Sierra Leone
GANG INFORMATION
PROFILE
OFFICIAL NAME:
Republic of Sierra Leone
Geography
Area: 71,740 sq. km. (29,925 sq. mi.); slightly smaller than South
Carolina.
Cities: Capital--Freetown (est. 786,900). Provincial capitals--Southern
Province, Bo; Eastern Province, Kenema; Northern Province, Makeni.
Terrain: Mangrove swamps and beaches and mostly shallow bays along
the coast, wooded hills along the immediate interior, and a mountainous
plateau in the interior.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Sierra Leonean(s).
Population (2004): 5 million.
Annual growth rate (2002 est.): 2.2%.
Ethnic groups: Temne 30%, Mende 30%, Krio 1%, balance spread over
15 other tribal groups, and a small Lebanese community.
Religions: (est.) Muslim 60%, Christian 30%, animist 10%.
Languages: English, Krio, Temne, Mende, and 15 other indigenous
languages.
Education (2002): Literacy--36%.
Health: Life expectancy (2002 est.)--34.3 yrs. Access to safe
water--57%. Infant mortality rate--182/1,000. Under five mortality--316/1,000.
HIV infection rate for adults, ages 15-49 years (2002 est.)--1.4%.
Work force: Agriculture--52.5%; industry--30.6%; services--16.9%.
Government
Type: Republic with a democratically elected President and unicameral
Parliament.
Independence: From Britain, April 27, 1961.
Constitution: October 1, 1991.
Political parties: The Political Parties Registration Commission
was formed in late 2005 and will be reviewing the two large and
numerous small parties currently registered to see if they still
meet registration requirements. Most of these parties are inactive.
Major parties--Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), All People's
Congress (APC), Peace and Liberation Party (PLP) and the newly
registered People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC).
Economy
GDP (2005 est.): $1.1 billion.
GDP growth rate (2005 est.): 7.5%.
GDP per capita income (2005 est.): $209.
Avg. annual inflation rate (2005 IMF est.): 8.5%.
Natural resources: Diamonds, rutile, bauxite, gold, iron ore,
ilmenorutile, platinum, chromite, manganese, cassiterite, molybdenite,
as well as forests, abundant fresh water, and rich offshore fishing
grounds.
Agriculture: Products--coffee, cocoa, ginger, palm kernels, cassava,
bananas, citrus, peanuts, cashews, plantains, rice, sweet potatoes,
vegetables. Land--30% potentially arable, 8% cultivated.
Industry: Types--diamonds, bauxite, and rutile mining; forestry;
fishing; beverages; cigarettes; flour; cement and other construction
goods; plastics; tourism.
Trade (Oct. 2004-Oct. 2005): Exports--$158 million: rutile, diamonds,
bauxite, coffee, cocoa, fishes. Major destinations of exports--Belgium,
Germany, U.S., and India. Imports--$330 million: foodstuffs, machinery
and equipment, fuel and lubricants, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
building materials, light consumer goods, used clothing, textiles.
Main origins of imports--Germany, Cote d’Ivoire (fuel),
U.K., U.S., China (manufactured goods).
PEOPLE
The indigenous population is made up of 18 ethnic groups. The
Temne in the north and the Mende in the South are the largest.
About 60,000 are Krio, the descendants of freed slaves who returned
to Sierra Leone from Great Britain and North America and from
slave ships captured on the high seas. In addition, about 4,000
Lebanese, 500 Indians, and 2,000 Europeans reside in the country.
In the past, Sierra Leoneans were noted for their educational
achievements, trading activity, entrepreneurial skills, and arts
and crafts work, particularly woodcarving. Many are part of larger
ethnic networks extending into several countries, which link West
African states in the area. However, the level of education and
infrastructure has declined sharply over the last 30 years.
HISTORY
European contacts with Sierra Leone were among the first in West
Africa. In 1652, the first slaves in North America were brought
from Sierra Leone to the Sea Islands off the coast of the southern
United States. During the 1700s there was a thriving trade bringing
slaves from Sierra Leone to the plantations of South Carolina
and Georgia where their rice-farming skills made them particularly
valuable.
In 1787 the British helped 400 freed slaves from the United States,
Nova Scotia, and Great Britain return to Sierra Leone to settle
in what they called the "Province of Freedom." Disease
and hostility from the indigenous people nearly eliminated the
first group of returnees. This settlement was joined by other
groups of freed slaves and soon became known as Freetown. In 1792,
Freetown became one of Britain's first colonies in West Africa.
Thousands of slaves were returned to or liberated in Freetown.
Most chose to remain in Sierra Leone. These returned Africans--or
Krio as they came to be called--were from all areas of Africa.
Cut off from their homes and traditions by the experience of slavery,
they assimilated some aspects of British styles of life and built
a flourishing trade on the West African coast.
In the early 19th century, Freetown served as the residence of
the British governor who also ruled the Gold Coast (now Ghana)
and The Gambia settlements. Sierra Leone served as the educational
center of British West Africa as well. Fourah Bay College, established
in 1827, rapidly became a magnet for English-speaking Africans
on the West Coast. For more than a century, it was the only European-style
university in western Sub-Saharan Africa.
The colonial history of Sierra Leone was not placid. The indigenous
people mounted several unsuccessful revolts against British rule
and Krio domination. Most of the 20th century history of the colony
was peaceful, however, and independence was achieved without violence.
The 1951 constitution provided a framework for decolonization.
Local ministerial responsibility was introduced in 1953, when
Sir Milton Margai was appointed Chief Minister. He became Prime
Minister after successful completion of constitutional talks in
London in 1960. Independence came in April 1961, and Sierra Leone
opted for a parliamentary system within the British Commonwealth.
Sir Milton's Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) led the country
to independence and the first general election under universal
adult franchise in May 1962. Upon Sir Milton's death in 1964,
his half-brother, Sir Albert Margai, succeeded him as Prime Minister.
In closely contested elections in March 1967, the All Peoples
Congress (APC) won a plurality of the parliamentary seats. Accordingly,
the Governor General (representing the British Monarch) declared
Siaka Stevens--APC leader and Mayor of Freetown--as the new Prime
Minister. Within a few hours, Stevens and Margai were placed under
house arrest by Brigadier David Lansana, the Commander of the
Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces (RSLMF), on grounds that
the determination of office should await the election of the tribal
representatives to the house. Another group of officers soon staged
another coup, only to be later ousted in a third coup, the "sergeants’
revolt," and Stevens at last, in April 1968, assumed the
office of Prime Minister under the restored constitution. Siaka
Stevens remained as head of state until 1985. Under his rule,
in 1978, the constitution was amended and all political parties,
other than the ruling APC, were banned.
In August 1985, the APC named military commander Maj. Gen. Joseph
Saidu Momoh, Steven's own choice, as the party candidate to succeed
Stevens. Momoh was elected President in a one-party referendum
on October 1, 1985. In October 1991 Momoh had the constitution
amended once again, re-establishing a multi-party system. Under
Momoh, APC rule was increasingly marked by abuses of power. Earlier
in 1991, in March, a small band of men who called themselves the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under the leadership of a former-corporal,
Foday Sankoh, began to attack villages in eastern Sierra Leone
on the Liberian border. Fighting continued in the ensuing months,
with the RUF gaining control of the diamond mines in the Kono
district and pushing the Sierra Leone army back towards Freetown.
On April 29, 1992, a group of young military officers, led by
Capt. Valentine Strasser, launched a military coup, which sent
Momoh into exile in Guinea and established the National Provisional
Ruling Council (NPRC) as the ruling authority in Sierra Leone.
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh government
in repelling the RUF. More and more country fell to RUF fighters,
so that by 1995 they held much of the countryside and were on
the doorsteps of Freetown. To retrieve the situation, the NPRC
hired several hundred mercenaries from the private firm Executive
Outcomes. Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to
enclaves along Sierra Leone’s borders.
As a result of popular demand and mounting international pressure,
the NPRC agreed to hand over power to a civilian government via
presidential and parliamentary elections, which were held in April
1996. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, a diplomat who had worked at the UN
for more than 20 years, won the presidential election. Because
of the prevailing war conditions, parliamentary elections were
conducted, for the first time, under the system of proportional
representation. Thirteen political parties participated, with
the SLPP winning 27 seats, UNPP 17, PDP 12, APC 5 and DCP 3.
The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), led by Maj. Johnny
Paul Koroma, overthrew President Kabbah on May 25, 1997, and invited
the RUF to join the government. After 10 months in office, the
junta was ousted by the Nigerian-led ECOMOG forces, and the democratically
elected government of President Kabbah was reinstated in March
1998. On January 6, 1999, the RUF launched another attempt to
overthrow the government. Fighting reached parts of Freetown,
leaving thousands dead and wounded. ECOMOG forces drove back the
RUF attack several weeks later.
With the assistance of the international community, President
Kabbah and RUF leader Sankoh negotiated the Lome Peace Agreement,
which was signed on July 7, 1999. The accord made Sankoh Vice
President and gave other RUF members positions in the government.
Lome called for an international peacekeeping force run initially
by both ECOMOG and the United Nations. The UN Security Council
established the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)
in 1999, with an initial force of 6,000. ECOMOG forces departed
in April 2000. Almost immediately, however, the RUF began to violate
the agreement, most notably by holding hundreds of UNAMSIL personnel
hostage and capturing their arms and ammunition in the first half
of 2000. On May 8, 2000, members of the RUF shot and killed as
many as 20 people demonstrating against the RUF violations outside
Sankoh's house in Freetown. As a result, Sankoh and other senior
members of the RUF were arrested and the group was stripped of
its positions in government.
After the events of May 2000, a new cease-fire was necessary
to reinvigorate the peace process. This agreement was signed in
Abuja in November of that year. However, Demobilization, Disarmament,
Reintegration (DDR) did not resume, and fighting continued. In
late 2000, Guinean forces entered Sierra Leone to attack RUF bases
from which attacks had been launched against Liberian dissidents
in Guinea. A second Abuja Agreement, in May 2001, set the stage
for a resumption of DDR on a wide scale and a significant reduction
in hostilities. As disarmament progressed, the government began
to reassert its authority in formerly rebel-held areas. By early
2002, some 72,000 ex-combatants had been disarmed and demobilized,
although many still awaited re-integration assistance. On January
18, 2002 President Kabbah declared the civil war officially over.
In May 2002 President Kabbah and his party, the SLPP, won landslide
victories in the presidential and legislative elections. Kabbah
was re-elected for a five year term. The RUF political wing, the
RUFP, failed to win a single seat in parliament. The elections
were marked by irregularities and allegations of fraud, but not
to a degree to significantly affect the outcome.
On July 28th, 2002 the British withdrew a 200-man military contingent
that had been in country since the summer of 2000, leaving behind
a 105-strong military training team to work to professionalize
the Sierra Leone army. The Lome Accord called for the establishment
of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide a forum for
both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations during
the conflict to tell their stories and facilitate genuine reconciliation.
Subsequently, the Sierra Leonean government asked the UN to help
set up a Special Court for Sierra Leone, which would try those
who "bear the greatest responsibility for the commission
of crimes against humanity, war crimes and serious violations
of international humanitarian law, as well as crimes under relevant
Sierra Leonean law within the territory of Sierra Leone since
November 30, 1996." Both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
and the Special Court began operating in the summer of 2002.
In November 2002, UNAMSIL began a gradual reduction from a peak
level of 17,500 personnel. Under pressure from the British, the
withdrawal slowed, so that by October 2003 the UNAMSIL contingent
still stood at 12,000 men. As peaceful conditions continued through
2004, however, UNAMSIL drew down its forces to slightly over 4,000
by December 2004. In June 2005, the UN Security Council extended
UNAMSIL’s mandate until December 2005.
On January 13, 2003 a small group of armed men tried unsuccessfully
to break into an armory in Freetown. Former AFRC-junta leader
Johnny Paul Koroma, went into hiding, after being linked to the
raid. In March the Special Court for Sierra Leone issued its first
indictments for war crimes during the civil war. Foday Sankoh,
already in custody, was indicted, along with notorious RUF field
commander Sam "Mosquito" Bockarie, Johnny Paul Koroma,
the Minister of Interior and former head of the Civil Defense
Force, Hinga Norman, and several others. Norman was arrested when
the indictments were announced, while Bockarie and Koroma remained
at large (presumably in Liberia). On May 5th Bockarie was killed
in Liberia, probably on orders from President Charles Taylor,
who expected to be indicted by the Special Court and feared Bockarie’s
testimony. Several weeks later word filtered out of Liberia that
Johnny Paul Koroma had been killed, as well, although his death
remains unconfirmed. In June the Special Court announced Taylor’s
indictment. Sankoh died in prison in Freetown on July 29th from
a heart attack. He had been ailing for some time.
In August 2003 President Kabbah testified before the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission on his role during the civil war. Instead
of acting in a statesman-like, unifying manner, he answered questions
in a partisan, defensive style. He blamed the international community
for ignoring Sierra Leone during much of the civil war, without
acknowledging its assistance in the late 1990s that ended the
fighting.
In October 2004, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released
its Final Report to the government, although widespread public
distribution was delayed until August 2005 because of editing
and printing problems. The government released a White Paper in
June 2005 accepting some and rejecting or ignoring a number of
other recommendations. Members of civil society groups dismissed
the government’s response as too vague and continued to
criticize the government for its failure to follow up on the report’s
recommendations.
In December 2005, the UNAMSIL peacekeeping mission formally ended,
and the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) began,
assuming a peacebuilding mandate.
On March 25, 2006, after discussions with newly elected Liberian
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
said that Liberia was free to take Charles Taylor, who had been
living in exile in the Nigerian coastal town of Calobar, into
custody. Two days later, Taylor attempted to flee Nigeria, but
he was apprehended on March 29 near Nigeria’s border with
Cameroon by Nigerian authorities. Taylor was transferred to Freetown
under UN guard by nightfall on March 29, where he is incarcerated
at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) awaiting trial on
11 counts of war crimes.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS
Sierra Leone is a republic with an executive president and a multi-party
system of government with a 124-seat Parliament (112 elected members
and 12 paramount chiefs). Presidential and legislative elections
will be held in 2007. The elections will be preceded by a redrawing
of constituency boundaries, not adjusted since 1985. The 2007
elections will also be notable for their shift from the proportional
representation system used in 1996 and 2002 to a constituency-based
system, as called for in the 1991 Constitution. The incumbent
Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has a strong advantage
going into these elections and maintains its traditional support
in the south and east of the country; however, population increases
in the northern part of the country and in the Western Area (where
Freetown is located), may benefit the opposition All People’s
Congress (APC). In 2005, Charles Margai, a former SLPP member,
formed a new party, the People’s Movement for Democratic
Change (PMDC), which could potentially draw support away from
the SLPP. Civil rights and religious freedom are respected. A
critical press continues to operate, although journalists and
editors are occasionally arrested for publishing articles the
government considers inflammatory.
The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals,
High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts. The President appoints
and Parliament approves justices for the three courts. Local chieftaincy
courts administer customary law with lay judges; appeals from
these lower courts are heard by the superior courts. Judicial
presence outside the capital district remains limited, which contributes
to excessive delays in the justice system. Although magistrate
courts function in all 12 judicial districts, magistrates appointed
to those courts did not reside there permanently and complained
that they had insufficient resources to do their job. Justices
of the peace or customary law partially fill the gap.
In 2000 the Government of Sierra Leone promulgated the Anti-Corruption
Act to combat endemic corruption. The Anti Corruption Commission
has not been able to secure convictions of high-level government
officials, but has worked to raise national awareness of the problem
and build in safeguards in “corruption hotspot” ministries.
The basic unit of local government outside the Western Area has
generally been the chiefdom, headed by a paramount chief, who
is elected for a life term. In May 2004, however, the first local
government elections in 32 years were held in 311 wards nationwide.
There are now 12 district councils and 5 town councils outside
the Western Area. The Western Area has a rural area council and
a city council for Freetown, the nation’s capital. The local
councils are gradually assuming responsibility for functions previously
carried out by the central government. As devolution progresses,
chiefdom and council authorities are starting to work together
to collect taxes. While district and town councils are responsible
for service delivery, chiefdom authorities maintain their own
infrastructure of police and courts, which are also funded by
local taxes.
Principal Government Officials
President and Minister of Defense--Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Vice President--Solomon Berewa
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Momodu Koroma
Minister of Finance--John Benjamin
Minister of Development and Economic Planning--Mohammed Daramy
Attorney General and Minister of Justice--Frederick Carew
Minister of Local Government and Community Development--Sidikie
Brima
Minister of Information and Broadcasting--Septimus Kaikai
Minister of Internal Affairs--Pascal Egbenda
Minister of Mineral Resources--Mohamed Deen
Minister for Trade and Industry--Dr. Kadi Sesay
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security--Dr. Sama Mondeh
Minister of Energy and Power--Lloyd During
Minister of Labor--Alpha Timbo
Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs--Shirley
Gbujama
Minister of Lands, Housing, Country Planning, and Environment--Dr.
Alfred Bobson Sesay
Minister of Marine Resources--Dr. Chernor Jalloh
Minister of Transport and Communications--Dr. Prince Harding
Minister of Works, Housing and Technical Maintenance--Dr. Caiser
Boima
Minister of Health--Abbator Thomas
Minister of Tourism and Culture--Okere Adams
Central Bank Governor--Dr. James Rogers
Ambassador to the U.S.--Ibrahim Kamara
Sierra Leone maintains an embassy in the United States at 1701
19th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20009, tel. 202-939-9261; and
a permanent mission to the United Nations in New York at 245 East
49th Street, New York, New York 10017, tel. (212) 688-1656.
ECONOMY
Rich in minerals, Sierra Leone has relied on the mining sector
in general, and diamonds in particular, for its economic base.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, economic growth rate slowed because
of a decline in the mining sector and increasing corruption among
government officials. By the 1990s economic activity was declining
and economic infrastructure had become seriously degraded. Over
the next decade much of Sierra Leone’s formal economy was
destroyed in the country’s civil war. Since the cessation
of hostilities in January 2002, massive infusions of outside assistance
have helped Sierra Leone begin to recover. Full recovery to pre-war
economic levels will require hundreds of millions of additional
dollars and many more years of serious effort by the Government
of Sierra Leone and donor governments. Much of Sierra Leone’s
recovery will depend on the success of Government of Sierra Leone
efforts to limit official corruption, which many feel was the
chief culprit for the country’s descent into civil war.
A key indicator of success will be the effectiveness of government
management of its diamond sector.
About two-thirds of the population engages in subsistence agriculture,
which accounts for 52.5% of national income. The government is
trying to increase food and cash crop production and upgrade small
farmer skills. Also, the government works with several foreign
donors to operate integrated rural development and agricultural
projects.
Mineral exports remain Sierra Leone's principal foreign exchange
earner. Sierra Leone is a major producer of gem-quality diamonds.
Though rich in this resource, the country has historically struggled
to manage its exploitation and export. Annual production estimates
range between $250-300 million. However, not all of that passes
through formal export channels, although formal exports have dramatically
improved since the days of civil war (1999: $1.2 million; 2000:
$7 million; 2001: $26 million; 2002: $42 million; 2003: $76 million;
2004: $127 million; 2005: $142 million). The balance is smuggled,
where it possibly is used for money laundering or financing illicit
activities. Efforts to improve the management of the export trade
have met with some success. In October 2000, a UN-approved export
certification system for exporting diamonds from Sierra Leone
was put into place that led to a dramatic increase in legal exports.
In 2001, the Government of Sierra Leone created a mining community
development fund, which returns a portion of diamond export taxes
to diamond mining communities. The fund was created to raise local
communities' stake in the legal diamond trade.
Sierra Leone has one of the world's largest deposits of rutile,
a titanium ore used as paint pigment and welding rod coatings.
Sierra Rutile Limited, owned by a consortium of U.S. and European
investors, began commercial mining operations near Bonthe in early
1979. Sierra Rutile was then the largest nonpetroleum U.S. investment
in West Africa. The export of 88,000 tons realized $75 million
in export earnings in 1990. The company and the Government of
Sierra Leone concluded a new agreement on the terms of the company's
concession in Sierra Leone in 1990. Rutile and bauxite mining
operations were suspended when rebels invaded the mining sites
in 1995, but exports resumed in 2005.
Since independence, the Government of Sierra Leone has encouraged
foreign investment, although the business climate has been hampered
by a shortage of foreign exchange, corruption, and uncertainty
resulting from civil conflicts. Investors are protected by an
agreement that allows for arbitration under the 1965 World Bank
Convention. Legislation provides for transfer of interest, dividends,
and capital. The government passed the Investment Promotion Act
in August 2004 to attract foreign investors and has been working
with international financial institutions to lower its administrative
barriers to trade.
Sierra Leone is a member of the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS). With Liberia and Guinea, it formed the Mano River
Union (MRU) customs union, primarily designed to implement development
projects and promote regional economic integration. However, the
MRU has been inactive because of domestic problems and internal
and cross-border conflicts in all three countries. The future
of the MRU depends on the ability of its members to deal with
the fallout from these internal and regional problems. Sierra
Leone’s latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) poverty
reduction and growth facility (PRGF) expired in June 2005. A new
agreement is not yet in place, but Sierra Leone’s economic
policy is expected to shift from post-conflict stabilization to
poverty-reduction efforts, including good governance and fighting
corruption; job creation; and food security.
Sierra Leone continues to rely on significant amounts of foreign
assistance, principally from multilateral donors. The bilateral
donors include the United States, Italy, and Germany, but the
largest are the United Kingdom and the European Union.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Sierra Leone has maintained cordial relations with the West, in
particular with the United Kingdom. It also maintains diplomatic
relations with China, Libya, Cuba, and Iran.
Sierra Leone is a member of the UN and its specialized agencies,
the Commonwealth, the African Union (AU), the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Development Bank
(AFDB), the Mano River Union (MRU), the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
U.S.-SIERRA LEONE RELATIONS
U.S. relations with Sierra Leone began with missionary activities
in the 19th century. In 1959, the U.S. opened a consulate in Freetown
and elevated it to embassy status when Sierra Leone became independent
in 1961.
U.S.-Sierra Leone relations today are cordial, with ethnic ties
between groups in the two countries receiving increasing historical
interest. Many thousands of Sierra Leoneans reside in the United
States.
In fiscal year 2004, total U.S. bilateral aid to Sierra Leone
in all categories was about $23 million, primarily for relief
and basic economic development. U.S. aid also stresses restoration
of peace, democracy and human rights, health education, particularly
combating HIV/AIDS, and human resources development.
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--Thomas N. Hull
Deputy Chief of Mission--James A. Stewart
The U.S. Embassy is located at the corner of Walpole and Siaka
Stevens Streets, Freetown, tel: 232 22 226 481; fax: 232 22 225
471.
TRAVEL AND BUSINESS INFORMATION
The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program provides
Consular Information Sheets, Travel Warnings, and Public Announcements.
Consular Information Sheets exist for all countries and include
information on entry requirements, currency regulations, health
conditions, areas of instability, crime and security, political
disturbances, and the addresses of the U.S. posts in the country.
Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends
that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Public Announcements
are issued as a means to disseminate information quickly about
terrorist threats and other relatively short-term conditions overseas
that pose significant risks to the security of American travelers.
Free copies of this information are available by calling the Bureau
of Consular Affairs at 202-647-5225 or via the fax-on-demand system:
202-647-3000. Consular Information Sheets and Travel Warnings
also are available on the Consular Affairs Internet home page:
http://travel.state.gov. Consular Affairs Tips for Travelers publication
series, which contain information on obtaining passports and planning
a safe trip abroad, are on the Internet and hard copies can be
purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government
Printing Office, telephone: 202-512-1800; fax 202-512-2250.
Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may
be obtained from the Office of Overseas Citizens Services at (202)
647-5225. For after-hours emergencies, Sundays and holidays, call
202-647-4000.
The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S. Department
of State's single, centralized public contact center for U.S.
passport information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778).
Customer service representatives and operators for TDD/TTY are
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Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP (877-394-8747) and a web site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm
give the most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations
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for regions and countries. A booklet entitled Health Information
for International Travel (HHS publication number CDC-95-8280)
is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,
DC 20402, tel. (202) 512-1800.
Information on travel conditions, visa requirements, currency
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to travelers also may be obtained before your departure from a
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see "Principal Government Officials" listing in this
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or at the Consular section of the U.S. embassy upon arrival in
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Further Electronic Information
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