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Sierra Leone

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Sierra Leone

DATE OF FORMATION: 1961

POPULATION: 5.2 million

DENSITY: 188 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Mende, Temne, Krio, English

RELIGIONS: Muslim 30%, Traditional beliefs 30%, Other 30%, Christian 10%

ETHNIC MIX: Mende 35%, Temne 32%, Other 21%, Limba 8%, Kuranko 4%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Leone

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The west African state of Sierra Leone was founded by the British in 1787 for Africans freed from slavery. The terrain rises from coastal lowlands to mountains in the northeast. A democratic government took office in 1996 against a background of bloody rebellion. Sierra Leone soon plunged back into a savage civil war. Though a 1999 peace agreement was short-lived, an ECOWAS-brokered accord signed in late 2000 seems to be holding.