Liberia in Civil War: Haven for Freed Slaves Reduced to Anarchy

Liberia in Civil War: Haven for Freed Slaves Reduced to Anarchy

The Conflict

Blacks from America—former slaves—colonized Liberia in 1822. Since 1989 Liberia has been fighting a bloody and brutal civil war. In addition to the deaths and mutilations, the war has created thousands of refugees, and virtually decimated the infrastructure of the country.

Political

• The Africans from America (Americo-Africans) established a government in Liberia and for much of the history of Liberia, ran the government. The native-born Africans were not allowed to fully participate.
• Many rebel groups, such as ULIMO, led by Samuel Doe, emerged to fight the Liberian government and each other.
• The war in Liberia destabilized neighboring countries.

Economic

• Americo-Africans are significantly wealthier and have more opportunities than Africans whose ancestors have always been African.

Nowhere has the severity of conflict been more dramatically evident than in West Africa. Liberia was the first to suffer. On Christmas Eve in 1989, insurgent leader Charles Taylor invaded the country with only one hundred irregular soldiers armed primarily with AK-47 assault rifles; within months, he had seized mineral and timber resources and used the profits to purchase additional light weapons. In 1990, Taylor's ill-trained and undisciplined insurgents toppled the government of President Samuel Doe (who had come to power in a conventional, albeit bloody, coup ten years earlier).

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