Liberian Perspectives
Reflections on the conviction of Taylor
Five years after the beginning of the 'Taylor trial' and after having heard nearly 100 witnesses, the judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone announced their historic decision: the former Liberian president is found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes. - The warlord-turned-president is found guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for arming Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for ‘blood diamonds’ smuggled across the Sierra Leonean / Liberian border. According to the judges, Taylor played a crucial role in allowing the rebels to continue a bloody rampage in Sierra Leone during that West African nation’s 11-year civil war, which ended in…OPINION: Liberia’s Sirleaf faces numerous challenges
January 16, 2012 was neither a day to look back with regret or anger nor to look forward with anxiety or doubt. Rather it was a day to rejoice and celebrate. At 11:00am President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first - and until now only - democratically elected woman president, was inaugurated for a second six-year term. - By the time the 73-year old ‘Iron Lady’ will have completed her second term, in 2018, she will be Liberia’s longest-serving President since 1971.
In 1971 the country’s longest-ruling President ever, William Tubman, died. He ruled for 27 years and laid the basis for a modern economy. His successor, William Tolbert, was brutally murdered in a…OPINION: Africa’s winners and losers in 2011
It's been an extra-ordinary year for Africa. The biggest losers were the North African leaders Ben Ali (Tunisia), Mubarak (Egypt) and Gaddafi (Libya). All three clung to power. Mubarak and Ben Ali had ruled some 30 years, Gaddafi even more than 40 years. Whereas the Tunisian and Egyptian leaders survived their ousting, the Libyan 'Guide of the Nation' was executed without a trial. - It is too early to tell who the winners are in these North African countries. In Tunisia democratic elections have since been held, won by the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, but political developments don’t stop after elections. In Egypt, with well over 80 million people the most populated …Elections in Liberia: A test for democracy
Liberia comes from far. Africa's oldest republic celebrated its 164th independence anniversary earlier this year. Yet the country classifies among the 48 poorest countries on earth. Health conditions are appalling, illiteracy widespread and unemployment sky-high. - Whereas fifty years ago the Liberian economy was one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the civil war that raged between 1989 and 2003 destroyed everything that had been built up during the previous century.
After the resignation of warlord-president Charles Taylor in 2003 the country had to start from scratch: rebuild the economy, regain the confidence of investors – both foreign and domestic – and…More investors coming to Liberia
Liberia is not a poor country. It has abundant natural resources: gold, diamonds, iron ore, oil and timber. Its agricultural potential notably includes rubber and palm oil. In the 20th century this small West African country, the size of Ohio, had the world's largest rubber plantation, was Africa's largest producer of iron ore, and had the world's largest mercantile fleet. - A bloody coup d'état in 1980 changed this situation. Master-Sergeant Doe assassinated the Americo-Liberian president William R. Tolbert Jr., a Baptist pastor, and became the first indigenous president of Africa's first and oldest republic. However, from a thin, soft-spoken 'liberator', …
