Kailahun

Kailahun Kailahun, Sierra Leone
Kailahun Government Hospital at its reopening in 2004
Coordinates: 8°16′38″N 10°34′26″W / 8.27722°N 10.57389°W / 8.27722; -10.57389
Country	Sierra Leone
Province	Eastern Province
District	Kailahun District
Government
• Town Chief of Kailahun	Alpha Ndoleh [1]
Elevation	303 m (994 ft)
Population  (2013)
• Total	30,411
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)

Kailahun is the capital of Kailahun District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Kailahun is a major business and commercial center of Kailahun District. The population was 13,108 in the 2004 census,^[1] a 2006 estimate of 18,411 [2] and a current estimate of about 30,411.^{[citation needed]} Kailahun lies in the far east of Sierra Leone, approximately 200 miles east of Freetown (320 miles by road), about 51 miles north east of Kenema (75 miles by road), and near the border of Liberia.[3]

Kailahun is a trade center, and is one of the major towns in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Kailahun is largely from the Mende ethnic group. As with most parts of Sierra Leone, the Krio language of the Sierra Leone Creole people is by far the most widely spoken language in Kailahun and is the primary means of communication in the city.^[2][3]