FAX: (212) 972-1786

Diplomatic representation from the US: the US does not have an embassy in Seychelles; the ambassador to Mauritius is accredited to Seychelles

Flag description: five oblique bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, red, white, and green (bottom) radiating from the bottom of the hoist side

Seychelles Economy

Economy - overview: Since independence in 1976, per capita output in this Indian Ocean archipelago has expanded to roughly seven times the old near-subsistence level. Growth has been led by the tourist sector, which employs about 30% of the labor force and provides more than 70% of hard currency earnings, and by tuna fishing. In recent years the government has encouraged foreign investment in order to upgrade hotels and other services. At the same time, the government has moved to reduce the dependence on tourism by promoting the development of farming, fishing, and small-scale manufacturing. The vulnerability of the tourist sector was illustrated by the sharp drop in 1991-92 due largely to the Gulf war. Although the industry has rebounded, the government recognizes the continuing need for upgrading the sector in the face of stiff international competition. Other issues facing the government are the curbing of the budget deficit and further privatization of public enterprises. Growth slowed in 1998-2000, due to sluggish tourist and tuna sectors. Tight controls on exchange rates and the scarcity of foreign exchange have hindered short-term economic prospects. The black market value of the Seychelles ruppee is half the official exchange rate; without a devaluation of the currency the tourist sector should remain sluggish as vacationers seek cheaper destinations such as Comoros, Mauritius, and Madagascar.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $610 million (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.5% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $7,700 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.1%

industry: 26.3%

services: 70.6% (1999)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%

highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 30,900 (1996)

Labor force - by occupation: industry 19%, services 71%, agriculture 10% (1989)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues: $249 million

expenditures: $262 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)

Industries: fishing; tourism; processing of coconuts and vanilla, coir (coconut fiber) rope, boat building, printing, furniture; beverages

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 160 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 100%

hydro: 0%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 148.8 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: coconuts, cinnamon, vanilla, sweet potatoes, cassava (tapioca), bananas; broiler chickens; tuna fish

Exports: $111 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Exports - commodities: fish, cinnamon bark, copra, petroleum products (reexports)

Exports - partners: France, UK, Netherlands, Italy, China, Germany,
Japan

Imports: $440 million (c.i.f., 1999)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals

Imports - partners: South Africa, UK, China, Singapore, France, Italy

Debt - external: $240 million (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $16.4 million (1995)

Currency: Seychelles rupee (SCR)

Currency code: SCR

Exchange rates: Seychelles rupees per US dollar - 6.0397 (November 2000), 5.6009 (2000), 5,3426 (1999), 5.2622 (1998), 5.0263 (1997), 4.9700 (1996)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Seychelles Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 19,635 (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 16,316 (1999)

Telephone system: general assessment: effective system

domestic: radiotelephone communications between islands in the archipelago

international: direct radiotelephone communications with adjacent island countries and African coastal countries; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios: 42,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 2 (plus 9 repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 11,000 (1997)

Internet country code: .sc

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)

Internet users: 5,000 (2000)

Seychelles Transportation

Railways: 0 km

Highways: total: 373 km

paved: 315 km

unpaved: 58 km (1997)

Waterways: none

Ports and harbors: Victoria

Merchant marine: total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,353
GRT/7,638 DWT

ships by type: cargo 1 (2000 est.)

Airports: 14 (2000 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 6

2,438 to 3,047 m: 1

914 to 1,523 m: 3

under 914 m: 2 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 8

914 to 1,523 m: 4

under 914 m: 4 (2000 est.)

Seychelles Military

Military branches: Army, Coast Guard, air wing, National Guard,
Presidential Protection Unit, Police Force

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 22,951 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 11,452 (2001 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $13 million (FY93)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.8% (FY93)

Seychelles Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: claims the Chagos Archipelago
(UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory)

@Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone Introduction

Background: Since 1991, civil war between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (well over one-third of the population) many of whom are now refugees in neighboring countries. A peace agreement, signed in July 1999, collapsed in May 2000 after the RUF took over 500 UN peacekeepers hostage. The RUF stepped up attacks on Guinea in December 2000, despite a cease-fire that it signed with the Freetown government one month earlier. As of late 2000, up to 13,000 UN peacekeepers were protecting the capital and key towns in the south. A UK force of 750 was helping to reinforce security and train the Sierra Leone army.

Sierra Leone 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% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 290 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: dry, sand-laden harmattan winds blow from the
Sahara (December to February); sandstorms, dust storms

Environment - current issues: rapid population growth pressuring the environment; overharvesting of timber, expansion of cattle grazing, and slash-and-burn agriculture have resulted in deforestation and soil exhaustion; civil war depleting natural resources; overfishing

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test
Ban, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Sierra Leone People

Population: 5,426,618 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 44.73% (male 1,190,207; female 1,237,326)

15-64 years: 52.12% (male 1,351,455; female 1,477,155)

65 years and over: 3.15% (male 84,364; female 86,111) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.61% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: 45.11 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: 19.19 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: 10.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)

note: by the end of 1999 refugees from Sierra Leone are assumed to be returning

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 0.96 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.91 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.98 male(s)/female

total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 146.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 45.6 years

male: 42.69 years

female: 48.61 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.01 children born/woman (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 2.99% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 68,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 8,200 (1999 est.)

Nationality: noun: Sierra Leonean(s)

adjective: Sierra Leonean

Ethnic groups: 20 native African tribes 90% (Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%), Creole 10% (descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area in the late-18th century), refugees from Liberia's recent civil war, small numbers of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians

Religions: Muslim 60%, indigenous beliefs 30%, Christian 10%

Languages: English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write English,
Mende, Temne, or Arabic

total population: 31.4%

male: 45.4%

female: 18.2% (1995 est.)

Sierra Leone Government

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Sierra Leone

conventional short form: Sierra Leone

Government type: constitutional democracy

Capital: Freetown

Administrative divisions: 3 provinces and 1 area*; Eastern,
Northern, Southern, Western*

Independence: 27 April 1961 (from UK)

National holiday: Independence Day, 27 April (1961)

Constitution: 1 October 1991; subsequently amended several times

Legal system: based on English law and customary laws indigenous to local tribes; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (since 29 March 1996, reinstated 10 March 1998); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government

head of government: President Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (since 29 March 1996, reinstated 10 March 1998); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government

cabinet: Ministers of State appointed by the president with the approval of the House of Representatives; the cabinet is responsible to the president

elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election held 26-27 February and 15 March 1996 (next to be held NA September 2001); note - president's tenure of office is limited to two five-year terms

election results: Ahmad Tejan KABBAH elected president; percent of vote - Ahmad Tejan KABBAH (SLPP) 59.5%, John KAREFA-SMART (UNPP) 40.5%

Legislative branch: unicameral House of Representatives (80 seats - 68 elected by popular vote, 12 filled by paramount chiefs elected in separate elections; members serve five-year terms)

elections: last held 26-27 February 1996 (next to be held NA 2001)

election results: percent of vote by party - SLPP 36.1%, UNPP 21.6%, PDP 15.3%, APC 5.7%, NUP 5.3%, DCP 4.8%, other 11.2%; seats by party - SLPP 27, UNPP 17, PDP 12, APC 5, NUP 4, DCP 3; note - first elections since the former House of Representatives was shut down by the military coup of 29 April 1992

Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Appeals Court; High Court

Political parties and leaders: All People's Congress or APC [Edward Mohammed TURAY, chairman]; Democratic Centre Party or DCP [Adu Aiah KOROMA]; National Democratic Alliance or NDA [Amadu M. B. JALLOH]; National Republican Party or NRP [Sahr Stephen MAMBU]; National Unity Party or NUP [Dr. John KARIMU, chairman]; People's Democratic Party or PDP [Thaimu BANGURA, chairman]; People's Progressive Party or PPP [Abass Chernok BUNDU, chairman]; Revolutionary United Front Party or RUFP [Foday SANKOH, chairman]; Sierra Leone People's Party or SLPP [President Ahmad Tejan KABBAH, chairman]; United National People's Party or UNPP [John KARIFA-SMART in exile, Raymond KAMARA, acting leader]

Political pressure groups and leaders: Trade Unions and Student
Unions

International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA,
ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD,
IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol,
IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
John Ernest LEIGH

chancery: 1701 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone: (202) 939-9261 through 9263