aims Chagos Archipelago in British
Indian Ocean Territory

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@Sierra Leone
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Introduction

Background: On 25 May 1997, the democratically-elected government
of President Ahmad Tejan KABBAH was overthrown by a disgruntled
coalition of army personnel from the Armed Forces Revolutionary
Council (AFRC) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under the
command of Major Johnny Paul KOROMA; President KABBAH fled to exile
in Guinea. The Economic Community of West African States Cease-Fire
Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) forces, led by a strong Nigerian
contingent, undertook the suppression of the rebellion. They were
initially unsuccessful, but, by October 1997, they forced the rebels
to agree to a cease-fire and to a plan to return the government to
democratic control. President KABBAH returned to office on 10 March
1998 to face the task of restoring order to a demoralized population
and a disorganized and severely damaged economy. Many of the leaders
of the coup were tried and executed in October 1998. In January
1999, the situation had deteriorated even further, with commerce at
a standstill, hundreds of thousands of people driven from their
homes, and bitter fighting between the AFRC/RUF and ECOMOG troops
intensifying by large-scale import of arms.

Geography

Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean,
between Guinea and Liberia

Geographic coordinates: 8 30 N, 11 30 W

Map references: Africa

Area:
total: 71,740 sq km
land: 71,620 sq km
water: 120 sq km

Area--comparative: slightly smaller than South Carolina

Land boundaries:
total: 958 km
border countries: Guinea 652 km, Liberia 306 km

Coastline: 402 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; summer rainy season (May to
December); winter dry season (December to April)

Terrain: coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country,
upland plateau, mountains in east

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Loma Mansa (Bintimani) 1,948 m

Natural resources: diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore,
gold, chromite

Land use:
arable land: 7%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 31%
forests and woodland: 28%
other: 33%