Sierra Leone's big banks reopen after nine months

Sierra Leone's two big commercial banks, Barclays and Standard Chartered, opened for business today for the first time since a military coup last May. Life in the capital, Freetown, is slowly returning to normal following the return of elected president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on March 10 after the military junta was ousted in February by the West African ECOMOG intervention force. Witnesses said queues began forming outside the two banks before daybreak as word spread that they were reopening. ECOMOG soldiers were on duty outside the Barclays bank, allowing customers inside in groups of 10. The two banks hold around 70 per cent of bank deposits in the former British colony, and most foreign residents and foreign investors do business through them. Customers have been unable to take money from their accounts since last May, compounding the hardship caused by a shortage of food and other essentials. The reopening of the two banks is a major boost to the reactivation of the economy. Junta forces and their allies are still in control of areas in the east of the country but ECOMOG forces are closing in on them. JOY