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Liberia
Area: 111,369 sq km (43,000 sq mi).
Population: 3.36 million (2004 estimate).
Capital City: Monrovia
People and languages: the main ethnic groups are Kpelle, Bassa, Krahn, Gio, Mano, Mandingo and Kru. English is the official language. Indigenous languages are widely spoken.
Religion: Christianity, Islam and indigenous religions.
Currency: Liberian dollar (LDR). The US dollar is widely used.
Major political parties: normal party political activity was disrupted under Charles Taylor's rule. Parties have re-emerged since the end of the civil war, and following the elections of October 2005, there are 11 parties represented in the legislature.
President: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
Foreign Minister: George Wallace.
Membership of international groupings/organisations: United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Development Bank (AFDB) and Mano River Union (MRU).
GEOGRAPHY
Liberia lies just north of the Equator on the Atlantic coast in West Africa. It borders Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. It has a tropical climate and is one of the wettest countries in the world, with an average annual rainfall of 200 inches. Inland from the coastal plain, much of the country is rainforest.
HISTORY
Liberia was established as an independent state by freed slaves from America in 1847. For more than 130 years from its founding, politics were dominated by the small minority of the population descended from these original settlers, known as the Americo-Liberians. During that era, Liberia was renowned for its stability, its functioning economy and the large amount of foreign investment it attracted in the rubber plantations and the iron ore mines. But the indigenous Africans were largely excluded from political power.
In 1980 Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, a member of the indigenous Krahn ethnic group, seized power in a violent military coup. Key members of the Americo-Liberian elite, including the President and his Cabinet were summarily executed in public on the beach. The USA, a traditional strong ally of Liberia, withdrew its support. Doe mismanaged the economy and transformed the armed forces into an ethnic Krahn militia which committed extensive human rights abuse against Liberia’s other ethnic groups.
In 1989 the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor, began a revolt against the Doe regime . It quickly became a vicious civil war. The Doe dictatorship collapsed and he was murdered by a rebel faction in September. At this point Taylor (and to a lesser extent other rival warlords) already controlled large parts of Liberian territory. Despite occasional truces and no fewer than a dozen abortive peace agreements, the conflict continued for a further 6 years. During this period, the rival warlords, and the ECOMOG forces themselves, developed sophisticated forms of looting and resource exploitation.
Democratic elections were finally held in July 1997. Taylor won but the elections bought only temporary respite. Taylor's government set about plundering the state of its assets and stifling opposition activity. In 1999 fighting began again as anti-Taylor rebel groups emerged or re-formed. Fighting escalated and by July 2003 Taylor had lost control of most of the country, including much of Monrovia. Peace talks in Accra in August led to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in September. A new ECOWAS peacekeeping force was deployed, which has since been replaced by the 15,000 strong UN force (UNMIL). Taylor was forced into exile in Nigeria. Indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), Taylor was arrested in Nigeria on 29 March 2006 and subsequently transfered to the Special Court in Freetown where he was charged on 3 March with offenses relating to the Sierra Leone civil war. He has subsequently been transferred to The Hague to await trial under SCSL Mandate.
POLITICS
Following the signing of the CPA, a vast DDR programme (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) disarmed over 100,000 combatants in 2005, although reintegration programmes have had only patchy success. UNMIL are deployed over the entire territory to provide security. The CPA created the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), made up of representatives from former rebel groups, political parties, the former Taylor government and civil society. It has been accused of extensive corruption.
On 11 October 2005 the first round of presidential elections were held. The front runner George Weah led the field with 28% followed by former World Bank official Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf with 20%. In the second round on 8 November. Johnson-Sirleaf won with 59% of the vote. George Weah complained of irregularities in the vote, but withdrew these complaints on 22 December. Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated President of the Republic of Liberia on 16 January, in the presence of high profile international guests including the US Secretary of State, the First Lady of the United States and FCO Envoy Chris Mullin. President Johnson-Sirleaf has since named her government and promised to make the fight against corruption her top priority. She faces a daunting set of challenges and does not command a majority in the legislature. The judicial system and the security sector in particular need to be rebuilt almost from scratch. She has recently encountred problems in the legislature as a constitutional crisis has emerged around allegations that Edwin Snowe, the Huse Speaker, has acted improperly.
HUMAN RIGHTS
The Liberian civil war saw appalling human rights abuses by all sides. The warring factions used sexual violence and torture as weapons, and recruited child soldiers. President Taylor's regime was contemptuous of democratic principles and human rights. Since the end of the civil war, there have been no significant prosecutions for human rights abuses, but the human rights environment has significantly improved. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was officially inaugurated on 20 February 2006, with the mandate to gather evidence and testimony concerning the decades of violence the country has suffered. The TRC is mandated to recommend prosecutions or amnesties for individual cases. Labour rights remain a contentious subject, particularly with regard to conditions in the rubber and diamond sectors.
The Liberia National Police provides only basic services and the main policing and security work is undertaken by UNMIL forces.
Annual Human Rights Reports
ECONOMY
Basic Economic Facts
GDP: US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$ 557 million (2005)
Annual Growth: 10% (2005)
Inflation: 11% (2005)
Major trading partners: Recent figures are unreliable but main trading partners are the European Union, Japan, Sierra Leone, the United States and China
Exchange rate: £1 is approximately 100 LRD
Liberia is rich in timber, gold, diamonds, iron ore and has extensive rubber plantations. In the past, the economy flourished on the basis of these resources. During the civil war a corrupt and predatory economy developed, devastating Liberia's infrastructure and economy, and leaving the country with little in the way of a public administration or official records. There is a history of extremely poor financial management, both under Taylor and under the NTGL. UN Sanctions on the export of diamonds were renewed for a further six months on 20 December 2006. Sanctions on timber were lifted in June 2006.
DEVELOPMENT
Decades of mismanagement and conflict have made Liberia one of the world's poorest countries. The civil war left thousands of people brutalised and traumatised and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. It left a generation of Liberians with no education and few skills to use in peace time. The state, its institutions, its security forces, its education and health services all have to be rebuilt from scratch. Donors have committed some US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$ 500 million for reconstruction, funds which are tied to progress on the Governance and Economic Management Plan (GEMAP), put in place in early 2005. Liberia is currently implementing an IMF staff monitored programme. The new President has maintained the provisions of the GEMAP but has stated that her intention is to see it become part of a more normal relationship with the IMF and World Bank.
The UK Department for International Development has supported Liberia through its funding of UN agencies and NGOs working in the country. In 2003 DFID spent £7m on humanitarian aid. In 2004/5 £5m was spent on humanitarian programmes and £4m on DDR. In 2005/6 DFID have allocated £2.5m for humanitarian aid and a further £2m for DDR.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Liberia, together with its neighbours Guinea and Sierra Leone, belong to the Mano River Union (MRU), established in 1973. Difficult political relations between the three countries meant that it never got off the ground. It was re-launched in May 2004 with a focus on mutual security.
The civil war in Liberia spilled over into conflict with neighbouring countries. Taylor backed the 10-year RUF rebellion in Sierra Leone from 1991 and profited from the trade in Sierra Leone diamonds, illegally mined and smuggled by the RUF. Between August 2000 and April 2001 forces loyal to President Taylor attacked southern Guinea, but were repelled by the Guinean army. Guinea has been accused of sponsoring the LURD rebel group. Since the end of the war political relations with neighbours have improved. There are Liberian refugees throughout West Africa. The new President has called on them to return home, which many have now done.
An International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL) was launched in September 2002. It is co-chaired by the ECOWAS chair (currently Niger) and the EU and comprises the UK, US, France, Nigeria, Morocco, UN, ECOWAS Secretariat and AU. Its mandate was expanded in September 2004 to include Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone and its name changed to the International Contact Group for the Mano River Basin (ICG-MRB).
The UN Security Council imposed sanctions against Liberia in 2001 in response to President Taylor's support for the RUF in Sierra Leone. The sanctions comprised an arms embargo, a ban on the trade of rough diamonds and the timber trade, and a travel ban for certain named individuals. On 12 March 2004 the Security Council adopted UNSCR 1532, which imposed an assets freeze against Charles Taylor, his close family and associates to prevent them using misappropriated funds to undermine peace and stability in Liberia. Successive Panels of Experts have monitored the implementation of these sanctions and the attempts to put in place structures that will allow them to be lifted.
Documents relating to the work of the Liberia sanctions committees and Panels of Experts can be found at:
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