Why+is+Africa+Poor?

Civil Wars in Afica

This book has many chapters about how the Civil Wars progresses throughout Africa, including Sierra Leone. In this book though, only one section talks about Sierra Leone and its economy. Sierra Leone has become very due to bad governments. It is not due to the fact they have no natural resources, because they have some of the biggest diamonds in the world, but leaders will take the money from this, and not distribute it evenly. An average worker only gets 2 cups of rice and 25 cents a day. From the text on can gather that it is among the 10 poorest countries in the world and that is it considered a ‘failed state’. A state failure is after the authoritarian leader gets abolished; the government is not able to provide the most basic services. As Civil War breaks out in Sierra Leone it only weakens the government further. The RUF (Revolutionary United Front) were just as harsh as the government they were trying to throw out and ended up leaving ‘a poor country even poorer” (pg 43). This resources it very reliable, but the amount of information found is very little, so it is only partially useful. This is a secondary source.

A Dirty War in West Africa

This book is about Sierra Leone and all the small events leading up to/in/finishing the Civil War. Even though this book is filling with a lot of information it does not get to the point. There is over-elaboration on the smallest of details. In chapter 4, War and State Collapse it starts mentioning the economy. The economy of Sierra Leone is on the verge of collapse if something is not changed immediately. The RUF were known for their torture method, such as cutting of limbs, and this also had serious implications on the country. When war broke out many refugees also fled to Guinea, which left the cripples on their own and having serious affects on agriculture in Sierra Leone. The country was torn by militarism and authoritarianism all money earned went to buying new military equipment and feeding the soldiers. Apart from that this book is mainly about war and not the economic side of it. It is useful, but only to a certain extent. This is a secondary source, but does also incorporate primary sources into the text.

Cultures of the World – Sierra Leone

In this book a whole chapter is dedicated to the Economy of Sierra Leone. It talks about the outcome on the economy of the Civil War and also how the economy has be struck by shortages, inflation, a flourishing black Markey, government corruption and a deteriorating infrastructure. During the Civil War 75% of the government budget was used on war and military. The mining industry was also abused during this time, because it was the main source of income for the rebels during the war. During the civil war 80% of the country’s exports were from the diamond trade but because of the turmoil and the controversy in the trade it fell to 20%. Ever since the civil war most people (70%) live on less than one dollar a day while only 1 of every 5 people have a job, and this is all due to the problems the economy has faced, as mentioned above. Overall this text is extremely helpful in the sense that one gets a good overview of why Sierra Leone is currently the 2nd poorest country in the world after Niger. Even though it focuses mainly on different was the country earns it money today: agriculture, mining, tourism, etc. there is still valuable information about how it has become on of the poorest counties today. This is a secondary source.

US Department of State

This article for the US Department of State is an extremely reliable source because it is a government page. On the article of Sierra Leone it includes the main part of Sierra Leone’s economic history. It for the most part talks about the civil war affects on the economy. It also tell us how Sierra Leone struggle for a stable economy is continuing even today and what they do to try improving it. Over the years they have tried to focus on agriculture for the most part, and been trying to improve their technology. This is a slow process for them and they will have to depend on years of support from countries such as the US to get them out of this poverty they are fighting. Even though the corruption has been getting a lot better and the money they earn of valuable resources actually gets split across the people more equally corrupted people in politics is still one of their main concerns, because the nation of Sierra Leone ca not come close to affording another war. Overall it is a good resource to you for finding information on why it’s a poor country, but like many other sources it is not very much that is being said. This is a secondary source.

The Sierra Leone News

This newspaper article of the Minerals in Sierra Leone, and how, through the help of them, it has been recovering. Throughout the article it mentions that the economy of Sierra Leone is not doing too well and how the country has been trying to export more minerals for a good source of income. This seems very biased due to the fact no where do they stay that Sierra Leone’s economy is actually doing extremely horribly and minerals really aren’t the income source they should be focusing on. It has been shown multiple times that Agriculture is and should be their main focus, which is why this source may not be very reliable. Considering the state the country is in, and that this is an Article from the local news they might be rewording things to make it sound more positive to the people. They also claim that focusing on minerals has many benefits, even though the past has shown that is only leads to greed and corruption. This article I would not consider a reliable source due to the fact local news will always be a little biased, supporting their own country. There is also inaccurate information about mining, so this is not a good source. This is a primary source.

TDS

This article is written about the economical history of Sierra Leone and how many believe the main contributor to civil war, leading to the downfall of the economy was corruption. It states that the only way Sierra Leone can really get back on its feet and fend for itself is if all corruption in the government is abolished. Sierra Leone also has one of the lowest GDP growth rates in the world. The exporting of for example diamonds is also extremely strict because there was abuse of it in the 90’s and now has dropped to only 20% of the countries income when it could be a lot higher. Because the countries economy is low and they do not have much money to work with since the civil war tor everything apart it is also hard for them to focus of other potential sources of income. They have a great deal of timber and also marine related resources, along with finding a possible oil source, but all these require money that the government doesn’t have to focus on. This article is definitely reliable and useful because it is a company made to show valuable information about countries and is useful it is straight to the point. This is a primary source.

West Africa Rising

This article is on what the main weakness of Sierra Leone’s economy is. It states that it is the “flimsy infrastructure” that causes most its economical problems. It also talks about what the goals of the country are, for example building a new airport and a new city close to the airport. Throughout this entire article though, nowhere does it mention how they are planning to get this money. Sierra Leone’s government, from this article seem very reckless and do not realize that before all these goals can be set they need to have some sort of a plan to deal with how the country will get out of poverty to start with. It does not help if one has many goals but no plan of how to reach them. In this they also do not mention their poverty problem, which should be their main concern. This is an extremely useful source because it shows that even today the government is not focusing on the right things. It does not focus on what it can do to helps its people as fast as possible. The source is also reliable because it from a online News site and is based off information gathered by government officials in Sierra Leone. This is a primary source.