Sierra Leone will send 850 soldiers to an African Unionpeacekeeping mission in Somalia, a military official said Thursday. The official, Lt. Col. Ronnie Harleston, Sierra Leone's military attaché to the United Nations, said the troops would deploy in the middle of next year. They will join approximately 9,000 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi,...
KENEMA, Sierra Leone Early one morning, I came across the actress Eva Mendes, crying. She said that she was overwhelmed by all the girls she had met here in Sierra Leone who had been raped -- and by her inability to help. Ms. Mendes and I had just arrived here in West Africa to collaborate on a PBS documentary on some inspiring women around the...
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone IN a rape treatment center here, I met a 3-year-old patient named Jessica, who was cuddling a teddy bear. Jessica had seemed sick and was losing weight, but she wouldn't say what was wrong. Her mother took her to a clinic, and a doctor ferreted out the truth. She had been raped and was infected with gonorrhea. As I stood in...
Sierra Leone er et land i Vestafrika og ligger ud til Atlanterhavet. Sierra Leone grænser til Liberia og Guinea. Hovedstaden hedder Freetown.
Den skrevne historie om Sierra Leone begynder i 1462, da den portugisiske opdagelsesrejsende Pedro de Cintra navngav landet "Løvebjergene". Europæerne brugte landet som en ressource for slaver, men i 1787 blev Freetown grundlagt som en by for tidligere slaver, der boede i London.
I 1808 blev Sierra Leone en britisk kronkoloni. Landet blev selvstændigt den 27. april 1961. Sir Milton Margai (1895-1964) var landets første premierminister.
Sierra Leone blev en Etpartistat i de tidlige 1970'ere. Landet led under en borgerkrig, som begyndte i 1991 med at Revolutionary United Front (RUF) angreb regeringssoldater og civile. Dette resulterede i titusindvis af døde og mere end to millioner fordrevne (mere end end tredjedel af befolkningen). Mange flygtede til nabolandene. Fold ud