara Desert and the night-time temperature can be as low as 16C (60.8F). In May 1962, Sierra Leone held its first general election as an independent nation. Sierra Leone is the first African country to join the International Floorball Federation. Each one of Sierra Leone's 14 districts is headed by a district police commissioner who is the professional head of their respective district. [98] The epidemic occurred as part of the wider Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. The centre provides a variety of maternal and child health services and is supported by not for profit organisations such as Freedom from Fistula,[231] The Aminata Maternal Foundation,[232][bettersourceneeded] and UNFPA. The capital of this province is Kenema, which is the economic center of the region and one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country. Other minority ethnic groups are the Kuranko, who are related to the Mandingo and are largely Muslims. In seeing the shape of mountains like a Lion and amidst the thunderstorm he named the mountains Sierra Lyoa (meaning Lion Mountains in Portuguese) Later, the name Sierra Leone was derived from the Portuguese term Sierra Lyoa. In April 2010, the SLBS merged with the United Nations peacekeeping radio station in Sierra Leone to form the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation,[246][247] the government-owned current national broadcaster in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has a total area of 71,740km2 (27,699sqmi), divided into a land area of 71,620km2 (27,653sqmi) and water of 120km2 (46sqmi). [176] Most of Sierra Leone's ethnic groups are Muslim majority, including the country's two largest ethnic groups: the Mende and Temne. Each district has both major and small cities and towns. [158] There have been strong pushes for both solar and hydropower to become the dominant sources of energy in Sierra Leone because of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal number seven (affordable and clean energy). Makeni is the administrative and economic center of the region. Sierra Leone is also a member of the United Nations and its specialised agencies, the African Union, the African Development Bank (AFDB), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). [123], The president of Sierra Leone is the Commander in Chief of the military, with the Minister of Defence responsible for defence policy and the formulation of the armed forces. [209] As in the rest of the countries, education is a key factor in succeeding in aspects such as a well-paid job and covering the needs of a house. [217], Medical care is not readily accessible, with doctors and hospitals out of reach for many villagers. Sierra Leone is officially a secular state. A woman can be the head of the house only if she remains single for the rest of her life. The Criminal Libel Law, including Seditious Libel Law of 1965, is used to control what is published in the media. [110], Until 2002, Sierra Leone lacked a forest management system because of the civil war that caused tens of thousands of deaths. 1962, Sierra Leone has grown almost three and half times it was 1963... 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