Liberia After the Civil War - Term Paper Example

Causes of Civil War in Liberia About Liberia - Introduction Liberia, which means ‘free land’ in Latin, is one of the oldest republics of Africa. It is situated in the west coast of African continent (sub-Saharan northern hump). The freed slaves from America, who had had been sent to this coastal land, together with the native people of Africa founded this country. The largest and most thickly populated city Monrovia is Liberia’s capital. The Relief features of Liberia include a rocky, jagged coastline, the mainland teeming with forests, mountains and plateaus. Liberia has a hot and humid climate and most of its people work on farms for their living. (O'Toole, n.p.) The ancestors of the people living in Liberia today came from the interior, mainland of Africa mostly from Sudan. The lure for trade in ivory, slaves and spices had brought Portuguese explorers to this coastal land as early as 1400s. In the meantime, however, the USA too had continued with its slave trade. But the freed slaves by the USA in the mid 1700s and 1800s, becoming a cause of great concern for white Americans, were returned to Africa. Thus, the freed slaves’ exodus to Liberia started in 1822. This new settlement by the freed slaves, also called Americo-Liberians, became the cause of fresh troubles, and later conflicts in Liberia because the native Africans, fearing loosing their lands and depletion of other resources as food, attacked the new settlers. Thus the two communities of people inhabiting the west coastal country of Liberia are the native local Africans and the newly settled Americo-Liberians. (O'Toole, n.p.) Civil War in Liberia A mutiny against Doe broke out in 1989. A rebellious group known as the “National Patriotic Front of Liberia” for short NPFL, which was led by Charles Taylor, turned into a civil war In 1990. Another secessionist group of the rebels known as the “Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia” and for short INPFL, fought not only with each other but also with AFL (Armed Forces of Liberia). The members of Doe’s ethnic groups as Gio, Mano and the Krahn comprised both NPFL and INPFL. Despite President Samuel K. Doe getting executed on Sept. 10, 1990, the riots continued. The long civil war in Liberia started in December 1989 when NPFL militants crossed over the Ivory Coast border. These guerillas belonged to Gio and Mano ethnic groups that had suffered carnage and countless acts of brutality from Doe. Charles Taylor, although a former official in Doe’s regime, was the leader of the NPFL. Taylor enrolled those new members who were against Doe’s tyrannical rule. The rebels then severely punished the Krahn villages, the Doe’s allies, on their way toward Monrovia. Most of the territory was captured by the NPFL by June 1990. The troops of Prince Y.Johnson, the leader of rebels’ new faction, dominated in the siege of Monrovia in July 1990. Doe was finally captured by these troops when he came out of his residence The United States who had once supported Doe, refused to participate in the civil war. However the U.S. marines evacuated more than 1,000 Americans in August. But the intervening force, which was sent by the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS), declared the Liberian civil war a threat to peace in the region. About 6,000 troops from Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone arrived in Monrovia on August 21 to exert their control. Then the peacekeeping force ordered a cease-fire on November 28. The ECOWAS totally disregarded rather condemned Taylor, Johnson, and David Nimley and appointed Amos Sawyer as interim & caretaker president on November 21. Causes of Civil War in Liberia A band of about 200 exiled rebels headed by Charles Taylor entered north-east of Liberia nearly 250 miles away from Monrovia on December 24, 1989. These so called rebels killed numerous government soldiers and very quickly took control of Butuo. The news of invasion reached President Samuel Doe at Monrovia, who immediately sent two battalions to stop the advance of the rebels. The army under Doe moved cruelly, killing, raping and looting, the village people on the way very erratically. The population fled and took refuge in the nearby forests of Guinea and Ivory Coast. Those who fell prey to their atrocities were mostly the members of Gio and Mano ethnic groups that had dwelled in the Nimba County, a place considered by the Doe with suspicion since 1985. Doe sent general warning to all opposition leaders on January 4, 1990, when his notorious death squad killed Robert Phillips, a member of the opposition Liberian Action Party in a very brutal way. Then tens of thousand villagers combined together into a strong rebellious group responded to these brutalities and got conscripted into the invading forces of the rebels. By April 1990 desperate attempt were made by the dissidents to spread southward very rapidly. They were also able to muster support of the additional three ethnic groups. The rebels, called the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), also achieved support from people across the country, which raised strong hope that the end of Samuel Doe's ten-year reign of terror was just at hand. Countering these hopes were the two important developments. Firstly, Elmer Johnson, a leading adviser of the rebels, was abducted and killed by his own troops perhaps because of personal grudge he being an Americo-Liberian who had achieved a lot of influence in the ranks. Secondly, a group of rebels led by Yormie Johnson, had advanced to the eastern flank to combat the combined forces of President Doe and rebel leader Taylor under the banner of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL). (Sir Leaf, n.p) Doe’s soldiers hunted down those belonging to the Gio and Mano ethnic group origin. Also they attacked those belonging to Americo-Liberian race. Each day missiles were fired at random from the Executive Mansion grounds, devastating the major area of city, while burning the buildings and looting the personnel indiscriminately. The headquarters of the United Nations was also attacked, and hundreds of people who had taken refuge there were executed ruthlessly. The most horrific event followed: On Sunday the 30th of July 1990, more than 600 persons, many of them women and children, who had taken refuge in a church ranked as a Red Cross sanctuary, were very savagely and ruthlessly executed while they were trying to escape or shielding themselves from bullets by hiding under the altars and the church pews. Even the suburbs of Monrovia were completely terrorized. Crowds of people fled from their homes to the borders for safety, many of them even settling down in the bordering countries of Guinea, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone. Those who could not flee had to face terrible deprivations because food supplies had been cut off and stocks were already depleted. Besides all essential services, such as water, electricity, transportation and medical were withdrawn The pains and deprivations which they suffered did little to prevent the forces of Charles Taylor, Prince Johnson or Samuel Doe, from continued senseless assaults of brutality and savagery on population Several places in Monrovia came to be called the ‘killing fields’ because of the countless corpses some of them totally burned, which were found lying there rotting and decaying with stench all around. (Sir Leaf, n.p) Liberia’s Plea for Help The recent scenario in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, was quite an unusual one for the USA because of the fairly large groups of Liberians, which are now pleading for the US peacekeeping force in Liberia. President Bush even emphasized on the positive developments in Africa on his recent visit to the continent, as Liberia’s long, devastating civil war reached the capital, and as rebels fired mortar shells into the city. As a matter of fact the rebel groups are now very keen to oust Charles Taylor, the warring Liberian leader and showed signs of willingness for a temporary halt in their advances. But according to the speculations of the US think tanks, this is only a pretext to gain time for collecting more ammunition. The various aid groups also apprehend a threat of renewed fighting after a short lull of suspended animosity. (Whitelaw, p25) Works Cited Alistair Body-Evans. African History. Retrieved on November 6, 2007; from: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/liberia/p/Sirleaf.htm O'Toole, Thomas. Liberia. Retrieved on November 6, 2007;from http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar322060 Sir leaf, Ellen Johnson. The causes and consequences of the Liberian civil war. (Spring91, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p32). Retrieved on November 6, 2007;from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=102&sid=f96286ae-d33f-451b-a484-3d5b2a49908e%40sessionmgr108 Whitelaw, Kevin. Liberia’s Plea for Help. (ISSN: 0041-5537). Retrieved on November 6, 2007;from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=102&sid=f96286ae-d33f-451b-a484-3d5b2a49908e%40sessionmgr108 Read More