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Though Sierra Leone possesses substantial natural resources (including rich diamond mines), it remains one of the poorest nations in Africa. Sierra Leone was the site of a gruesome civil war between the government and the Revolutionary United Front during the years 1991 to 2002. This war left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced more than two million others (or about one third of the country's total population). The war also left Sierra Leone without a well-developed infrastructure, and as a result the social and economic systems in the country do not function well, creating a vast disparity of wealth in a country whose ample mineral and agricultural resources should be able to sustain a healthy population. A lack of foreign investment has made it difficult for bauxite and rutile mines to reopen in this post-civil war period, but national elections were held in May 2002, suggesting that the country is on its way to some sort of recovery, though Sierra Leone still relies on substantial economic aid from abroad. In this photo a miner in the Tongo Fields -- a prominent diamond mining area in Sierra Leone -- poses for the camera.
Photo Credit: USAID
Sources: CIA World Fact Book, www.migrationinformation.org
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