More than a week ago, a professional football league in a small African country gave birth to two football matches that shocked the world. Because the final scores of these two games are 91:1 and 95:0 respectively, in a regular game can play such a "horrible" score, on average less than a minute can score a goal, then with the toes to know that this game both sides are not playing for the score at all. "Peeping leopard in the tube, you can see it", football is rotten like this, what is the level of other aspects of this small African country, everyone should have a number in mind.
This small country is called Sierra Leone, according to the United Nations released the "2020 Human Development Index", Sierra Leone ranks sixth from the bottom in the world, to put it mildly, it can also be called a dog. However, Sierra Leone is actually quite good, the resources are very rich, not only diamonds are particularly abundant, but other mineral resources are even more said by few people. Then the problem comes, obviously even if you only rely on selling mines, not to mention mixing five people and six people, at least you can mix food and clothing without worry. How can Sierra Leone be mixed up in the countdown? Hello audience lords, I am the decryption dog, this issue of the video, the decryption dog will talk to the audience about this mine is scary, but the days are also quite scary Sierra Leone. Long press and like, and the train will start immediately!
Sierra Leone is a West African country with an area of 71,000 square kilometers and a population of 7.8 million. The area and population are equal to about half and 20% of Shanxi Province, respectively. Sierra Leone is very, very rich in resources, with diamond reserves of 23 million carats, the seventh in the world, iron ore more than 20 billion tons, gold mines more than 20 million tons, and others are countless. And because the land is fertile and the rainfall is abundant, 75% of the country's land area can be cultivated. Moreover, people are close to the sea, the natural scenery is very beautiful, and the tourism resources are also very rich. Therefore, although this piece of land is not very large, it is not too much to say that God appreciates rice and eats, right?
Natural beauty of Sierra Leone
But even with god's reward, Sierra Leone's GDP in 2020 is only $4.2 billion, and most importantly, even in the case of fertile land and arable land, the country still imports at least $200 million of grain. The people lived without clothes and food. The per capita GDP is less than one-twentieth of that of the mainland, the average life expectancy of women is 60.42 years, the average life expectancy of men is lower, only 55.23 years, and 16.1% of children who do not live for 5 years. Speaking of which, someone may ask. Isn't there so many diamonds in Sierra Leone, who have they been sold to, and where has the money gone?
Oversized diamonds dug out of Sierra Leone
In 1462, Portuguese colonists invaded Sierra Leone, and in the next 500 years, Sierra Leone was "hiti" The Netherlands, France, and Britain took turns, and in 1896 it became a British protectorate, and it was not independent until 1961 that the Republic of Sierra Leone was established in 1971. Originally, under the British colonial rule, the black people of Sierra Leone had a difficult life, but the good guys could get by. But once you are independent, something bad happens.
The first President of Sierra Leone, Siaka Stevens
Although the first president was a veteran of the African National Liberation Movement, he did not do anything bad during his time in power. If anyone dares to disobey, then he will definitely kill this man. The Minister of Finance disobeyed, directly slandered him for treason and hanged him. The commander of the armed forces who once helped him come to power and made great contributions was also hanged because of his "meritorious master", and in order to avoid the common people treating him as a martyr, his body was secretly buried, and now no one knows. Economically, the president has joined forces with foreign investors to embezzle and plunder the people's fat. Under his rule, the country achieved nothing, officials were corrupt, diamond smuggling was rampant, and the people were not happy. Although the second president carried out drastic reforms and achieved some results, a full-scale civil war broke out in 1991 because the country was already terminally ill. During the Civil War, a man named Foday Sankoh began to emerge.
Foday Sankoh
Around 1936, Foday Sankoh was born. Because his family was poor, he dropped out of school before graduating from elementary school. After dropping out of school, Sankoh worked as a temporary worker for a while before joining the army in 1956. In the late 1970s, Sankoh formed his own party to make a good deal out of politics, and as the party grew, he gained the support of Charles Taylor, the warlord leader of neighboring Liberia at the time. In March 1991, Sankoh launched an offensive against the Government of Sierra Leone under the slogans of "opposition to dictatorship" and "democratic reform", kicking off an 11-year civil war.
Sankoh was a fierce man, and his troops could be called one of the most brutal in the world, and the abuse and massacres were not ranked among Sankoh's troops. Because he was so fierce that he didn't even let go of his own people. Sanko caught a lot of Zhuang Ding, and Zhuang Ding didn't catch it, so he began to scratch the doll. These children, who were not even teenagers, were tempted by Sankoh to use all kinds of inhuman torture to the enemies who had fallen into their hands, and the most frightening thing was that In order for these children to die for him, Sankoh ordered his soldiers to point guns at these children to violate their mothers and sisters, and then forced them to kill their poor and desperate relatives. This is a less than animalistic approach, and Sanko called it "psychologically deterring the enemy.". After these baby soldiers are forced to kill their loved ones, the very painful dolls are poisoned by Sankoh and brainwashed with drugs. Those dolls who are really weak or resolutely resist will be used as targets to practice their guns.
The diamonds produced by the diamond mines he fought down were all exchanged by him for arms or war materials, and the foreigners in the mining company would be taken hostage by him and extorted without scruples. Sankoh's misdeeds have paralyzed the mining and export of almost all the country's mines, except for diamond mines, which are still operating. Relying on these bloody and inhumane means, Sankoh beat the government army to the point of losing its armor and retreating. In desperation, government forces hired mercenaries from a private company in South Africa with a share of the country's diamond mines. Hey, if you don't say it costs money, it's good. The mercenaries crushed Sankoh's main force and forced Sankoh to the negotiating table to negotiate with the government.
In 1996, When Sankoh signed a peace agreement with the Government of Sierra Leone, the people were overjoyed, delighted, celebrated and told each other, and the President of Sierra Leone was pleased to say that Sankoh's political party "is no longer the enemy of Sierra Leone, and our common enemies in the future are poverty, hunger, disease, greed and jealousy." However, less than half a year after the peace agreement was signed, the Sierra Leone government was overthrown by a colonel's coup d'état, and this colonel actually invited Sankoh's troops back to the capital and allowed them to burn and loot in the capital, which can be called a modern version of Dong Zhuo into Beijing.
Such inhumane deeds finally attracted the attention of the international community, and with the intervention of Western countries, some African countries sent joint troops, which recaptured the capital. In the summer of 1999, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton called Sankoh and persuaded Him to disarm his men on the condition that Sankoh serve as vice president and that several of the diamond mines controlled by Sankoh remained with him. Sankoh tossed and turned for so many years, for power and money, and now that power and money were at his fingertips, Sankoh quickly agreed to Clinton's request.
British forces intervene in the Civil War in Sierra Leone
Just when everything seemed to be calming down, Sankoh's forces kidnapped more than 500 United Nations peacekeepers on the grounds that they were going to enter their diamond mines. Ever since humanity had a United Nations peacekeeper, the abduction of hundreds of soldiers is a unique occurrence! The whole world was outraged, and the people of Sierra Leone spontaneously staged large-scale demonstrations and surrounded Sankoh's house. In a hurry, Sankoh disguised himself as a woman and escaped over the wall. A dozen days later, Sankoh was arrested, and what awaited him was 17 counts of crimes against humanity. However, this Sankoh was so lucky that he had not yet been tried, and because of the stroke, he ended his sinful life.
A team formed by victims of the Civil War in Sierra Leone
Sankoh was gone, and the Sierra Leone civil war he had rolled up lasted for 11 years. The civil war has resulted in 500,000-300,000 deaths across the country and the displacement of at least one-third of the population. The country itself has a weak foundation, and it has been tossing and turning for 11 years, which can be said to be in ruins and broken walls everywhere, and the people are not happy at all times. In 2015, Ebola swept through the poor country, killing thousands of people, and the mainland sent medical teams and at least 631 million yuan of supplies. Sierra Leone was able to weather the crisis with the help of many countries. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Sierra Leone's population of more than 7 million people owned only one ventilator, which was still in private hospitals. Life goes on like this, and it is really not known when Sierra Leone will truly emerge from poverty and suffering.