US Peace Corps to return to Sierra Leone after 16 years’ absence: US official

Peace Corps to return to Sierra Leone

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — A US official says the Peace Corps will return to Sierra Leone after 16 years’ absence.

Peace Corps Acting Regional Director for Africa Lynn Foden said Monday that 50 volunteers will arrive next June to work on secondary education projects. She says the number of volunteers will increase as the program re-establishes itself.

The Peace Corps began operating in the West African country in 1962 and hosted more than 3,400 volunteers. But the program was interrupted by a bloody civil war between 1991 and 2002 in which brutal rebels recruited child soldiers and were known for hacking off the limbs of civilians to terrorize them into submission.