Level = 0                                         Development: Very Low

Country Overview

What has been going on in Sierra Leone

Space Agency and its Activity

What kind of space power do they have?

Weapons and Power Projection

Does Sierra Leone have space weapons?

Timeline and the Future

What are they planning over there?

OVERVIEW

 Sierra Leone, in West Africa, emerged from a decade of civil war in 2002, with the help of Britain, the former colonial power, and a large United Nations peacekeeping mission.

More than 17,000 foreign troops disarmed tens of thousands of rebels and militia fighters. The country now faces the challenge of reconstruction.

A lasting feature of the war, which left some 50,000 dead, was the atrocities committed by the rebels, whose trademark was to hack off the hands of their victims.

A UN-backed war crimes court has been set up to try those, from both sides, who bear the greatest responsibility for the brutalities.

But the problems of poverty, tribal rivalry and official corruption that caused the war are far from over.

The 70,000 former combatants who were disarmed and rehabilitated after the war have swollen the ranks of the many young people seeking employment.

Sierra Leone is rich in diamonds. The trade in illicit gems, known as "blood diamonds" for their role in funding conflicts, perpetuated the civil war. The government has attempted to crack down on cross-border diamond trafficking.

Diamond exports, and the exploitation of mineral reserves, have helped to bouy the post-conflict economy.

Full name: Republic of Sierra Leone

• Population: 5.3 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Freetown
• Area: 71,740 sq km (27,699 sq miles)
• Major languages: English, Krio (Creole language derived from English) and a range of African languages
• Major religions: Islam, indigenous beliefs, Christianity
• Life expectancy: 39 years (men), 42 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Leone = 100 cents
• Main exports: Diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish
• GNI per capita: US $220 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .sl
• International dialling code: +232

President: Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah won a five-year term in elections in May 2002, gaining more than 70% of the vote.

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Sierra Leonan Space Agency

Sierra Leone is one of the world's poorest countries, with possibly the least developed space program in the world along with Niger. Not only does it certainly not have an agency, but also no infrastructure in which one would arise. Its only university has no space related educational architecture, lacking astrophysics, astronautics, aeronautics and natural sciences. The government has no ministry devoted to science of this type.

Sierra Leone has no history of being part of any organization dealing with space, nor has any launch capability.

Sierra Leone lacks the industrial base, the educational base and the political foundation for a process like this to occur within it. It has no functioning university with an astrophysics or astronautics program, and nonexistant industry, despite the Sierra Leonean University being the oldest in West Africa.

 It operates no satellites and, not having a presence, has no space power.

The government of Sierra Leone in Freetown has no plans for attempting to further any ambition in space development or research.

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WEAPONS AND POWER

 None

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Timeline of Events in Sierra Leone

...From the Past to the Future

1787 - British abolitionists and philanthropists establish a settlement in Freetown for repatriated and rescued slaves.

1808 - Freetown settlement becomes crown colony.

1896 - Britain sets up a protectorate over the Freetown hinterland.

1954 - Sir Milton Margai, leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party, appointed chief minister.

1961 - Sierra Leone becomes independent.

1967 - Military coup deposes Premier Siaka Stevens' government.

1968 - Siaka Stevens returns to power at the head of a civilian government following another military coup.

1971 - Sierra Leone declared a republic, Stevens becomes executive president.

1978 - New constitution proclaims Sierra Leone a one-party state with the All People's Congress as the sole legal party.

1985 - Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh becomes president following Stevens's retirement.

1987 - Momoh declares state of economic emergency.

War and coups

1991 - Start of civil war. Former army corporal Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF) begin campaign against President Momoh, capturing towns on border with Liberia.

1992 - President Joseph Momoh ousted in military coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by failure to deal with rebels. Under international pressure, Strasser announces plans for the first multi-party elections since 1967.

1996 January - Strasser ousted in military coup led by his defence minister, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio.

1996 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah elected president in February, signs peace accord with Sankoh's rebels in November.

1997 Peace deal unravels. President Kabbah deposed in May by coalition of army officers led by Major-General Paul Koroma and members of the RUF; Koroma suspends the constitution, bans demonstrations and abolishes political parties; Kabbah flees to Guinea to mobilise international support.

1997 July - The Commonwealth suspends Sierra Leone.

1997 October - The UN Security Council imposes sanctions against Sierra Leone, barring the supply of arms and petroleum products. A British company, Sandline, nonetheless supplies "logistical support", including rifles, to Kabbah allies.

1998 March - Kabbah makes a triumphant return to Freetown amid scenes of public rejoicing.

1999 January - Rebels backing Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh seize parts of Freetown from Ecomog. After weeks of bitter fighting they are driven out, leaving behind 5,000 dead and a devastated city.

UN intervenes

1999 May - A ceasefire is greeted with cautious optimism in Freetown amid hopes that eight years of civil war may soon be over.

1999 July - Six weeks of talks in the Togolese capital, Lome, result in a peace agreement, under which the rebels receive posts in government and assurances they will not be prosecuted for war crimes.

1999 November/December - UN troops arrive to police the peace agreement - but one rebel leader, Sam Bokari, says they are not welcome. Meanwhile, Ecomog troops are attacked outside Freetown.

2000 April/May - UN forces come under attack in the east of the country, but far worse is in store when first 50, then several hundred UN troops are abducted.

2000 May - Rebels close in on Freetown; 800 British paratroopers sent to Freetown to evacuate British citizens and to help secure the airport for UN peacekeepers; rebel leader Foday Sankoh captured.

2000 August - Eleven British soldiers taken hostage by a renegade militia group called the West Side Boys.

Disarming rebels

2000 September - British forces mount operation to rescue remaining UK hostages.

2001 January - Government postpones presidential and parliamentary elections - set for February and March - because of continuing insecurity.

2001 March - UN troops for the first time begin to deploy peacefully in rebel-held territory.

2001 May - Disarmament of rebels begins, and British-trained Sierra Leone army starts deploying in rebel-held areas.

2002 January - War declared over. UN mission says disarmament of 45,000 fighters is complete. Government, UN agree to set up war crimes court.

2002 May - Kabbah wins a landslide victory in elections. His Sierra Leone People's Party secures a majority in parliament.

2002 July - British troops leave Sierra Leone after their two-year mission to help end the civil war.

2003 July - Rebel leader Foday Sankoh dies of natural causes while waiting to be tried for war crimes.

2003 August - President Kabbah tells truth and reconciliation commission that he had no say over operations of pro-government militias during war.

2004 February - Disarmament and rehabilitation of more than 70,000 civil war combatants officially completed.

War crimes trials

2004 March - UN-backed war crimes tribunal opens courthouse to try senior militia leaders from both sides of civil war.

2004 May - First local elections in more than three decades.

2004 June - War crimes trials begin.

2004 September - UN hands control of security in capital over to local forces.

2005 August - UN Security Council authorises opening of a UN assistance mission in Sierra Leone from 2006, to follow departure of peacekeepers in December.

2005 December - The last UN peacekeeping troops leave Sierra Leone, marking the end of a five-year mission to restore order.

2006 April - Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, faces war crimes charges in a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone over his alleged role in the country's civil war.

2006 August - Date for elections set for July 2007.

2006 December - President Kabbah says 90% of the country's $1.6bn (£815m) debt has been written off after negotiations with international creditors.

TODAY AND INTO THE FUTURE

Nothing Planned

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