Tonkolili District
Encyclopedia
Districts of Sierra Leone
||The provinces of Sierra Leone are divided into 14 districts. One traditional leader from each district occupies a seat in Sierra Leone's parliament...
in the Northern Province
Northern Province, Sierra Leone
The Northern Province is one of the four provincial divisions of Sierra Leone. It comprises five Districts and covers an area of 35,936 km² and with a population of 1,718,240 . Its administrative and economic center is Makeni...
of Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. Its capital and largest city is Magburaka
Magburaka
Magburaka is the capital and largest city of Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It is the second largest city in the Northern Province after Makeni and the 6th largest city in Sierra Leone with a population of 66,313 It is located at around , along the Rokel River...
. The other major towns include Mathora, Magbass
Magbass
Magbass Is a farming town in Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Magbass is located about 55 miles from Freetown. The town is home to the Magbass Sugar Complex, one of the largest sugar producing plantation in West Africa . The factory provides employment for a number of...
, Yonibana
Yonibana
Yonibana is a small rural town in Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Yonibana is primarily from the Temne ethnic group...
and Mile 91
Mile 91, Sierra Leone
Mile 91 is a major trading town in Tonkolili District in Northern Province of Sierra Leone. As its name suggest, Mile 91 is exactly 91 miles from Freetown and is located on the main highway linking Freetown, to Makeni and Bo. The population of the town is ethnically diverse, although the Temne...
. The district has a population of 375,363 http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=1301507835&men=gadm&lng=en&des=wg&geo=-3314&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500
The district occupies a total area of 7,003 km² and comprises eleven Chiefdoms.
Tonkolly District borders Bombali District
Bombali District
Bombali District is district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It's capital and largest city is Makeni, which is also the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone and the largest city in the north. The other major towns in the district include Kamakwie, Kamabai, Masingbi and Binkolo...
to the northwest, Kono District
Kono District
Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Motema, Jaiama-Nimokoro and Sewafe. Kono District is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone.The population of Kono...
to the east, Kenema District
Kenema District
Kenema District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Kenema, which is also the third largest city in Sierra Leone. The other major towns in the district include Tongo and Blama. The district is the most populous district in the Eastern province with...
and Bo District
Bo District
Bo District is the second most populous district in Sierra Leone and is located in the Southern Province of the country. Its capital and largest city is the city of Bo, which is the second largest city in Sierra Leone. The other major towns in the district include Baoma, Bumpeh, Serabu, Sumbuya,...
to the southeast. It was a rebel
Revolutionary United Front
The Revolutionary United Front was a rebel army that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later developed into a political party, which existed until 2007...
stronghold during the civil war
Sierra Leone Civil War
The Sierra Leone Civil War began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front , with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia , intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government...
and one of the last to disarm.
Demographics
The estimated population of the district was 365,465 http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gpro&lng=en&des=wg&srt=npan&col=adhoq&msz=1500&geo=-6647. The population is mostly MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and the people are largely from the Temne ethnic group.
Economy
Economically, there is significant potential for an extractive economy, specifically the mining of goldGold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and to a lesser extent diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s. Agriculture also plays a significant role in the economy, mostly at the Magbass sugar production facility and refinery. There are several hydroelectric power systems in the district, especially at Bumbuna
Bumbuna
Bumbuna is a town in northern Sierra Leone, which is situated on the river Rokel.- Industry :Bumbuna is near a proposed iron ore mine, which would lead to an extension of the existing railway from Port Pepel....
. There is also as game reserve
Game reserve
A game reserve is an area of land set aside for maintenance of wildlife for tourism or hunting purposes. Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris or hunt wild game....
at Mamunta
Mamunta Mayosso Wildlife Sanctuary
The Mamunta Mayosso Wildlife Sanctuary is a game reserve in Tonkolili District, Northern Province, Sierra Leone. It is one of the few areas in the country that protects the threatened Dwarf Crocodile as well as being home to 252 bird species despite its small size. It is situated between Magburaka ...
. However, economic development is hindered by the destruction of facilities during the civil war.
Echo Bar Industry
Due to the intense nature of the Sierra Leone climate, the Tonkolili District has always had a vast harvest of cocoa beans each year. In 2003, The Echo Bars Ltd. Company lead a private acquisition of 85% of all cocoa production in the District. The chief taster, Echo Mufasa, (not to be confused with Mr. EkoMr. Eko
Mr. Eko Tunde is a fictional character, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the ABC television series Lost. He is introduced in the second season episode "Adrift" as one of the plane-crash survivors from the plane's tail section. Flashbacks reveal that he became the leader of a gang of guerrillas...
) Led this purchase to reasonable success, increasing production and efficiency in most areas of the cocoa production in the district. In 2009, the company went into recession and the land was rebought by the local government.
Education
Before the civil war, education was highly esteemed, especially in ArabicArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Since the end of the conflict, schools have been rebuilt to a large extent and even created, including an Arabic college. As of 2004, the district was home to 310 primary schools which had nearly 74,000 students. It was also home to 15 secondary schools.
Government
Tonkolili District currently has nine Representatives in the Sierra Leonean Parliament, of which eight members were electedElected
Elected is the latest EP by Dutch Progressive metal project Ayreon. It was released on April 25, 2008 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and on April 28 in the rest of Europe...
for a 5-year term. Below is the District representatives in Parliament and their affiliations:
- Sunthuba Bai Osara - Paramount ChiefParamount chiefA paramount chief is the highest-level traditional chief or political leader in a regional or local polity or country typically administered politically with a chief-based system. This definition is used occasionally in anthropological and archaeological theory to refer to the rulers of multiple...
of Tonkolili District - Musu Kandeh (APC)
- Mabel Turay (APC)
- Fatmata Hassan (SLPP)
- Abdulai Fornah (APC)
- Emanuel Tholley (SLPP)
- Salieu Alie Sankoh (APC)
- Usman Kargbo (APC)
- Edward Sembu Koroma (APC)
Notable people from Tonkolili District
- Foday SankohFoday SankohFoday Saybana Sankoh was the leader and founder of the Sierra Leone rebel group Revolutionary United Front in the 11-year-long Sierra Leone Civil War, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002...
, former RUF leader - Zainab BanguraZainab BanguraHaja Zainab Hawa Bangura is a Sierra Leonean politician and social activist. She is currently Sierra Leone minister of Health and sanitation. In 2007 Bangura became Sierra Leone's foreign minister in the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress Party...
Sierra Leone's foreign minister - Minkailu BahMinkailu BahMinkailu Bah is a Sierra Leonean politician and Lecturer and currently serves as Sierra Leone's Minister of Education, Youth and Sports...
, Sierra Leone's minister of Education, Youth and Sports - Musa Yamba Komeh, former MP for Magburaka
Mining
Tonkolili may be the site of new iron ore mining, including the re-construction of a standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
railway
Railway stations in Sierra Leone
- Maps :The MSN and FallingRain and UNHCR maps still show the railway lines closed in 1974.* * * Map on page 24. - Open :* *...
. This railway to Port Pepel
Port Pepel
- Railway :The port is connected to the mine at Marampa by an 84km long 1067mm gauge railway.It will be replaced by a higher capacity port at Tagrin Point....
with an extension to deeper waters at Tagrin Point
Tagrin Point
Tagrin Point is the proposed location of a deep water port to replace the older and shallower port of Port Pepel in Sierra Leone. It would be connected to existing and new iron ore mined by an upgraded railway line converted to standard gauge.- Ferry :...
would be about 150 km long. While built by one company, the railway would be open access
Open Access (Infrastructure)
In the context of infrastructure, open access involves physical infrastructure such as railways and physical telecommunications network plant being made available to clients other than the owners, for a fee....
to other users at commercial rates. There is also a large deposit at Kasafoni
Kasafoni
Kasafoni is a town in northeastern Sierra Leonne in the mountainous area near the Guinea border....
.