Sierra Leone - least developed country in world

Source: MISNA

A bishop has appealed for the people of Sierra Leone not to be discouraged by the news that their country has been judged to be one of the poorest in the world - in a new report issued yesterday in Brussels by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Hong Kong, the Palestinian Territories; Guinea Bissau, Burundi, Burkina Faso and Niger are also at the bottom of this year's list of 175 countries in the 'Human Development Report 2004: Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World'.

Monsignor Biguzzi, the Bishop of Makeni in Sierra Leone told the Missionary News Service: "The war in Sierra Leone is over, but the scale of development has not begun to improve. Despite reconstruction efforts, a large part of the population still does not have access to drinking water, electricity, education, communication and general essential services".

In 2001 Sierra Leone came out of a decade-long civil war. Bishop Buguzzi said the people of Sierra Leone and its leaders should not to be discouraged by the data in the report, but should see it as " a stimulus and encouragement to develop the territory's potential, and to constantly look for improvement". "

Let us not give up on Sierra Leone simply because there has been no shooting for a few years," he said.