Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone,^[9] is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea to the northeast. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests, a total area of 71,740 km² (27,699 sq mi)^[10] and a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census.^[11] The capital and largest city is Freetown. The country is divided into five administrative regions which are subdivided into sixteen districts.^[12][13] Sierra Leone is a Constitutional Republic with a unicameral parliament, and a directly elected president. Sierra Leone is a Muslim majority country at approximately 76%, though with a political influential Christian minority at about 23%. Muslims and Christians interact very well together and religious violence is extremely rare in the country

Sierra Leone achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 27 April 1961, lead by Sir Milton Margai who became the country's first Prime Minister. Sierra Leone held its first general election as an independent nation on May 27, 1962. Siaka Stevens was democratically elected Prime Minister in 1967, however, he was shortly ousted by the military, when Stevens assumed power again in 1968, he increasingly became authoritarian during his rule from 1968 to 1985, when critics of his government were suppressed. Many senior military officers that he saw as threat to his presidency were arrested, and were executed after their conviction of several alleged coup plot. From 1978 to 1985, Stevens’ APC party was the only legal political party in Sierra Leone, and all other political parties in the country were banned.

The multiparty democratic constitution of Sierra Leone was again adopted in 1991 by President Joseph Saudu Momoh, Stevens" hand-picked choice. From March 23, 1991 to 2002, a group of former Sierra Leone soldiers led by former Army Corporal Foday Sankoh, launched a brutal civil war in a fail attempt to overthrow the Sierra Leone Government. On April 29, 1992 a group of junior soldiers in the country's Army led by a 25-year-old Captain Valentine Strasser overthrew President Momoh and ended the APC's 24-year rule over Sierra Leone. From 1992 to 1996, the Military government, headed by Strasser, ruled Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone returned to a democratically elected government when the military Junta under Brigadier Julius Maada Bio handed the presidency to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) after his victory in the 1996 election. However, the Sierra Leone military overthrew President Kabbah in a coup on May 25, 1997, A coalition of West African ECOWAS armed forces led by Nigeria reinstated President Kabbah in February 1998. In January 2002, President Kabbah officially announced the end of the civil war. Sierra Leone has uninterrupted democratic government from 1998 to the present day.

Sixteen ethnic groups inhabit Sierra Leone, the two largest and most influential being the Temne and Mende peoples. About 2% of the country's population are Krio, descendants of freed African American and West Indian slaves. English is the official language used in schools and government administration; however, Krio is the most widely spoken language across Sierra Leone, spoken by 97% of the country's population. Sierra Leone very rich in natural resources, especially diamond,gold and aluminum. The ciuntry is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mano River Union, Commonwealth of Nations, African Development Bank, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.