Background

Liberia was relatively calm and stable until violence and chaos erupted in 1980 when Sergeant Samuel Doe seized power in coup that left then-President William Tolbert dead. Charles Taylor worked in Doe's regime running the General Services Agency, which involved controlling much of Liberia's budget. When Doe accused Taylor of embezzling almost $1m Taylor fled back to the U.S. where he was arrested. Escaping custody, Charles Taylor returned to Liberia and led a revolt against the Doe regime that resulted in the execution of Samuel Doe.

This started a bitter and horrific seven-year civil war between President Taylor's troops and rebel factions. The war was notorious for its abuses of rape, the use of child soldiers, the deliberate amputation of limbs and the deaths of more than 200,000 people. Taylor finally "won" elections in 1997. However, life in Liberia became progressively worse as rebels from the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) began attacking government forces in an attempt to expel Taylor. In the process thousands of innocent men, women and children died and even more were displaced, homeless and starving. The war in Liberia has killed more than 6 percent of the population.

In 2003 the rebels took over two thirds of the country and advanced on the capital Monrovia. In August 2003 Charles Taylor resigned and left Liberia for Nigeria. On 19 September the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1509 to establish a United Nations mission in Liberia (UNMIL). It was agreed that UNMIL would be 15,000 troops strong with the mandate for the mission lasting for 12 months. In October 2003 Gyude Bryant, an independent with no links to the rebels or the Taylor government, was sworn in as head of state to lead the interim government.

Today

The situation in Liberia has significantly improved since the departure of Taylor and the signing of a peace agreement in August 2003. However there are still many serious problems that need to be addressed in Liberia, thousands of civilians who are living in displacement camps need to be integrated back into their homes and thousands of armed fighters, including children, must be disarmed.

Ten months after the UN adopted Security Council resolution 1509, the situation in Liberia has improved dramatically with positive results achieved on the disarmament of rebel factions. However, there is still a huge deal of progress to be made and disarmament is only one of many issues that need to be addressed. The current mandate of UNMIL is due to expire in September and according to UN envoy to Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein, even another year after that may well be “too early to leave.”

Although the 15,000 strong UN force in Liberia is the largest of any current mission, Klein points out that this is a small force in the context of the size of Liberia. Nevertheless, the UN mandate to disarm, demobilize, reintegrate and repatriate (DDRR) former rebel combatants and child soldiers has begun to show some positive results despite the temporary derailment of the UN program in December 2003. In this incident as many as 13,000 rebel troops, purportedly acting under the orders of former government officials, overran the UN base in Monrovia in an effort to obstruct its mission and disrupt the foundations that have been laid for the upcoming elections initially scheduled for the autumn of 2004.

Since April, 2004, the UN has efficiently begun to disarm rebel groups including Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) as well as pro-Taylor combatants in the region.

Now that UN forces have expanded beyond Monrovia into rural areas, where violence has persisted, and along the border of Sierra Leone, peacekeepers claim to have disarmed 70% of former rebel combatants – around 38,000 individuals – and are confident that the majority of weapons will have been confiscated by the end of September when the current mandate is due to run out.

Women and children account for 18% and 13% of the rebel fighting forces and so the UN mission is making an effort to find children’s relatives and pass a $150 reintegration allowances to the families. Moreover, 25% of children will not be reunited with their families. This is a big challenge for the UN and its aim to reintegrate child soldiers back into their communities.

Despite the successes of UNMIL’s DDRR program and the promising disarmament statistics, other problems abound that must be addressed if Liberia is to undergo an effective transition back to normality and peace. Central to this is the need for national solidarity and the issue of education, with an illiteracy rate of 44% along with 85% unemployment.

Positive steps have been taken, with the U.S. planning to help restructure the Liberian police force. Also, $520 million for restructuring was pledged at a donors’ conference and the input of aid organizations such as UNICEF in developing long-term reintegration strategies is vital to the future of the country. However, funding is slow in coming and also insufficient. It thus seems that increased levels of funding are required in order to put in place systems that will allow UNMIL to tackle fundamental issues such as education and employment.

Effective training and careful restructuring of institutions, such as Liberia’s police force, is also a crucial component of the peace process, as it will create a sense of national identity, allowing previously fragmented groups to integrate and work together once again.

Last updated July 14, 2004

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