Sierra Leone swings through the cycle

Sierra Leone is a poor country, with GDP of just $2.2bn and a population of around 6 million. By comparison, London has a population slightly larger at 8 million and a GDP of over $750bn. But Sierra Leone is on a roll with real growth running at around 6% in recent years and a huge surge likely this year with the flow of iron ore production hitting full stride. The country was devastated by a terrible civil war which ended in 2001, infamous for 'blood diamond' atrocities. This was the third election since then and the first to be run by the country itself. Incumbent president, Ernest Bai Koroma  was elected to a second term with a convincing majority of 59%, enough to avoid a second round vote, while the ruling party, All People's Congress, increased its majority in parliament. The opposition has alleged irregularities and stuffed ballot boxes but is unlikely to resort to violence and the international observer community has given the thumbs up. So yet another west African state passes more or less smoothly through an election cycle and the region's growth continues to hum along. The QSL is from Radio Sierra Leone, heard on 90mb short-wave in Cape Town in 1969. It has the distinctive Africa-shaped Sierra Leone human rights stamp on the postcard. What a nice surprise in the mailbox, long ago