Sierra Leone: Deep Dive

SIERRA LEONE

Deep Dive

Sierra Leone recently swore in newly elected President Julius Maada Bio, a retired military commander and leader of the nation’s opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party, who won 51.8 percent of the vote in a March 31 runoff.

Observers hailed Bio’s victory, saying his transition from coup leader to democratically elected official signals a promising transformation in Sierra Leone and across Africa. Instead of wielding guns, politicians are vying for votes to settle political conflicts, the New York Times reported.

That wasn’t always the case.

Bio led the country for three months in 1996 after coups that overthrew two successive presidents known for corruption and missteps in the nation’s quagmire of a civil war. Rooted in ethnic tensions and prone to proxy intervention, the conflict claimed some 50,000 lives between 1991 and 2002, the Times wrote.

But instead of tightening his grip on power – as so many other strongmen on the continent have done – Bio handed over the reins to a civilian government and emigrated to the United States, where he studied international affairs, the Wall Street Journal reported. He’s also pursuing a Ph.D. in peace studies at the University of Bradford, in England.

For all the goodwill and conflict resolution Bio hopes to bring to the post, he faces an uphill battle in helping Sierra Leone stare down the ethnic tensions that still plague the country.

Political parties are still separated along ethnic lines, France 24 wrote, and Bio’s upset victory ended the decade-long rule of the All People’s Congress party (APC). That sparked post-election violence that displaced some civilians, the BBC reported. The APC has contested the election results in court, according to the Nigerian newspaper PM News. And political gridlock prevented the parliament from electing a speaker early this week, according to Africanews.com.

If those challenges weren’t enough, various natural disasters and the Ebola crisis have ravaged Sierra Leone’s economy in recent years. It contracted by 20 percent in 2015 alone, the Wall Street Journal wrote.

Rich in diamonds, iron and other natural resources, Sierra Leone once had one of the most dynamic economies in Africa. But persistent crises combined with corruption now make it one of the poorest nations on the planet.

Bio is already diving into the deep end, Africa News reported. Just days after his inauguration, he’s issued a series of decrees to rein in the public sector, mandate weekly cleaning sessions to stave off the spread of disease and halt lavish government parties.

Citizens told Euronews that they remain hopeful that Bio can make progress in the country for the first time in over a decade. But treacherous waters of situations past and present may force him to come up for air sooner than he planned.