Ethnicity: Most of Sierra Leone's people are of West African stock, with the largest groups being the Mende (31%), Themne (30%), Limba (10%) and Kuranko (3.7%). About 10% of the population are creoles, descendants of freed West Indian slaves settled here in the 19th century. There are small minorities of Europeans and Indians.
In 1967 Siaka Stevens, leader of the socialist All-People's Congress, was elected prime minister, but an army coup immediately removed him from office. A second coup in 1968 restored Stevens to power, but he then established a one-party regime, with himself as president from 1971. Stevens ruled until 1985, while the country's economy gradually declined. Stevens was succeeded by Joseph Saidu Momoh, who began a process of transition to a multiparty system, but his regime was overthrown by a coup in 1992. The army then ruled until 1996, when elections were held and Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was elected President. Kabbah was overthrown in yet another coup in 1997, which led to the outbreak of civil war and the imposition of UN sanctions. In 1998 Kabbah returned to office. In July 1999 a peace accord was signed between President Kabbah, the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (RUF) and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). The agreement granted a general amnesty from prosecution, despite the extensive crimes against humanity committed by both RUF and the AFRC. Fresh elections were held in 2002 which installed Kabbah and the Sierra Leone People's Party firmly in power, with the All People's Congress as the opposition. But fighting and disorder continues, the administration has collapsed and the country has been economically crippled. Human Rights Watch's 2002 Report on Sierra Leone noted: "Sierra Leone made significant progress in 2002. On January 18, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared that the decade-long civil war had ended, and on March 1, he lifted the four-year state of emergency. On May 14 the people of Sierra Leone went to the polls... The elections were largely peaceful, though there were a few reports of violence and intimidation. Eleven parties vied for the presidency and 124 parliamentary seats. The seventeen thousand-strong peacekeeping force of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) completed disarmament of over 47,000 combatants, contributing, with British-led efforts to rehabilitate the ill-disciplined police and army, to dramatic improvement in prospects for peace, security, and respect for human rights. By October more than 195,000 Sierra Leonean refugees from Guinea, Liberia, and the broader sub-region had returned home. Two important transitional justice mechanisms aimed at ensuring accountability for the horrific abuses that characterized the war - the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission - also began operations." For information on the current situation in Sierra Leone, see the website of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. |
