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Sierra Leone
>> Regional Overview >> Sierra Leone Overview
Previous Years' Activities
2002, 2001
Last updated: 22
THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: The United States has several important issues at stake in Sierra Leone, the epicenter of West African regional instability. The U.S. has a humanitarian interest in preventing a recurrence of the lawlessness and brutal violence that has produced thousands of deaths, injuries, and assorted war crimes, and hundreds of thousands of refugees. The U.S. has a strong interest in limiting the capacity of Liberian President Charles Taylor to continue his destabilizing role in the region. The U.S. also has an interest in supporting the United Kingdom's considerable investment of political and diplomatic capital, and military assistance, to stabilize the situation in Sierra Leone. Broad U.S. goals are to help foster an environment in which the government can control its territory, protect its citizens, provide for legal exploitation of the country's resources and future economic development, and hold free and fair elections.
The planned program of transition assistance will help restore stability to the country, which is striving to overcome over a decade of human suffering. The USAID program of assistance in Sierra Leone complements planned USAID activities in the adjacent war-affected areas of Guinea. This approach will strengthen the overall impact of USAID's assistance beyond that which would be possible by focusing effort on one side of the border or the other.
After several setbacks, the end to the eleven-year conflict in Sierra Leone may finally be near at hand.
With the support of the UN peacekeeping force, and contributions from the World Bank and the international community, demobilization and disarmament of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Civil Defense Forces (CDFs) combatants is nearing completion. Re-establishment of government authority throughout the country is slowly proceeding and national elections are scheduled to take place in May 2002.
GDP Per Capita $126; Population 4.7 million; Infant Mortality 168 per 1,000; Child Mortality 283 per 1,000; Life Expectancy 37 years; and Literacy Rate 20%. The country's transition from war to peace presents formidable challenges, as the full toll of the conflict -- social, economic, and physical -- is tallied. Sierra Leone now appears at the bottom of the UN's Human Development Index, which includes a combination of indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and child mortality. Although real GDP increased by 3.8% in 2000 against a population growth rate of 2.6%, this follows a cumulative decline of 25% during 1997-99 and approximately 66% since 1970. Visible evidence of the war is abundant. Much of the country's public infrastructure, shelter, and education and health facilities have been destroyed. Over 300,000 people await relocation from refugee camps to their home communities. Sierra Leone's diamond-producing regions in particular -- the last RUF strongholds to disarm -- show the effects of years of RUF occupation and reckless mining. Once-thriving towns such as Koidu lie in ruins. Large swaths of land in the towns and in the countryside continue to be ravaged by thousands of youth in search of precious stones, and rivers run red from the topsoil runoff produced by unregulated mining. Although peace has now been declared in Sierra Leone, the possibility for resumed conflict will remain a concern until the transnational region that includes Guinea's Parrot's Beak, Liberia's Lofa County and the Eastern Region of Sierra Leone can be stabilized and the issues that gave rise to the original conflict are addressed. These include marginalization of youth, unequal distribution of basic human social services and programs, and government mismanagement.
The U.S. must also deal with several internal threats to Sierra Leone's long-term stability. Chief among the internal threats are poor governance, including a lack of effective popular participation in government; widespread corruption; and a destabilizing concentration of wealth. These conditions, combined with the effects of the war, led to what many now characterize as Sierra Leone's "state collapse," a condition where the most basic public functions are not performed and public confidence in government is deeply eroded. Clearly, much rebuilding needs to be done, in both the physical and social senses.
THE USAID PROGRAM:
FY 2002 Estimate: $26.331 million /b> FY 2003 Request: $3.868 million USAID's program addresses some of the country's key challenges as it transitions from war to peace. The following Program Data Sheets cover the two strategic objectives for which USAID is requesting funds. The first strategic objective will concentrate on reintegrating war-affected youth into society, supporting the reconciliation process, and rebuilding the physical infrastructure damaged during Sierra Leone's conflict. The planned activities use a community-based approach that addresses food security and agriculture, health services, and income-generating opportunities for ex-combatants, community residents, resettled refugees and those displaced by the war. Support for reintegration will be designed to dovetail with the on-going emergency and transition efforts supported by USAID's Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA).
The second strategic objective focuses on developing democratic institutions, addressing human rights abuses, promoting public discourse, and strengthening the effectiveness of government's and local communities' oversight and monitoring of the diamond sector. The majority of FY 2002 funds will be used to implement the program in regions of the country that have been most severely devastated by the conflict.
OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: In addition to this bilateral program, USAID is funding activities in Sierra Leone through the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), Food for Peace (FFP), and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). OTI activities, which end in March 2002, provide training to former combatants and other community members to facilitate the reintegration process; work with the Government of Sierra Leone and civil society to improve the management of the country's diamond export certification regime; and work through a media NGO to develop reconciliation and reintegration radio programming. Emergency P.L. 480 food aid is provided in FY 2002 for internally displaced people and other war affected groups.
OTHER DONORS: In terms of humanitarian assistance, the USG continues to be the leading provider to Sierra Leone. The USG was the largest single donor to the UN Consolidated Appeal for Sierra Leone in CY 2001, providing approximately 54% of the total contributed. The next largest humanitarian donor, the United Kingdom (which ranks first in development assistance) provided 10%. The European Union's humanitarian arm, ECHO, provided approximately 9% (not including contributions to UNHCR and ICRC). Other major donors providing humanitarian assistance (by rank order) include Sweden, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, and Germany.
Program Data Sheets
- 636-001 Advancement of Reintegration and Reconciliation in War-torn Communities
- 636-002 Democratic Institutions' Capacity Strengthened
Country Background Information Resources
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
