Liberia

Republic of Liberia

Flag of Liberia
Flag of Liberia	Coat of Arms of Liberia

National motto: The love of liberty brought us here

File:LocationLiberia.png

Official language

English

Capital

Monrovia

President

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

Area
- Total
- % water

Ranked 102nd
96,320 km²
13.514%

Population
- Total
- Density

Ranked 129th
3,482,211 (2005)
36.2/km²

Independence

1847

Currency

Liberian dollar

Time zone

Universal Time

National anthem

All Hail, Liberia, Hail!

Internet TLD

.lr

Country Calling Code

231

The Republic of Liberia is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire. Liberia had it's beginnings predating the American Civil War when a group of prominent former slave owners thought to find a place in Africa to send freed slaves.

It has recently been afflicted by two civil wars, the Liberian Civil War (1989-96), and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999-2003), that have displaced hundreds of thousands of its citizens and destroyed the Liberian economy.

Geography

Liberia is situated in Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. Liberia has three main geographic regions: a narrow sandy strip of coastal lagoons and mangrove swamps, inland rolling hills covered with tropical forest and plateaus that rise to a low mountainous belt in the northeast along the border with Guinea.

The climate is tropical: Winters are dry with hot days and cool to cold nights. Summers are wet and cloudy with frequent heavy showers.The wet season is from May to September.

History

Settlers from America

The history of Liberia as a political entity begins with the arrival of the black American settlers — the Americo-Liberians, as they were to be known — who established a colony of “free men of color” on its shore in 1822 under the auspices of the American Colonization Society. The historical roots from which a majority of present-day Liberians derive their identity, however, are found in the varied traditions of the several tribal groups of indigenous Africans whom the settlers confronted in their struggle to gain a foothold in Africa and, later, extend their control into the interior.

On July 26, 1847, the Americo-Liberians declared the independence of the Republic of Liberia. The settlers regarded the continent from which their forefathers had been taken as slaves as a "Promised Land", but they did not become reintegrated into an African society. Once in Africa, they referred to themselves as "Americans" and were recognized as such by tribal Africans and by British colonial authorities in neighboring Sierra Leone. The symbols of their state — its flag, motto, and seal — and the form of government that they chose reflected their American background and diaspora experience. The religious practices, social customs and cultural standards of the Americo-Liberians had their roots in the antebellum American South. These ideals strongly coloured the attitudes of the settlers toward the indigenous African people. The new nation, as they perceived it, was coextensive with the settler community and with those Africans who were assimilated into it. Because of mutual mistrust and hostility between the "Americans" along the coast and the "Natives" of the interior, a recurrent theme in the country's subsequent history, therefore, was the usually successful attempt of the Americo-Liberian minority to dominate people whom they considered uncivilized and inferior. They named the land "Liberia," which in European languages and Latin means "Land of the Free".

The founding of Liberia was privately sponsored by American religious and philanthropic groups, but the colony enjoyed the support and unofficial cooperation of the United States government. Liberia’s government, modeled after that of the United States, was democratic in structure, if not always in substance. After 1877 the True Whig Party monopolized political power in the country, and competition for office was usually contained within the party, whose nomination virtually ensured election. Two problems confronting successive administrations were pressure from neighboring colonial powers, Britain and France, and the threat of financial insolvency, both of which challenged the country’s sovereignty. Liberia retained its independence during the Scramble for Africa, but lost its claim to extensive territories that were annexed by Britain and France. Economic development was retarded by the decline of markets for Liberian goods in the late nineteenth century and by indebtedness on a series of loans, payments on which drained the economy.

Significant mid-20th-century events

Two events were of particular importance in releasing Liberia from its self-imposed isolation. The first was the grant in 1926 of a large concession to the American-owned Firestone Plantation Company; that move became a first step in the modernization of the Liberian economy. The second occurred during World War II, when the United States began providing technical and economic assistance that enabled Liberia to make economic progress and introduce social change.

Politics

The Americo-Liberians had little in common with the tribal communities living inland. Since modernization and educational development of the country tended to be in only the capital city where the Americo-Liberians people lived, over time the indigenous peoples were left behind and felt cheated of the country's wealth which they believed to be their own. It was not until mid-century of the 1900's that any indigenous Liberians occupied a position in the executive branch of the Liberian government. During the administration of President Tubman his Unification policy created a direction for indigenous Liberians and the Americo-Liberian minority to come together, it failed to bring any changes to the status quo of governance in Liberia. By keeping the indigenous population from all but minimal participation in the political process and a lack of access to education, control and domination by the Americo-Liberians was maintained. The state of inequality that had long existed between Americo-Liberian citizens and the indigenous citizens sowed the seeds of discontent, unrest and war.

On April 12, 1980, a successful military coup was staged by a group of noncommissioned officers of tribal origins led by Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe, a member of the Krahn tribe. The President of nine years William R. Tolbert, Jr. was executed in his mansion. Constituting themselves the People’s Redemption Council, Doe and his associates seized control of the government and brought an end to Liberia’s "first republic".

Doe made strong ties with the United States in the early 1980s, receiving more than $500 million for pushing out the Soviet Union from the country, and allowing exclusive rights for the US to use Liberia's ports and land (including allowing the CIA to use Liberian territory to spy on Libya). Doe used authoritarian policies, banning newspapers, outlawing opposition parties and holding staged elections.

In late 1989, a civil war began, and in September 1990 Doe was ousted and killed by the forces of faction leader Yormie Johnson and members of the Gio tribe. As a condition for the end of the conflict, interim president Amos Sawyer resigned in 1994, handing power to the Council of State. Prominent warlord, Charles Taylor, was elected as President in 1997. Taylor's brutal regime targeted several leading opposition and political activists. In 1998, the government sought to assassinate child rights activist Kimmie Weeks for a report he had published on its involvement in the training of child soldiers, which forced him into exile. Taylor's autocratic and dysfunctional government led to a new rebellion in 1999. More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the civil wars. The conflict intensified in mid-2003, when the fighting moved closer to Monrovia. As the power of the government shrank and with increasing international and American pressure for him to resign, President Charles Taylor accepted an asylum offer by Nigeria, but vowed: "God willing, I will be back."

The country was governed by a transitional government from 2003 until democratic elections were held in 2005. The run-off of the November 8, 2005 elections between soccer legend George Weah and former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was won by Johnson-Sirleaf. Sirleaf has become the first female elected head of state in African history.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf presidency

File:Johnson-Sirleaf.jpg

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Daughter of the first indigenous Liberian to be elected to the national legislature, Jahmale Carney Johnson, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was born in rural Liberia. Widely celebrated for being the first elected female head of state in Africa, Johnson-Sirleaf’s election focused much international attention on Liberia. A former Citibank and World Bank employee, Johnson-Sirleaf’s impressive career also includes heading the U.N. Development Programme for Africa[1]. (Owing to the complexion inherited from her maternal Grandfather, a German who married a rural market woman, Johnson-Sirleaf has often been thought to be a member of the Americo-Liberian elite, although she is quite proud of her indigenous Liberian roots). Long involved in her country’s fight for peace and justice, Johnson-Sirleaf was jailed twice during the Doe administration. Jailed once for eight months, she narrowly escaped with her life before going into exile. Delivering a message of hope and reconciliation in her inauguration speech, President Johnson-Sirleaf hopes to bring her credentials as an economist to bear and enlist the help of the international community in rebuilding Liberia’s economy and infrastructure. Since her inaugeration she has been working to have Liberia’s external debt of $3.5 billion cancelled, and is inviting international investment. She has extended a special invitation to the Nigerian business community to participate in business opportunities in Liberia, in part as thanks for Nigeria’s help in securing Liberia’s peace. Exiled Liberians are also investing in their homeland and [2]participating in Liberia's rebuilding efforts.

In addition to focusing her early efforts to restore basic services like water and electricity to the capital of Monrovia, President Johnson-Sirleaf has established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission [3] to address crimes committed during the later stages of Liberia's long civil war. She is also working to re-establish Liberia's food independence. [To view recent presidential speeches, go to: [4].] President Johnson-Sirleaf also tackled head-on the greatest looming threat to Liberia's peace and stability early in her presidency by requesting that Nigeria extradite Liberia's most infamous war criminal and war profiteer, Charles Taylor.

In 2006 President Johnson- Sirleaf was awarded the Africa Prize for the Eradication of Hunger Award. As a recipient she was recognized for her efforts of providing her countrymen and women with a new hope and ability to restore their nation and to work toward become self-sustaining. President Johnson-Sirleaf is known particularly for her microloan projects for rural women, funding for schools and scholarships for children, even during exile from her country. President Sirleaf has expressed a great concern that the improvements for the basic needs of her people can be quickly restored so that people can believe that democracy will bring a positive change for all. The scourge of fourteen years of political instability and civil wars has rendered Liberia a failed state. Revitalizing a nation and bringing back the basic norms of nationhood is a daunting task for even the most stalwart of leaders

Liberia is depending on international aid support and the assistance of a large presence of UN peacekeeping forces to make a new beginning for it's nation.

Economy

Map of Liberia

Liberia is blessed with it's share of natural resources. Iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold and hydropower are some of the resources that once represented this nation's wealth. Before the first civil war in 1989 there had been a great deal of foreign investment in Liberia's mineral and natural resources. Prior to 1990 Liberia also exported rubber, timber, coffee and diamonds.

In 2001 the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on timber, diamonds and arms exports as a measure to reduce the revenues of the Liberian government from these industries from being used to fuel conflict in the region. In 2006 President Sirleaf appealed these sanctions to be removed by the UN in order to restore national revenues for rebuilding the infrastructure of Liberia. Once there is transparency for the collection and allotment of government revenues, these sanctions would likely be lifted.

Since hostilities within Liberia have ended, the administration of President Sirleaf is focused to build credibility with the international community and gain support for redevelopment in her country. It will take time to rebuild commerce, justice and security infrastructure and the healthcare and educational systems. The long civil war has destroyed most of the country's infrastructure, and Liberia is dependent on foreign aid. The country currently has an approximate 85% unemployment rate, the worst in the world.

(United States dollar also in common use)

Demographics

The population of over 3 million comprises 16 indigenous ethnic groups and various foreign minorities. The Kpelle in central and western Liberia is the largest ethnic group. Americo-Liberians, who are descendants of freed slaves that arrived in Liberia early in 1821, make up an estimated 5% of the population. There also is a sizable number of Lebanese, Indians, and other West African nationals who make up a significant part of Liberia's business community. A few whites (estimated at 18,000 in 1999; probably fewer now) reside in the country.

Political upheavals and civil war have brought about a steep decline in living standards.

Education

Cuttington University College was established by the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA) in 1889; its campus is currently located in Suacoco, Bong County (120 miles north of Monrovia).

According to statistics published by UNESCO for the years 1999-2000 (the most recent available for Liberia as of 2005) 61%[5] of primary-school age and 18% (estimated) children were enrolled in school.

Culture

Liberia was traditionally noted for its hospitality, academic institutions, cultural skills, and arts/craft works.

References and other Credits

Geographica. Myna. Paperback edition 2005

Other

Credits

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