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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Security Council voted unanimously Friday to wrap up the U.N. peacebuilding mission in Sierra Leone in September 2008, praising this year's democratic elections and efforts to professionalize its armed forces.
A U.N. peacekeeping force helped put the West African nation back on the path to peace and stability after a bloody 11-year civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002. But poverty continues to plague the country, which has some of the world's lowest life expectancy and literacy rates.
The peacekeeping force was replaced in January 2006 by a small peacebuilding mission of about 350 people — mainly civilians — along with 14 military observers and 26 international police.
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