COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Diplomats, scholars and legal experts are coming together to discuss how to rebuild the African nation of Sierra Leone after its civil war.
University of South Carolina spokesman Bond Nickles says Friday's conference at the School of Law in Columbia is aimed at helping Sierra Leone rebuild its infrastructure and civic life.
Conference organizer Joel Samuels says Sierra Leone has a strong bond with South Carolina because many in the Gullah community have ties to West Africa.
More than half of Sierra Leone's population was displaced in the civil war, which ended in 2002, and many people remain unsettled.
Speakers at the conference plan on examining ways to rebuild an orderly state and its legal and governmental structures.
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