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3. SIERRA LEONE (Br.) Pop.: 2,600,000. Size: 27,924 sq. mi. Literacy: 10%. School attendance: 20%. College graduates: 450. Christians: 30%. Capital city, Freetown, boasts University College, affiliated with Britain's Durham University since 1876. Literacy below 5% in hinterland, where pagan rituals common.
Political parties: 2. Voters: 70%. Until recent reforms, political scene was dominated by seaboard's sophisticated Creoles, mostly descendants of freed U.S. slaves and deported English prostitutes. Conservative Prime Minister Sir Milton Margai's People's Party is first to represent aborigines as well.
Exports: Iron ore, palm kernels, diamonds, cocoa, coffee. Per capita income: $70. U.S. aid (1961): $600,000. Margai favors moderate African bloc, thwarted Red infiltration. Diamond boom brought prosperity. Nation needs foreign capital to raise living standards.
4. GAMBIA (Br.) Pop.: 280,000. Size: 4,000 sq. mi. Literacy: 20%. School attendance: 10%. College graduates: 50. Moslems: 85%. Savage customs are rare and fast dying out.
Political Maturity Political parties: 5. Voters: 72%. Tribal democracy. Gambians outside their only city will have barest knowledge of self-government when they win independence.
Exports: Peanuts. Per capita income: $50-$70. U.S. aid (1961): None. Britain's smallest, poorest, oldest West African settlement. Mav federate with Senegal.
5. SENEGAL (F.) Pop.: 2,973,000. Size: 76,000 sq. mi. Literacy: 25%. School attendance: 32%. College graduates: 850. Moslems: 70%. Senegalese are among Africa's most advanced; one in 150 students attends university.
Political Maturity Political parties: 1. Voters: 71%. Politically aware, elected first deputies to French Assembly in 1848, has able civil service. President Leopold Senghor, 55, termed visiting Lyndon Johnson "weak-minded."
Exports: Peanuts. Per capita income: $177. U.S. aid (1961): $3,600,000. Senegal has little save glittering capital city of Dakar. Bordering Marxist Mali and Guinea, nation faces long-term Communist threat.
6. MAURITANIA (F.) Pop.: 727,000. Size: 419,000 sq. mi. Literacy: 6%. School attendance: 6%. Moslems: 100%. Nomadic natives until recently had almost no schools, even had capital in Senegal.
Political Maturity Political parties: 1. Voters: 82%. Effective rulers are nation's dozen tribal chieftains. President Moktar Ould Daddah, 37, is popular conservative who reflects Arab rather than African policies. No daily press.
Exports: Negligible. Per capita income: $46. U.S. aid (1961): $100,000. Rich iron ore, copper deposits to be developed by West-financed, $190 million project. Neighboring Morocco claims whole country.
7. MALI (F.) Pop.: 4,100,000. Size: 945,000 sq. mi. Literacy: 10%. School Attendance: 6%. College graduates: 100 plus. Outside Timbuctoo and other towns, population largely nomadic, 60% Moslem.
Political Maturity Political parties: 1. Voters: 38%. Though Communist Party is proscribed, Strongman Modibo Keita's Union Soudanaise spouts Marxist line; only two Cabinet members are considered nonCommunist.