Overview

Historical background

As early as 1461, Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans known to establish contact with the inhabitants of the Grain Coast, so named for the area's abundant supply of malegueta pepper grains. In 1633, the British established trading posts in this area, which was to become Liberia. Although the Dutch followed the British and destroyed their trading posts, history does not record any other reports of European settlements in the area until the 1800s.

In 1821, the American Colonization Society (ACS), established to find solutions to the problem of slavery in the United States, sent Captain Stockton to the Grain Coast to negotiate with an indigenous leader named King Peter for lands to establish a quasi-colony for freed American slaves. Soon after, a settlement was established in what is now Monrovia (named after US President James Monroe) and freed slaves from the Americas began arriving by the thousands. These settlers, known as Americo-Liberians (from the United States) and the Congo people (from the Caribbean), banded together to form the Republic of Liberia (meaning 'Land of the Free'), which gained its independence from the ACS on 26 July 1847.

For the next 133 years, the Americo-Liberians, who made up less than 1 per cent of the population, governed Liberia though the country's only political party, the True Whig Party. Indigenous Liberians were excluded from political and economic opportunities reserved for the elitist settlers. However, the Americos and Congos intermarried with the native population and took on local wards, allowing for a degree of integration between the settlers and the 'country people' as they were called.

Though the Americo-Liberian government operated on a flawed and highly discriminatory basis, Liberia did enjoy peace and stability under their regime until 1989 when President Tolbert's decision to hike the price of rice, Liberians' staple food, caused urban Liberians to riot in the streets. This civil unrest paved the way for indigenous Liberian Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, from the Krahn ethnic group, to seize power in a coup d'etat on 12 April 1980.

Under Doe's regime, the economic and political situation deteriorated significantly, propelling the country toward the conflict that raged throughout the 1990s and continues to fester today. Doe's blatant mismanagement of state funds, his increasingly authoritarian rule, and his brutal treatment of the Gio and Mano ethnic groups linked to his would-be assassin Thomas Quiwonkpa, led to his increasing lack of popularity and set the stage for Libya-backed rebel leader Charles Taylor to mobilise dissenters against the Doe regime.

On 24 December 1989, Taylor launched an attack on Liberia's northern Nimba County, and his forces quickly moved toward the capital marking the beginning of Liberia's civil war. West African states sent ECOMOG peacekeeping forces to quell the violence, but they maintained a presence only in Monrovia while Taylor's rebel forces controlled the rest of the country, known as Greater Liberia. Early on, Doe was brutally killed by another rebel leader name Prince Johnson, but this did not resolve the conflict. Instead, law and order broke down with numerous factions forming, each with the goal of winning the presidency and profiting from the country's lucrative natural resources. Government soldiers and rebel fighters alike paid themselves by looting whatever they could find, and violence was rampant, causing thousands to flee for safety.

In August 1995, the Abuja peace process was launched in an effort to resolve the conflict, but renewed fighting in April 1996 temporarily paralysed the process. After more than ten failed cease-fire agreements, in August 1996 the Abuja Peace Accords were accepted by all relevant parties involved, making it possible to hold democratic elections in Liberia in July 1997. Charles Taylor won the election, but many believe that this was possible largely because Liberians feared ongoing war if he were to lose the election.

Since becoming president, Taylor has encountered little respect from the international community, which views him as a pariah in West Africa. Taylor has also faced opposition from LURD, who have engaged in rebel attacks in northern Liberia since 1999. Conflict moved alarmingly closer to the capital in 2002 and 2003. In this environment prospects for post-war reconstruction are limited, and peace and security in Liberia remains tenuous at best.

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Politics

Liberia's constitution and governmental structure is based on the US model. However, checks and balances on the executive branch are minimal. Liberia has a bicameral legislature consisting of sixty-four representatives and twenty-six senators, but until 1984, political parties other than the True Whig Party were banned in Liberia. The change came as a result of international pressure put on Doe to allow Liberia to return to civilian rule, leading him to arrange for multiparty elections in October 1985. His National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) was declared winner in what many considered to be a fraudulent and rigged election. Currently, a number of political parties exist in Liberia, but Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Party (NPP) dominates the legislature.

Under the Americo-Liberians, the True Whig Party governed Liberia with a system of indirect rule, co-opting the support of local leaders to control the indigenous population in exchange for financial reward and a measure of political influence. While that system is no longer in place, the president still maintains significant control over local politics by appointing superintendents to govern Liberia's fifteen counties. The basic unit of local government is the town chief. There are clan chiefs, paramount chiefs, and district commissioners. Mayors are elected in principal cities in Liberia.

Liberia's judicial system, comprised of traditional courts and lay courts in the counties, is functional but extensively manipulated by the executive branch. There are a Supreme Court, criminal courts, and appeals and magistrate courts in the counties, but reports of unauthorised arrests and illegal detentions abound.

Ethnicity

Although historically not a volatile issue, since Doe's regime ethnicity has become highly politicised in Liberia. In 1985 when Army Commanding General Thomas Quiwonkpa, backed by Gio and Mano supporters, staged a coup attempt, Doe responded by executing Quiwonkpa in Monrovia and sending the armed forces of Liberia, heavily dominated by his own Krahn ethnic group, to attack Gio and Mano villages in northern Liberia. Taylor built on the growing resentment between these groups, rallying his forces among the Gio and Mano to seek retribution against the Krahn and the Mandingo, another ethnic group originating from Guinea that had links to Doe.

While ethnic conflict was certainly a factor in the war, factions did not recruit only along ethnic lines. To do so would have placed them at a disadvantage relative to other less discriminating factions ( Outram 1997 ). As a result, 'ethnic' groups became more representative of political alliances than a shared cultural heritage.

United States/Liberia relations

After Liberia gained its independence, Americo-Liberians maintained their cultural and familial ties to America but the United States was more interested in maintaining trade relations than in developing strong diplomatic ties with Liberia. In 1926, an American company called the Firestone Rubber Plantation set up the largest rubber plantation in the world after signing a 99-year lease with the Liberian government. In exchange for a large tract of land, Firestone paid 6 cents per acre and provided the Liberian government with a large loan. Relying on a cheaper labour supply in Liberia, Firestone and other American rubber companies prospered, and the Liberian economy became more and more dependent on foreign investors to export Liberia's raw materials. Large investments in Liberia's iron ore mines were also made by American companies such as Bethlehem Steel Corporation and Republic Steel Corporation.

As the Cold War escalated , the United States began to look beyond economic to its political interests in Liberia. By the 1980s, the United States had begun donating millions of dollars toward the development of Liberia in exchange for Liberia's support as a West African ally for the United States ( Sesay 1996a ). The fact that the United States was unwilling to intervene when civil war broke out in Liberia in 1989 coincided with the ending of the Cold War and the subsequent decline of Liberia's strategic importance to US foreign policy. Liberia's 'special relationship' with the United States was called into question, and many Liberians felt abandoned by the United States.

During the seven-year civil war (1989-96), Liberia's relations with the United States disintegrated further as a result of regional instability, gross human rights abuses, and governance problems in Liberia. However, recognising the large-scale humanitarian needs that persist, the United States continues to donate large amounts of relief to Liberia, which is channelled through the United Nations and other international aid and relief agencies working in the country. However, the amount of relief given has reduced significantly from $37.8 million in 1989 to $6.5 million in 2002, a decline of 82 per cent ( World Vision 2002).

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Culture

Liberian culture was significantly influenced by the Americo-Liberians, who sought to imitate an American lifestyle in Liberia. Along with their political and economic domination, Americo-Liberians also projected a degree of social domination such that even among the indigenous community, all things qui (western) came to be respected and those things considered tribal, indigenous, or African were looked down upon.

The patrimonial leadership of Liberia's elite families was reinforced by Christianity and church membership. The church in Liberia is as old as Liberia itself, and many of the founders of the nation were in fact ministers ( Gifford 1993 ). However, over time, even as the indigenous peoples became Christianised, the Americo-Liberians were also heavily influenced by the animistic religions of the indigenous peoples and participated in the rituals of the poro (for men) and sande (for women) secret societies. About 30 per cent of Liberians are Christian, 60 per cent are animists and 10 per cent are Muslims. All people are entitled to freedom of religion in Liberia, and the government generally respects that, though in some cases the Muslim minority has complained of being discriminated against.

There has been some research on the way in which ritual killings, part of Liberia's 'traditional religions', became a strategy of intimidation utilised by rebels in the civil war ( Ellis 1995 , 1999 ). Reports of rebels wearing ritual masks, beheading victims and allegedly drinking blood and eating flesh shocked the world but were not necessarily new to Liberians who had seen these practices before the war on a limited scale. However, the widespread use of these practices by rebel soldiers signified a breakdown of traditional society, where ritual killings had previously been controlled by the authority of zoes (witch doctors).

English is the official language of Liberia, but there are sixteen indigenous languages also spoken, corresponding to sixteen ethnic groups. The Kpelle make up 20 per cent of the population, the Bassa 16 per cent, the Gio 8 per cent, the Kru 7 per cent, and the Americo-Liberians 5 per cent; the remaining 44 per cent are spread over twelve other ethnic groups. However, a considerable amount of intermarriage has blurred ethnic distinction.

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Geography, society, and economy

Liberia is one of the smaller countries in West Africa with a population of 3.2 million people. About 60 percent of the land is forest land; twenty percent is savannah; 6 percent is farmland; and 14 percent is residential. Along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean are flat plains that rise to a rolling plateau, with low mountains in the north-west. The climate is typically hot and humid, with heavy tropical rains in the summer and hot, dry days and cool to cold nights in the winter.

Land and Economy of Liberia http://pages.prodigy.net/jkess3/Land.html

Historically, Liberia has enjoyed a measure of economic prosperity. During Tubman's presidency from 1943 to 1971, Liberia appeared to prosper under his 'Open Door' policy. From 1944 to 1960, total foreign investment in Liberia increased from $32 million to $436 million; total exports rose from $10.3 million in 1944 to $83 million in 1960; and favourable balance of trade increased from $6 million to $14 million. From 1960 to 1979, favourable balance of trade rose rapidly from $14 million to $30 million (link to http://pages.prodigy.net/jkess3/Land.html). It is reported that between 1952 and 1957, Liberia's economic growth rate was 15 percent a year, higher than anywhere else in the world except Japan ( Gifford, 1993 ).

Unfortunately, foreign investors' gains did not translate into benefits for ordinary Liberians. Under the 'Open Door' policy, foreign investors were able to abuse Liberian government's lack of economic controls in order to make huge profits that did not benefit Liberia. Foreign firms took advantage of long tax holidays, long exemption periods of import and export duties, special tax tariffs and many and large tax deductable items in cases where they were liable to taxes. These loose policies made it possible for Firestone-Liberia, for example, to still retained a profit that amounted to three times the total income of the Liberian Treasury after taxes was paid to the Liberian Government in 1951. And revenues of the Liberian Mining Company, the country's first iron ore mine, surpassed the total revenues of the Liberian Government until 1960 (link to http://www.vanderkraaij.net/FPM/LiberiaOnTheNet/OpenDoorPolicy.htm).

Although Liberia appeared to prosper under the 'Open Door' policy, Liberia developed a dual economy such that the concession sector had little or no connection with the rest of the economy. In addition, Liberia's dependence on the export of raw materials made them vulnerable to changing market prices. n the 1970s and 1980s, more than half of Liberia's export earnings came from mining iron ore. However, the decline in demand for iron ore on the world market and political upheavals in Liberia have negatively affected the country's economic growth rate in more recent years.

Since the end of the civil war in 1997, timber, rubber and diamonds have become Liberia's main export items. Figures for Liberia's total exports are hard to come by since official government export figures do not match import figures from countries that trade with Liberia. For example, The Liberian Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy informed a UN Panel that 1998 official diamond exports totalled only 8,000 carats, valued at $800,000. In the same year, Belgium recorded imports from Liberia by 26 companies, totalling 2.56 million carats, valued at $217 million (UN Panel). Officially, Liberia earns more than $100 million from timber exports annually, with an Indonesian-owned company called the Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC) having the largest timber concession. Rubber exports add up to more than $70 million annually (State Department). In addition, gold mining account for some economic activity, though lack of accurate reporting makes it difficult to know how much.

Those who benefit from this trade are mostly foreigners of Lebanese and Indian descent who largely control Liberia's business sector as in the days of Tubman's 'Open Door' policy. Meanwhile, most ordinary Liberians struggle to make ends meet. Since GDP per capita data to calculate the decent standard of living dimension of human development was not available, the UN Human Development Index does not rank Liberia among other countries of the world (HDR). However, conditions in Liberia are difficult. Unemployment is as high as 85 percent and per capita income is one-third of pre-war levels with 50 percent of the population living in absolute poverty. Liberians fortunate enough to have jobs typically wait months to receive paycheques that average the equivalent of less than $15 per month (USCR). The salaries of most government officials, including the military and militia groups, are at least six months in arrears (CrisisWeb).

In addition, much of Liberia's infrastructure was destroyed during the war and little has been done to rebuild it. The capital still lacks electricity and running water in most areas and is overcrowded with a population up to twice its pre-war size. Other indicators of Liberia's troubles include an adult literacy rate of 39 percent, and only 25 percent among females (UNICEF). In 2000, Liberia's infant mortality rate was 157 per 1000 live births; the under five mortality rate was 235 per 1000; and 42 percent of the total population were undernourished (HDI).

Added to these problems, Liberia's foreign debt amounts to more than $3 billion (State Department). Unwilling to fund an oppressive regime, in 1999 the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other representatives of the donor community offered $230 million to Liberia on condition that Liberia demonstrate an improvement in economic reporting, fiscal discipline, and respect for human rights. Rather than accepting this responsibility, President Taylor has routinely asserted that the international community's failure to provide enough resources is what has limited Liberia's efforts to improve. Several donors have contributed to relief efforts, but most prefer to work through UN organisations rather than channelling funds directly through the Liberian government.

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