More information about Sierra Leone is available on the Sierra Leone Page and from other Department of State publications and other sources listed at the end of this fact sheet.
U.S.-SIERRA LEONE RELATIONS
The United States established diplomatic relations with Sierra Leone in 1961, following its independence from the United Kingdom. The U.S. and Sierra Leone are linked by the history of slavery in the United States, an institution that would send a large number of African slaves from present-day Sierra Leone to the then-colonies of Georgia and South Carolina. Today, thousands of Sierra Leoneans and their descendants reside in the United States. Notably, many descendants of former slaves still reside in the same region and have maintained their unique culture known as Gullah. Further, nearly two percent of Sierra Leone's population is of Krio heritage, a group of freed slaves historically known for returning to Sierra Leone beginning in the late 1700s from Great Britain and North America. In early 2014, the United Nations hailed Sierra Leone as a success story due to its remarkable post-conflict transition following a brutal civil war (1991-2002), which destroyed the country's infrastructure and hampered its political, social, and economic development. The Special Court for Sierra Leone closed after convicting former Liberian President Charles Taylor of fueling the conflict and conscripting child soldiers.
Sierra Leone's positive trajectory was interrupted in May 2014 when the deadly Ebola epidemic struck and quickly overtook the country's fragile health care system. Over 14,000 Sierra Leoneans contracted Ebola with more than 3,900 deaths. The economy, which had experienced a high growth rate before Ebola, contracted due to the epidemic and global drop in prices for its major iron ore exports. Stringent restrictions were put on the operation of markets and businesses, leading to increased unemployment. The epidemic was declared over in November 2015; however, the last case was identified in January 2016. Since, the government launched an ambitious recovery plan that has received significant donor support.
Sierra Leone has had five post-war elections. General elections were held in Sierra Leone on June 24, 2023, to elect the President, Parliament, and local councils. The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone announced incumbent President Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party as the winner. Independent parallel vote tabulations and analyses by accredited national and international observation missions noted irregularities in the election results, calling into question the integrity of the official results.
U.S. Assistance to Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone relies on significant amounts of foreign assistance from both bilateral and multilateral donors. U.S. assistance supports the government's development efforts to improve the lives of Sierra Leoneans through strategic investments in health security and service delivery, democracy and governance, and economic growth. The United States works to strengthen democracy, human rights, access to justice, and media freedom by working with Sierra Leoneans to build government accountability, ensure responsive public institutions, strengthen judicial processes, and promote strong democratic norms and processes. Over the past 20 years, U.S. investments in Sierra Leone total more than $954 million in total assistance, including nearly $260 million for health. In the health sector, the U.S. supports health systems strengthening through the expansion and scale-up of lifesaving, high impact, health interventions in the areas of maternal and child health, family
planning, neglected tropical diseases, and malaria prevention and control. The U.S. government provides technical assistance to developing sustainable electronic disease surveillance systems, improving laboratory capacity, supporting emergency management preparedness and response and public health workforce development. The United States provides commodities, and equipment to Sierra Leone's primary health care delivery system, including the community health worker program, supply chain, and health information systems. In long term health system strengthening, U.S. assistance supports the global goals of preventing child and maternal deaths and combating infectious diseases. U.S. assistance also works to increase equitable access to quality health services and support a more resilient and integrated system capable of responding and adjusting to emerging health trends and unexpected crises, including providing technical support in the establishment of a National Public Health Agency to coordinate responses to public health threats and mitigate their effects on the nation.
In addition to long term development assistance programs, the U.S. has been among the largest bilateral donors to Sierra Leone during multiple humanitarian health crises. Mission partners including the State Department, Department of Defense, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation contributed an estimated $600 million in the fight against the 2014 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. The U.S. Government helped establish multiple public health systems and infrastructure, as well as Sierra Leone's Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) which assisted in coordinating the COVID-19 response, and has donated over 2.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses
Following the Ebola outbreak, the U.S. designated Sierra Leone a priority county for the implementation of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), a multilateral and multi-sectoral approach to strengthen the country's capacity to prevent, detect and respond to human and animal infectious disease threats . Through GHSA the U.S. Government provides direct technical and financial support to the Government of
Sierra Leone, and funds international organizations and NGOs to partner with the government in strengthening its ability to monitor priority infectious diseases and manage infection prevention and control. These partnerships have helped establish the country's multi-sectoral 'One Health' coordination platform to address the human-animal-ecosystem interface in the evolution and emergence of pathogens. The United States recently extended its support through GHSA for Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone is one of eight countries included in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) West Africa Regional Program (WAR). PEPFAR investments have supported high enrollment in Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and high case finding from associated screening activities. PEPFAR in Sierra Leone currently supports approximately 15,000 people with life-saving treatment across four districts with plans to expand to additional districts in FY24 with a target of supporting 22,000 on treatment. The Department of Defense HIV and AIDS Prevention Program with the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces started in 2002, with the objective of reducing the incidence of HIV and AIDS in the Sierra Leone Military. The yearly budget has grown from 485,00 in 2022 to 800,000 for FY23 implementation. .
The Mission administers a small grants program for local community initiatives in conjunction with ongoing programs supporting trafficked persons, women's empowerment, judicial strengthening, police training, agriculture development, military peacekeeping operations, and HIV/AIDS prevention. The State Department through the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) aims to disrupt transnational organized crime, improve bilateral law enforcement cooperation, support justice sector development, and improve security and human rights conditions in prisons. INL provides assistance to Sierra Leone to bolster its regional contributions to combat human trafficking in partnership with Liberia and other Coastal West African countries. Sierra Leone also participates in trainings held in INL regional civilian security academies on Transnational Organized Crime and specialized investigations topics.
Bilateral Economic Relations
In 2022, the U.S. and Sierra Leone traded over $123 million in goods. U.S. exports to Sierra Leone include transportation equipment, agricultural products, machinery, and chemicals, while imports from Sierra Leone include minerals, metals, and agricultural products. Sierra Leone is eligible for preferential trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The U.S. foreign direct investment in stock positions in 2022 totaled $1.1 million. The two countries do not have bilateral investment or taxation treaties. On September 17, 2012 senior officials from both countries signed an Open Skies air services agreement.
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Sierra Leone's Membership in International Organizations
Sierra Leone and the United States belong to a number of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. Sierra Leone will hold a non-permanent member seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2024-2025 term.
Bilateral Representation
Principal embassy officials are listed in the Department's Key Officers List.
Sierra Leone maintains an embassy in the United States at 1701 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20009, tel. 202-939-9261.
More information about Sierra Leone is available from the Department of State and other sources, some of which are listed here:
CIA World Factbook Sierra Leone Page
History of U.S. Relations With Sierra Leone
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Country Page
U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Statistics
Millennium Challenge Corporation: Sierra Leone
Bureau of African Affairs
