The civil war in Sierra Leone ended seven years ago and this African nation has since made major strides toward restoring basic services and implementing key institutional reforms. In spite of this, Sierra Leoneans are still struggling to leave behind their recent past and the appalling images which the name of the country invokes in the imagination of outsiders: blood diamonds and brutality.
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Those who sought Sierra Leone’s diamonds and brought the scourge of war to this rich and beautiful country are either dead, in jail or on the run. Now authorities want to move on, recapturing the allure of the past and rebuilding their broken nation. They want to rebrand their country and put it back on a determined path to growth and development.
It is in this context of renewal and change that World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick came to visit Sierra Leone, a country locals affectionately call ‘Salone’.
Repairing a Past, Building a Future
“I have come to listen and learn about where Sierra Leone stands in the reconstruction process,” Mr. Zoellick told audiences at each stop on his January 26-27 visit.
One of those stops was the Bumbuna hydroelectric dam—easily the most important infrastructural investment in the country’s history. The dam is helping Sierra Leone address one of the most debilitating impediments to its economic development: lack of electricity.
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