Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 27 April 1961 when the British Crown Colony of Freetown (the capital of the country) and the interior of the country—then a British Protectorate—combined and declared their independence from British rule. In 1971 the country because a republic. More recently, a decade-long civil war was fought in the country from 1991 until 2002 when the United Nations (led by Britain) defeated rebel forces, establishing a civilian government. Since then, functionary democracy has been reinstated in the country, and many former combatants have since disarmed. Prior to the reinstatement of civilian government, Sierra Leone was subject to a number of coups and attempted coups.

Sierra Leone was first visited by Europeans in 1462 (the Portuguese) and became a centre of the slave trade. In 1808 it fell under British rule.

Since the end of the civil war Sierra Leone has shown signs on a successful transition to democratic rule. Environmentaly, Sierra Leone suffers from the effect of deforestation—much of the rain forest has been cleared for alternative land use. Sierra Leone was also one of the settings for the recent film Blood Diamond, about the trade in conflict diamonds. (Mining, and especially diamonds have been an economic base for the country.) These diamonds, mined in war zones, are sold to finance an insurgency.

Today’s poem is by the poet Syl Cheney-Coker, who was born in Freetown. This poem comes from the book The New African Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Tanure Ojaide and Tijan M Sallah.

Dead Eyes

In the tavern where I slept last night
I went there to forget my bad luck
of a country sinking into neglect

now I am awake, and pulling up my pants
from desire, I say I cannot go back
I have lived so little on remembrance
lived so little on rain, knowing
I have lived so little on my country!

And it is enough that they do not know how it hurts
that in the blue waters of the country they have poisoned
the gentle dugongs with the toxic power of their greed
but what can they preserve of that country for me
now that the desire to be man among the scorpions keeps me awake
thinking about the tattered history books
the desert which has eaten the heart of the savannah
so that every day Freetown is treacherously poised
above the bay where the capsized canoes
have the hang-dog look of a humanity that has died
Freetown from where they every day sail on their uncertain course
as if God had cursed this country shaped like a heart
but without the beauty of a peaceful heart

In the last flicker of your light
let me see the men who are lining
up
to cut up your heart.

—Syl Cheney-Coker