History of Liberia
Encyclopedia
Liberia
was set up by citizens of the United States
as a colony
for former African-American slaves. It is one of only two sovereign states in the world that were started by citizens of a political power as a colony for former slaves of the same political power: Sierra Leone
was begun as a colony for resettlement of Black Loyalists and poor blacks from England for the same purpose by Britain
.
of Liberia migrated there from the north and east between the 12th and 16th centuries AD. Portuguese explorers established contacts with people of the land later known as "Liberia" as early as 1461. They named the area Costa da Pimenta (Pepper Coast
) because of the abundance of melegueta pepper
. In 1602 the Dutch established a trading post at Grand Cape Mount but destroyed it a year later. In 1663, the British installed trading posts on the Pepper Coast. No further known settlements by non-African colonists occurred along the Grain Coast (an alternative name) until the arrival in 1821 of free blacks from the United States.
, people opposed to slavery were planning ways to alleviate the problem. Some abolitionists and slaveholders collaborated on the idea to set up a colony in Africa for freed African-American slaves. Between 1821 and 1847, by a combination of purchase and conquest, American ‘Societies’ developed the colony ‘Liberia.’ On July 26, 1847, it declared its independence.
, many white members of American society thought that African Americans could not succeed in living in ‘their’ society as free people. Some considered blacks physically and mentally inferior to whites, and others believed that the racism and societal polarization resulting from slavery were insurmountable obstacles for integration of the races. The young politician Thomas Jefferson
was among those who proposed colonization in Africa; relocating free blacks outside the new nation.
, attributable both to slaveholders inspired by its ideals and to others inspired to manumission by Quaker, Methodist and Baptist preachers active in those years. The Northeast states abolished slavery following the war, generally on a graduated basis where it was still economically viable, as in the mid-Atlantic states.
In 1800 and 1802, slave rebellions occurred (see Gabriel’s rebellion) in Virginia, and were brutally suppressed by slaveholders. Some planters feared that free blacks would encourage slaves to run away or revolt. From 1782-1810, the number and percentage of free blacks in the Upper South increased from less than one percent to 13.5%. In the nation as a whole, the number of free people of color also increased. In 1790, there were 59,467 free blacks, out of a total U.S. population of almost four million and a total black U.S. population of 800,000. By 1800, there were 108,378 free blacks in a population of 7.2 million.
These factors significantly influenced the popularity of the concept of colonization as a ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ of free blacks.
in modern-day Sierra Leone
, many of whom were Black Loyalists who had been freed in exchange for their services during the American Revolution. The Crown also offered resettlement to former slaves from Nova Scotia. The wealthy African-American shipowner Paul Cuffee thought this was a worthwhile exercise, and with support from certain members of Congress and British officials conveyed 38 American Blacks to Freetown in 1816 at his own expense. Despite such voyages ceasing with his death in 1817, his private initiative served to arouse public interest.
and the Presbyterian minister Robert Finley
from New Jersey, in 1816 the American Colonization Society
(ACS) was established in Washington D.C. by American politicians, senators and religious leaders from a variety of orientations. They united on the project of ‘colonizing’ free blacks out of the U.S., to Africa.
From January 1820, the ACS sent ships from New York to West Africa. The first had 88 free black emigrants and three white ACS agents on board, who intended to seek an appropriate area to ground a settlement. After several attempts and hardships, ACS representatives in December 1821 succeeded, perhaps with some threat of force (see American Colonization Society), to buy Cape Mesurado
, a 36-mile long strip of land near current day Monrovia
, from the indigenous ruler King Peter.
From the beginning, the colonists were attacked by indigenous peoples, such as the Malinké
tribes. In addition, they suffered from diseases, the harsh climate, lack of food and medicine, and poor housing conditions.
s. Not only were many racially mixed and of European descent, but their education, religion and culture made them distinct from the indigenous peoples, with whom they did not identify.
The maturing colony was gradually given more self-governance. In 1839, it was renamed the Commonwealth of Liberia; 1841 saw the Commonwealth's first black Governor, J.J. Roberts. By the 1840s, the ACS was effectively bankrupt; Liberia had become a financial burden for it. In 1846, the ACS directed the Americo-Liberians to proclaim their independence. In 1847, Roberts proclaimed the colony the free and independent republic of Liberia. It then counted some 3000 settlers. A Constitution was drawn up along the lines of the United States’, denying voting rights to the indigenous Liberians.
s, suppressing the large indigenous majority of 95% of the Liberian population. The history of Liberia in this period can be described as four major, intertwined and interacting developments:
, and were entirely acculturated to contemporary Euro-America society. They were of mixed African and European ancestry and therefore generally lighter-skinned than the indigenous blacks. Crucially, they had absorbed beliefs in the religious superiority of Protestant Christianity, the cultural superiority of European civilization, and the aesthetic superiority of European skin color and hair texture.
They created a social and material facsimile of American society in Liberia, maintaining their English-speaking, Americanized way of life, and building churches and houses resembling those of the Southern U.S.
The Americo-Liberians never constituted more than five percent of the population of Liberia, yet they controlled key resources that allowed them to dominate the local native peoples: access to the ocean, modern technical skills, literacy and higher levels of education
, and valuable relationships with many American institutions, including the American government.
Ironically, one aspect of American society that the Americo-Liberians recreated was a cultural and racial caste system—however, in this case with themselves at the top instead of the bottom. To them, their society must have seemed radically different from the USA because it rejected the ubiquitous Western belief in immutable racial hierarchy, which had led the colonists to despair of life in the USA. They, on the other hand, believed in racial equality, and therefore in the potential of all people to become 'civilized' through evangelization and education. Like many white missionaries before and after them, they were frustrated by the natives' lack of interest in becoming 'civilized.'
Some local people assimilated into Americo-Liberian society, often by marriage. Some entire coastal tribes became Protestants and learned English. But most indigenous Africans kept to their traditional languages and religions. Before long, the Americo-Liberian ruling elite was living rather prosperously, sending their children to America for (often racially segregated) high school and college education, and keeping the indigenous peoples excluded from all political and economic leadership.
1856: war with Grebo
and Kru
peoples, leading to the last American African colony, Republic of Maryland
, joining Liberia. It was annexed into Liberia as Maryland County in 1857. (See 1856-64, Presidency Benson
.)
1864: uprisings of inland and coastal tribes (Presidency Benson
)
1875-76: war in Cape Palmas
(see 1876-78, Presidency Payne-II
)
circa 1886: an uprising (Presidency Johnson
)
mid 1880s until late 1890s: some tribes stay at war (see 1896-1900, Presidency Coleman)
1893: Grebo tribe attacked settlement of Harper
(Presidency Cheeseman
)
1900: bloody battle (Presidency Coleman)
1915: rebellion of the Kru (Presidency Howard
)
1912-20: internal wars (Presidency Howard
)
investigated accusations that the Liberian government recruited and sold indigenous people as contract labor or slaves. In its 1930 report the League admonished the Liberian government for ‘systematically and for years fostering and encouraging a policy of gross intimidation and suppression’, “in order to suppress the native, prevent him from realizing his powers and limitations and prevent him from asserting himself in any way whatever, for the benefit of the dominant and colonizing race, although originally the same African stock as themselves” (see also Presidency Charles King 1920-1930
). President King hastily resigned.
thousands of indigenous Liberians came from the nation's interior to the coastal regions in search of jobs. The Liberian Government had long opposed this kind of migration, but was no longer able to restrain it.
In the decades after 1945, the Liberian government received hundreds of millions of dollars of unrestricted foreign investment, which destabilized the Liberian economy. Liberian Government revenue rose enormously, but was being grossly embezzled by government officials. Growing economic disparities caused increased hostility between indigenous groups and Americo-Liberians.
The social tensions led President Tubman to enfranchise the indigenous Liberians either in 1951 or 1963 (accounts differ). Regardless of the date, this was enfranchisement in name only, since Tubman continued to repress political opposition, and to rig elections.
President Tolbert (1971–80) continued to suppress opposition harshly. Dissatisfaction over governmental plans to raise the price of rice in 1979 led to protest demonstrations in the streets of Monrovia. Tolbert ordered his troops to fire on the demonstrators, and seventy people were killed. Rioting ensued throughout Liberia, finally leading to a military coup d'état in April 1980.
Between 1882 and 1919, whenever Britain and France annexed or threatened to annex, parts of Liberian territory, U.S. naval assistance was helpful in preserving Liberian independence (see the presidencies of Gardiner
, Johnson
and Gibson).
Around 1906, after decades of financial crises and ruinous British bank loans (see Relations with European powers), the Liberian government was essentially bankrupt. In 1912 the U.S. arranged a 40-year international loan of $ 1.7 million, against which Liberia had to agree to four Western powers (America, Britain, France and Germany) controlling Liberian Government revenues for the next 14 years, until 1926.
In 1926, the Liberian government gave a concession to the American rubber
company Firestone to start the world’s largest rubber plantation at Harbel
, Liberia. At the same time, Firestone arranged a $5 million private loan to Liberia. In the 1930s Liberia was again virtually bankrupt, and, after some American pressure, agreed to an assistance plan from the League of Nations
. As part of this plan, two key officials of the League were placed in positions to ´advise´ the Liberian government.
, and roads into the interior of Liberia.
After World War II, the U.S. positioned Liberia to resist the expansion of Soviet influence in Africa during the Cold War
. Liberian president Tubman
was agreeable to this policy. Between 1946 and 1960 Liberia received from some $500 million in unrestricted foreign investment, mainly from the U.S. From 1962 to 1980, the U.S. donated $280 million in aid to Liberia. In the 1970s under president Tolbert
, Liberia strove for a more non-aligned and independent posture, and established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and Eastern bloc countries. It also severed ties with Israel during the Yom Kippur War
in 1973, but kept supporting the U.S. on the Vietnam War
.
Between 1878 and 1919 Britain, France and Germany, busy extending their own colonial territories in the region, threatened Liberia militarily, and France and Britain forced Liberia to cede parts of its territory to them (1883, 1885, 1892, 1903, 1919). Only after 1892 were Liberia's borders officially negotiated with these European powers.
The British (in 1875) and French (in 1886) are also alleged to have fuelled internal Liberian uprisings and wars.
From 1878 onwards Liberian presidents regularly called for more foreign trade and more foreign investment in Liberia.
In World War I, Liberia nevertheless tended to support the Allies, partly because it was French and British colonial territories that surrounded Liberia but also because Allied control of the Atlantic sea lanes made continued trade with Germany unviable. As a result Germany withdrew business from Liberia, causing Liberian customs revenue to decrease significantly.
In the 1930s Dutch, Danish, German and Polish investors signed agreements for economic activities.
In the Second World War, the U.S. pressured Liberia to side with the Allies, and to expel all German citizens and business representatives in 1944. This would have again significantly disturbed the Liberian economy, but America had already in 1942 begun investing substantially in Liberia, in projects related to America’s war effort.
Liberian rulers also built up ties with the Soviet bloc and other powers, striving for an independent position in world politics, as far as their strong bonds with the Western world
allowed them to.
, sugarcane and (hardwood) timber. Shipbuilding was important, until it declined in the 1870s with the competition from steamships. Also in the 1870s competition from Brazilian coffee and European sugar beets caused a decline in Liberian exports.
Liberia then tried to modernize its largely agricultural economy. President Gardiner
(1878–83) called for increases of foreign trade and investment. President Coleman (1896–1900) considered the future of Liberia to depend on exploitation of the resources of Liberia’s interior. President Gibson (1900–04) granted rights to Union Mining Company to investigate the hinterland for minerals.
During World War I, Germany, at that time Liberia’s major trading partner, withdrew from the country, causing Liberian customs revenue to decrease. Additionally a German submarine blockade of Liberia caused trade with Britain, France and the U.S. to decrease to negligible amounts.
In 1926, Firestone, an American rubber company, started the worlds largest rubber plantation in Liberia. This industry created 25,000 jobs, and rubber quickly became the backbone of the Liberian economy; in the 1950s, rubber accounted for 40 percent of the national budget.
In the 1930s, Liberia signed concession agreements with Dutch, Danish, German and Polish investors.
In World War II, rubber was strategically important, and Liberia assured the U.S. and its allies of all the natural rubber they needed. Also, Liberia allowed the U.S. to use its territory as a bridgehead for transports of soldiers and war supplies, to construct military bases, airports, the Freeport of Monrovia, roads to the interior, etc. The American military presence boosted the Liberian economy; thousands of laborers descended from the interior to the coastal region. The country’s huge iron ore deposits were made accessible to commerce.
Between 1946 and 1960, the Liberian government attracted $500 million in foreign investment, mainly American, partly also from multinational corporation
s. By 1971, this amounted to more than $1 billion. Exports of iron, timber and rubber rose strongly. In 1971, Liberia had the world’s largest rubber industry, and was the third largest exporter of iron ore.
Other mineral deposits also generated state income. From 1948 Ship registrations
became another large new source of state revenue. From 1962 until 1980, the U.S. donated $280 million in aid to Liberia, in exchange for which Liberia offered its land free of rent for U.S. government facilities.
Throughout the 1970s the price of rubber in the world commodities market was depressed, putting pressure on Liberian state finances.
and civil war
.
(1951–1990) was a member of the small ethnic group of the Krahn
, a master sergeant in the Liberian army, and trained by U.S. Army Special Forces. On April 12, 1980, Doe led a bloody coup d'état
against president Tolbert
, in which Tolbert and twenty-six of his supporters were murdered; ten days later thirteen of Tolbert’s Cabinet members were publicly executed. Thus ended 133 years of Americo-Liberian
political domination over Liberia. Doe established a military regime called the People's Redemption Council
(PRC).
Many people welcomed Doe's takeover as a shift favouring the majority of the population that had been excluded from power. Immediately following the coup, the PRC tolerated a relatively free press.
Doe quickly established good relations with the United States
, especially after U.S. President Ronald Reagan
took office in 1981. Reagan increased financial aid for Liberia, from the $20 million it had been in 1979, to $75 million, and later $95 million per year. Liberia became again an important Cold War
ally of the U.S.. Liberia served to protect important U.S. facilities and investments, and to counter the perceived spread of Soviet influence in Africa. Doe closed the Libya
n mission in Monrovia and even severed diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union
. He agreed to a modification of the mutual defence pact with the U.S. granting staging rights on 24-hour notice at Liberia's sea- and airports for the U.S. Rapid Deployment Forces.
Under Doe, Liberian ports were opened to American
, Canadian
, and Europe
an ships, which brought in considerable foreign investment from shipping firms and earned Liberia a reputation as a tax haven
.
Soon there were more internal rifts in the PRC. Doe became paranoid about the possibility of a counter-coup, and his government grew increasingly corrupt and repressive, banning political opposition, shutting down newspapers and jailing reporters. He began to systematically eliminate PRC members who challenged his authority, and to place people of his own ethnic Krahn background in key positions, which intensified popular anger.
Meanwhile, the economy deteriorated precipitously. Popular support for Doe's government evaporated.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Chester Crocker
testified before Congress that the election was imperfect but that at least it was a step toward democracy. He further justified his support for the election results with the claim that, in any case, all African elections were known to be rigged at that time.
In November 1985 Thomas Quiwonkpa
, Doe’s former second-in-command, with an estimated 500 to 600 people, failed in an attempt to seize power; all were killed. Doe was sworn in as President on January 6, 1986. Doe then initiated crackdowns against certain tribes, such as the Gio
(or Dan) and Mano, in the north, where most of the coup plotters came from. This government's mistreatment of certain ethnic groups resulted in divisions and violence among indigenous populations, who until then had coexisted relatively peacefully.
In the late 1980s, as fiscal austerity took hold in the United States and the perceived threat of Communism declined with the waning of the Cold War, the U.S. became disenchanted with Doe's government and began cutting off critical foreign aid to Liberia. This, together with the popular opposition, made Doe’s position precarious.
Nonetheless, the Krahn
tribe of president Doe attacked tribes in Nimba County
in the north; some northerners fled to bordering Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). In the late 1980s, Charles Taylor assembled rebels from Gio and Mano tribes in Ivory Coast into a militia, invaded Nimba County in 1989, and by 1990 a full-blown tribal war was taking place.
In the late 1980s opposition from abroad to Doe
’s regime led to economic collapse. Doe had already been repressing and crushing internal opposition for some time, when in November 1985 another coup attempt against him failed. Doe retaliated against tribes such as the Gio
(or Dan) and Mano in the north, where most of the coup plotters had come from. Perhaps as a sequel to these governmental retaliations, perhaps as another circumscription of these same events: Doe’s Krahn
tribe began attacking other tribes, particularly in Nimba County
in the northeast of Liberia, bordering on Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and on Guinea
. Some Liberian northerners fled for brutal treatment from the Liberian army into the Ivory Coast.
mother and either an Americo-Liberian
or an Afro-Trinidadian father. Taylor was a student at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A., from 1972 to 1977, earning a degree in economics. After the 1980 coup d’état he served some time in Doe’s government until he was sacked in 1983 on accusation of embezzling government funds. He fled Liberia, was arrested in 1984 in Massachusetts on a Liberian warrant for extradition, and jailed in Massachusetts; escaped from jail in 1985, and probably fled to Libya
.
Some time later, while in the Ivory Coast, Taylor assembled a group of rebels into the National Patriotic Front of Liberia
(NPFL), mostly from the Gio
and Mano tribes.
(INPFL), based on the Gio tribe. Both NPFL and INPFL continued siege on Monrovia. Bloodshed was all over.
In August 1990, Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), an organisation of West African states, created a military intervention force called Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group
(ECOMOG) of 4,000 troops, to restore order. President Doe and Yormie Johnson (INPFL) agreed to this intervention, Taylor didn’t.
On 9 September, President Doe paid a visit to the barely established headquarters of ECOMOG in the Free Port of Monrovia, was at the ECOMOG headquarters attacked by INPFL, taken to the INPFL’s Caldwell base, tortured and killed.
November 1990, ECOWAS agreed with some principal Liberian players but without Charles Taylor, on an Interim Government (IGNU) under President Dr. Amos Sawyer
. Sawyer established his authority over most of Monrovia, with the help of a paramilitary police force, the 'Black Berets,' under Brownie Samukai
, while the rest of the country was in the hands of the various warring factions.
June 1991, former AFL fighters formed rebel group United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy
(ULIMO), entered western Liberia in September ’91, and gained territories from the NPFL.
, Benin
. On 22 September ’93, the UN established an observer mission UNOMIL to support ECOMOG in implementing the Cotonou agreement. March 1994, the ‘interim government’ of Sawyer
was succeeded by a Council of State collective presidency of six members headed by David D. Kpormakpor
. May 1994, renewed armed hostilities broke out and held on. Somewhere 1994, ULIMO broke into two militias: ULIMO-J, a Krahn faction led by Roosevelt Johnson
and ULIMO-K, a Mandigo-based faction under Alhaji G.V. Kromah
. September ’94, factional leaders agreed to the Akosombo peace agreement in Ghana, but to little consequence. October ‘94, the UN reduced its number of UNOMIL observers to about 90 because of the lack of will of combatants to honour peace agreements. December ’94, factions and parties signed the Accra agreement, but fighting continued. August 1995, factions signed an agreement largely brokered by Jerry Rawlings
, Ghanaian President; Charles Taylor agreed. September ’95, Kpormakpor
’s Council of State is succeeded by one under civilian Wilton G. S. Sankawulo
and with the factional heads Charles Taylor, Alhaji Kromah and George Boley
in it. April 1996, followers of Taylor and Kromah assaulted the headquarters of Roosevelt Johnson in Monrovia, and the peace accord collapsed. In August ’96, a new ceasefire is reached in Abuja
, Nigeria
. 3 September 1996, Ruth Perry
followed Sankawulo
as chairwoman of the Council of State, with the same three militia leaders in it.
)
leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, received a mere 9.58 percent of the vote. Accordingly, Taylor's National Patriotic Party
gained 21 of a possible 26 seats in the Senate, and 49 of a possible 64 seats in the House of Representatives. The election was judged free and fair by some observers although it was charged that Taylor had employed widespread intimidation to achieve victory at the polls.
, selling them weapons against diamonds.
(LURD), backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea
. In 1999, they emerged in northern Liberia, in April 2000 they started fighting in Lofa County
in northernmost Liberia. By the spring of 2001 they were posing a major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic.
Meanwhile, the United Nations
Security Council in March, 2001 (Resolution 1343
) concluded that Liberia and Charles Taylor played roles in the civil war in Sierra Leone, and therefore:
By the beginning of 2002, Sierra Leone and Guinea were supporting the LURD
, while Taylor was supporting opposition factions in both countries. By supporting Sierra Leonean rebels, Taylor also drew the enmity of the British and Americans.
Other elements of the former ULIMO-factions formed another new rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia
(MODEL). Early 2003, MODEL emerged in the south of Liberia.
, women started gathering and praying in a fish market to protest the violence. They organized the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), and issued a statement of intent: "In the past we were silent, but after being killed, raped, dehumanized, and infected with diseases, and watching our children and families destroyed, war has taught us that the future lies in saying NO to violence and YES to peace! We will not relent until peace prevails."
Joined by Liberian Muslim Women's Organization, Christian and Muslim women joined forces to create Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace
. They wore white, to symbolize peace. They staged silent nonviolence
protests and forced a meeting with President Charles Taylor and extracted a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana
.
In 2003, a delegation of Liberian women went to Ghana
to continue to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a sit in outside of the Presidential Palace, blocking all the doors and windows and preventing anyone from leaving the peace talks without a resolution. Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace
became a political force against violence and against their government. Their actions brought about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. As a result, the women were able to achieve peace in Liberia
after a 14-year civil war and later helped bring to power the country's first female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
On March 7, 2003, the war tribunal Special Court for Sierra Leone
(SCSL) decided to summon Charles Taylor and charge him with war crime
s and crimes against humanity, but they kept this decision and this charge secret until June that year.
May 6, 2003, the UN Security Council (Resolution 1478
) decided to an embargo also on Liberian “round logs and timber products”.
By mid-2003, LURD controlled the northern third of the country and was threatening the capital, MODEL was active in the south, and Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country: Monrovia and central Liberia.
On June 4, 2003, ECOWAS organized peace talks in Accra
, Ghana
, among the Government of Liberia, civil society, and the rebel groups LURD and MODEL. On the opening ceremony, in Taylor’s presence, the SCSL revealed their charge against Taylor which they had kept secret since March, and also issued an international arrest warrant for Taylor. The SCSL indicted Taylor for “bearing the greatest responsibility” for atrocities in Sierra Leone since November 1996. The Ghanaian authorities did not attempt to arrest Taylor, declaring they could not round up a president they themselves had invited as a guest for peace talks. The same day, Taylor returned to Liberia.
in his country, if Taylor stayed out of Liberian politics. Also in July, American President Bush
stated twice that Taylor “must leave Liberia”. Taylor insisted that he would resign only if American peacekeeping
troops were deployed to Liberia.
1 August 2003, the Security Council, (Resolution 1497
) decided on a multinational force in Liberia, to be followed-on by a United Nations stabilization force.
ECOWAS sent troops under the banner of 'ECOMIL
' to Liberia. These troops started to arrive in Liberia probably as of 15 August. The U.S. provided logistical support. President Taylor resigned, and flew into exile in Nigeria
. Vice-President Moses Blah
replaced Taylor as interim-President.
A ECOWAS-ECOMIL force of 1000 Nigerian troops was airlifted into Liberia on August 15, to halt the occupation of Monrovia
by rebel forces. Meanwhile, U.S. stationed a Marine Expeditionary Unit
with 2300 Marines offshore Liberia.
On August 18, 2003, the Liberian Government, the rebels, political parties, and leaders from civil society signed a peace agreement that laid the framework for a two-year National Transitional Government of Liberia. August 21, they selected businessman Charles Gyude Bryant as Chair of the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), effective on October 14. These changes paved the way for the ECOWAS peacekeeping mission to expand into a 3,600-strong force, constituted by Benin
, Gambia, Ghana
, Guinea-Bissau
, Mali
, Nigeria
, Senegal
and Togo
.
On October 1, 2003, UNMIL took over the peacekeeping duties from ECOWAS. Some 3,500 West African troops were provisionally ‘re-hatted’ as United Nations peacekeepers. The U.N. Secretary-General commended the African Governments who have contributed to UNMIL, as well as the United States for its support to the regional force. October 14, 2003, Blah handed power to Charles Gyude Bryant
.
Fighting initially continued in parts of the country, and tensions between the factions did not immediately vanish.
But fighters were being disarmed; in June 2004, a program to reintegrate the fighters into society began; the economy recovered somewhat in 2004; by year's end, the funds for the re-integration program proved inadequate; also by the end of 2004, more than 100,000 Liberian fighters had been disarmed, and the disarmament program was ended. In light of the progress made, President Bryant requested an end to the UN embargo on Liberian diamonds (since March 2001) and timber (since May 2003), but the Security Council postponed such a move until the peace was more secure.
Because of a supposed ‘fundamentally broken system of governance that contributed to 23 years of conflict in Liberia’, and failures of the Transitional Government in curbing corruption, the Liberian government and the International Contact Group on Liberia
signed onto the anti-corruption program GEMAP
, starting September 2005.
The transitional government prepared for fair and peaceful democratic elections on October 11, 2005, with UNMIL troops safeguarding the peace. Twenty three candidates stood for the presidential election, with George Weah
, internationally famous footballer, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Kru
ethnic group, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a former World Bank
economist and finance minister, Harvard-trained economist and of mixed Americo-Liberian
and indigenous descent.
In the first round, no candidate took the required majority, Weah won this round with 28% of the vote. A run-off between the top two vote getters, Weah and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was necessary.
The second round of elections took place on November 8, 2005. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won this runoff decisively. Both the general election and runoff were marked by peace and order, with thousands of Liberians waiting patiently in the Liberian heat to cast their ballots.
Sirleaf claimed victory of this round, winning 59 per cent of the vote. However, Weah alleged electoral fraud, despite international observers declaring the election to be free and fair. Although Weah was still threatening to take his claims to the Supreme Court if no evidence of fraud was found, Johnson-Sirleaf was declared winner on November 23, 2005, and took office on January 16, 2006.
filed an Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) case against Bridgestone
, the parent company of Firestone, alleging “forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery”, on the Firestone
Plantation in Harbel
. In May 2006, the United Nations Mission in Liberia
(UNMIL) released a report: “Human Rights in Liberia’s Rubber Plantations: Tapping into the Future” which detailed the results of its investigation into the conditions on the Firestone plantation in Liberia.
extradite Charles Taylor, who was then brought before an international tribunal in Sierra Leone
to face charges of crimes against humanity, arising from events during the Sierra Leone civil war (his trial was later transferred to The Hague
for security purposes). In June, 2006, the United Nations ended its embargo on Liberian timber (effective since May 2003), but continued its diamond embargo (effective since March 2001) until an effective certificate of origin program was established, a decision that was reaffirmed in October 2006.
In March 2007, former interim president Bryant
was arrested and charged with having embezzled government funds while in office. In August 2007, the Supreme Court of Liberia
allowed the criminal prosecution for this to proceed in the lower courts. The court ruled that Bryant was not entitled to immunity as the head of state under the Constitution as he was not elected to the position and he was not acting in accordance with law when he allegedly stole USD $1.3 million in property from the government.
Some parts of the country were declared disaster zones due to a plague of caterpillar
s.
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
was set up by citizens of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
for former African-American slaves. It is one of only two sovereign states in the world that were started by citizens of a political power as a colony for former slaves of the same political power: Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
was begun as a colony for resettlement of Black Loyalists and poor blacks from England for the same purpose by Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Early times (pre–1821)
Historians believe that many of the indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
of Liberia migrated there from the north and east between the 12th and 16th centuries AD. Portuguese explorers established contacts with people of the land later known as "Liberia" as early as 1461. They named the area Costa da Pimenta (Pepper Coast
Pepper Coast
Pepper Coast is the name of a coastal area in western Africa, between Cape Mesurado and Cape Palmas. It encloses the present republic of Liberia. It got its name from the melegueta pepper. The pepper is also known as the grain of paradise, which gave rise to an alternative name, the Grain Coast...
) because of the abundance of melegueta pepper
Aframomum melegueta
Aframomum melegueta is a species in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. This spice, commonly known as grains of paradise, melegueta pepper, alligator pepper, Guinea grains or Guinea pepper, is obtained from the ground seeds; it gives a pungent, peppery flavour...
. In 1602 the Dutch established a trading post at Grand Cape Mount but destroyed it a year later. In 1663, the British installed trading posts on the Pepper Coast. No further known settlements by non-African colonists occurred along the Grain Coast (an alternative name) until the arrival in 1821 of free blacks from the United States.
Colonization (1821–1847)
From around 1800, in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, people opposed to slavery were planning ways to alleviate the problem. Some abolitionists and slaveholders collaborated on the idea to set up a colony in Africa for freed African-American slaves. Between 1821 and 1847, by a combination of purchase and conquest, American ‘Societies’ developed the colony ‘Liberia.’ On July 26, 1847, it declared its independence.
First ideas of colonization
As early as the period of the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, many white members of American society thought that African Americans could not succeed in living in ‘their’ society as free people. Some considered blacks physically and mentally inferior to whites, and others believed that the racism and societal polarization resulting from slavery were insurmountable obstacles for integration of the races. The young politician Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
was among those who proposed colonization in Africa; relocating free blacks outside the new nation.
Growing numbers of free blacks
After 1783 the ranks of free blacks expanded markedly, due both to manumission of slaves in the South during the first two decades after the Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, attributable both to slaveholders inspired by its ideals and to others inspired to manumission by Quaker, Methodist and Baptist preachers active in those years. The Northeast states abolished slavery following the war, generally on a graduated basis where it was still economically viable, as in the mid-Atlantic states.
In 1800 and 1802, slave rebellions occurred (see Gabriel’s rebellion) in Virginia, and were brutally suppressed by slaveholders. Some planters feared that free blacks would encourage slaves to run away or revolt. From 1782-1810, the number and percentage of free blacks in the Upper South increased from less than one percent to 13.5%. In the nation as a whole, the number of free people of color also increased. In 1790, there were 59,467 free blacks, out of a total U.S. population of almost four million and a total black U.S. population of 800,000. By 1800, there were 108,378 free blacks in a population of 7.2 million.
These factors significantly influenced the popularity of the concept of colonization as a ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ of free blacks.
Sierra Leone
In 1787, Britain had started to resettle the Black Poor of London in the colony of FreetownFreetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
in modern-day Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, many of whom were Black Loyalists who had been freed in exchange for their services during the American Revolution. The Crown also offered resettlement to former slaves from Nova Scotia. The wealthy African-American shipowner Paul Cuffee thought this was a worthwhile exercise, and with support from certain members of Congress and British officials conveyed 38 American Blacks to Freetown in 1816 at his own expense. Despite such voyages ceasing with his death in 1817, his private initiative served to arouse public interest.
Cape Mesurado
In this same period, on the initiative of the Virginian politician Charles F. MercerCharles F. Mercer
Charles Fenton Mercer was a nineteenth century politician, U.S. Congressman, and lawyer from Loudoun County, Virginia....
and the Presbyterian minister Robert Finley
Robert Finley
Robert Finley was briefly the president of the University of Georgia. Finley was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and graduated from College of New Jersey at the age of 15.-Early life:Finley was born to James Finley and Ann Angrest, James was born 1737 in Glasgow, Scotland where he...
from New Jersey, in 1816 the American Colonization Society
American Colonization Society
The American Colonization Society , founded in 1816, was the primary vehicle to support the "return" of free African Americans to what was considered greater freedom in Africa. It helped to found the colony of Liberia in 1821–22 as a place for freedmen...
(ACS) was established in Washington D.C. by American politicians, senators and religious leaders from a variety of orientations. They united on the project of ‘colonizing’ free blacks out of the U.S., to Africa.
From January 1820, the ACS sent ships from New York to West Africa. The first had 88 free black emigrants and three white ACS agents on board, who intended to seek an appropriate area to ground a settlement. After several attempts and hardships, ACS representatives in December 1821 succeeded, perhaps with some threat of force (see American Colonization Society), to buy Cape Mesurado
Cape Mesurado
Cape Mesurado is a headland on the coast of Liberia near the capital Monrovia and the mouth of the Saint Paul River. It was named Cape Mesurado by Portuguese sailors in the 1560s...
, a 36-mile long strip of land near current day Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
, from the indigenous ruler King Peter.
From the beginning, the colonists were attacked by indigenous peoples, such as the Malinké
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
tribes. In addition, they suffered from diseases, the harsh climate, lack of food and medicine, and poor housing conditions.
Expansion
Up until 1835, five more colonies were started by American Societies other than the ACS, and one by the U.S. government, all on the same West African coast. The first colony on Cape Mesurado was extended, along the coast as well as inland, sometimes by use of force. In 1824 it was named Liberia, with the capital of Monrovia. By 1842, four of the other American colonies were incorporated into Liberia, and one was destroyed by natives. The colonists of African-American descent became known as Americo-LiberianAmerico-Liberian
Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the Sierra Leone Creole people who are of African American, West Indian, and liberated African descent...
s. Not only were many racially mixed and of European descent, but their education, religion and culture made them distinct from the indigenous peoples, with whom they did not identify.
Handing over command to Americo-Liberians
Americo-Liberian Rule (1847–1980)
Between 1847 and 1980, the state of Liberia was governed by the small minority of African-American colonists and their offspring, together called Americo-LiberianAmerico-Liberian
Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the Sierra Leone Creole people who are of African American, West Indian, and liberated African descent...
s, suppressing the large indigenous majority of 95% of the Liberian population. The history of Liberia in this period can be described as four major, intertwined and interacting developments:
- Relations between Americo-Liberians and the indigenous peoples
- Relations between the U.S. and Liberia
- Relations between non-U.S. foreign powers and Liberia
- Liberian economy, industry and natural resources
Relations between Americo-Liberians and the indigenous peoples
Relations between colonists and natives were contentious from the founding of Liberia, and eventually led to the overthrow of the Americo-Liberian regime in 1980.Resistance
The original inhabitants of the area resented the American settlements and their territorial expansions. They engaged in resistance in all imaginable forms from the inception of colonization until at least 1980.Americo-Liberian domination and suppression
The Americo-Liberians had been cut off from their African cultural inheritance by the conditions of slaverySlavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, and were entirely acculturated to contemporary Euro-America society. They were of mixed African and European ancestry and therefore generally lighter-skinned than the indigenous blacks. Crucially, they had absorbed beliefs in the religious superiority of Protestant Christianity, the cultural superiority of European civilization, and the aesthetic superiority of European skin color and hair texture.
They created a social and material facsimile of American society in Liberia, maintaining their English-speaking, Americanized way of life, and building churches and houses resembling those of the Southern U.S.
The Americo-Liberians never constituted more than five percent of the population of Liberia, yet they controlled key resources that allowed them to dominate the local native peoples: access to the ocean, modern technical skills, literacy and higher levels of education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, and valuable relationships with many American institutions, including the American government.
Ironically, one aspect of American society that the Americo-Liberians recreated was a cultural and racial caste system—however, in this case with themselves at the top instead of the bottom. To them, their society must have seemed radically different from the USA because it rejected the ubiquitous Western belief in immutable racial hierarchy, which had led the colonists to despair of life in the USA. They, on the other hand, believed in racial equality, and therefore in the potential of all people to become 'civilized' through evangelization and education. Like many white missionaries before and after them, they were frustrated by the natives' lack of interest in becoming 'civilized.'
Some local people assimilated into Americo-Liberian society, often by marriage. Some entire coastal tribes became Protestants and learned English. But most indigenous Africans kept to their traditional languages and religions. Before long, the Americo-Liberian ruling elite was living rather prosperously, sending their children to America for (often racially segregated) high school and college education, and keeping the indigenous peoples excluded from all political and economic leadership.
Native insurgencies
The Americo-Liberian settlers in 1878 organized their political power in the True Whig Party, which permitted no organized political opposition. Until 1980, the Americo-Liberians firmly held onto their position of authority, meeting with unremitting uprising, rebellion and riots from the native peoples. The United States would, at least until 1915, take sides with the ruling Americo-Liberians in these struggles (see Relations between the U.S. and Liberia); European powers would, in the 19th century, stir up internal unrest in Liberia (see military threats).1856: war with Grebo
Grebo (ethnic group)
The name Grebo is used to refer to an ethnic group or subgroup within the larger Kru group of West Africa, to certain of its constituent elements, or to the Grebo language. Within Liberia members of this group are found primarily in Maryland County and Grand Kru County in the southeastern portion...
and Kru
Kru
The Kru are an ethnic group who live in interior of Liberia. Their history is one marked by a strong sense of ethnicity and resistance to occupation. In 1856 when part of Liberia was still known as the independent Republic of Maryland, the Kru along with the Grebo resisted Maryland settlers'...
peoples, leading to the last American African colony, Republic of Maryland
Republic of Maryland
The Republic of Maryland was a small African American nation which existed from 1854 to 1857, when it was united into what is now Liberia....
, joining Liberia. It was annexed into Liberia as Maryland County in 1857. (See 1856-64, Presidency Benson
Stephen Allen Benson
Stephen Allen Benson served as the 2nd President of Liberia from 1856 to 1864. Prior to that, he served as the 3rd Vice President of Liberia from 1854 to 1856 under President Joseph Jenkins Roberts....
.)
1864: uprisings of inland and coastal tribes (Presidency Benson
Stephen Allen Benson
Stephen Allen Benson served as the 2nd President of Liberia from 1856 to 1864. Prior to that, he served as the 3rd Vice President of Liberia from 1854 to 1856 under President Joseph Jenkins Roberts....
)
1875-76: war in Cape Palmas
Cape Palmas
Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, West Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus. Immediately to the west of the...
(see 1876-78, Presidency Payne-II
James Spriggs Payne
James Spriggs Payne served as the fourth and eighth President of Liberia from 1868 to 1870 and 1876 to 1878. He was the last President to belong to Liberia's Republican Party.-Early life:...
)
circa 1886: an uprising (Presidency Johnson
Hilary R. W. Johnson
Hilary Richard Wright Johnson served as the 11th President of Liberia from 1884 to 1892. He was elected four times. He served as Secretary of State before his presidency, under the administration of Edward James Roye....
)
mid 1880s until late 1890s: some tribes stay at war (see 1896-1900, Presidency Coleman)
1893: Grebo tribe attacked settlement of Harper
Harper, Liberia
Harper, situated on Cape Palmas, is the capital of Maryland County in Liberia. It is a coastal town situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Hoffman River. Harper is Liberia's 11th largest town, with a population of 17,837....
(Presidency Cheeseman
Joseph James Cheeseman
Joseph James Cheeseman was the 12th President of Liberia. He was born in Edina, Grand Bassa County, Liberia and was elected three times on the True Whig ticket...
)
1900: bloody battle (Presidency Coleman)
1915: rebellion of the Kru (Presidency Howard
Daniel Edward Howard
Daniel Edward Howard was the 16th President of Liberia, serving from 1912 to 1920. Born in the town of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, he worked his way up through the civil service to become secretary of the True Whig Party, the country's only political party at the time.Howard was elected...
)
1912-20: internal wars (Presidency Howard
Daniel Edward Howard
Daniel Edward Howard was the 16th President of Liberia, serving from 1912 to 1920. Born in the town of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, he worked his way up through the civil service to become secretary of the True Whig Party, the country's only political party at the time.Howard was elected...
)
Admonishment from the League of Nations
After 1927, the League of NationsLeague of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
investigated accusations that the Liberian government recruited and sold indigenous people as contract labor or slaves. In its 1930 report the League admonished the Liberian government for ‘systematically and for years fostering and encouraging a policy of gross intimidation and suppression’, “in order to suppress the native, prevent him from realizing his powers and limitations and prevent him from asserting himself in any way whatever, for the benefit of the dominant and colonizing race, although originally the same African stock as themselves” (see also Presidency Charles King 1920-1930
Charles D. B. King
Charles Dunbar Burgess King was a politician in Liberia of Freetown Creole descent . He was a member of the True Whig Party, which ruled the country from 1878 until 1980...
). President King hastily resigned.
Social tensions 1940–1980
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
thousands of indigenous Liberians came from the nation's interior to the coastal regions in search of jobs. The Liberian Government had long opposed this kind of migration, but was no longer able to restrain it.
In the decades after 1945, the Liberian government received hundreds of millions of dollars of unrestricted foreign investment, which destabilized the Liberian economy. Liberian Government revenue rose enormously, but was being grossly embezzled by government officials. Growing economic disparities caused increased hostility between indigenous groups and Americo-Liberians.
The social tensions led President Tubman to enfranchise the indigenous Liberians either in 1951 or 1963 (accounts differ). Regardless of the date, this was enfranchisement in name only, since Tubman continued to repress political opposition, and to rig elections.
President Tolbert (1971–80) continued to suppress opposition harshly. Dissatisfaction over governmental plans to raise the price of rice in 1979 led to protest demonstrations in the streets of Monrovia. Tolbert ordered his troops to fire on the demonstrators, and seventy people were killed. Rioting ensued throughout Liberia, finally leading to a military coup d'état in April 1980.
Relations between the U.S. and Liberia
During their 133 years in power (1847–1980), the Americo-Liberian ruling class had a complicated relationship with the U.S.U.S. assists Americo-Liberians
At least until 1915, the U.S. assisted the Liberian rulers in putting down rebellions and uprisings of indigenous tribes.Between 1882 and 1919, whenever Britain and France annexed or threatened to annex, parts of Liberian territory, U.S. naval assistance was helpful in preserving Liberian independence (see the presidencies of Gardiner
Anthony W. Gardiner
Anthony William Gardner served as the ninth President of Liberia from 1878 until 1883. He was the first of a series of True Whig presidents who held power uninterruptedly until 1980....
, Johnson
Hilary R. W. Johnson
Hilary Richard Wright Johnson served as the 11th President of Liberia from 1884 to 1892. He was elected four times. He served as Secretary of State before his presidency, under the administration of Edward James Roye....
and Gibson).
Around 1906, after decades of financial crises and ruinous British bank loans (see Relations with European powers), the Liberian government was essentially bankrupt. In 1912 the U.S. arranged a 40-year international loan of $ 1.7 million, against which Liberia had to agree to four Western powers (America, Britain, France and Germany) controlling Liberian Government revenues for the next 14 years, until 1926.
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
company Firestone to start the world’s largest rubber plantation at Harbel
Harbel
Harbel is a town in Margibi County, Liberia. It lies along the Farmington River, about 15 miles upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. It was named for the founder of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Harvey S. Firestone, and his wife, Idabelle...
, Liberia. At the same time, Firestone arranged a $5 million private loan to Liberia. In the 1930s Liberia was again virtually bankrupt, and, after some American pressure, agreed to an assistance plan from the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. As part of this plan, two key officials of the League were placed in positions to ´advise´ the Liberian government.
War involvement
In World War II, Liberia signed a Defence Pact with the U.S. in 1942, and assured the Americans and their allies of all the supply of natural rubber (a strategic commodity in wartime) that they needed. It also allowed the U.S. to use its territory for military bases, and as a bridgehead for American transports of soldiers and war supplies. U.S. subsidized the construction of airports (Roberts Field), the Freeport of MonroviaFreeport of Monrovia
Freeport of Monrovia is the main commercial port facility in the West African nation of Liberia. The port was artificially created on Bushrod Island near Monrovia in 1948. The port facility contains four piers and one main wharf with four berths. The port also has tanker facilities and a fishery...
, and roads into the interior of Liberia.
Cold War, foreign investment, exploitation
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Liberian president Tubman
Tubman
Tubman may refer to:*Bob Tubman, Australian rugby league footballer*Harriet Tubman, African American freedom fighter*William Tubman, President of Liberia*Winston Tubman, Liberian politicianin law...
was agreeable to this policy. Between 1946 and 1960 Liberia received from some $500 million in unrestricted foreign investment, mainly from the U.S. From 1962 to 1980, the U.S. donated $280 million in aid to Liberia. In the 1970s under president Tolbert
Tolbert
Tolbert is a surname, and may refer to:*Berlinda Tolbert , American film and television actress *Emanuel Tolbert , American professional football player...
, Liberia strove for a more non-aligned and independent posture, and established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and Eastern bloc countries. It also severed ties with Israel during the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
in 1973, but kept supporting the U.S. on the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Dubious commerce, military threats
From the founding of Liberia, Europeans had commercial contacts with the nation. During the period 1856-64 European merchants consistently evaded Liberian import and export duties, in which they were supported by their own governments. This practice started or aggravated the financial tightness of the new state. By 1870 Liberia had sunk into financial crisis, which dragged on into the 1930s. Several times the Liberian government borrowed money from English banks on severe terms, and even from local German merchants. In 1912 the U.S. intervened into Liberia’s dire financial situation (see Relations between the U.S. and Liberia).Between 1878 and 1919 Britain, France and Germany, busy extending their own colonial territories in the region, threatened Liberia militarily, and France and Britain forced Liberia to cede parts of its territory to them (1883, 1885, 1892, 1903, 1919). Only after 1892 were Liberia's borders officially negotiated with these European powers.
The British (in 1875) and French (in 1886) are also alleged to have fuelled internal Liberian uprisings and wars.
From 1878 onwards Liberian presidents regularly called for more foreign trade and more foreign investment in Liberia.
Two World Wars
Between 1910 and 1943 Germany was Liberia’s major trading partner.In World War I, Liberia nevertheless tended to support the Allies, partly because it was French and British colonial territories that surrounded Liberia but also because Allied control of the Atlantic sea lanes made continued trade with Germany unviable. As a result Germany withdrew business from Liberia, causing Liberian customs revenue to decrease significantly.
In the 1930s Dutch, Danish, German and Polish investors signed agreements for economic activities.
In the Second World War, the U.S. pressured Liberia to side with the Allies, and to expel all German citizens and business representatives in 1944. This would have again significantly disturbed the Liberian economy, but America had already in 1942 begun investing substantially in Liberia, in projects related to America’s war effort.
Large scale investments
Between 1945 and 1980, the posture of Western European states towards Liberia was largely that of the U.S.. Americo-Liberian rulers received hundreds of millions of dollars in unrestricted foreign investment, mainly from the U.S., but also from Western Europe. Many Western politicians courted president Tubman.Liberian rulers also built up ties with the Soviet bloc and other powers, striving for an independent position in world politics, as far as their strong bonds with the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
allowed them to.
Liberian economy, industry and natural resources
The Liberian economy between 1847 and 1980 expanded from primitive agriculture, through large scale rubber industry, to exploitation of mineral resources and rendering services.Agriculture
From its foundation, Liberia had flourishing trade contacts in West Africa, and soon started trading with Europeans. Primary export products were coffee, rice, palm oil, palm kernels, piassavaPiassava
Piassava, which is also called Piaçaba and Piasaba or Pissaba, or Piassaba, is a fibrous product of two Brazilian palms: Attalea funifera and Leopoldinia piassaba. It is often used in making brooms, and for other purposes....
, sugarcane and (hardwood) timber. Shipbuilding was important, until it declined in the 1870s with the competition from steamships. Also in the 1870s competition from Brazilian coffee and European sugar beets caused a decline in Liberian exports.
Liberia then tried to modernize its largely agricultural economy. President Gardiner
Anthony W. Gardiner
Anthony William Gardner served as the ninth President of Liberia from 1878 until 1883. He was the first of a series of True Whig presidents who held power uninterruptedly until 1980....
(1878–83) called for increases of foreign trade and investment. President Coleman (1896–1900) considered the future of Liberia to depend on exploitation of the resources of Liberia’s interior. President Gibson (1900–04) granted rights to Union Mining Company to investigate the hinterland for minerals.
During World War I, Germany, at that time Liberia’s major trading partner, withdrew from the country, causing Liberian customs revenue to decrease. Additionally a German submarine blockade of Liberia caused trade with Britain, France and the U.S. to decrease to negligible amounts.
Natural resources
In the 1930s, Liberia signed concession agreements with Dutch, Danish, German and Polish investors.
In World War II, rubber was strategically important, and Liberia assured the U.S. and its allies of all the natural rubber they needed. Also, Liberia allowed the U.S. to use its territory as a bridgehead for transports of soldiers and war supplies, to construct military bases, airports, the Freeport of Monrovia, roads to the interior, etc. The American military presence boosted the Liberian economy; thousands of laborers descended from the interior to the coastal region. The country’s huge iron ore deposits were made accessible to commerce.
Between 1946 and 1960, the Liberian government attracted $500 million in foreign investment, mainly American, partly also from multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s. By 1971, this amounted to more than $1 billion. Exports of iron, timber and rubber rose strongly. In 1971, Liberia had the world’s largest rubber industry, and was the third largest exporter of iron ore.
Other mineral deposits also generated state income. From 1948 Ship registrations
Flag of convenience
The term flag of convenience describes the business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners, and flying that state's civil ensign on the ship. Ships are registered under flags of convenience to reduce operating costs or avoid the...
became another large new source of state revenue. From 1962 until 1980, the U.S. donated $280 million in aid to Liberia, in exchange for which Liberia offered its land free of rent for U.S. government facilities.
Throughout the 1970s the price of rubber in the world commodities market was depressed, putting pressure on Liberian state finances.
Samuel Doe and the People’s Redemption Council (1980–1989)
After a bloody overthrow of the Americo-Liberian régime by indigenous Liberians in 1980, a ‘Redemption Council’ took control of Liberia. Internal unrest, opposition to the new military regime, and governmental repression steadily grew, until in 1989 Liberia sank into outright tribalTribalism
The social structure of a tribe can vary greatly from case to case, but, due to the small size of tribes, it is always a relatively simple role structure, with few significant social distinctions between individuals....
and civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
.
Coup d’état; relations with U.S.
Samuel Kanyon DoeSamuel Doe
Samuel Kanyon Doe was the 21st President of Liberia, serving from 1986 until his assassination in 1990. He had previously served as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council from 1980 to 1986. He was the first indigenous head of state in Liberian history.Doe was a part of a rural tribe in inland...
(1951–1990) was a member of the small ethnic group of the Krahn
Krahn
Krahn is an ethnic group of Liberia; it is also the language traditionally spoken by these people.- History :The Krahn Arrived in the area known as Ivory Coast and Liberia from Northern Africa shortly before the slaves trade. Most of these people were taken as slaves to the United States and the...
, a master sergeant in the Liberian army, and trained by U.S. Army Special Forces. On April 12, 1980, Doe led a bloody coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against president Tolbert
William R. Tolbert, Jr.
William Richard Tolbert, Jr. was the 20th President of Liberia from 1971 to 1980.Trained as a civil servant, he entered the country's House of Representatives in 1955 for the True Whig Party, then the only established party in the country...
, in which Tolbert and twenty-six of his supporters were murdered; ten days later thirteen of Tolbert’s Cabinet members were publicly executed. Thus ended 133 years of Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the Sierra Leone Creole people who are of African American, West Indian, and liberated African descent...
political domination over Liberia. Doe established a military regime called the People's Redemption Council
People's Redemption Council
The People's Redemption Council was a military regime that governed Liberia during the early 1980s. It was established after the military coup of April 12, 1980, in which Samuel Doe, who served as chairman of the Council, seized power. Apart from Doe, the Council consisted of 17 soldiers...
(PRC).
Many people welcomed Doe's takeover as a shift favouring the majority of the population that had been excluded from power. Immediately following the coup, the PRC tolerated a relatively free press.
Doe quickly established good relations with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, especially after U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
took office in 1981. Reagan increased financial aid for Liberia, from the $20 million it had been in 1979, to $75 million, and later $95 million per year. Liberia became again an important Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
ally of the U.S.. Liberia served to protect important U.S. facilities and investments, and to counter the perceived spread of Soviet influence in Africa. Doe closed the Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n mission in Monrovia and even severed diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He agreed to a modification of the mutual defence pact with the U.S. granting staging rights on 24-hour notice at Liberia's sea- and airports for the U.S. Rapid Deployment Forces.
Under Doe, Liberian ports were opened to American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an ships, which brought in considerable foreign investment from shipping firms and earned Liberia a reputation as a tax haven
Tax haven
A tax haven is a state or a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all while offering due process, good governance and a low corruption rate....
.
Fear of counter-coup; repression
Doe overcame seven coup attempts between 1981 and 1985. In August 1981 he had Thomas Weh Syen and four other PRC members arrested and executed for allegedly conspiring against him. Then Doe’s government declared an amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles, and released sixty political prisoners.Soon there were more internal rifts in the PRC. Doe became paranoid about the possibility of a counter-coup, and his government grew increasingly corrupt and repressive, banning political opposition, shutting down newspapers and jailing reporters. He began to systematically eliminate PRC members who challenged his authority, and to place people of his own ethnic Krahn background in key positions, which intensified popular anger.
Meanwhile, the economy deteriorated precipitously. Popular support for Doe's government evaporated.
1985 presidential election
A draft constitution providing for a multiparty republic had been issued in 1983 and was approved by referendum in 1984. After the referendum, Doe staged a presidential election on October 15, 1985. Nine political parties sought to challenge Doe's National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL), but only three were allowed to take part. Prior to the election, more than fifty of Doe's opponents were murdered. Doe was ‘elected’ with 51% of the vote, but the election was heavily rigged. Foreign observers declared the elections fraudulent, and most of the elected opposition candidates refused to take their seats.U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Chester Crocker
Chester Crocker
Chester Arthur Crocker is an American diplomat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1981 to 1989 in the Reagan administration. Crocker, architect of the U.S...
testified before Congress that the election was imperfect but that at least it was a step toward democracy. He further justified his support for the election results with the claim that, in any case, all African elections were known to be rigged at that time.
Repression escalates into tribal warfare
(see also First Liberian Civil War)In November 1985 Thomas Quiwonkpa
Thomas Quiwonkpa
Thomas Quiwonkpa, a Gio from Nimba County, was a Commanding General of the Armed Forces of Liberia and founder of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia....
, Doe’s former second-in-command, with an estimated 500 to 600 people, failed in an attempt to seize power; all were killed. Doe was sworn in as President on January 6, 1986. Doe then initiated crackdowns against certain tribes, such as the Gio
Gio Tribe
The Gio or Dan people is an ethnic group in north-eastern Liberia and in Côte d'Ivoire. The Dan are an ethnic group located in the West African countries of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. There are approximately 350,000 members of the group, united by the Dan language, a Mande language...
(or Dan) and Mano, in the north, where most of the coup plotters came from. This government's mistreatment of certain ethnic groups resulted in divisions and violence among indigenous populations, who until then had coexisted relatively peacefully.
In the late 1980s, as fiscal austerity took hold in the United States and the perceived threat of Communism declined with the waning of the Cold War, the U.S. became disenchanted with Doe's government and began cutting off critical foreign aid to Liberia. This, together with the popular opposition, made Doe’s position precarious.
Nonetheless, the Krahn
Krahn
Krahn is an ethnic group of Liberia; it is also the language traditionally spoken by these people.- History :The Krahn Arrived in the area known as Ivory Coast and Liberia from Northern Africa shortly before the slaves trade. Most of these people were taken as slaves to the United States and the...
tribe of president Doe attacked tribes in Nimba County
Nimba County
Nimba is a county in the north-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Sanniquellie serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring , the largest in the nation...
in the north; some northerners fled to bordering Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). In the late 1980s, Charles Taylor assembled rebels from Gio and Mano tribes in Ivory Coast into a militia, invaded Nimba County in 1989, and by 1990 a full-blown tribal war was taking place.
First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996)
(See also: First Liberian Civil War and Charles Taylor)In the late 1980s opposition from abroad to Doe
Samuel Doe
Samuel Kanyon Doe was the 21st President of Liberia, serving from 1986 until his assassination in 1990. He had previously served as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council from 1980 to 1986. He was the first indigenous head of state in Liberian history.Doe was a part of a rural tribe in inland...
’s regime led to economic collapse. Doe had already been repressing and crushing internal opposition for some time, when in November 1985 another coup attempt against him failed. Doe retaliated against tribes such as the Gio
Gio Tribe
The Gio or Dan people is an ethnic group in north-eastern Liberia and in Côte d'Ivoire. The Dan are an ethnic group located in the West African countries of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. There are approximately 350,000 members of the group, united by the Dan language, a Mande language...
(or Dan) and Mano in the north, where most of the coup plotters had come from. Perhaps as a sequel to these governmental retaliations, perhaps as another circumscription of these same events: Doe’s Krahn
Krahn
Krahn is an ethnic group of Liberia; it is also the language traditionally spoken by these people.- History :The Krahn Arrived in the area known as Ivory Coast and Liberia from Northern Africa shortly before the slaves trade. Most of these people were taken as slaves to the United States and the...
tribe began attacking other tribes, particularly in Nimba County
Nimba County
Nimba is a county in the north-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Sanniquellie serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring , the largest in the nation...
in the northeast of Liberia, bordering on Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and on Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
. Some Liberian northerners fled for brutal treatment from the Liberian army into the Ivory Coast.
Charles Taylor and the NPFL 1980-’89
Charles Taylor, born 1948, is son to a GolaGola
Gola may refer to:Groups and tribes:*Gola , in Balochistan, Pakistan*Gola people, a tribal people and language in Liberia*Gola , native to south-east Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh regions of IndiaPlace names:...
mother and either an Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the Sierra Leone Creole people who are of African American, West Indian, and liberated African descent...
or an Afro-Trinidadian father. Taylor was a student at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A., from 1972 to 1977, earning a degree in economics. After the 1980 coup d’état he served some time in Doe’s government until he was sacked in 1983 on accusation of embezzling government funds. He fled Liberia, was arrested in 1984 in Massachusetts on a Liberian warrant for extradition, and jailed in Massachusetts; escaped from jail in 1985, and probably fled to Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
.
Some time later, while in the Ivory Coast, Taylor assembled a group of rebels into the National Patriotic Front of Liberia
National Patriotic Front of Liberia
The National Patriotic Front of Liberia was a rebel group that initiated and participated in the First Liberian Civil War from 1989 to 1996.-Leadership:...
(NPFL), mostly from the Gio
Gio Tribe
The Gio or Dan people is an ethnic group in north-eastern Liberia and in Côte d'Ivoire. The Dan are an ethnic group located in the West African countries of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. There are approximately 350,000 members of the group, united by the Dan language, a Mande language...
and Mano tribes.
War
December 1989, NPFL invaded Nimba County in Liberia. Thousands of Gio and Mano joined them, Liberians of other ethnic background as well. The Liberian army (AFL) counterattacked, and retaliated against the whole population of the region. Mid 1990, a war was raging between Krahn on one side, and Gio and Mano on the other. On both sides, thousands of civilians were massacred.1990-1991
By the middle of 1990, Taylor controlled much of the country, and by June laid siege to Monrovia. In July, Yormie Johnson split off from NPFL and formed the Independent National Patriotic Front of LiberiaIndependent National Patriotic Front of Liberia
The Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia was a rebel group that participated in the First Liberian Civil War under the leadership of Prince Johnson...
(INPFL), based on the Gio tribe. Both NPFL and INPFL continued siege on Monrovia. Bloodshed was all over.
In August 1990, Economic Community of West African States
Economic Community of West African States
The Economic Community of West African States is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region....
(ECOWAS), an organisation of West African states, created a military intervention force called Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group
Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group
The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, or ECOMOG, was a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States . ECOMOG was a formal arrangement for separate armies to work together...
(ECOMOG) of 4,000 troops, to restore order. President Doe and Yormie Johnson (INPFL) agreed to this intervention, Taylor didn’t.
On 9 September, President Doe paid a visit to the barely established headquarters of ECOMOG in the Free Port of Monrovia, was at the ECOMOG headquarters attacked by INPFL, taken to the INPFL’s Caldwell base, tortured and killed.
November 1990, ECOWAS agreed with some principal Liberian players but without Charles Taylor, on an Interim Government (IGNU) under President Dr. Amos Sawyer
Amos Sawyer
Dr. Amos Claudius Sawyer was the President of the Interim Government of National Unity in Liberia . Sawyer was born to Abel Sawyer and Sarah Sawyer in 1945, of Sarpo ethnicity; his siblings include Joe Sawyer; the Sawyers were a prominent family in Sinoe County...
. Sawyer established his authority over most of Monrovia, with the help of a paramilitary police force, the 'Black Berets,' under Brownie Samukai
Brownie Samukai
Brownie Samukai is the Minister of National Defence of Liberia. He took office on January 16, 2006, as part of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's Cabinet....
, while the rest of the country was in the hands of the various warring factions.
June 1991, former AFL fighters formed rebel group United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy
United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy
The United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy was a rebel group that participated in the First Liberian Civil War ....
(ULIMO), entered western Liberia in September ’91, and gained territories from the NPFL.
1993 - 1996
1993, ECOWAS brokered a peace agreement in CotonouCotonou
-Demographics:*1979: 320,348 *1992: 536,827 *2002: 665,100 *2005: 690,584 The main languages spoken in Cotonou include the Fon language, Aja language, Yoruba language and French.-Transport:...
, Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
. On 22 September ’93, the UN established an observer mission UNOMIL to support ECOMOG in implementing the Cotonou agreement. March 1994, the ‘interim government’ of Sawyer
Amos Sawyer
Dr. Amos Claudius Sawyer was the President of the Interim Government of National Unity in Liberia . Sawyer was born to Abel Sawyer and Sarah Sawyer in 1945, of Sarpo ethnicity; his siblings include Joe Sawyer; the Sawyers were a prominent family in Sinoe County...
was succeeded by a Council of State collective presidency of six members headed by David D. Kpormakpor
David D. Kpormakpor
David Donald Kpormakpor was a Liberian politician and the first Chairman of the Council of State that ruled Liberia from 7 March 1994 until 1 September 1995 during the height of the First Liberian Civil War....
. May 1994, renewed armed hostilities broke out and held on. Somewhere 1994, ULIMO broke into two militias: ULIMO-J, a Krahn faction led by Roosevelt Johnson
Roosevelt Johnson
David Roosevelt Johnson was a Liberian who led a rebel group during the country's civil war. He is a member of the Krahn ethnic group....
and ULIMO-K, a Mandigo-based faction under Alhaji G.V. Kromah
Alhaji G.V. Kromah
Professor Alhaji G.V. Kromah,Esq. is a veteran Liberian Journalist/writer, politician, Lawyer and former national resistance leader. He is a moderate Muslim and member of the Mandingo ethnic group from Tusu Town, Quardu-Gboni District, Lofa County. He attended St...
. September ’94, factional leaders agreed to the Akosombo peace agreement in Ghana, but to little consequence. October ‘94, the UN reduced its number of UNOMIL observers to about 90 because of the lack of will of combatants to honour peace agreements. December ’94, factions and parties signed the Accra agreement, but fighting continued. August 1995, factions signed an agreement largely brokered by Jerry Rawlings
Jerry Rawlings
Jerry John Rawlings is a former leader of the Republic of Ghana and now the African Union envoy to Somalia. Rawlings ruled Ghana as a military dictator in 1979 and from 1981 to 1992 and then as the first elected president of the Fourth Republic from 1993 to 2001...
, Ghanaian President; Charles Taylor agreed. September ’95, Kpormakpor
David D. Kpormakpor
David Donald Kpormakpor was a Liberian politician and the first Chairman of the Council of State that ruled Liberia from 7 March 1994 until 1 September 1995 during the height of the First Liberian Civil War....
’s Council of State is succeeded by one under civilian Wilton G. S. Sankawulo
Wilton G. S. Sankawulo
Wilton Gbakolo Sengbe Sankawulo, Sr. was a Liberian politician and author.Sankawulo was born in 1937 in Haindii in Lower Bong County. He entered Cuttington College and Divinity School in 1960. He began his literary career there by publishing his short stories in the Cuttington Review, the...
and with the factional heads Charles Taylor, Alhaji Kromah and George Boley
George Boley
George Eutychianus Saigbe Boley is a Liberian politician and former rebel leader. He is a member of the Krahn ethnic group. He is currently detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on charges of lying in order to enter the United States and committing extrajudicial killing in...
in it. April 1996, followers of Taylor and Kromah assaulted the headquarters of Roosevelt Johnson in Monrovia, and the peace accord collapsed. In August ’96, a new ceasefire is reached in Abuja
Abuja
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. 3 September 1996, Ruth Perry
Ruth Perry
Ruth Sando Fahnbulleh Perry was Chairwoman of the Council of State of Liberia from 3 September 1996 until 2 August 1997, following the First Liberian Civil War...
followed Sankawulo
Wilton G. S. Sankawulo
Wilton Gbakolo Sengbe Sankawulo, Sr. was a Liberian politician and author.Sankawulo was born in 1937 in Haindii in Lower Bong County. He entered Cuttington College and Divinity School in 1960. He began his literary career there by publishing his short stories in the Cuttington Review, the...
as chairwoman of the Council of State, with the same three militia leaders in it.
Second Liberian Civil War (1997–2003)
(See also: First Liberian Civil War, Charles Taylor and Second Liberian Civil WarSecond Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...
)
Elections 1997
Charles Taylor won the 1997 presidential elections with 75.33 percent of the vote, while the runner-up, Unity PartyUnity Party (Liberia)
The Unity Party is a political party in Liberia that was started in 1984 by the late Dr. Edward B. Kesselly, also its first standard bearer. The Unity Party participated the first post-1980 coup elections, running against then-President Samuel Doe in October 1985...
leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, received a mere 9.58 percent of the vote. Accordingly, Taylor's National Patriotic Party
National Patriotic Party
The National Patriotic Party is a political party in Liberia. It was formed in 1997 by members of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia following the end of the First Liberian Civil War....
gained 21 of a possible 26 seats in the Senate, and 49 of a possible 64 seats in the House of Representatives. The election was judged free and fair by some observers although it was charged that Taylor had employed widespread intimidation to achieve victory at the polls.
1997-1999
Bloodshed in Liberia did slow considerably, but it did not end. Violence kept flaring up. During his entire reign, Taylor had to fight insurgencies against his government. Suspicions were, Taylor continued to assist rebel forces in neighbouring countries, like Sierra LeoneSierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, selling them weapons against diamonds.
1999 - 2003
Some ULIMO forces reformed themselves as the Liberians United for Reconciliation and DemocracyLiberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy was a rebel group in Liberia that was active from 1999 until after the peace accords that ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003...
(LURD), backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
. In 1999, they emerged in northern Liberia, in April 2000 they started fighting in Lofa County
Lofa County
Lofa is a county in the northernmost portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Voinjama serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
in northernmost Liberia. By the spring of 2001 they were posing a major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic.
Meanwhile, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Security Council in March, 2001 (Resolution 1343
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1343
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1343, adopted unanimously on March 7, 2001, after recalling resolutions on Sierra Leone and the region, including resolutions 1132 , 1171 and 1306 , the Council demanded that Liberia end its support for rebels in Sierra Leone and threatened the imposition...
) concluded that Liberia and Charles Taylor played roles in the civil war in Sierra Leone, and therefore:
- banned all arms sales to, and diamonds sales from Liberia; and
- banned high Liberian Government members to travel to UN-states.
By the beginning of 2002, Sierra Leone and Guinea were supporting the LURD
Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy was a rebel group in Liberia that was active from 1999 until after the peace accords that ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003...
, while Taylor was supporting opposition factions in both countries. By supporting Sierra Leonean rebels, Taylor also drew the enmity of the British and Americans.
Other elements of the former ULIMO-factions formed another new rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia
Movement for Democracy in Liberia
The Movement for Democracy in Liberia was a rebel group in Liberia that became active in March 2003, launching attacks from Côte d'Ivoire...
(MODEL). Early 2003, MODEL emerged in the south of Liberia.
Women of Liberia
In 2002, the women in Liberia were tired of seeing their country torn apart. Organized by social worker Leymah GboweeLeymah Gbowee
Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's peace movement that brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. This led to the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia, the first African nation with a female president...
, women started gathering and praying in a fish market to protest the violence. They organized the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), and issued a statement of intent: "In the past we were silent, but after being killed, raped, dehumanized, and infected with diseases, and watching our children and families destroyed, war has taught us that the future lies in saying NO to violence and YES to peace! We will not relent until peace prevails."
Joined by Liberian Muslim Women's Organization, Christian and Muslim women joined forces to create Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started by women in Liberia, Africa thatbrought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Organized by social worker Leymah Gbowee, the movement started with local women praying and singing in a fish market...
. They wore white, to symbolize peace. They staged silent nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
protests and forced a meeting with President Charles Taylor and extracted a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
.
In 2003, a delegation of Liberian women went to Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
to continue to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a sit in outside of the Presidential Palace, blocking all the doors and windows and preventing anyone from leaving the peace talks without a resolution. Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace
Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started by women in Liberia, Africa thatbrought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Organized by social worker Leymah Gbowee, the movement started with local women praying and singing in a fish market...
became a political force against violence and against their government. Their actions brought about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. As a result, the women were able to achieve peace in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
after a 14-year civil war and later helped bring to power the country's first female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Another UN embargo, and arrest warrant against Taylor
Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Special Court for Sierra Leone is an independent judicial body set up to "try those who bear greatest responsibility" for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 during the Sierra Leone Civil War...
(SCSL) decided to summon Charles Taylor and charge him with war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s and crimes against humanity, but they kept this decision and this charge secret until June that year.
May 6, 2003, the UN Security Council (Resolution 1478
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1478
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1478, adopted unanimously on May 6, 2003, after recalling resolutions 1132 , 1171 , 1306 , 1343 , 1385 , 1395 , 1400 , 1408 , 1458 , 1467 and others on the situation in Liberia, the Council extended sanctions against the Liberian government for an...
) decided to an embargo also on Liberian “round logs and timber products”.
By mid-2003, LURD controlled the northern third of the country and was threatening the capital, MODEL was active in the south, and Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country: Monrovia and central Liberia.
On June 4, 2003, ECOWAS organized peace talks in Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, among the Government of Liberia, civil society, and the rebel groups LURD and MODEL. On the opening ceremony, in Taylor’s presence, the SCSL revealed their charge against Taylor which they had kept secret since March, and also issued an international arrest warrant for Taylor. The SCSL indicted Taylor for “bearing the greatest responsibility” for atrocities in Sierra Leone since November 1996. The Ghanaian authorities did not attempt to arrest Taylor, declaring they could not round up a president they themselves had invited as a guest for peace talks. The same day, Taylor returned to Liberia.
Pressure of rebels, Presidents, and UN: Taylor resigns
June 2003, LURD began a siege of Monrovia. July 9, the Nigerian President offered Taylor safe exileExile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
in his country, if Taylor stayed out of Liberian politics. Also in July, American President Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
stated twice that Taylor “must leave Liberia”. Taylor insisted that he would resign only if American peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
troops were deployed to Liberia.
1 August 2003, the Security Council, (Resolution 1497
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1497
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1497, adopted on August 1, 2003, after expressing concern at the situation in Liberia, the Council authorised a multinational force to intervene in the civil war to support the implementation of a ceasefire agreement using "all necessary measures".The...
) decided on a multinational force in Liberia, to be followed-on by a United Nations stabilization force.
ECOWAS sent troops under the banner of 'ECOMIL
ECOMIL
ECOWAS mission in Liberia was a peacekeeping force sent by ECOWAS to Liberia at the end of Second Liberian Civil War in September 2003....
' to Liberia. These troops started to arrive in Liberia probably as of 15 August. The U.S. provided logistical support. President Taylor resigned, and flew into exile in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. Vice-President Moses Blah
Moses Blah
Moses Zeh Blah is a Liberian political figure. He served as Vice President under President Charles Taylor and became the 23rd President of Liberia on 11 August 2003, following Taylor's resignation...
replaced Taylor as interim-President.
A ECOWAS-ECOMIL force of 1000 Nigerian troops was airlifted into Liberia on August 15, to halt the occupation of Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
by rebel forces. Meanwhile, U.S. stationed a Marine Expeditionary Unit
Marine Expeditionary Unit
A Marine expeditionary unit , formerly called Marine amphibious unit , is the smallest Marine air-ground task force in the United States Fleet Marine Force...
with 2300 Marines offshore Liberia.
Peace agreement and transitional government (2003–2005)
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, Gambia, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
and Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
.
On October 1, 2003, UNMIL took over the peacekeeping duties from ECOWAS. Some 3,500 West African troops were provisionally ‘re-hatted’ as United Nations peacekeepers. The U.N. Secretary-General commended the African Governments who have contributed to UNMIL, as well as the United States for its support to the regional force. October 14, 2003, Blah handed power to Charles Gyude Bryant
Gyude Bryant
Charles Gyude Bryant is a Liberian politician. He served as the Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia from 14 October 2003 to 16 January 2006...
.
Fighting initially continued in parts of the country, and tensions between the factions did not immediately vanish.
But fighters were being disarmed; in June 2004, a program to reintegrate the fighters into society began; the economy recovered somewhat in 2004; by year's end, the funds for the re-integration program proved inadequate; also by the end of 2004, more than 100,000 Liberian fighters had been disarmed, and the disarmament program was ended. In light of the progress made, President Bryant requested an end to the UN embargo on Liberian diamonds (since March 2001) and timber (since May 2003), but the Security Council postponed such a move until the peace was more secure.
Because of a supposed ‘fundamentally broken system of governance that contributed to 23 years of conflict in Liberia’, and failures of the Transitional Government in curbing corruption, the Liberian government and the International Contact Group on Liberia
International Contact Group on Liberia
The International Contact Group on Liberia is composed of members from the United Nations, ECOWAS, African Union, World Bank, United States, Ghana, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Sweden. The ICGL was formed from a need for an international and regional response to the Second Liberian...
signed onto the anti-corruption program GEMAP
GEMAP
The Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program is an effort, started September 2005, by the Liberian government and the international community, via the International Contact Group on Liberia to reshape the fundamentally broken system of governance that contributed to 23 years of...
, starting September 2005.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected president (2005)
George Weah
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah is a Liberian humanitarian and politician, and an ex-footballer. He ran unsuccessfully for president in the 2005 election, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the second round of voting...
, internationally famous footballer, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Kru
Kru
The Kru are an ethnic group who live in interior of Liberia. Their history is one marked by a strong sense of ethnicity and resistance to occupation. In 1856 when part of Liberia was still known as the independent Republic of Maryland, the Kru along with the Grebo resisted Maryland settlers'...
ethnic group, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a former World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
economist and finance minister, Harvard-trained economist and of mixed Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberian
Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. The sister ethnic group of Americo Liberians are the Sierra Leone Creole people who are of African American, West Indian, and liberated African descent...
and indigenous descent.
In the first round, no candidate took the required majority, Weah won this round with 28% of the vote. A run-off between the top two vote getters, Weah and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was necessary.
The second round of elections took place on November 8, 2005. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won this runoff decisively. Both the general election and runoff were marked by peace and order, with thousands of Liberians waiting patiently in the Liberian heat to cast their ballots.
Sirleaf claimed victory of this round, winning 59 per cent of the vote. However, Weah alleged electoral fraud, despite international observers declaring the election to be free and fair. Although Weah was still threatening to take his claims to the Supreme Court if no evidence of fraud was found, Johnson-Sirleaf was declared winner on November 23, 2005, and took office on January 16, 2006.
Allegations of labor rights abuses by Firestone
In November 2005, the International Labor Rights FundInternational Labor Rights Fund
The International Labor Rights Forum is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world". ILRF, formerly the International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund, was founded in 1986...
filed an Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) case against Bridgestone
Bridgestone
The is a multinational rubber conglomerate founded in 1931 by in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning "stone bridge" in Japanese....
, the parent company of Firestone, alleging “forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery”, on the Firestone
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...
Plantation in Harbel
Harbel
Harbel is a town in Margibi County, Liberia. It lies along the Farmington River, about 15 miles upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. It was named for the founder of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Harvey S. Firestone, and his wife, Idabelle...
. In May 2006, the United Nations Mission in Liberia
United Nations Mission in Liberia
The United Nations Mission in Liberia is a peace-keeping force established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War....
(UNMIL) released a report: “Human Rights in Liberia’s Rubber Plantations: Tapping into the Future” which detailed the results of its investigation into the conditions on the Firestone plantation in Liberia.
Extradition and trial of Charles Taylor, arrest of Bryant
Under international pressure, President Sirleaf requested in March 2006 that NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
extradite Charles Taylor, who was then brought before an international tribunal in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
to face charges of crimes against humanity, arising from events during the Sierra Leone civil war (his trial was later transferred to The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
for security purposes). In June, 2006, the United Nations ended its embargo on Liberian timber (effective since May 2003), but continued its diamond embargo (effective since March 2001) until an effective certificate of origin program was established, a decision that was reaffirmed in October 2006.
In March 2007, former interim president Bryant
Gyude Bryant
Charles Gyude Bryant is a Liberian politician. He served as the Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia from 14 October 2003 to 16 January 2006...
was arrested and charged with having embezzled government funds while in office. In August 2007, the Supreme Court of Liberia
Supreme Court of Liberia
The Supreme Court of Liberia is the highest judicial body in the West African nation of Liberia. The court consists of the Chief Justice of Liberia and four Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate...
allowed the criminal prosecution for this to proceed in the lower courts. The court ruled that Bryant was not entitled to immunity as the head of state under the Constitution as he was not elected to the position and he was not acting in accordance with law when he allegedly stole USD $1.3 million in property from the government.
2008-2009
In July 2008, the Legislature reintroduced the death penalty into Liberian law, with President Sirleaf signing the bill into law. The law allowed for executions for convictions of armed robbery, rape, terrorism, and hijacking.Some parts of the country were declared disaster zones due to a plague of caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s.
See also
- American Colonization SocietyAmerican Colonization SocietyThe American Colonization Society , founded in 1816, was the primary vehicle to support the "return" of free African Americans to what was considered greater freedom in Africa. It helped to found the colony of Liberia in 1821–22 as a place for freedmen...
- History of AfricaHistory of AfricaThe history of Africa begins with the prehistory of Africa and the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, continuing into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. Agriculture began about 10,000 BCE and metallurgy in about 4000 BCE. The history of early...
- History of West AfricaHistory of West AfricaThe partial history of West Africa can be divided into five major periods:#Its prehistory, in which the first human settlers arrived, agriculture developed, and contact made with the Mediterranean civilizations to the north....
- President of Liberia
- Politics of LiberiaPolitics of LiberiaPolitics of Liberia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic modeled on the government of the United States, whereby the President is the head of state and head of government; unlike the United States, however, Liberia is a unitary state as opposed to a...
- Lott Carey, of Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, the first American missionaryMissionaryA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to Liberia - Republic of MarylandRepublic of MarylandThe Republic of Maryland was a small African American nation which existed from 1854 to 1857, when it was united into what is now Liberia....
- Pray the Devil Back to HellPray the Devil Back to HellPray the Devil Back to Hell is a documentary film directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. The film premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary. The film had its theatrical release in New York City on November 7, 2008.The film documents...
- Women of Liberia Mass Action for PeaceWomen of Liberia Mass Action for PeaceWomen of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started by women in Liberia, Africa thatbrought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Organized by social worker Leymah Gbowee, the movement started with local women praying and singing in a fish market...
External links
- The Struggle for the Recognition of Haiti and Liberia as Independent Republics - From Haitian history Wiki
- Liberia - Entry on Liberia from the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia
- Article Liberia, from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910 edition, from EB 1911
- History of Liberia - Offers a history of Liberia from 1461 to the present.
- The Liberian Post - Extensive background information with links and photos.
- Liberian Law - Cornell Law Library - contains digitized documents dealing with the creation of the nation of Liberia and the laws enacted at its foundation, as well as extensive links for further research
- Rulers
- West Africa
- U.S. Library of Congress exhibition, based on materials deposited by the ACS.
- A View of Liberian History and Government: a critical view of the ACS
- CIA World Factbook : Liberia
- BBC Country Profile : Liberia
- Art and Life in Africa : Liberia
- Timeline Liberia
- History of Liberia: a Timeline, from Library of Congress
- Political Resources on the Net: Liberia
- For the Record: Liberia, from UN Human Rights System by Martin DelanyMartin DelanyMartin Robinson Delany was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, physician, and writer, arguably the first proponent of American black nationalism. He was one of the first three blacks admitted to Harvard Medical School. He became the first African-American field officer in the United...