USAID's Strategy in Sierra Leone

Through the combined efforts of a U.N. peacekeeping mission, the World Bank, the international community, and the Government of Sierra Leone in demobilization and disarmament of ex-combatants, peace has been restored, and the reintegration of ex-combatants is nearing completion. Government authority is being slowly reestablished throughout the country, and the peaceful, free, and open Presidential and Parliamentary elections held in May 2002 were an inspiration to many. Although a fragile peace has been realized, the possibility for resumed conflict remains a concern until the transnational region that includes Guinea's Parrot's Beak, Liberia's Lofa County, and the Eastern Region of Sierra Leone is stabilized.

Sierra Leone has ranked last for the past three years on the United Nation's Human Development Index, and maternal mortality rates are currently the highest in the world. Although real GDP increased by 5 percent in 2001, this follows a cumulative decline of 25 percent during 1997-99, and approximately 66 percent since 1970.

The United States has several important interests at stake in Sierra Leone. The United States is providing approximately $300 million per year to help support the world's largest U.N. Peacekeeping Force. It is in the U.S. interest to reinforce the gains achieved over the past 12 to 24 months to avert the need for future investment of this magnitude. In addition, the United States has a humanitarian interest in preventing a recurrence of the lawlessness and brutal violence that produced thousands of deaths, injuries, assorted war crimes, and hundreds of thousands of refugees. Finally, as the Department of State's Mission Performance Plan clearly lays out, the United States has an interest in supporting the efforts of its ally, the United Kingdom, which has allocated considerable investment of political and diplomatic capital, as well as its military assistance, to stabilize the situation in Sierra Leone.

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