Liberia's Post-War Recovery: Key Issues and Developments

Abstract

This report covers recent developments in Liberia, a small, poor West African country. It held elections in October 2005, with a presidential run-off vote in November -- a key step in a post-conflict transition and peace-building process that began following its second civil war in a decade. The latter war began in 1999, escalated in 2000, and ended in 2003. It pitted the forces of Charles Taylor, elected president in 1997 after Liberia's first civil war (1989-1997), against two armed anti-Taylor rebel groups. It also affected neighboring states, which accepted Liberian refugees and, in some cases, hosted anti-Taylor forces and became targets of armed aggression by the Taylor regime. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an economist, won with 59.4% of votes. Inaugurated on January 16, 2005, she became the first female president of an African country. The election fulfilled a key goal of an August 2003 peace accord, which ended the second civil war, leading to an on-going, U.S.-aided post-war transition process, which is bolstered by the multifaceted U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). UNMIL carries out diverse peacekeeping, civilian policing, and socioeconomic assistance functions. UNMIL was preceded by the U.S.-assisted deployment in August 2003 of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) military intervention force, the ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL). Liberia's security situation is stable but subject to periodic volatility. Humanitarian conditions are improving. Progress in governance under the interim government was mixed; widespread corruption within it was widely reported. Liberia's economy and state structure remain devastated by war. A legal case against former president Charles Taylor, a war crimes indictee of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) who lives in exile in Nigeria, remains unresolved. The United States is providing extensive postwar reconstruction aid and support for security sector restructuring.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 30, 2006
Accession Number
ADA480890

Entities

People

  • Nicolas Cook

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Civil Rights
  • Civil War
  • Congress
  • Employment
  • European Union
  • Foreign Relations
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • History
  • Sociology

Readers

  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.