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Republic of Liberia

Image:Coat of arms of Liberia.png

History · Politics · Demographics Culture · Geography · Music Communications · Transport · Economy Armed Forces · Foreign relations Americo-Liberian · Nationality law Subdivisions: Counties · Districts

The History of Liberia (after the arrival of Europeans) is unique in Africa as it started neither as a native state nor as a European colony, but began in 1821 when private societies began founding colonies for free blacks from the United States on the coast of West Africa.

Contents 1 Indigenous peoples of West Africa 2 Contact with European explorers and traders 3 Settlement by the American Colonization Society 3.1 Motives of the ACS 3.2 Criticism of the ACS 3.3 First colony - Cape Mesurado 3.4 Expansion by creation of other colonies 3.5 Bankruptcy of the ACS 4 Independence 5 After independence 5.1 Relations between Americo-Liberians and Natives 6 Economic difficulties 7 Depression era 7.1 Forced labor scandal 7.2 Firestone Tire and Rubber 8 World War II 9 Postcolonial era 9.1 Foreign investment 9.2 William Tubman 9.3 William Tolbert 10 Samuel Doe 10.1 Attempts to overthrow Doe 10.2 Capture, torture and execution of Doe 11 Civil war 12 Return to democracy 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Indigenous peoples of West Africa

It is believed that many of the peoples of Liberia migrated there from the north and east between the 12th and 16th centuries AD. The area of West Africa which later became Liberia was invaded in the sixteenth century by Manes tribes from what is now the interior of Ivory Coast and Ghana. The Manes partitioned the conquered territories and their peoples among Manes leaders with one chieftain over all. It was the usual feudalistic arrangement. The overall ruler resided in the Cape Mont region.

Shortly after the Manes conquered the region there was a migration of the Vai people into the region of Cape Mont. The Vai were part of the Malian Empire. When the Malian Empire collapsed in the fourteenth century its peoples were forced to migrate. The Vai chose the pre-Liberian coastal region.

A tribe native to the area, the Kru, opposed the migration into their region by the Vai. An alliance of the Manes and Kru stopped the further migration of the Vai but the Vai remained in the Cape Mont region (where the city of Robersport is now located).

The Kru became involved with trading with Europeans. Initially the Kru traded in non-slave commodities but later became active participants in the slave trade. Kru traders also engaged in a surprising form of trade. Kru traders and their canoes would be taken on board European ships and would engage in trade along the coast. At some agreed upon point the Kru traders and their canoes would be put off the ship and the traders would paddle back to their home territory.

Kru laborers left their territory to work on plantations and construction as paid laborers, some even worked building the Suez and Panama Canals.

Another tribal group in the area was the Glebo. The Glebo were driven as a result of the Manes invasion to migrate to the coast of what later became Liberia.

[edit] Contact with European explorers and traders

Portuguese explorers established contacts with the land later known as "Liberia" as early as 1461 and named the area the Grain Coast because of the abundance of grains of malegueta pepper. In 1602 the Dutch established a trading port at Cape Mont but the Dutch destroyed these posts a year later. In 1663 the British installed trading posts on the Grain Coast. No further known "European" settlements occurred along the Grain Coast until the arrival of freed American slaves after 1817.

[edit] Settlement by the American Colonization Society

Main article: American Colonization Society

Modern Liberia was founded in 1822 by freed slaves from the United States. They were sent to Africa under the auspices of the American Colonization Society, a private organization whose purpose was "to promote and execute a plan for colonizing in Africa, with their own consent, the free people of color residing in the US." The American Colonization Society was a group of white Americans — including some slaveholders — that had mixed motives.

[edit] Motives of the ACS

Notable supporters of transporting freed blacks to Liberia included Henry Clay, Francis Scott Key, Bushrod Washington, and the architect of the U.S. Capitol, William Thornton—all slave owners. These "moderates" thought slavery was unsustainable and should eventually end but did not consider integrating slaves into society a viable option. So, the ACS encouraged slaveholders to offer freedom on the condition that those accepting it would move to Liberia at the society's expense. A number of slave owners did just that.

In 1817, in Washington, D.C., the ACS established the new colony (on a tract of land in West Africa purchased from local tribes) in hopes that slaves, once emancipated, would move there. The society preferred this option to the alternative: a growing number of free black Americans demanding rights, jobs, and resources at home.

The colonization effort resulted from a mixture of motives. Free blacks, freedmen and their descendants, encountered widespread discrimination in the United States of the early 19th century. They were generally perceived as a burden on society, and a threat to white workers because they undercut wages. Some abolitionists believed that blacks could not achieve equality in the United States and would be better off in Africa. Many slaveholders were worried that the presence of free blacks would encourage slaves to rebel. Other supporters of removal to Africa wanted to prevent racial mixing, to promote the spread of Christianity in Africa, or to develop trade with Africa.<ref name=duty>Kocher, Kurt Lee. A duty to America and Africa: A history of the independent African colonization movement in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania History 51 (April 1984), 118--153 [1] - retrieved July 3 2006</ref><ref name=quaker>*Friends Committee on National Legislation: Background on Conflict in Liberia - retrieved July 3 2006</ref>

[edit] Criticism of the ACS

When the first settlers were relocated to Liberia in 1822, the plan drew immediate criticism on several fronts. Many leaders in the black community publicly attacked it, asking why free blacks should have to emigrate from the country where they, their parents, and even their grandparents were born. Meanwhile, slave owners in the South vigorously denounced the plan as an assault on their slave economy.

Abolitionist resistance to colonization grew steadily. In 1832, as the ACS began to send agents to England to raise funds for what they touted as a benevolent plan, William Lloyd Garrison revved up the opposition with a 236-page book on the evils of colonization and sent abolitionists to England to track down and counter ACS supporters.

But the scheme had some fans. Slave states like Maryland and Virginia were already home to a significant number of free blacks, and whites there—still reeling from Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion, which emancipated slaves had a hand in—formed local colonization societies. Thus encouraged, Maryland legislators passed a law in 1832 that required any slave freed after that date to leave the state and specifically offered passage to a part of Liberia administered by the Maryland State Colonization Society. However, enforcement provisions lacked teeth, and many Marylanders forgot their antipathy to free blacks when they needed extra hands at harvest time. There is no evidence that any freed African-American was forcibly sent to Liberia from Maryland or anywhere else.

[edit] First colony - Cape Mesurado

The first ship, the Elizabeth, sailed in 1816 with eight-eight voluntary emigrants, three white company officials, and supplies. The ship landed off the coast of Liberia where the new immigrants immediately began to construct their new settlement. But after three weeks, twenty-two African-Americans and all three white officials died of yellow fever. The second ship, the Nautilus, soon arrived with new passengers and fresh supplies [www.pbs.org; "Africans in America: Brotherly Love Part III 1791-1831]. The land occupied by the American Colonization Society in Liberia was not void of native inhabitants when the emigrants arrived. Much of the area was under the control of the Malinke tribes who resented the expansion of these settlers. In addition to disease, poor housing conditions and lack of food and medicine, these new emigrants were also forced into armed combat with the natives.

The first settlement was on Providence Island near where the present capital city, Monrovia, is located. Although the Society, with the help of the United States government under President James Monroe (after whom Monrovia is named), had arranged with local chiefs for a settlement, the colonists were attacked by indigenous peoples, disease, and barely maintained their foothold.

In 1821 the American Colonization Society created the Cape Mesurado Colony on the coast of West Africa and transported free blacks there. In 1824 the Cape Mesurado Colony expanded and became the Liberia Colony, and the United States government settled New Georgia with "Congo" recaptives (slaves rescued by Americans in mid-ocean). Other colonies soon followed. The settlers recreated American society, building churches and homes that resembled Southern plantations. And they continued to speak English. They also entered into a complex relationship with the indigenous people -- marrying them in some cases, discriminating against them in others, but all the time attempting to "civilize" them and impose Western values on the traditional communities.

[edit] Expansion by creation of other colonies

In 1832 the Edina and Port Cresson colonies were formed by the New York and Pennsylvania Colonization Societies. In 1834 the Maryland in Liberia colony was created by the Maryland State Colonization Society. The Mississippi-in-Africa colony was created by the Mississippi and Louisiana State colonization Societies in 1835. Also in 1835, the Port Cresson Colony was destroyed by natives of the area. The Bassa Cove Colony was founded on the ruins of the Port Cresson Colony a month later.<ref name=statesman>World Statesmen.org: Liberia - retrieved July 3 2006</ref><ref name=afric>On Afric's Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857, Maryland Historical Society, 2003.</ref>

A period of consolidation followed. The Bassa Cove Colony absorbed the Edina Colony in 1837. Bassa Cove in turn was incorporated into Liberia in 1839, as was New Georgia. Maryland in Africa became the State of Maryland in Liberia in 1841. Mississippi-in-Africa was incorporated into Liberia as Sinoe County in 1842. Maryland in Liberia declared independence from Liberia in 1854 and had a brief life as the independent state of Maryland in Liberia. It was annexed into Liberia as Maryland County in 1857.<ref name=statesman/><ref name="afric"/>

The new colony adopted other American styles of life, including southern plantation-style houses with deep verandahs, and established thriving trade links with other West Africans. The Americo-Liberians distinguished themselves from the local people, characterized as 'natives,' by the universal appelation of "Mr."

The formation of the colony did not occur altogether without difficulty. Almost from the beginning, the settlers periodically encountered stiff opposition from local tribesmen, usually resulting in bloody battles. On the other hand, colonial expansionists encroached on the newly-independent Liberia and took over much of the original territory of independent Liberia by force.

[edit] Bankruptcy of the ACS

The American Colonization Society closely controlled the development of Liberia until 1847. However, by the 1840s, the American Colonization Society was largely bankrupt, and the transported Liberians were demoralized by hostile local tribes, bad management, and deadly diseases. The U.S. government refused to claim sovereignty over the colony, so in 1846 the ACS demanded that Liberians declare their independence. In the end, around 13,000 emigrants had sailed to Liberia.

[edit] Independence

During the formative years of the colony, white administrators from the American Colonization Society ran the Liberian colony. But as the colony expanded and became more self-sufficient, colonists were given more and more control in running the colony. The colony was renamed the Commonwealth of Liberia in 1839. In 1841, Joseph Jenkins Roberts became the first black governor of the colony. With the encouragement of the American Colonization Society which was almost bankrupt, he proclaimed Liberia a free republic in 1847. A Constitution was drawn up along the lines of the United States'. The state seal shows a ship at anchor in a tropical harbor, and bears the inscription, "The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here."

The country was recognized by the United Kingdom in 1848 and by France in 1852. The United States delayed its recognition of Liberia until 1862 over concerns by southern states of a black ambassador from Liberia residing in Washington. The boundaries of the country were not officially established until after 1892.<ref name=statesman/>

However, attempts to found a state based upon some 3000 settlers proved difficult. Some coastal tribes became Protestants and learned English, but most of the indigenous Africans retained their traditional religion and language. Even the slave trade continued illicitly from Liberian ports, but this was ended by the British Navy in the 1850s.

The Americo-Liberians have never constituted above five percent of the population of Liberia; however, for over one hundred years, the Americo-Liberians reserved within the group all political and economic leadership. Under the name of the True Whig Party, the Americo-Liberians subdued indigenous tribes in Liberia and permitted no organized political opposition.

Liberia's history until 1980 was largely peaceful. For 133 years after independence, the Republic of Liberia was a one-party state ruled by the Americo-Liberian-dominated True Whig Party (TWP).

[edit] After independence

After Liberia declared its independence in 1847, Joseph J. Roberts, a freeborn Black who was born in the American state of Virginia, was elected Liberia's first president. It had taken fewer than 25 years for the Blacks from America to begin to govern their own, free country. Soon after his inauguration, President Roberts traveled to Europe, where he was received in the courts of Queen Victoria and Napoleon III. Queen Victoria gave him a gunship to combat slavery, which had continued along the coast with unscrupulous native traders who preyed on weaker ethnic groups. Not surprisingly, England and France were the first countries to recognize Liberia's independence in 1848. Roberts and his senators, all American-born, resolved to create a country based on the principles of justice and equal rights.

The settlers built schools and a university, and during the early years, agriculture, shipbuilding, and trade flourished. Yet as Liberia expanded its borders, a government of repatriates located largely on the coast attempted to establish control over a growing native population located largely in the interior.

[edit] Relations between Americo-Liberians and Natives

Although the forebears of the Americo-Liberians had been denied their freedom in America, many of the Americo-Liberians did not think to extend their new liberty to the native Malinke. Americo-Liberians treated many Malinke like second-class citizens and denied them voting rights under their US-based constitution. Natives were also used as forced labor until an admonishment from the League of Nations in 1931 halted the practice. The indigenous population and women received the vote as late as 1951. ["Liberia." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000]

[edit] Economic difficulties

Over the next few decades, escalating economic difficulties began to weaken the state's dominance over the coastal indigenous population. When the financially burdened ACS withdrew its support, conditions worsened as Liberia tried desperately to modernize its largely agricultural economy. The cost of imports was far greater than the income generated by exports of coffee, rice, palm oil, sugarcane, and timber.

Liberia was also struggling under the burden of heavy loans, primarily from Britain. In the 1870s, Liberia contracted for a $500,000 loan from European sources. Because of increasing world competition from Brazilian coffee, European sugar beets, and steamers, Liberia was unable to generate sufficient export revenue, and defaulted on this loan. Recession forced Liberia into a series of ever larger loans. Liberians were further compelled to allow collection of customs revenues by Europeans and Americans.

In the late 19th century the country lost large chunks of its territory to the British and French. By 1909, the government was bankrupt and forced to borrow further, in large part from the United States. In 1912, a loan of $1.7 million was secured by giving control over Customs to the US and three European powers. A Frontier Police force was organized under the command of US officers.

To bring in more revenue, the Liberian state leased large areas of land to American companies such as Firestone, which operated a massive rubber plantation in the African nation. The terms of the leases were strongly in favor of the private companies. In 1926, the Firestone Rubber Company obtained a concession of 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) for a rubber plantation.

At the same time, a loan was arranged through the Finance Corporation of America, a Firestone subsidiary. Using this private loan, the Liberian government consolidated and bonded all its external and internal debts and placed the country's finances on a relatively stable basis. Administration of the customs and internal revenue was placed in the hands of a U.S. financial adviser.

The final straw came in 1930 when an accusation by the League of Nations, of "forced labor ... hardly distinguishable from slavery," turned out to be true. As a result of the "forced labor" scandal, President Charles King and Vice President Allen Yancy resigned causing the collapse of the government.

The new president, Edwin Barclay, dealt with the mounting discontent among his people by introducing increasingly repressive laws. Barclay also appealed to the League of Nations for financial aid. After three years of negotiation, which included the suspension of diplomatic relations with the US and Britain, an 'agreement' was reached along the lines suggested by the League, which were beneficial to Firestone.

[edit] Depression era

The depression of the 1930s brought Liberia to the verge of bankruptcy, and government revenues fell in 1933 to a low of $321,000.

[edit] Forced labor scandal

In the early 1930s, Liberia's political sovereignty was also severely threatened. Accusations had begun to circulate internationally that Liberian laborers, with the complicity of high government officials, were being recruited for shipment to the Spanish island of Fernando Póo (now Bioko, in Equatorial Guinea) under conditions that resembled slave trading.

A commission of inquiry, set up by the League of Nations at the request of Liberia's President Charles D. B. King, found some basis for the charges and implicated many government officials including the vice president, who was forced to resign. President King also resigned. The League of Nations threatened to establish a trusteeship over Liberia unless reforms were carried out.

[edit] Firestone Tire and Rubber

Eventually, Liberia was able to secure a $5-million loan from a US firm, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., which set up rubber plantations in the country in 1926. Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. created the world's largest plantation at Harbel, Liberia. Exportation of rubber from the new Firestone plantations began in 1934 and rubber quickly became the backbone of the Liberian economy.

[edit] World War II

During World War II, Liberia became very strategically important as its rubber plantation was the only source of natural latex rubber available to the Allies, apart from plantations in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

In 1942 Liberia signed a Defense Pact with the US. This commenced a period of strategic road building. In addition, an international airport and deepwater harbor was also built at Monrovia. Liberia declared war on Germany and Japan in 1944.

[edit] Postcolonial era

Despite its political, economic, and social troubles, Liberia, as the only free republic in Africa, was a model for African colonies struggling to achieve independence.

[edit] Foreign investment

From 1944 to 1977 during William Tubman's Presidency, massive foreign investment occurred. Liberia acquired the name "Fire Stone Republic" due to Tubman's eagerness to hand out concessions to foreign companies.

The huge influx of foreign money caused the economy to become distorted and exacerbated social inequalities a consequence of which was increasing hostility between the descendants of the settlers and the original inhabitants. This alarmed Tubman and he was forced to concede the original inhabitants would have to be granted an amount of political and economic involvement in the country. One of his concessions was to enfranchise them. 97 per cent of the population had been denied the franchise until 1963.

[edit] William Tubman

William V. S. Tubman, elected president in 1944 and reelected for five additional terms, sought to unify the country by attempting to bridge the wide economic, political, and social gaps between the descendants of the original American ex-slaves and the tribal peoples of the interior. President Tubman, affectionately called "Uncle Shad," died at the age of 74, after 27 years in office. He was known as the "Maker of Modern Liberia" for his open door policy of unrestricted foreign investment and his Unification Policy.

Tubman raised the country's world profile by traveling abroad and allowing additional international investment in Liberia. With this investment and the income from the newly discovered mineral deposits, he modernized parts of Liberia (mostly along the coast) and built schools, roads, and hospitals. Tubman also expanded the incorporation of indigenous populations into the social and economic mainstream, granting them, for example, the right to vote. Under Tubman, Liberia was a founding member of the United Nations as well as of the Organization of African Unity, and he strongly championed the independence of other African states.

Despite these developments, the gap between the ruling elite and the indigenous populations increased. Tubman was criticized for being too influenced by the United States and its interests in the area (i.e., the fight against communism), and for repressing political opposition. Tubman's rule became gradually more authoritarian : He changed the constitution to allow himself to remain in office for seven consecutive terms, gagged the press, and introduced a system of government spies to report on all political activity.

By the time Tubman died in 1971, frustrations in Liberia were running high.

[edit] William Tolbert

Tubman was succeeded by William Tolbert in 1971. Tolbert continued with the majority of Tubman's policies and diplomatic relations were established with communist countries such as the People's Republic of China. Tolbert created harsh laws to deal with opposition to his regime prompting complaints from the United States about violations to human rights.

Tolbert attempted to improve the economic and political climate by introducing many new changes. But the damage of the past seemed irreparable. The majority of the population was poor and lacked basic amenities such as access to safe water and electricity. Tolbert's attempt to liberalize Liberian society backfired -- some thought he was moving too quickly, while others thought he wasn't moving quickly enough. Many could no longer bear the political dominance of the descendants of American settlers. At the same time, Tolbert's own administration opposed his efforts to bring more indigenous Liberians into the upper echelons of government.

In 1979, Tolbert proposed an increase the price of imported rice, a basic part of the Liberian diet, as a way of encouraging local production. However, this proposal was received negatively and thus provided sparked demonstrations which rapidly turned violent.

Moreover, the world price of rubber was depressed during the seventies, putting pressure on the Liberian economy. By 1980, Tolbert became increasingly open to Libyan and Cuban overtures. The Libyans were on the verge of starting work on a low-cost housing project in Monrovia when Samuel Doe, a master sergeant in the Liberian army, carried out a coup. It has been alleged that the CIA were behind the coup, and given the extent of aid to Liberia between 1980-5 ($490 milion), this seems plausible.

[edit] Samuel Doe

On April 12, 1980, army enlisted men staged a coup d'état, fighting their way into the presidential mansion. Tolbert and at least 26 supporters were killed in the fighting. Thirteen members of the Cabinet were publicly executed 10 days later. Hundreds of government workers fled the country, while others were imprisoned. Thus ended 133 years of Americo-Liberian political domination with the formation of the People's Redemption Council (PRC).

Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, a a 28-year-old Krahn tribesman, became head of state. Doe suspended the constitution, but promised a return to civilian rule by 1985. Despite two coups attempts in 1981, the government declared an amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles. Forty political prisoners were released in September of that year, and another 20 were released in December. A draft constitution providing for a multiparty republic was issued in 1983 and approved by referendum in 1984.

Many people welcomed Doe's takeover as a shift favoring the majority of the population that had been excluded from power. The new government, led by the leaders of the coup d'ètat and calling itself the People's Redemption Council (PRC), lacked experience and was ill prepared to rule. Soon there were internal rifts, and Doe began to systematically eliminate Council members who challenged his authority. Paranoid about the possibility of a counter-coup, Doe began to favor people of his own ethnic background, the Krahns, placing them in key positions. Popular support for Doe's government soon evaporated.

Doe quickly developed good relations with the United States and encouraged the US Government to send economic and military aid. In turn, he developed hostile policies against Communist nations and other nations that were hostile to the US, fully engaging in the Cold War during the 1980's.

Doe attempted to legitimize his regime with a new constitution in 1984 and elections in 1985. However, opposition to his rule only increased, especially after the 1985 elections which were declared to be fraudulent by foreign observers.

In the elections of 15 October 1985, nine political parties sought to challenge Doe's National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL), but only three were allowed to take part. Doe was elected with 51% of the vote, and the NDPL won 21 of the 26 Senate seats and 51 of the 64 seats in the House of Representatives. Foreign observers declared the elections fraudulent, and most of the elected opposition candidates refused to take their seats.

Doe's corrupt government became more repressive, shutting down newspapers and banning political activity. The government's mistreatment of certain ethnic groups, particularly the Gio (or Dan) and the Mano in the north, resulted in divisions and violence among indigenous populations who until then had coexisted relatively peacefully.

[edit] Attempts to overthrow Doe

In November 1985, military leader Thomas Quiwonkpa and an estimated 500 to 600 people died in an unsuccessful coup attempt—the seventh since Doe took power. Doe then initiated crackdowns against rival tribes such as the Gios and Mano, where most of the coup plotters came from and where opposition to Doe was already widespread.

In late December 1989, a small group of insurgents calling themselves the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia. The rebel invasion soon pitted ethnic Krahn sympathetic to the regime against those victimized by it, Gio and Mano. Thousands of civilians were massacred on both sides. Hundreds of thousands fled their homes.

By June 1990, Taylor's forces laid siege to Monrovia. A third force led by Prince Yormie Johnson, split from the NPFL. Johnson quickly controlled parts of Monrovia prompting evacuation of foreign nationals and diplomats by the US Navy in August.

With military discipline absent and bloodshed throughout the capital region, members of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) created the Economic Community Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to restore order. The force comprised some 4,000 troops from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and Guinea. ECOMOG succeeded in bringing Doe and Johnson to agree to its intervention, but Taylor's forces engaged it in the port area of Monrovia.

ECOWAS invited the principal Liberian players to meet in Banjul, Gambia to form a government of national unity. Exiled members of Liberia's leading political parties and associations elected Dr. Amos Sawyer, leader of the LPP to head an interim government of national unity (IGNU). Bishop Ronald Diggs of the Liberian Council of Churches became vice president. However, Taylor's NPFL refused to attend the conference, and the AFL, which formerly supported Doe, and the INPFL allied themselves against Taylor. Within days clashes erupted.

[edit] Capture, torture and execution of Doe

On 9 September 1990, Johnson's forces captured Doe at the port. His torture and execution were videotaped by his captors. ECOMOG was reinforced in order to protect the interim government headed by Dr. Sawyer. Sawyer was able to establish his authority over most of Monrovia, but the rest of Liberia was in the hands of various factions of the NPFL or of local gangs.

[edit] Civil war

Main article: Liberian Civil War

The brutal treatment they faced at the hands of the Liberian army drove some indigenous northerners across the border to the Ivory Coast. There, a man named Charles Taylor organized and trained many of them. Taylor had previously served as deputy minister of commerce under Doe, but was imprisoned for allegedly transferring millions of government funds into his own account. He was reported to have bribed his way out of a Massachusetts jail. When Taylor and his force of 100 rebels reentered Liberia in 1989, on Christmas Eve, thousands of Gio and Mano joined them. While they formed the core of his rebel army, there were many Liberians of other ethnic backgrounds who joined as well. A brutal civil war ensued.

On December 24, 1989, Charles Taylor, crossed the border from Côte d'Ivoire and initiated a rebellion which became the Liberian Civil War. This rebellion was successful in ending Doe's regime in September 1990, but by then the rebels had already begun to fracture into warring factions based on political and tribal differences.

In September 1990, Doe was captured and tortured to death by another rebel group originally associated with Taylor, while fighting between the rebels and the Liberian army escalated into civil war. Entire villages were emptied as people fled. Soldiers, some of them still children, committed atrocities, raping and murdering people of all ages, in what became one of the world's worst episodes of ethnic cleansing . ^{[citation needed]}

Five years later, at a conference sponsored by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations and the United States, the European Union, and the Organization of African Unity, Charles Taylor agreed to a cease-fire and a timetable to demobilize and disarm his troops. In a climate hardly conducive to free movement and security of persons, he won a 1997 presidential election against 12 other candidates. Liberians had voted for him in the hope that he would end the bloodshed.

The bloodshed did slow considerably, but it has not ended. Violent events have flared up regularly since the end of the war. Taylor, furthermore, has been accused of backing guerrillas in neighboring countries and funneling diamond monies into arms purchases for the rebel armies he supported, and into luxuries for himself.

The United Nations estimates that 150,000 people died during the conflict with 850,000 refugees fleeing to neighboring countries. The years of fighting, coupled with the flight of most businesses, disrupted formal economic activity.

Seven years of civil strife came to an end in 1996 with the holding of free and open presidential and legislative elections. After his election in 1997, President Charles Taylor held strong executive power with little political opposition.

A new civil war began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighboring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and by the summer of 2003, Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group's shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.

The United States of America sent a small number of troops to bolster security around their embassy in Monrovia, which had come under attack. The U.S. also stationed a Marine Expeditionary Unit with 2300 Marines offshore while Nigeria sent in peacekeepers as part of a Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) force. President Taylor resigned on August 11, 2003 as part of a peace agreement and was flown into exile in Nigeria. Vice-President Moses Blah replaced Taylor prior to the installation of a transitional government on October 14, 2003.

[edit] Return to democracy

Main article: Liberian elections, 2005

Elections in 2005 marked the end of the political transition following Liberia's second civil war. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, former World Bank employee and finance minister, won the presidential contest and became the first democratically-elected female Head of State in the history of the African Continent in January 2006.

On March 26, 2006, Nigeria agreed to hand Taylor to Sierra Leone for trial on charges of crimes against humanity, ending the former warlord's more than two years of asylum.

[edit] See also

• American Colonization Society
• Lott Cary, of Richmond, Virginia, the first American missionary to Liberia
• History of Africa
• History of West Africa

[edit] References

<references/>

[edit] External links

• 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.
• 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
• WorldStatesmen-Liberia (not yet worked in)
• CIA World Factbook : Liberia
• BBC Country Profile : Liberia
• Art and Life in Africa : Liberia
• Virtual Library History : Liberia; Liberia Page, from African Studies at UPenn; from Africa South of the Sahara at Stanford
• Timeline, from timelines.ws; from BBC News
• History of Liberia, from liberia.net
• History of Liberia, a Timeline, from Library of Congress
• Liberia's History, by P.A. Waite
• Political Resources on the Net : Liberia
• For the Record : Liberia, from UN Human Rights System
• Entry Grebo Kingdom, Maryland-in-Africa, from Footnotes to History, by James L. Erwin
• Country Profile : Liberia, from ISS

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