SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

2 Description of the Context in Sierra Leone
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The capital Freetown is the largest city
(estimated population of approximately one
million) and the economic, financial and cultural
centre of the nation. English is the official
language, but Krio (a Creole language derived
from English which incorporates words and syntax
from other African and European languages
such as Yoruba, French and Portuguese) is the
lingua franca spoken by 97% of the population
(WHO, 2009). Krio unites all the different ethnic
groups (in total 162 , each with its own language),
especially in their commercial interactions.
Transition from civil war
Since the mid 1980’s, Sierra Leone has
suffered economic decline and political
instability3 . Between 1991 and 2002 the country
has gone through several military coups and
a brutal armed conflict. The civil war started in
March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) initiated a military insurrection in the East
(close to the Liberian border) with the intention
of overthrowing the government. However, by
1992 a group of young military officers, led by
Capt. Valentine Strasser, launched a military coup
which sent President Momoh (who had been
elected president in a one-party referendum in
1985) into exile in Guinea and established the
National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) as
the ruling authority in Sierra Leone. Despite the
change of power, the RUF continued its attacks.
As a result of popular demand and mounting
international pressure, the NPRC agreed to
hand over power to a civilian government via
presidential and parliamentary elections, which
were held in April 1996. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah,
a diplomat who had worked at the UN for more
than 20 years, won the presidential election.
The RUF did not participate in this process and
thus continued the conflict until the Abidjan
Accord in November 1996. The agreement was
2 The Mendes, Temnes and Limbas are the three largest
groups comprising 60% of the population.
3 UNAMSIL (United Nation peace keeping mission in Sierra
Leone) (http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/
unamsil/background.html: Accessed September 2010).
derailed by another military coup d’état in May
1997. This time the army joined forces with
the RUF and formed a ruling junta: the Armed
Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). President
Kabbah and his government went into exile in
neighbouring Guinea.
An oil and arms embargo followed, and
in 1998 the ECOMOG (Economic Community
Monitoring Group) and ECOWAS (Economic
Community of West African States) intervention
force counterattacked the AFRC junta leading
to its defeat. President Kabbah returned to
power and the country was progressively
pacified following the 1999 Lomé Peace Accord
and a United Nations peacekeeping mission
(UNAMSIL) ensuring a return to democracy in
2002. In May 2002 President Kabbah was reelected
to a 5-year term in a landslide victory.
Sierra Leone’s current economy is still
suffering the consequences of this decade of civil
war and displacement (up to two million people
according to the Country Strategy Paper (CSP)
2007 were displaced). While some progress has
been made in terms of economic and political
stability the country is far from recovering or
from being close to a sustained growth path
(PRSP II, 2009). The necessary resources and
capacities to support Sierra Leones political and
socio-economic recovery are largely missing. It
is in this context that the present study draws its
attention to rural smallholders who represent the
vast majority of the rural population in one of the
world’s poorest countries.
Next, we will review general aspects of
Sierra Leone concerning its population, health
and education, key macroeconomic indicators,
labour and major productive sectors.
2.2 Population
As mentioned in the introduction, the Sierra
Leones population is estimated at 6.7 million in
2008 and it is mainly young with 6% over 60,