Liberia's Post-War Development: Key Issues
and U.S. Assistance

Nicolas Cook
Specialist in African Affairs
May 19, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RL33185
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress

Liberia's Post-War Development: Key Issues and U.S. Assistance

Summary
This report covers developments in Liberia, a small, poor West African country. Liberia held
elections in October 2005, with a presidential runoff in November, a key step in a peace-building
process following its second civil war in a decade. That war began in 1999, escalated in 2000, and
ended in 2003. It pitted the forces of Charles Taylor, elected president in 1997 after Liberia’s first
civil war (1989-1997), against two armed anti-Taylor rebel groups. The war also destabilized
neighboring states, which accepted Liberian refugees and, in some cases, hosted anti-Taylor
forces and became targets of the Taylor regime.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, an economist, won the presidential runoff vote, with 59.4% of votes cast
and took office in January 2006, becoming the first elected female president of an African
country. Her runoff rival, George Weah, a former star soccer player, conceded Sirleaf’s win after
initially contesting it. Most observers viewed the vote as orderly, free and fair. It fulfilled a key
goal of an August 2003 peace accord that had ended the second civil war and led to an ongoing,
U.S.-aided post-war transition process, which is bolstered by the multifaceted peacekeeping and
development-focused U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). The next election is scheduled for 2011,
and President Sirleaf has announced that she will seek reelection. Liberia’s security situation is
stable but subject to periodic volatility. Progress in governance under the interim government that
preceded that of President Sirleaf was mixed; widespread corruption within it was widely
reported. Liberia’s economy and state structures remain devastated by war but, along with
humanitarian conditions, are improving. Liberia has received extensive U.S. post-war
reconstruction and security sector reform assistance. In March 2006, former President Taylor was
arrested in Nigeria and transferred to the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) to face war
crimes charges. He was later transferred to The Hague, the Netherlands, where he is on trial by
the SCSL.
In addition to providing substantial support for Liberia’s post-war peace and reconstruction
processes, Congress has maintained a continuing interest in the status of Charles Taylor and in
ensuring funding for the SCSL. Other legislation proposed in the 109th and 110th Congresses
centered on immigration, debt, and tax haven issues, and the commendation of Liberia for
successfully holding elections. Liberia-specific legislation introduced or acted upon in the 111th
Congress has included: H.R. 1105 (Obey); H.R. 3288 (Olver); S. 656 (Reed); H.R. 2258
(Kennedy); H.R. 2410 (Berman); H.R. 2475 (Ros-Lehtinen); S. 1434 (Leahy); and H.R. 2346
(Obey).

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Liberia's Post-War Development: Key Issues and U.S. Assistance

Contents
Recent and On-Going Developments........................................................................................... 1
U.S. Ties ..................................................................................................................................... 3
Background ................................................................................................................................ 3
U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)......................................................................................... 4
Current Strength.............................................................................................................. 4
Drawdown ...................................................................................................................... 4
Sexual Exploitation and Abuse ........................................................................................ 6
Transition Process ....................................................................................................................... 7
2005 Post-War Elections ............................................................................................................. 7
Conduct of Elections ............................................................................................................. 9
2005 Election Dispute ................................................................................................... 10
Subsequent Elections .................................................................................................... 10
Sirleaf Government ................................................................................................................... 11
Policy Agenda..................................................................................................................... 11
Economic Renewal ....................................................................................................... 11
Governance................................................................................................................... 12
Foreign Policy............................................................................................................... 12
Women ......................................................................................................................... 12
Corruption .................................................................................................................... 13
Performance........................................................................................................................ 13
Sirleaf Administration: Criticisms and Challenges ............................................................... 14
Security Issues .......................................................................................................................... 17
Security Conditions............................................................................................................. 17
Rubber Sector Reform................................................................................................... 20
Security Sector Reform ....................................................................................................... 21
New Military Created.................................................................................................... 21
Defense Sector Reform and the AFL: Current Issues and Challenges ............................. 23
Coast Guard.................................................................................................................. 27
National Guard State Partnership Program..................................................................... 28
Other Defense Cooperation ........................................................................................... 29
Police and Justice Sector Assistance .............................................................................. 30
Special Security Service...................................................................................................... 32
Humanitarian Conditions .......................................................................................................... 33
Health Issues....................................................................................................................... 33
AIDS .................................................................................................................................. 34
Governance: Background .......................................................................................................... 34
Transitional Government ..................................................................................................... 35
Post-NTGL Corruption Trials........................................................................................ 37
Concession Deals ................................................................................................................ 37
New Contracts .............................................................................................................. 39
NTGL Anti-Corruption Efforts ............................................................................................ 41
Key Governance Issues ............................................................................................................. 42
Anti-Corruption Efforts Under Sirleaf ................................................................................. 42
Forestry Sector.............................................................................................................. 42
Diamonds ..................................................................................................................... 44
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GEMAP........................................................................................................................ 46
Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) ........................................ 47
Legislative Branch .................................................................................................................... 47
U.S. Legislative Assistance ................................................................................................. 49
Congressional Role ....................................................................................................... 50
War Crimes, Human Rights Cases, and Transitional Justice ....................................................... 50
Taylor Trial ......................................................................................................................... 50
Trial Venue ................................................................................................................... 52
Sirleaf Administration Role ........................................................................................... 53
SCSL: U.S. Views and Assistance ................................................................................. 54
Transitional Justice in Liberia.............................................................................................. 56
Potential for War Crimes Tribunal in Liberia ................................................................. 56
Truth and Reconciliation Commission........................................................................... 56
Cases Against “Chuckie” Taylor.......................................................................................... 58
U.S. Relations ........................................................................................................................... 59
111th Congress..................................................................................................................... 61
Appropriations .............................................................................................................. 62
Immigration .................................................................................................................. 63
Other Bills .................................................................................................................... 64
110th Congress .................................................................................................................... 65
Immigration Issues........................................................................................................ 66
U.S. Assistance Summary ................................................................................................... 67
Development Assistance and Related Bilateral Cooperation .......................................... 67
Millennium Challenge Corporation ............................................................................... 68
Peace Corps .................................................................................................................. 68
Trade Benefits............................................................................................................... 69
Economic Cooperation and Investment ......................................................................... 69
Air and Communications Links ..................................................................................... 70
Debt Relief, Donor Cooperation, and Related Issues...................................................... 71
U.S. Assistance Levels ........................................................................................................ 72

Figures
Figure 1. Map of Liberia ........................................................................................................... 75

Tables
Table 1. 2005 Election: Legislative Results by Party.................................................................... 9
Table 2. U.S. Assistance for the Special Court for Sierra Leone ................................................. 54
Table 3. U.S. Bilateral and Related Assistance to Liberia, FY2004-FY2011............................... 73

Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 75

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Recent and On-Going Developments
Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,1 is expected to visit the United States in late May 2010.
While her itinerary has not been released, the trip is expected to be aimed at deepening Sirleaf’s
high-level contacts with President Barack Obama’s Administration.2 Sirleaf, who also maintained
warm ties with former President George W. Bush’s Administration, may meet with President
Obama. She is also expected to update U.S. policy makers, including interested Members, on
Liberia’s progress since her election, as well as remaining challenges in such areas as security
sector reform, anti-corruption efforts, unemployment, economic growth, and legal system
capacity building. Her visit is expected to include a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
Threshold Program pre-signing event and a possible U.S. Global Food Security Initiative country
program.3
On March 18, 2010, President Obama extended for 18 months the Deferred Enforced Departure
(DED) status of eligible Liberian U.S. resident aliens, which had previously been set to expire on
March 31, 2010, allowing them to remain in the United States. DED is a special immigration
status that effectively suspends the deportation of eligible U.S. aliens. The presidential directive
ordering the extension, which had been sought by some Members, notably from districts with
significant populations of Liberian origin, also authorized those eligible to work during the
duration of their DED status.4 In addition, two bills introduced in the 111th Congress would allow
certain Liberian aliens to become permanent U.S. residents. (See “Immigration Issues”).
The trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, which began in mid-2007, but was beset by
procedural delays for a time, is continuing. Cross-examination of defense witnesses by the
Prosecutor’s Office of the U.S.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), which began in
November 2009, proceeded in early 2010.5 (See “Taylor Trial”).
In her late January 2010 annual address to the Liberian legislature, President Sirleaf, announced
that she would seek reelection to a second term in 2011, as many observers had expected. Her
announcement came in spite of a recommendation by Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC) in its draft June 2009 final report that Sirleaf, as one of 49 alleged “political
leaders and financiers of different warring factions” party to Liberia's civil wars, be “barred from
holding public offices” or “elected or appointed” for 30 years.6 (See “Truth and Reconciliation
Commission”).

1 Although her name is widely cited as Johnson-Sirleaf, the Liberian president does not employ a hyphenated form of
her last name. See Wil Haygood, “For Liberia’s ‘Iron Lady,’ Toughness Part of Territory,” Washington Post,
December 16, 2005.
2 Such contacts have included an April 2009 meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, an official visit
to Liberia in August 2009 by Secretary Clinton, and an April 2010 visit to Liberia by Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs William J. Burns, which are discussed below; see section on “U.S. relations.”
3 Liberian Government, "President Sirleaf To Meet US Government Officials in Washington," May 14, 2010.
4 Administration of Barack H. Obama, Memorandum on Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians, March 18, 2010.
5 Taylor is being tried by the SCSL on war crimes and related charges under an amended, 11-count indictment first
brought against him in 2003. The Prosecutor alleges that he directly aided and abetted diverse crimes allegedly
committed in Sierra Leone by the RUF. Open Society Institute, "Trial Proceedings," http://www.charlestaylortrial.org;
and SCSL press releases and court documents.
6 TRC, Consolidated Final Report (unedited), Volume II, June 29, 2009.
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In early 2010, the Unity Party (UP, President Sirleaf's party), the Liberia Action Party (LAP), and
the Liberia Unification Party (LUP) were in the process of holding party conventions and were all
expected to ratify an April 2009 agreement among them to merge.7
In mid-2010, a full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) country program for Liberia is
scheduled to begin. It will build on the work of a special short-term humanitarian service program
that began in October 2008.8 (See “Peace Corps”).
U.S.-Liberia flights by Delta Airlines are slated to begin in mid-2010. The initiation of the new
route, originally planned for mid-2009 was delayed when the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) announced in June 2009 that due to security deficiencies at Liberia’s international
airport, it would not permit the operation of U.S.-Liberian flights. The Transportation Security
Administration (TSA), a DHS unit, is providing Liberia with assistance to enhance aviation
security.9 (See “Air and Communications Links”).
In May 2009, a jury acquitted former National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL)
Chairman Gyude Bryant and four former Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company (LPRC)
executives from the NTGL period of corruption charges in a case involving the alleged
embezzlement of LPRC assets.10 Bryant faces a separate corruption case related his tenure as
NTGL Chairman. (See “Post-NTGL Corruption Trials”).
In late 2009, Liberia held a Senatorial by-election to fill a vacancy created by an incumbent's
death in which President Sirleaf's Unity Party lost in a run-off against the opposition Congress for
Democratic Change (CDC). Although the election reportedly featured a low voter turn-out, it was
viewed as a dry-run of the National Elections Commission's (NEC) operational capability ahead
of national elections in 2011 because nearly half of Liberia's electorate was eligible to participate
in it. (See “Subsequent Elections”).
The Sirleaf government is negotiating or has in recent years entered into several multi-year, large
natural resource or agricultural concession deals, collectively worth multiple billion dollars worth
of investment and potential exports, indicating that large foreign investors’ confidence in the
country’s political progress and prospective stability is strong.11

7 These party realignments are viewed as part an effort to create a strong political coalition in support of the reelection
of President Sirleaf in 2011. Just prior to the LUP convention in mid-February 2010, a number of politicians from
several smaller parties, some former LUP members, agreed to join the party. The Informer, "Several Cross Carpet to
LUP," February 12, 2010 via AllAfrica.com; Nana Adu Ampofo, "Major Liberian Parties Merge Ahead of 2011
Election," Global Insight Daily Analysis, April 2, 2009; and Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Report Liberia, June
2009.
8 Peace Corps, "Liberia," December 17, 2009.
9 Delta Air Lines, "Delta Expands Africa Presence with First-Ever Flight between Atlanta and Monrovia, Liberia,"
October 22, 2008; Dow Jones News Service, “TSA Blocks Delta Flights To 2 African Cities On Security,” June 3,
2009; and TSA, "TSA and Liberia Partner to Enhance Aviation Security," April 7, 2009.
10 Two of the other LPRC accused include the former speaker of the incumbent Liberian House of Representatives,
Edwin Swone, Jr., and Senator Richard Devine. C. Emmanuel Johnson, "Court Continues Jurors Selection," The News
(Monrovia) via AllAfrica.com January 6, 2009; Agence France Presse (AFP), "Former Liberia Leader Faces More
Corruption Charges," May 17, 2008; The Analyst, "Bryant Pities Country - He, Others Absolved of Sabotage Charges,"
via allAfrica.com, May 8, 2009; and information to CRS provided by the State Department February 2 and 3, 2009.
11 These include several iron ore projects with China Union, $2.6 billion; BHP Billiton, $2 billion; Severstal, $2 billion;
Elenilto; $2.2 billion; and ArcelorMittal, $1.5 billion. ArcelorMittal and BHP Billiton are also in talks to create a joint
venture to export ore from BHP Billiton holdings in Guinea through an ArcelorMittal-controlled rail link to Liberia's
(continued...)
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U.S. Ties
The United States has long-standing ties with Liberia that date back to the founding of the
modern Liberian state by “Americo-Liberians,” black freemen and former slaves from the
Americas who settled in Liberia beginning in 1821. Liberia was also a close U.S. ally, albeit a
relatively minor one, during World War II and the Cold War, and the country hosted U.S.
communications facilities in the 1960s and 1970s, and received extensive U.S. development
assistance. The Reagan Administration cultivated ties with the government of President Samuel
K. Doe during the first half of the 1980s, although these later soured. The United States also
provided meditational support and extensive humanitarian assistance for Liberia during its first
and second civil wars. It has also invested substantial amounts of aid in the current United
Nations peacekeeping operation in Liberia, as well as substantial post-war rebuilding and
development assistance. There has generally been strong Congressional support for these efforts.
The Administration of former President George W. Bush formed a close and cordial relationship
with the Sirleaf, and similarly close relations have continued under the Obama Administration.
Contemporary U.S. relations with and policy developments related to Liberia are discussed in the
“U.S. Relations” section of this report.12
Background
Liberia, a small, poor West African country of about 3.4 million people, is undergoing a post-
conflict transition and peace-building process after its second civil war within a decade. The latter
conflict burgeoned in 2000, after several minor border incursions in 1999. It pitted the forces of
Charles Taylor, elected president in 1997 after Liberia’s first civil war (1989-1997), against two
armed anti-Taylor rebel groups: Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and
the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). The war led to an extreme deterioration in
political, economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions. It also affected neighboring
states, which accepted Liberian refugees and, in some cases, hosted anti-Taylor forces. The Taylor
regime also sponsored or facilitated acts of armed aggression against its neighbors, Guinea, Sierra
Leone, and Cote d’Ivoire.13

(...continued)
coast and achieve other business synergies, and Liberia's government is in talks with Brazil's Vale, which also owns
concessions in Guinea, regarding a possible iron ore deal. AmLib Holdings, a gold mining firm, owns a $200 million
concession. Recent large agricultural contracts include an $800 million palm oil concession deal with Sime Darby, and
a possible $1.6 billion palm oil with Golden Agri Resources; and two prospective rubber deals, with the Cavalla
Rubber Corporation ($75 million) and the Liberia Agricultural Company ($25 million). Liberia has also recently
entered into several oil exploration contracts worth a total of $60 million. Reuters, "Major Foreign and Local
Investments in Liberia," May 4 2010; Boakai Fofana, "Liberia: Govt Secures Huge Investment in Palm Oil
Production," December 1, 2009, AllAfrica.com; Eric Onstad and Philip Blenkinsop, "ArcelorMittal, BHP Discuss
Africa Iron Ore JV," Reuters, January 19, 2010.
12 For information on past U.S.-Liberian relations, see CRS Report RL32243, Liberia: Transition to Peace, by Nicolas
Cook and CRS Report RL30933, Liberia: 1989-1997 Civil War, Post-War Developments, and U.S. Relations, by
Nicolas Cook.
13 This report focuses on current issues and recent events. CRS Report RL32243, Liberia: Transition to Peace, and
CRS Report RL30933, Liberia: 1989-1997 Civil War, Post-War Developments, and U.S. Relations, both by Nicolas
Cook, provide in-depth background on events in Liberia during recent decades, and on the presidential tenure of
Charles Taylor.
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A peace accord was signed on August 18, 2003, after months of international mediation. It was
facilitated by two events: Charles Taylor’s resignation of the presidency and departure from
Liberia on August 11, after he was granted political asylum in Nigeria; and the early August
deployment of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) military intervention
force, the ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL). ECOMIL, with extensive U.S. and U.N.
assistance, deployed to Liberia to end heavy fighting and alleviate a worsening humanitarian
crisis in the wake of a failed June 2003 cease-fire. It was tasked with monitoring and securing the
cease-fire, enabling the delivery of relief aid, and preparing the way for the U.N. Mission in
Liberia (UNMIL).
U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
UNMIL, first authorized by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on September 19, 2003, deployed
to Liberia on October 1, 2003, two weeks before the National Transitional Government of Liberia
(NTGL) took office on October 14. ECOMIL was dissolved and its military forces absorbed into
UNMIL, which carries out diverse peacekeeping, civilian policing, and socio-economic
assistance functions in support of Liberia’s transition process. UNMIL provides a military guard
force for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, discussed below, for which it assumed responsibility
from the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), upon UNMIL’s termination in late 2005.
U.S. funding for UNMIL is covered in Table 3, below.
Current Strength
UNMIL has a current authorized force strength of 14,875 military personnel and 1,240 police. As
of late December 2009, it had a total force strength of 10,947, made up of individual police, 480
(14.8% female); formed police units, 844 (18.2% female); military observers, 118 (7.3% female);
and contingent troops, 9,505 (2.6% female). As of late December 2009, U.S. personnel deployed
with UNMIL included seven individual police; four military observers; and six contingent troops.
Drawdown
A gradual, phased drawdown of the UNMIL force, guided by progress in implementing a series of
benchmarks set out by the Security Council and initiated by a UNSC decision to repatriate 1,000
troops in 2006, is continuing. The benchmarks were first proposed in by the U.N. Secretary-
General (UNSG) in 2006 (S/2006/159, March 14, 2006), in response to a September 2005
Security Council request for an UNMIL force drawdown plan, to include specific benchmarks
and a schedule for achieving that end. The UNSG found that it was “too early for a major
drawdown of UNMIL.” He called, instead, for a two-year “consolidation period” during which
UNMIL would implement an “adjusted mandate” defined by an 11-point agenda of “priority
tasks.” These centered on achieving such objectives as maintenance of a stable and secure
environment; completion of ex-combatant, refugees, and internally displaced persons
reintegration; security sector reform; and consolidation of state authority and governance
capacity.
Notwithstanding a need to complete these tasks, he proposed that “in the absence of an immediate
armed threat within Liberia,” the military component of UNMIL be reduced by one infantry
battalion in mid-2006 and another infantry battalion in early 2007, and that a drawdown of the
Mission, beginning in early 2007, security conditions permitting, ensue.
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By mid-March 2007, the United Nations was
reporting significant progress in meeting key
Note on United Nations Documents and
benchmarks, including with respect to police
Usage in this Report
and military training, restructuring and reform;
For the sake of brevity, the ful titles of U.N. documents,
management of natural resources; and the
which are often accompanied by extensive sub-titles and
meeting session data, are ― with some exceptions ―
creation of a national security strategy and
not employed in this report. Instead, the U.N. agency
architecture — though each of these activities
source of such documents is given, fol owed by the item's
faced often considerable challenges. Progress
U.N. document symbol and date of release, except with
toward ex-combatant reintegration and the
respect to Security Council documents, for which only
consolidation of state authority was slower
the document symbol and date are given. Security
Council documents can be readily be identified by their
than planned, however, largely due to resource
distinct document numbers, which always begin with the
constraints. Due to these and diverse other
symbol “S/.” In this report, these primarily include
reconstruction and development challenges,
periodic reports on UNMIL by the U.N. Secretary-
and notwithstanding areas of progress, in
General, Security Council Resolutions, and statements by
the President of the Security Council The Tenth Progress
March 2007 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-
Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations
moon, citing what he called “limited progress
Mission in Liberia, with the U.N. document symbol
made in meeting the benchmarks for the
S/2006/159, and dated March 14, 2006, for instance,
consolidation and drawdown of the Mission,”
would be cited as S/2006/159, March 14, 2006. The ful
recommended a year-long extension of the
text and title of al U.N. documents cited in this report
can be found online using the U.N. document symbol
UNMIL’s existing mandate.14 Assessments of
search box of the U.N. Official Document System
and adjustments to these and a range of
(ODS), http://documents.un.org.
subsequent benchmarks, along with two
associated, phased UNMIL force repatriations,
have since continued.15
On September 15, 2009, the Security Council passed Resolution 1885 (S/RES/1885), authorizing
a third-phase drawdown, to take place between October 2009 and May 2010. It involves the
repatriation of 2,029 military personnel, three attack helicopters, and 72 armored personnel
carriers. Upon completion of this process, UNMIL’s force will include 8,202 military personnel
(including 7,952 troops in Liberia and 250 at the Special Court for Sierra Leone), while the
UNMIL police component will include about 1,344 personnel (465 police advisers, 843 officers
in seven formed police units, 23 corrections officers and 13 immigration officers).16

14 S/2007/151, March 15, 2007.
15 On benchmarks, see S/2007/479, August 8, 2007; S/2008/183, March 19, 2008; and S/2009/86, February
10, 2009.
16 See S/RES/1885, September 15, 2009; and S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
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Resolution 1885 also reauthorized UNMIL’s
mandate through September 30, 2010 and
Liberia at a Glance17
ordered that the post-May 2010 UNMIL force
Geography: Smal tropical coastal West African country
size be maintained until the completion of
about the size of Virginia
presidential and legislative elections in late
Population: 3.4 (2009)
2011, which it authorized UNMIL to assist in
Ann. Population Growth Rate: 2.67% (2009)
administering. It also permitted UNMIL to
reinforce the U.N. Operation in Côte d’Ivoire
Exchange Rate Adjusted Gross National Income
(GNI) Total: $634.4 mill. (2008)
(UNOCI) on a contingency basis, if needed
during anticipated elections in Côte d’Ivoire
GNI Per Capita: $170 (2008)
― or vice versa, should the security
External Debt: $1.7 bill., 2010
Key Exports: Rubber, timber, iron, cocoa, gold, coffee,
situation in Liberia deteriorate. The resolution
diamonds. Value: $254 mill., of which $225 mill. or
called the “conduct of free and fair, conflict-
88.6% of rubber (2008, IMF); and $160 mill., of which
free elections... a core benchmark for
$94 million, or 58.8% of rubber (2009 proj.)
UNMIL’s future drawdown,” among others,
Languages: English & 29 distinct local languages
such as the further
Ethnic groups: 16 indigenous groups, 95%; and freed
slave descendants from the Americas, 5%
development of “national security and rule of
law institutions that are fully independently
Religions: Christian, 85.6; Muslim, 12.2; Traditional
beliefs, 0.6; Other/no Religion, 1.7 (LC). Note: Many
operational.” It also requested that UNMIL
observers view Liberian adherents of world religions as
submit to the Security Council, in
often being heavily influenced by traditional beliefs.
collaboration with the Liberian government, a
Literacy: Women, 40.8%-46.3%; Men, 65.5%-70.3%
strategic plan aimed at integrating and
consolidating post-conflict peace-building,
Infant and Under-5 Mortality rate, respectively: 93
stability, and development efforts in Liberia.
and 132 deaths/1,000 live births (2007)
In the meantime, the Security Council remains
HIV/AIDS adult infection rate: 1.5% (2007)
cautious about the extent of Liberia’s post-war
Life Expectancy, years at birth: National average.
evolution. In passing Resolution 1903
41.84 (ave.); Male, 40.71; Female, 43 (2009)
(December 17, 2009), which renews or alters a

range of Liberia-related sanctions, the Security
Council declared that “despite significant
progress having been made in Liberia, the situation there continues to constitute a threat to
international peace and security in the region.”
Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
UNMIL has implemented measures to prevent, detect, investigate, and punish acts of sexual
exploitation and abuse (SEA), in line with recent reforms and renewed U.N.-wide regulations
regarding sexual conduct, following abuses in several U.N. peacekeeping missions around the
world, including in Liberia. U.N. Resolution 1626 (2005) bars SEA, and UNMIL has created a
mission conduct and discipline team and investigatory capacity to ensure adherence to these
rules.18 In mid-March 2006, five crew members of a UN contractor, who had been under

17 Text Box Sources: CIA World Factbook 2009; World Bank World Development Indicators; International Monetary
Fund press release, April 2010; Liberian 2008 Census; Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU); Ethnologue.com; and
Liberia Demographic and Health Survey 2007; IMF Country Report No. 09/332, December 2009; and UNAIDS.
18 Between January 1, 2004 and June 8, 2006, 17 UNMIL military personnel were repatriated to their home countries
for probable SEA crimes; two UNMIL civilians were dismissed or faced a non-renewal of their contract; three UNMIL
(continued...)
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investigation for alleged rapes and the assault of Liberian police officers, left Liberia after being
released on bond. According to UNMIL, their departure was “highly regretted and the matter is
being brought to the attention of the authorities of the country concerned.”19 There were
reportedly 12 alleged SEA incidents reported between January 1, 2009 and August 31, 2009, and
six such allegations in the period between August 10, 2009 and February 1, 2010.20
Transition Process
The August 30, 2007 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed by the three warring
factions and 18 political parties, laid out a peace process, provided for the creation of the National
Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), and allocated leadership positions within it.21 The
NTGL was mandated to reestablish functioning government authority and prepare for national
elections that were held in mid-October and November 2005. The elected government of
President Sirleaf replaced the NTGL in late January 2006, as described below. The NTGL
consisted of an executive branch, presided over by a Chairman, Gyude Bryant, and an interim
parliament, the National Transitional Legislative Assembly. Bryant, a businessman and church
layman who led the Liberian Action Party, oversaw the functions of the central government and
various public corporations, agencies, and commissions. Bryant was given the title of NTGL
"chairman" to differentiate his unelected NTGL role and authority from that of a constitutionally
elected president. The transition faced many challenges, most related to the extremely destructive
effects of many years of war in Liberia. Others included the dominant role within the NTGL of
the three former armed factions, which were prone to internal rivalries; political discord over the
allocation of state positions and resources; very limited state capacities; and reported public
sector corruption.
2005 Post-War Elections
Peaceful Senate, House of Representatives, and presidential elections were held on October 11,
2005, and a presidential runoff vote was held on November 8. The 22-candidate presidential poll
led to a runoff race. It pitted George Manneh “Oppong” Weah, 39 years of age, a former
professional top soccer player whose star status and rags-to-riches history make him a hero to
Liberian youth, against Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, then 67 years of age, a Harvard-trained economist
and former businesswoman who had served as Liberian finance minister and as a United Nations
and World Bank official. On November 15, 2005, the National Elections Commission (NEC)
declared Sirleaf the winner of the presidential race, with 59.4% of votes against Weah’s 40.6%,
making her the first-ever female president of an African country. Despite its declaration in favor

(...continued)
civilians were suspended; and investigations cleared 13 UNMIL military personnel and three UNMIL civilian police.
State Department compilation.
19 See UNMIL, “Statement on the Departure from Liberia of Five Crew Members, Employees of a UN Contractor,”
March 14, 2006.
20 It was not clear, based on information available to CRS as of the date of this report, how much overlap there may
have been in the number of cases reported during these two overlapping periods. State Department compilation of U.N.
Office of Internal Oversight Services data covering the period January 1, 2009 through August 31, 2009; and UNSC,
S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
21 CPA text available from U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), http://www.usip.org/library/pa.html.
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of Sirleaf, the NEC subsequently probed and later rejected claims by Weah that the election was
fraudulent. A presidential election will next to be held in 2011.
In contrast to the presidential race, election results for seats in the bicameral legislature were
disparate; no party received more than 24% of seats in either chamber, and none dominated in
both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The largest party in the 64-member House, in
which members serve 6-year terms, is Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), which
won 15 seats. The Liberty Party (LP) won nine House seats, while Sirleaf’s Unity Party (UP) and
the Coalition for Transformation of Liberia (COTOL) each won eight. Seven other parties each
won between one and five House seats, and seven independent candidates each won a seat. In the
30-seat Senate, in which members normally serve nine-year terms,22 COTOL won seven seats and
the UP won four; all other parties won between one and three seats.23 Political party mergers in
2009 and 2010, discussed below, have changed the allocation of seats among parties.
Notable among the newly elected legislators were several former Taylor regime officials and
leaders of former armed factions or security services. These include senators Jewel Howard-
Taylor, a former wife of Charles Taylor (NPP; Bong County); Prince Yormie Johnson
(independent, Bong County); and Saye-Taayor Adolphus Dolo (COTOL, Nimba County).
Johnson is the former leader of a faction that splintered from Taylor’s early in the first civil war,
and is infamous for personally presiding over the bloody, videotaped murder of former head of
state Samuel Doe. He returned to run in the election from exile in Nigeria, where he had
professed to have become a born-again Christian evangelist. Dolo is a former pro-Taylor militia
leader, known by the nom de guerre General Peanut Butter, who reportedly committed war-time
atrocities and recruited child fighters, and who is said to have aggressively opposed UNMIL
peacekeeping activities. In the House, they include Edwin Snowe (independent, Montserrado
County); Saah Richard Gbollie (NPP, Margibi County); and Kai G. “White Flower B-50” Farley,
(CDC, Grand Gedeh County). Snowe, who was elected speaker of the House in mid-January
2006 but has since stepped down,24 is a former Taylor in-law. He is also the former head of the
Liberian Petroleum and Refining Corporation (LPRC), from which Taylor regime officials
reportedly diverted significant amounts of funds, some of which may have benefitted Taylor
during his exile in Nigeria.25 Gbollie is a former Taylor fighter and Taylor administration police
official accused of human rights abuses. Farley is an ex-MODEL commander and NTGL official
accused of threatening the 2003 peace accord. Jewel Taylor, Dolo, Snowe, and Farley are subject
to U.N. travel sanctions.

22 Current junior senators, those who obtained the second highest number of votes in the 2005 elections, will serve a
six-year term. Thereafter, all senators will serve nine year terms.
23 Full election results are available online from the NEC at http://www.necliberia.org/results.
24 See “Error! Reference source not found.” under section Current Governance Issues, below.
25 Coalition for International Justice, Following Taylor’s Money: A Path of War and Destruction, May 2005.
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Table 1. 2005 Election: Legislative Results by Party
(Seats and percentage of vote won)
Senate House
Party
Seatsa
Vote (%)
Seatsa
Vote (%)
Congress for Democratic Change (CDC)
3
10
15
23.4
Coalition for Transformation of Liberia (COTOL)
7
23.3
8
12.5
Liberty Party (LP)
3
10
9
14.1
Unity Party (UP)
4
13.3
8
12.5
Independent 3
10
7
10.9
Alliance for Peace and Democracy (APD)
3
10
5
7.8
National Patriotic Party (NPP)
3
10
4
6.3
Al Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP)
1
3.3
2
3.1
Nation Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL)
2
6.7
1
1.6
New Deal Movement (NDM)
-
-
3
4.7
National Reformation Party (NRP)
1
3.3
1
1.6
United Democratic Alliance (UDA)
-
-
1
1.6
Source: National Elections Commission of Liberia, 2005 Election Results, available online at
http://www.necliberia.org/results.
a. This data reflects the 2005 electoral results. Political party mergers in 2009 and 2010, discussed below, have
since changed the al ocation of seats among parties.
Conduct of Elections26
With some mostly minor exceptions, the election was reportedly well-administered. About 1.35
million citizens registered to vote in April and May 2005, in a process that was marred by some
minor acts and threats of violence and localized disruptions but was generally peaceful. Attempts
by some NTGL ministers to try to run for office in the 2005 election, in violation of the CPA, also
sparked controversy. About 1.012 million registered voters (74.9%) participated in the October 11
Senate, House of Representatives, and presidential elections, and over 821,000 (60.7%) voted in
the November 8 presidential runoff poll. Results from voter registrations at 2,000 sites guided
decision making about the composition of constituencies, the placement of about 2,900 polling
places, and the distribution of voter education and polling materials. The large number of
presidential candidates (over 50 initially, of whom 22 were ultimately registered) and registered
political parties (30) reportedly proved confusing for some voters. Key election issues included
national reconciliation and unity, corruption, jobs, general economic growth, and social services
and physical infrastructure needs. Polling on both elections dates was peaceful.27

26 Various periodic UNSG progress reports on UNMIL; State Department information, both published and provided to
CRS; and NEC data. The author of this section served as an election observer. In the county where he monitored the
voting process, the election was well-run. Poll workers appeared well trained; voting equipment and materials were
distributed on time and in sufficient quantity; and voting was peaceful and voter turnout rates high.
27 Various periodic UNSG progress reports on UNMIL; and information provided to CRS by USAID.
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U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) elections staff and U.N. agencies provided extensive support
to the NEC and other relevant agencies involved in such activities as media outreach and civic
education, technical elections tasks, and electoral security coordination, as called for under the
CPA. UNMIL aid for the elections reportedly totaled about $8 million, and the European Union
pledged $1 million. Most of $10 million in U.S. elections assistance supported the programs of
the nonprofit democracy strengthening organizations International Foundation for Electoral
Systems (IFES), elections technical assistance; National Democratic Institute (NDI), civic
education); and International Republican Institute (IRI), political party training. IRI and NDI, the
latter jointly with the Carter Center, deployed teams to monitor the elections, as did the African
and European Unions, the U.S. and many other governments, and international organizations.28
The vote was monitored by at least 29 international organizations or governmental entities (369
individuals), as well as 52 civil society groups (over 3,500 individuals) and a roughly equal
number of party observers; and 246 local journalists.
2005 Election Dispute
Weah, who had claimed to have been cheated in the first round, contested his loss in the second
round and called for a re-run of the vote. He pursued his claim though a number of formal
channels, but after the NEC dismissed his claim, after meeting with Sirleaf, and under heavy
international pressure, in late December 2005 he agreed to drop his claim and accept the poll
results. Many observers doubted that systematic or large-scale fraud had marred the election. U.S.
officials viewed the process as having been orderly, largely well-administered, and free and fair,
and such views were shared by most other governments and international entities that observed
the vote. The United States nevertheless called for a probe of Weah’s claims and for any contest
of results to be carried out peacefully and through established legal channels.
Subsequent Elections29
In late 2009, a by-election — the fifth to be conducted after the 2005 election— was held to fill a
vacancy for the Montserrado County Senate seat created by an incumbent’s death. None of ten
participating candidates, five independents and five from political parties, won the 51% of votes
necessary to win the election outright. This outcome triggered a run-off election between the top
two vote winners, a candidate from President Sirleaf's Unity Party and one from the Congress for
Democratic Change (CDC), the largest opposition party. The CDC candidate emerged as the
victor during the run-off, garnering 56% of votes cast against 46% for the UP candidate. Although
the election reportedly featured a low voter turn-out (20% during the first round and 22.4%
during the run-off), nearly half of Liberia’s electorate was eligible to participate in it, given that
Montserrado is the urban county surrounding Monrovia, where about half of Liberia’s population
lives. As a result, the election was viewed as a dry-run of the ability National Elections
Commission (NEC) to conduct a large election ahead of national elections in 2011.

28 For an assessment of these and subsequent USAID-administered elections and participatory democracy-
strengthening work, see USAID/Liberia, Liberia Elections and Political Processes Program Evaluation, Final Report,
November 2008.
29NEC, Statement by Hon. James M. Fromayan, Chairman of the National Elections Commission (NEC) on the
Occasion of the Announcement of the Final Results of the Montserrado County Senatorial By-election Run-Off,
November 26, 2009; IFES-Liberia, "Briefing Note on Liberia's Successful Senatorial By-election," December 4, 2009;
and IFES, "IFES Returns to Work with Liberia’s National Elections Commission," October 7, 2009.
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According to IFES, an electoral capacity-building non-governmental organization that is working
with the NEC, the "process was seen as void of fraud and recognized as free, fair and
transparent." IFES also reported that conduct of the "first round saw some logistical and
operational challenges," but "the second round was vastly improved," and the NEC's performance
was widely lauded by local election stakeholders and international observers. IFES is providing
technical and financial support to the NEC under a five-year U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID)-supported project called Building Sustainable Election Management in
Liberia
. IFES supported the Montserrado by-election by providing the NEC with election
administration materials and technical assistance.30
Sirleaf Government
Policy Agenda
President Sirleaf took office on January 16, 2006 and shortly thereafter nominated a cabinet seen
as dominated by technocrats, professionals, and former opposition or policy activists. In her
inaugural address, she laid out a detailed governance agenda, and launched her tenure with a
series of actions to counter corruption. Sirleaf highlighted what she pledged would be “a new era
of democracy” defined by political inclusion and toleration, non-violence, and safeguarding and
promotion of constitutional and civil liberties and rights. She stressed the need for national
reconciliation as an “urgent” and “compelling” task facing her administration. During the first
150 days of her tenure, in coordination with donors, her government also pursued diverse rapid
impact projects aimed at showing “quick and visible progress.” These were grouped under four
(initially five) “major pillars”: Security; Economic Revitalization; Basic Services and
Infrastructure; and Good Governance. The same pillars continue to define her administration’s
medium to long term development efforts. These are spearheaded by an entity called the Liberia
Reconstruction and Development Committee (LRDC), which is composed of four working
committees, each of which supports a separate “pillar.”
Economic Renewal
Sirleaf is pursuing an economic agenda emphasizing the creation of an investment-friendly
climate; the exploitation of Liberia’s rich natural resources; land tenure reform focused on
increasing agricultural production; job creation, notably for youths; and expanded economic and
social infrastructure rehabilitation, particularly in historically economically marginalized areas.
The Sirleaf administration has consistently emphasized the importance of laying the groundwork
for sustained economic growth and job creation. The latter is viewed as key by many observers,
both because formal sector unemployment rates are reportedly as high because unemployment is
a potential source of instability. 31 The economic and educational disenfranchisement of Liberia’s

30 IFES's $17.5 million project, which runs through 2014, seeks to support the NEC's elections administration
capabilities and will support its activities as they relate to the 2011 general election, a planned constitutional
referendum, local elections, and any by-elections. Key activities center on boundary delimitation, voter registration
processes, civic and voter education, notably at the community level, and making the NEC's capacity to undertake its
mandate autonomously in the absence of donor assistance, notably through the provision of technical assistance and
training. IFES, Building Sustainable Elections Management in Liberia, n.d. (current as of late April 2010).
31 Post-war unemployment was often cited in U.N. documents and reports by diverse private research organizations as
standing between 80% and 85%. In late 2007, President Sirleaf stated that previous reports that the unemployment rate
(continued...)
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large youth population is viewed as having fueled Liberia’s armed conflicts, and joblessness is a
continuing source of popular dissatisfaction. In mid-2007, the United Nations reported that the
majority of ex-combatants remained unemployed and that thousands had regrouped in order to
illegally exploit diamonds, gold, and plantation-grown rubber.
Governance
Sirleaf has vowed to take forceful action against corruption, including by requiring all key
officials to declare their assets and follow a national code of conduct. She strongly endorsed and
promised to “enforce” the Governance and Economic Management Program (GEMAP, discussed
below) to deal with “serious economic and financial management deficiencies” and pursue an
“integrated capacity building initiative.” She also vowed to overhaul the “seriously bloated” the
civil service, while noting that civil servant pay was poor and in arrears.32 She promised to
institutionalize a meritocratic, performance-based civil service system.
Foreign Policy
Sirleaf declared economic private sector-focused regional integration and security cooperation to
be her guiding foreign policy goal. She vowed to maintain strong international bilateral and
multilateral partnerships. Notably, given recent regional history, she stated that “no inch of
Liberian soil will be used to conspire to perpetrate aggression” against neighboring countries.33
Her government has also shown itself to be open to new foreign ties. Liberia now has diplomatic
relations with Cuba and it established bilateral relations with China in late 2003, after the
departure from power of President Taylor, who had maintained relations with Taiwan.34
Women
Paying homage to what she said were the special efforts of women in securing her election and
the peace that made it possible—even in the face of war-related “inhumanity,” “terror,” military
conscription, forced labor, and rape—Sirleaf vowed in her inaugural address to “empower
Liberian women in all areas.” She pledged to strengthen laws and law enforcement to protect
women against rape, support the education of children, notably of girls, and to provide programs
to enable women to play a key role in the economic revitalization process.35 Sirleaf has
nominated women to head multiple key ministries and public agencies.

(...continued)
stood at 85% were exaggerated. A 2007 study funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
several U.N. donors, and the Liberian government and undertaken by several Liberian government agencies with with
technical assistance from Macro International Inc. reported a national unemployment rate of 26.5%, 34.2% for women
and 18.8% for men. See Liberia Demographic and Health Survey 2007, June 2008.
32 President Sirleaf, Inaugural Address of H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, January 16, 2006.
33 President Sirleaf, Inaugural Address, op cit.
34 On China’s diplomatic rivalry with Taiwan, see CRS Report RL33510, Taiwan: Overall Developments and Policy
Issues in the 109th Congress
.
35 President Sirleaf, Inaugural Address, op cit. According to UNMIL media summaries, local Liberian media reported
that a Liberian women’s group demanded the establishment of a special expedited rape cases court during a late June
2006 public demonstration. See also Katharine Houreld, “Liberia’s Women Fight Back,” Mail & Guardian, June 2,
2006.
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Corruption
Upon taking office, Sirleaf announced an audit of the previous transitional government and
dismissed all transitional government political appointees. She also laid off the entire staff of the
Finance Ministry, pending a screening of employees’ qualifications and level of probity. In
February 2006, she revoked all existing timber concession contracts, which had been widely
criticized for being let in a corrupt fashion and for being executed in an environmentally
unsustainable manner. This action provided the basis, in part, for the U.N. Security Council’s
June 2006 lifting of a ban on Liberian timber exports. Sirleaf later initiated reviews of other
contracts and concession deals granted by the transitional government. In early June 2006, she
fired three sub-cabinet level officials and several mid-level civil servants accused of corruption.
Her administration has also publicly released audit reports of several state agencies.
Performance
In mid-April 2006, in a document entitled 150 Day Action Plan: A Working Document for a New
Liberia
, the Sirleaf administration laid out a detailed status report on short-term, quick impact
policy and project implementation efforts and achievements to date.36 The document, which was
aimed both at increasing government transparency and proving her administration’s adherence to
Sirleaf’s campaign and inaugural pledges, demonstrated that most of her plans were being
implemented in a timely manner. The Executive Mansion, the equivalent of the U.S. White
House, also releases similar documents pertaining to ongoing LRDC activities. Sirleaf has faced
challenges in meeting high voter expectations, for instance, in relation to her election promise to
provide public electricity in Monrovia within six months of being elected, despite the complexity
and great cost of that an undertaking. Many voters appeared to have given the new government a
honeymoon period, although expectations remained high following what many saw as
disappointing performance by the transitional government. The public remains eager to see rapid
job growth and rapid improvements in social services and the construction of physical
infrastructure, particularly in support of education, healthcare, and transportation.
In various public comments, Sirleaf has assured Liberians that her government is successfully
continuing to build the groundwork for sustained growth, but has counseled Liberians to be
patient, since many ongoing investments in infrastructure, basic services capacity building and
foreign investment business projects will take time to generate jobs and incomes. Several road
building projects are currently underway and the government is examining options for large-scale
electricity generation and long-distance power transmission. Despite the fact such projects, which
are largely donor-financed, may not generate general economic growth for some time, Liberia’s
economy is growing rapidly. In December 2007, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) reported
estimates and projections showing a sharp jump in Liberia’s gross domestic product, from 5.3%
in 2005, to 7.8% in 2006, to 8.5% in 2007, with rates of 9.5% and 11% projected for 2008 and
2009, respectively.37 In March 2008, Liberia is expected to publish a Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (PRSP), which expected to guide economic policy and provide the basis an agreement with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a credit and technical assistance program for 2008-10,

36 Available online from PeaceAfrica, a project of the AllAfrica Foundation. See http://allafrica.com/peaceafrica/
resources/view/00010785.pdf.
37 EIU, Country Report/Liberia, December 2007.
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as well as ongoing cooperation with the World Bank. Liberia is also in the process of awarding
offshore oil exploration contracts.
President Sirleaf has also been an active participant in African Union activities, sometimes taking
stances at odds with other African leaders — e.g., overtly criticizing the June 2008 elections in
Zimbabwe as “not credible” and urging the AU to “declare the results unacceptable” — as well as
those of ECOWAS and the Mano River Union (MRU).38 She has been particularly been involved
in efforts to strengthen the MRU and in efforts to resolve the political crisis in neighboring
Guinea.39
Sirleaf Administration: Criticisms and Challenges
The general public largely gave Sirleaf a political honeymoon in her first years in office, but she
has since been the target of some criticism, both of a routine political nature by opposition parties
(including Taylor supporters upset by his SCSL trial) and by some human rights and transparency
policy advocates. Although many Liberians and international human rights advocates have
praised Sirleaf’s strongly stated support for such rights and the rule of law, some criticized her
nomination of Kabineh Janneh as a Supreme Court Justice, who was later confirmed in the post.40
Her administration had also been criticized for not creating an Independent National Commission
for Human Rights (INCHR), an institution called for under the 2003 peace agreement. In June
2009, however, the president ratified an amended act passed by the legislature in May 2009, and
in mid-August 2009 forwarded to the Senate seven INCHR nominees. Criticism has since shifted
to the Senate for failing to confirm the nominees.41
In 2006, there were several reports of assaults or harassment of journalists by members of the
Special Security Service (SSS), a Liberian executive branch security agency, and by regular
police. In response, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) threatened to launch a “news black-out” of
coverage of the government. President Sirleaf reportedly responded to the allegations by stating
that “those who violate the rights of the Liberian people or journalists for that matter will be dealt
with and punished appropriately” and that her “government will not tolerate violation of the rights
of people, including journalists.”42 Information Minister Johnny McClain also met with the PUL
and reemphasized that the Sirleaf administration “is committed to press freedom and that there is

38 Liberian Government, "Liberia: President Sirleaf Urges African Union to Denounce Zimbabwe Election Results,"
July 2, 2008. The MRU is a sub-regional body, originally an economic development entity that later became a forum
for political crisis interventions and dialogue, made up of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, which Cote d'Ivoire
agreed to join in 2008 during a visit by President Johnson-Sirleaf.
39 On Guinea, see CRS Report R41200, Guinea’s New Transitional Government: Emerging Issues for U.S. Policy, by
Alexis Arieff and CRS Report R40703, Guinea: Background and Relations with the United States, by Alexis Arieff
and Nicolas Cook.
40 Janneh was the transitional government’s justice minister and is a former leading member of the LURD rebel group.
Critics see Janneh as responsible, in part, for violence committed by LURD fighters against civilians during the
Liberian war and view his nomination as counter to the goals and spirit of the TRC. Michael Kpayili, “Liberia: Liberian
Senate Confirms Kabineh Jan’eh As Associate Supreme Court Justice,” The Liberian Times, May 9, 2006.
41 The Analyst, "Gov't Reconstitutes Human Rights Commission," August 18, 2009; Executive Mansion,
"Commissioners of Independent Human Rights Commission Named," August 18, 2009; and International Center for
Transitional Justice (ICTJ), "Liberia: Delay of Human Rights Commission Undermines Human Rights and
Accountability," February 19, 2010.
42 The Analyst (Monrovia), “Liberia: President Promises to Probe Manhandling of Journalists,” June 19, 2006.
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a standing policy of respect and cordiality toward the press.”43 The international press rights
advocacy organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated in an open letter to President
Sirleaf that it was “troubled” by the alleged attacks on the press and that “despite an Information
Ministry statement [...] affirming the government’s commitment to press freedom, there has been
no evidence of an investigation into these incidents nor any public effort to punish those
responsible.” The CPJ also stated in an open letter to President Sirleaf that
While there is no evidence that these incidents are the result of government policy, your
administration has a responsibility to restrain security forces from attacking or harassing
journalists who are trying to do their jobs. As an organization of journalists dedicated to
defending the rights of our colleagues worldwide, CPJ respectfully urges you to make good
on your pledges to uphold press freedom by ensuring a prompt and transparent investigation
into these cases.44
Some critics have alleged that the Sirleaf government, like its predecessors, is corrupt, but the
Sirleaf Administration rejects such accusations, citing its record of anti-corruption actions.45
Given the historically embedded presence of public sector corruption in Liberia, the government’
approach to addressing the problem combines a continuing series of law enforcement actions,
institutional reforms, and education and training programs. It may, however, face difficulties in
prosecuting indictments, given the limited capacity of Liberia. Another challenge is to ensure that
it pursues enforcement actions in a professional and apolitical manner, as recent Liberian history
has been marked by the use of corruption prosecutions as a tool for achieving political retribution.
The Liberian government under the Sirleaf Administration has recorded a number of successes in
fighting corruption, but it remains a key, abiding challenge. In late August 2008, President Sirleaf
signed into law a bill establishing a Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC). In September
2008, she appointed as its chair Frances Johnson Morris, a former minister of Justice and
Commerce and the former head of the National Elections Commission, and a Sirleaf relative.46
Her Administration has also highlighted apparent progress in fighting corruption, for instance by
citing the country’s rapid positive progress as measured by the World Bank Institute’s Worldwide
Governance Indicators
.47 The government as also strongly supported the Governance and
Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) and the Liberia Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (LEITI), both discussed below. A government Public Procurement and
Concessions Commission (PPCC) is also pursuing a range of efforts to ensure transparency and
accountability in government purchases and contracts.

43 James Butty, “Liberian Media Reports Government Harassment of Press,” VOA, June 16, 2006; CPJ, “Liberia:
Journalist Assaulted by Security Forces,” May 24, 2006; and CPJ, “Liberia: Sports Editor Assaulted,” March 10, 2006,
among others.
44 Ann Cooper, Exec. Dir, “Liberia: CPJ Urges President to Probe Attacks on Press [open letter],” CPJ, June 16, 2006.
45 See Tristan McConnell, "Persistent Corruption Threatens Liberian stability," Christian Science Monitor, September
25, 2008; and FrontpageAfrica.com, "Liberian Govt. Responds to ‘Persistent Corruption Threatens Stability’," January
10, 2008 [response to McConnell article published on third party website by Dr. Laurence Bropleh, Minister of
Information, Culture & Tourism and Chief Spokesperson].
46 The Inquirer (Monrovia), "Liberia: Ellen Signs Anti-Corruption Act, Commissions Several Officials," via
AllAfrica.com, August 26, 2008; Nana Adu Ampofo, "Liberian President Signs Anti-Corruption Commission Act into
Law," Global Insight Daily Analysis, August 27, 2008; Africa Confidential, Liberia: A Second Term for Sirleaf, May
14, 2010; and Liberian Presidency, "Cllr. Frances Johnson Morris Appointed Head of Anti-Corruption Commission,"
September 1, 2008.
47 See "Liberia Shows Dramatic Improvement in Controlling Corruption," document posted on Liberian presidential
website, no date (likely circa mid-2008).
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Despite such efforts, some Sirleaf Administration officials have periodically been accused of
corruption. In September 2008, President Sirleaf appointed a special seven-member independent
corruption commission, the so-called Dunn Commission, named after its chair, Dr. D. Elwood
Dunn. It was charged with investigating allegations that certain current and former Sirleaf
Administration officials had received contract renewal bribes from the U.S. head of the Liberian
International Ship Corporate Registry (LISCR) aimed at preventing a competitive bid for the
work, as well as allegations of other corrupt actions, in several cases associated with former
Acting State and Presidential Affairs Minister, Willis Knuckles. The Administration also faced
allegations that it had attempted to cover up the issue by bribing journalists not to report the
story.48 The Commission, which hired the James Mintz Group as an expert technical investigator,
issued a public report of its findings in January 2009.49
There have also been a series of other cases of apparent actual or alleged corruption involving top
officials, in many cases uncovered by investigations by the independent General Auditing
Commission (GAC). Led by Auditor-General, John Morlu, who has publicly criticized the Sirleaf
Administration’s record on corruption, the GAC has released reports indicating several million
dollars worth of unaccounted spending within the Health, Education, Mines and Finance
ministries.50 Prominent cases involving key officials, among others, include:
• the suspension in October 2009, resignation in January 2010, and current
prosecution of the former information minister, Lawrence Bropleh, over
allegations of his involvement in a “ghost worker” fund diversion scheme;
• a procurement irregularities case that led to the February 2010 resignation of the
then-internal affairs minister, Ambulai Johnson, Sirleaf's brother, and questions
over the origins of his personal assets;
• the September 2009 dismissal of Harry Greaves, a former Sirleaf advisor, as
managing director of the Liberian Petroleum Refinery Corporation (LPRC) over
a case involving Greaves’ alleged involvement in the allocation of a contract to a
firm in exchange for compensation more than double as large as the estimated
value of the contract by another bidder, and allegations of bribery pertaining to an
ensuing investigation of the contract award;

48 LISCR administers Liberia's widely used flag of convenience ship registry, which under the Taylor regime was
alleged to have been a source of corruptly diverted funds. Prior to the allegations that led to the appointment of the
Dunn Commission, the Sirleaf Administration had faced a sex scandal associated with the Acting State and Presidential
Affairs Minister, Willis Knuckles, that was linked in the press to a corruption probe associated with the ouster of
former Liberian House Speaker, Edwin Melvin Snowe (see below). See Nana Adu Ampofo, "President Appoints
Special Corruption Commission in Liberia," Global Insight Daily Analysis, September 4, 2008; Liberian Presidency,
"Executive Mansion Reacts to Purported Email Exchanges—Distances President Johnson Sirleaf," August 24, 2008;
James Butty, "Under Pressure, Liberian Government Appoints Special Corruption Commission," VOA, September 3,
2008; and Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, "The Willis Knuckles Saga," SaharaReporters.Com, March 7, 2007, among others.
49 Its findings were complex, due to the alleged nature of the allegations. In some cases, it refuted the allegations, while
in others it found partial or clear proof of wrong-doing. It found that there “were violations and breaches of Liberian
laws and policies by some” government officials, private individuals, and private businesses investigated, but was not
able to fully investigate all matters under its purview because some of its subjects refused to cooperate with the
Commission. See Report of the Ad-Hoc Independent Commission on the E-Mail Saga, January 7, 2009; and Liberian
presidency, "ECOWAS Summit on Guinea and Dunn Commission Report Take Center Stage at Press Conference,"
January 12, 2009.
50 Africa Confidential, "Liberia: A Second Term for Sirleaf, " May 14, 2010; and GAC, multiple documents available
from GAC website, http://www.gacliberia.com/.
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• the resignation in 2009 or removal of serving ministers, including Agriculture
Minister Christopher Toe, Public Works Minister Luseni Donzo, and Justice
Minister Philip Banks, in cases involving alleged fiscal mismanagement,
administrative irregularities, or other matters, and there have been allegations of
mismanagement and possible corruption regarding the administration of county
development funds, of which, as a result, the presidency has taken control.51
Security Issues
Security Conditions
Liberia’s security situation has improved markedly since August 2003. It is currently “generally
stable, but fragile,” and is subject to periodic volatility and localized instability.52 Public security
and police authority are formally entrusted to the Liberia National Police (LNP), who are advised
and supported by UNMIL civilian police (CIVPOL). LNP patrols in the capital reportedly
increased in the latter half of 2009, leading to a marked decrease in armed robbery, but rates some
other serious crimes, including rape, notably of juvenile females, have remained high.53
Despite increasing LNP capacity, the LNP continues to face serious challenges, and the public
often perceives public security as being guaranteed by UNMIL CIVPOL, who earlier during
UNMIL’s deployment played more direct roles in ensuring that end. The LNP is reportedly
making progress in building up its capabilities, but reportedly remains beset by operational
deficits and absenteeism, has a limited presence and mobility in many rural areas, and some LNP
members reportedly engage in acts of bribery. In addition, the capacity of the judicial sector
remains limited, and public confidence in the judicial system is low; according to the State
Department, the “Liberian public views the police and other formal justice institutions with fear,
skepticism, and mistrust.”54 There have also been clashes between police, other security agency
units, and Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and. Some AFL members have reportedly violently
assaulted or robbed civilians. As a result of public mistrust in the capabilities and of the LNP,
other security agencies, and the judicial sector, vigilantism and periodic mob violence present
continuing problems.55
A key post-war source of instability in Liberia, former fighters associated with various armed
factions, was largely neutralized in the year after the August 2003 peace agreement was signed.
More than 101,000 ex-combatants (22% women and 10.8% children), were demobilized under a
disarmament program administered by UNMIL and the NTGL that ended in late 2004. Some

51 Africa Confidential, "Liberia: A Second Term for Sirleaf, " May 14, 2010; Economist Intelligence Unit, Country
Report Liberia, March 2010; Agence France Presse, "Liberia's Agriculture Minister Resigns Amid Caterpillar Crisis,"
April 5, 2009; and The Analyst, "Sirleaf Draws the Dagger," September 9, 2009.
52 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
53 S/2008/88, February 17, 2010.
54 State Department/International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau, Fiscal Year 2010 Program and
Budget Guide
.
55 S/2008/88, February 17, 2010; S/2009/640, December 11, 2009; State Department, Liberia Country Specific
Information
[Travel Information], August 10, 2009; and Magnus Jörgel and Mats Utas, The Mano River Basin Area:
Formal and Informal Security Providers in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone
, Swedish Defence Research Agency,
2007.
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demobilized fighters remain a periodic source of sometimes violent protest, mostly related to the
status of generalized joblessness among ex-combatants and the demands of those who are owed
reintegration job training and subsistence assistance. A small minority of ex-combatants have
reportedly turned to crime, including armed robbery and the illegal exploitation of natural
resources.56
Public protests relating to severance and pension payments by former members of the Liberian
military and members of security services not included in demobilization programs have
generally subsided. Other public security threats include a wave of armed robbery in Monrovia,
which the government is attempting to suppress, and periodic civil unrest related to socio-
economic grievances, predominantly involving students, workers, civil servants, and jobless
youth. Price increases for rice, fuel, and cement are also sources of public dissatisfaction. In her
annual address to the legislature in January 2008, Sirleaf stated that she would temporarily
suspend a $2 tax on bags of rice, the Liberian staple food, pending consideration of a legislative
tax reform proposal. Periodically, ritual-related killings by so-called “heartmen” provoke public
safety fears and sometimes mob violence against alleged perpetrators.57
Community-level property dispute conflicts have repeatedly occurred throughout Liberia, but
notably in Nimba County in northern Liberia between members of the Gio/Mano and Mandingo
ethnic groups. Contested claims over home and land occupancy and ownership rights are often at
the center of such disputes, which sometimes take on ethnic dimensions. Such disputes often have
origins in property occupations and appropriations that occurred as a result of war-time
population displacements and movements. Lack of land rights documentation, property fraud,
often involving state officials, and the absence of effective dispute resolution mechanisms have
aggravated such problems. A Presidential Commission created to probe such disputes in Nimba
County recommended that a process of community reconciliation and dispute resolution be
pursued, and President Sirleaf ordered that contested properties in Nimba be returned to their
legal owners. In addition, an act creating a national Land Commission charged with pursuing
reforms in land tenure and ownership policy, laws, and administration, in part to resolve and
prevent land conflicts, was signed into law in August 2009. The Commission, which was formed
in late 2009 and became operational in early 2010, has a five-year mandate. It is receiving
capacity-building assistance from the U.N. Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT).58

56 In mid-2009, the U.N. Secretary-General reported that “many of the 14,000 deactivated Armed Forces of Liberia
soldiers also maintain viable command and control structures, which are utilized to organize recurrent, sometimes
violent, demonstrations to challenge the legality of their deactivation or demand benefit arrears owed by the
Government.” S/2009/299, June 10, 2009.
57 “Heartmen” is a Liberian English term for killers whose purpose is to remove various body organs for uses, including
consumption, in traditional occult ceremonies that participants believe bestow supernatural powers, allowing
beneficiaries to increase their personal wealth, power over others, and achieve other ends. Such practices, known as
gboyo in southeast Liberia, have been reported to increase during times of armed conflict, notably in situations in which
combatants have harvested organs from dead enemies in order to increase their chances of further military victory.
Analagous occult practices occur in some other African countries. New Dawn, "More Arrest in “Gbo-yo” Business,"
March 29, 2010; Christopher Melville, "Riots and Ritual Killings in South-Eastern Liberia Highlight Paradox of
Improving Security," WMRC Daily Analysis, January 26, 2005; and Stephen Ellis, "Mystical Weapons: Some Evidence
from the Liberian War," Journal of Religion in Africa, 31: 2, May, 2001, among others.
58 Amos Sawyer, "Land Governance Challenges: The Case Of Liberia," World Bank presentation, n.d./circa 2008; and
S/2009/640, December 11, 2009; Executive Mansion, "Special Land Commission Presents Report to Liberian
President," May 24, 2009; The Analyst (Monrovia), "Liberia: Land Commission Act Approved," July 24, 2009; and
UN-HABITAT, "A New Land Programme in Liberia, December 21, 2009.
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Political parties who lost in Liberia’s elections and the attendant realignment of Liberian political
forces remain a potential source of instability or violent acts. The family of a witness in the SCSL
trial of former president Charles Taylor (see “Taylor Trial” below), for instance, was reportedly
targeted with death threats in early 2008. Prior to his capture, U.N. and U.S. officials and many
Members of Congress had been concerned about persistent, credible reports that Taylor had
periodically interfered in Liberian affairs from exile in Nigeria through a network of political,
military, and business associates, which Taylor denied. These alleged actions were seen as
destabilizing and threatening to the consolidation of peace (see section on Taylor below). There
had been some speculation that former Taylor administration officials would make large gains in
the 2005 elections and that he would be able to use them as proxies to influence the new
government. There was no such general outcome, but several close Taylor associates were elected
(see “2005 Post-War Elections,” above). In July 2007, George Koukou, the transitional
government house speaker, Charles Julu, a top military officer under former president Samuel
Doe who was accused of wartime human rights abuses, and several associates were arrested and
charged with treason for allegedly plotting the ouster of the Sirleaf government. They were
acquitted, however, in May 2008.
Liberia remains under U.N. sanctions, which were first imposed to counter the Taylor regime’s
alleged regional destabilization efforts and other activities counter to international law and U.N.
policy goals. Under the current sanctions, individuals associated with the Taylor regime’s
activities remain subject to a U.N. travel ban and, in some cases, asset freezes.59 Liberia also
remains subject to a partial arms embargo.60 Bans on the export of Liberian timber and diamonds
have been lifted. The threat to Liberia from instability in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire, which posed
a significant external threat to the stability of Liberia and to sub-regional security for several
years, according to United Nations reports, waned after the signing of a political accord in that
country.61 Widespread violent general strikes in neighboring Guinea in early 2007 and political
instability in Guinea in 2009, following a coup d’état in late 2008 after the death of then-
President Lansana Conté, was also viewed as potential external threat to Liberia. The
appointment of a new transitional government in Guinea following the signing of an early 2010
accord, however, appears to have substantially lessened any threat to Liberia.62
Although there have been currently no specific publicly reported personal security threats against
President Sirleaf, the United States provided her with a personal State Department Diplomatic
Security team at the start of her tenure and supported training efforts for the Special Security
Service, Liberia’s presidential and VIP protection service; see below. An electrical fire in the
Executive Mansion in July 2006 during a visit by neighboring heads of state highlighted Liberia’s

59 These sanctions were first imposed under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1521 (2003), which prohibited trade in
arms and diamonds with Liberia, and the travel of certain designated individuals, mostly members or associates of the
Taylor regime. Some of the listed individuals are also subject to financial asset freezes mandated by U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1532 (2004).
60 Liberia remains under an arms embargo, with an exception for government purposes, although all arms transfers to
the government must occur under a Security Council notification and control regime; see Resolution 1903
(S/RES/1903, December 17, 2009). When the war ended in 2003, Liberia was subject to a general arms embargo, but
the Security Council gradually amended it to allow certain vetted and trained police and security forces to be trained
and armed, and for military training purposes. UNMIL regularly inspects government security force weapons armories;
see S/2009/290, June 5, 2009.
61 The accord is the Ouagadougou Political Agreement of March 2007, which lays out political and military
disarmament processes leading to elections, which have repeatedly been delayed.
62 For further information, see CRS Report R40703, Guinea: Background and Relations with the United States, by
Alexis Arieff and Nicolas Cook.
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general lack of emergency services. Firefighters from UNMIL, the Firestone rubber company, and
the international airport, the latter two based about 45 minutes out of the capital, were called in to
fight the blaze, since National Fire Service largely lacks the capacity to respond to fires in the
capital. That lack of capacity was again illustrated in August 2006, when the U.S. Navy’s Apache,
an ocean tug boat, helped to extinguish a fire on a commercial freighter in the Port of Monrovia,
and later rescued a fishing crew at sea. The Apache crew was in Monrovia to conduct repairs on
the city’s main commercial pier and survey the harbor. Following the Apache’s departure from
Liberia, marine safety experts from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) undertook an
assessment of Liberia’s search and rescue capabilities.63
Rubber Sector Reform
Rubber has traditionally been a key source of state export revenues and employment in Liberia.
The presence, however, of ex-combatants on several rubber plantations, some armed, undermined
the industry’s post-war redevelopment. In the years after the 2003 peace agreement, rubber
workers and local residents near plantations reported that former fighters robbed them and
coerced them into selling rubber latex at sub-market prices, in the process earning revenues that
were reportedly not taxed.64 Ex-combatant control of plantations also reportedly resulted in
unsustainable harvesting practices, various human rights abuses, and environmental degradation.
To address this situation, in 2006 the government and armed UNMIL troops took possession of
Gutherie, a major rubber tree plantation in western Liberia, from former LURD ex-combatants
who had squatted on it, tapping rubber and in some cases controlling local rubber sales. Gutherie
was reportedly the site of forced child labor and diverse violent crimes against persons. The
repossession was one of the objectives of a joint government-U.N. task force created to make the
rubber industry transparent, environmentally sound and sustainable, subject to state governance
and regulation, and a source of legal jobs ― including for the ex-combatants from whom control
of Gutherie was seized. UNMIL plans called for a similar seizure of another key ex-combatant-
occupied rubber plantation in the southeast county of Sinoe, though ex-combatants at the
plantation reportedly met with local officials and agreed to vacate the site peacefully.65 In May
2006, the UNMIL Human Rights and Protection Section (HRPS) studied Liberia’s rubber sector
and published a series of key findings and recommendations pertaining to the sector.66 Issues that
it examined included human rights concerns pertaining to the industry; post-conflict business
practices and corruption; the status of and role of commercial rubber concession and management
agreements; worker, child, and community rights; implications of plantation agriculture and
sectoral industrial practices for the environment; and the rule of law within the rubber sector,
including issues relating to ex-combatant occupation of plantations.

63 Navy News Stand, “Navy Tug Fights Fire Aboard Freighter in Liberia,” August 11, 2006 and “Navy Tug Rescues
Liberian Fishermen,” August 16, 2006; U.S. Embassy-Monrovia, “U.S. Navy Tug Begins Repair Work in Liberian
Harbor,” August 10, 2006; and Karfa Jamanka, “Maritime Receives Assessment Team,” The Inquirer, September 22,
2006.
64 Marcus Malayea, “Gunmen Seize Cocopa, Claim Right of Inheritance,” The Analyst, August 18, 2006, among others.
65 Executive Mansion, "Liberian Leader Concludes Visit to Sinoe," May 5, 2009; Rebecca Murray , "Liberia: Wild
West - the Sinoe Rubber Plantation," Inter Press Service, April 8, 2009; IRIN, “Liberia: Gov’t Reclaims Rubber
Plantation from Former Fighters,” August 16, 2006; Alphonso Toweh, “Liberia takes rubber estate back from ex-
rebels,” Reuters, August 15, 2006; IRIN, “Liberia: UN Vows to Repossess another Troubled Rubber Plantation,” 23
August 23, 2006; and D. Sonpon Weah II, “Ex-Combatants at SRC Ready to Leave,” The Analyst, September, 27,
2006.
66 UNMIL, Human Rights in Liberia’s Rubber Plantations: Tapping into the Future, May 2006.
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While the normal peacetime functioning of the rubber sector has largely resumed and the sector
has been brought under state regulatory control, in February 2010 UNMIL reported that
The situation in and around Liberia’s rubber plantations continued to be of concern. Labour
disputes, including over salary and severance payments, prompted demonstrations at the
Guthrie and Cavalla plantations, with the conflict over control of rubber at Sinoe Plantation
continuing to be a major security concern.67
In addition, in November 2009 the president and general manager of a large-scale rubber
plantation and rubber processing firm, who also served as the chairman of Liberia’s national
Public Procurement and Concession Commission was murdered, “allegedly by disgruntled
workers” near the firm’s work site.68
Security Sector Reform
New Military Created
With U.S. assistance, Liberia has created a new military made up of approximately 2,000 initial
recruits.69 The force is commanded, on an interim basis, by officers from other countries in West
Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin.70 The recruit pool was drawn from across Liberia
and includes members from diverse ethnic groups to ensure ethno-regional balance. A goal that
20% of the total force be female was not met; less than 5% of the force is female.71 Selection of
volunteer enlistees, for purposes of screening out human rights abusers, began in early 2006, and
less than 20% of applicants were accepted. Prospective recruits underwent a vetting process
administered by U.S. contractors that included reviews of selectees’ records by personnel from
the U.S. embassy, UNMIL, and other donor governments, and Liberian civil society and
government representatives.72 As of late January 2009, recruiting of 2,057 personnel had been

67 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
68 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010. Nine indicted grand jury defendants went on trial for the murder in February 2010.
Marcus Zoleh, "Liberia: Keith Jubah Murder Trial to Resume Tomorrow," The Informer (Monrovia), February 16,
2010, inter alia.
69 The size of the force reflects a compromise between the need to build a force that can be sustainably funded over the
long-term, taking into account Liberia’s high rate of poverty and relatively small national budget; field a force capable
of defending against possible regional threats; start with a relatively moderately-sized force and potentially gradually
enlarge it in response to emergent need; and create a force over which civilian control can be maintained, in part by
limiting its size and rate of growth.
70 In mid-February 2006, President Sirleaf, stating that “our country currently lacks the technical and tactical capacities
and proficiency to provide for its own defense and national security,” appointed Major-General Luka Yusuf, a Nigerian
UNMIL officer, to be Liberia’s military Chief of Staff heading the rebuilding of the armed forces. He was later
replaced by another Nigerian, General Suraj Abdurrahman. The appointment of a Nigerian head of the army drew
criticism from former Liberian military elements, who called it unconstitutional and an insult to Liberia’s national
pride. See Agence France-Presse, “Liberian Leader Names Nigerian to Head Military,” February 13, 2006 and
Alphonso Toweh, “Liberia Leader Gets Flak for Hiring Nigeria General,” Reuters, February 14, 2006.
71 Female recruitment reportedly faced substantial cultural and gender biases against the participation of women in the
military. Jonathan Paye-Layleh, “Liberia Begins Recruiting Women Soldiers,” Associated Press, June 5, 2006;
International Crisis Group (ICG), Liberia: Uneven Progress in Security Sector Reform, January 13, 2009; and Mark
Malan, Security Sector Reform In Liberia: Mixed Results From Humble Beginnings, U.S. Army Strategic Studies
Institute, March 2008.
72 CRS field visit, 2006; Dorina Bekoe and Christina Parajon, "Security Sector Reform in Liberia: Domestic
Considerations and the Way Forward," Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention/USIP, April 2007; and The
(continued...)
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completed, and basic training for all elements was completed in late 2009.73 As of mid-August
2008, 45 recruits had been commissioned as officers. 74 Despite having received commissions and
training, in mid-2008, UNMIL officials viewed the “command effectiveness” of the officer corps
as limited and in need of further development. Military restructuring was initially hindered by a
need to demobilize and verify the severance pay eligibility of over 13,000 irregular forces and
Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) soldiers. Funds for this purpose were initially scarce, but all
irregular and regular forces were demobilized.75
U.S. assistance for these post-war military security sector reform (SSR) activities was
administered by the State Department and carried out primarily by the defense services
contractors DynCorp International and Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE). DynCorp was
charged with helping to vet, recruit, and provide basic training and equipment for the new force.
It also refurbished and provided operations and maintenance services for two AFL bases, Camp
Sandee Ware (formerly known as VOA Camp) and Barclay Training Center (BTC), and provided
O&M for the two bases.76 PAE provided construction services and specialty training, equipment,
logistics, and base services.
State Department expenditures for U.S. assistance for military SSR and the training of the
reconstituted post-war AFL are estimated at $240.56 million through the end of FY 2009, when
the bulk of new AFL training had been completed. Part of this funding supported base
reconstruction and operations and maintenance. Additional funding for these and related purposes
may be provided in FY 2010 and FY 2011, respectively; $5.2. million had been obligated as of
early FY 2010 (see below). FMF and IMET Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA)-
administered assistance programs for Liberia, which are not formally a component of U.S.
military reform/restructuring assistance programs, have bolstered and complemented these
efforts.
U.S. assistance for military restructuring was also accompanied by efforts to help Liberia build
the capacity of its Ministry of Defense (MOD) and establish a defense policy framework,
although lapses in funding for this effort reportedly resulted in mixed results and a loss of

(...continued)
Inquirer (Monrovia), “Liberia: Public Vetting for Army Recruits Begins Monday,” June 23, 2006. For more detailed
information on recruitment and vetting, see ICG, Liberia: Uneven Progress.
73 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010; and President Sirleaf, annual message to the legislature, January 26, 2009.
74 A number of officers and other personnel underwent training at Nigeria’s Command Army Staff College. The United
States, China, and Germany, among other donor governments, have also provided specialist training to some personnel.
See S/2008/553, August 15, 2008; and S/2008/183, March 19, 2008.
75 Total demobilization costs totaled approximately $15 million, and the process was the subject of some local
controversy. In late April 2006, 400-500 former AFL soldiers claiming nonpayment of salary arrears and retirement
benefits conducted a violent protest outside the defense ministry and clashed with UNMIL peacekeepers sent to contain
the unrest. Some of these soldiers reportedly later received some back pay, although some arrears remain. “President
Authorizes Defense Ministry to Pay Salary Arrears to Former Soldiers,” UNMIL media summary citing ELBS Radio
and Star Radio, June 14, 2006; USIP, "A Discussion with Liberia's Defense Minister, Brownie J. Samukai, Jr.," May
11, 2007; Executive Mansion, "Leadership of Demobilized AFL Soldiers Assure President Sirleaf of Unwavering
Support," February 24, 2010; periodic U.N. reports on the progress of UNMIL and developments in post-war Liberia;
and State Department information (email communication April 2, 2010).
76 Camp Sandee Ware was formerly known as VOA Camp, named for a nearby former Voice of America and U.S.
government communcations transmission tower, now scrapped. Sorbor George, "VOA Military Camp renamed 'Camp
Sandee Ware'," Star Radio, July 22, 2007.
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capacity-building opportunities.77 Two results of these efforts were the approval of a new Liberian
national security strategy in January 2008 and the passage in August 2008 of a new national
defense act.
Defense Sector Reform and the AFL: Current Issues and Challenges
In early 2010, U.S. assistance for defense sector reform, which is in general facilitated by the
existence of a U.S.-Liberia military cooperation agreement, entered a new phase.78 Initial training
of the founding units of the new AFL ended in December 2009, by when the force had achieved
operational status and undergone an Army Readiness Training Evaluation Program (ARTEP). The
Liberian MOD assumed full formal control of the newly trained force in early 2010.79 U.S.
support to the new AFL has shifted from a program of contractor-based basic training and
capacity building to one centering on military-to-military mentoring and advice, bolstered by
some continuing assistance in support of AFL base operations and maintenance (O&M) and
certain other functions. DynCorp International has been contracted to provide $5.2 million worth
of support for electrical power generation, water supply, waste disposal, and vehicle maintenance
at two AFL bases during the first half of 2010.80 The Army Corps of Engineers also tentatively
plans to fund the “design, construction, upgrade and revitalization of several arms storage and
ammunition storage facilities” at AFL bases.81 UNMIL troops are also pursuing joint training with
specialized AFL units, e.g., engineering, military police, and signal and headquarters staff.82

77 According to one observer, at one point, due to “U.S. Government funding shortfalls, the MOD Reform program was
terminated following completion of civil servant training but prior to the implementation of a planned five-month
mentoring and 'on the job' training phase. Consequently, new civil servants had no source of advice or assistance as
they assumed their official duties in the newly restructured Ministry of National Defense. The failure to follow through
with the mentoring component of MOD Reform missed a valuable opportunity to shape the operation of the new MOD
as an institution.” See Thomas Dempsey, "Security Sector Reform in Liberia Part I: An Assessment of Defense
Reform," Perspectives on Peace & Stability Operations (Issue Paper No. 2008), Peacekeeping and Stability Operations
Institute, U.S. Army War College, July 1, 2008. Liberian defense officials were sometimes critical about the manner in
which U.S. SSR resources were used by contractors, notably with regard to subcontracting issues, and sometimes
complained of a lack of information or consultation regarding assistance-related communications between U.S. SSR
contractors and U.S. embassy officials in Monrovia. USIP, "A Discussion with Liberia's Defense Minister...”; Jake
Sherman, Strengthening Security Sector Governance in West Africa, Center on International Cooperation, New York
University, March 2009; Charles Crawford, "Samukai Destests Awarding of Feeding Contract of New Army to
Foreigners," The Inquirer, August 22, 2006; The Inquirer, "Delay Over Army Training?," January 29, 2007; Michael
M. Phillips, "In Liberia, an Army Unsullied by Past," Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2007; and The Inquirer, "Who's
Responsible for Soldiers' Outburst," April 14, 2008
78 The document signed is an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), one of at least 90 worldwide,
which permits “the exchange of logistics, support, supplies and services,” between the United States and Liberia. U.S.
EUCOM, “U.S.-Liberia Agreement Meant to Ease Acquisition Process,” Press Release, April 24, 2007.
79 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010; and The Analyst, "Liberia: From the Cold - AFL Marches Gallantly," February 12,
2010.
80 The work is being undertaken under a five-year, State Department PKO account-funded indefinite delivery/indefinite
quantity [IDIQ]) defense services, support, and capacity-building contract called the Africa Peacekeeping Program
(AFRICAP). Awardees under AFRICAP include DynCorp International, PAE Government Services, AECOM, and
Protection Strategies Incorporated. See Business Wire, "DynCorp International Wins $20 Million AFRICAP Task
Order in Liberia," January 28, 2010; and documents pertaining to State Department Africa Peacekeeping Program
contract solicitation SAQMMA08R0237 (“AFRICAP Recompete”) available from the Federal Business Opportunities
(FBO) website, https://www.fbo.gov.
81 The projected contract for this work would be worth between $.25 million and $.5 million. See Army Corps of
Engineers, Ammunition/Arms Facility Design and Upgrade Liberia, Africa LI-B-HAB [Pre-Solicitation Synopsis],
solicitation number W912GB10-R0029, March 11, 2010, available from the FBO website.
82 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010; and S/2009/411, August 10, 2009.
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The mentoring mission, supported with State Department Foreign Military Financing (FMF)
funding under a program dubbed Defense Sector Reform (DSR) Phase I, began in early 2010 and
is slated to run for five years. It is being undertaken by a Marine-led team of approximately 60
U.S. Africa Command military personnel drawn predominantly from the Marines but also
incorporating members of other services. Their collective deployment and activities are known as
Operation Onward Liberty. Activities under the DSR program are vetted and authorized by the
U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, although day-to-day work is undertaken
by the designated AFRICOM officer in charge (a Marine Forces Africa [MARFOAF] officer),
who reports to AFRICOM and the Ambassador via the embassy-based DoD Office of Security
Cooperation (OSC). The objective of Operation Onward Liberty is to help the Liberian
government “build a professional military that is apolitical, subordinate to civilian leadership, and
respectful of human rights.”83 Team members will advise AFL units at various command levels as
they pursue continued locally-led training, particularly at the unit level. Such continuing training
is viewed as a critical follow-up to previous basic training; according to the UNSG, “it is assessed
that the Armed Forces of Liberia will not be independently operational before 2012, given that the
Force’s officer corps needs significant additional experience before it is able to take command.”84
The DSR program is to be complemented by a program of assistance by the Defense
Department’s Defense Institution Reform Initiative (DIRI) that is slated to focus on improving the
capacity of the MOD and Liberia’s defense policy structure.85 The DIRI Liberia program is
currently being formulated. An initial consultative DIRI team visit to Liberia (part of what DIRI
terms its “Requirements Determination”) took place in September 2009 and a follow-up program
assessment and implementation visit (part of a DIRI “Program Development” process) followed
in March 2010. The Liberian MOD has established a Liberian working group to collaborate with
the U.S. DIRI team, which DIRI officials interpret as indicating “strong Liberian interest in, and
ownership of, the project.” A key initial area of planned activity is work to finalize National
Defense Strategy (NDS), integrating inter-agency and AFL inputs, “that would empower the
Ministry to effectively develop policy, budgets, and resource management plans, and manage
logistics, personnel issues, and public relations.” A further U.S. DIRI team was slated to take
place in mid-April and at six-week intervals thereafter. A longer-term program roadmap, with
associated benchmarks, will also be designed and implemented. These activities will be assessed
every 12-18 months.86
While the United States is currently continuing to provide operations and maintenance support to
the AFL, as defense sector capacity-building proceeds, the long-term success and sustainability of

83 The U.S. mentoring team is complemented by a United Kingdom Ministry of Defense-level advisor. Lydia M.
Davey, "ONWARD LIBERTY Provides U.S. Mentors to Armed Forces of Liberia," Marine Forces Africa press
release, February 24, 2010; and AFRICOM, US Africa Command Contribution to Defense Sector Reform in Liberia,
January 15, 2010.
84 The 2009/10 fiscal year national budget totaled $371.9 million. S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
85 DIRI is a DoD-led program designed initiated in FY 2010 to help selected foreign governments to “develop
accountable, professional, and transparent defense establishments that can manage, sustain, and employ their forces and
the capabilities developed through U.S. security cooperation programs.” While DoD-led, it "supports broad USG
security sector reform objectives and whole-of-government approaches. The program primarily supports activities
related to defense policy and strategy formulation, and planning, budgeting and resource management; civilian and
military defense sector human resource development and training; logistics and infrastructure capacity-building; civil-
military relations; and interagency coordination. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), Fiscal Year 2011
Budget Estimates
, February 2010; and DoD/Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense Institution Reform Initiative
Fact Sheet
, September 1, 2009.
86 Information from DIRI Liberia Program officer current as of April 13, 2010.
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the effort will increasingly rely on the ability of the Liberian government to adequately manage
and fund the new AFL. Funding, in particular, may pose a significant challenge, given Liberia’s
modest annual national budget.87 Defense Minister Brownie Samukai, Jr., however, has asserted
that the government intends to keep the defense budget at a 9% or less share of the overall
national budget, suggesting that the government is taking measures to ensure that defense reform
is both adequately funded and fiscally sustainable.88 Competing development and reconstruction
priorities in the long-term, however, may decrease the availability of resources for the defense
sector, particularly if advocates of increased social welfare expenditures successfully argue that
non-defense investments are more likely to produce larger and more productive, tangible benefits
for a larger number of Liberians than the defense sector.89
While some may contend that Liberia can ill afford to unilaterally fund a national military, the
need for continued AFL and MOD professionalization is widely viewed as crucial, for multiple
reasons. Prominent among these is a core national defense rationale: Liberia lies within a sub-
region that has experienced substantial political instability and cross-border armed conflict in
recent decades, and must be able to defend its territorial integrity. Such investments are also seen
as being necessitated by a need to prevent a recurrence of the politically destabilizing role that
Liberia’s military and state security forces have played in the past. Training and constitutionally-
based military institution-building are seen as necessary in order to ensure that the new AFL does
not intervene in civilian politics or engage in other extra-legal activities.
While there are no indications that the new AFL — which is explicitly designed to function as an
apolitical, professional force — is a likely to reprise such a destabilizing role, there have been
occasional problems of AFL absenteeism, rank and file protests about living conditions, and some
reports of indiscipline among some AFL members, in some cases of a violent or criminal nature,
or involving intoxicants.90 While the scope of such phenomena have been limited to date and do
not threaten state stability, the contemporary history of civil-military relations in the West Africa
suggests that, if not addressed, they may have the potential to develop into more serious threats.
Military absenteeism and indiscipline, both within Liberia and in the surrounding sub-region,
have historically underpinned negative outcomes ranging from military ineffectiveness to abuse
of civilians by diverse military units, and military protests over pay and living conditions have
spurred state instability and played a causative role in several coups d’état and putsches. It is
notable that, as of early 2010, while U.S. defense equipment has been donated to the Liberian
MOD, weapons and ammunition reportedly continued to be under U.S. control.91


87 S/2009/640, December 11, 2009
88 USIP, "A Discussion with Liberia's Defense Minister, Brownie J. Samukai, Jr.," May 11, 2007.
89 Defense Minister Samukai has suggested that in the long-term, public investments in the AFL are likely to contribute
to non-defense related national development, as members of the AFL with specialized functional training enter the
civilian sector upon retiring from the AFL. USIP, "A Discussion with Liberia's Defense Minister, Brownie J. Samukai,
Jr.," May 11, 2007
90 UNMIL reports that there have been continuing tensions between the AFL and civilian security agencies, including
at least eight confrontations, some violent, since September 2008, and that there have been several “aggravated
assaults” by AFL members on civilians, including at least two stabbings. See S/2010/88, February 17, 2010, along with
Julius Kanubah, "AWOL Soldiers Begin Returning to Base," Star Radio, May 5, 2008; and Rebecca Murray, "Liberia:
New Army Faces Greatest Challenge," Inter Press Service, December 26, 2009.
91 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
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Sector Reform: Challenges of Balancing Foreign Support for and National
Ownership of Security
As described elsewhere in this report, the Liberian security sector reform (SSR) process has relied heavily on U.S.
and other external assistance, which has often been provided through the use of foreign contractors. Adapted U.S.
institutional models, norms, and policy objectives have also played an influential role in shaping the SSR process. In the
view of a number of observers, such external inputs were essential because rapid military reform was widely seen as
crucial to building long-term stability, and post-war Liberia largely lacked requisite financial, human, and other
resource capacities. Similarly, the strong American role was seen as apropos because Liberia has long drawn from
U.S. legal and institutional models in defining its state structure. The extensive foreign role in Liberia’s SSR process,
however, may also pose challenges for the long-term sustainability of the outcomes of the SSR process since, while
historical y U.S.-influenced, Liberia’s state and society are the unique product of local history, ethno-social make-up
and culture, and geographic scale, among other factors. As a result, to the extent that the institutions and processes
that SSR produces were not initially organically or integrally defined by local cultural norms and socio-political
authority, interests, and needs, over the long-term, these influences may reshape the resulting institutions, potentially
in a manner at odds with their original formal purposes. Similarly, to the degree that their design did not incorporate
adequate public input, their political legitimacy might be called into question.92 Furthermore, while many criticisms and
problems associated with SSR in Liberia have been cited in the research literature, including lack of adequate
participation by the broad public, sequencing of institution-building and associated law and policy-making, a number of
researchers have also pointed out that substantial efforts were undertaken to ensure that the SSR process was
shaped by Liberian interests and views. For instance, while some observers were concerned that a 2006 U.S.-funded
report by the RAND Corporation was overly influential in shaping the design of national security structures, after it
was released, the Liberian government facilitated a “participatory and democratic security reform process.”93 This
included a “widely consultative” national security review led by a Liberia’s Governance Reform Commission (GRC).94
While not without its critics and problems, the review included input from a range of civil society and political actors,
and reportedly critically informed a subsequent government-drafted national security strategy.95


92 Louise Andersen, Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform and the Challenge of Ownership - The Case of Liberia,
Danish Institute for International Studies, July 2006; Sean McFate, "Outsourcing the Making of Militaries: DynCorp
International as Sovereign Agent," Review of African Political Economy, December 1, 2008; and Alan Bryden, Linkage
between DDR and SSR, Second International Conference on DDR and Stability in Africa/U.N. Office of the Special
Adviser on Africa (OSAA), June 12-14, 2007.
93 David C. Gompert, Olga Oliker, Brooke Stearns, Keith Crane, and Kevin Jack Riley, Making Liberia Safe:
Transformation of the National Security Sector
, RAND, June 2006. RAND is a U.S. think tank and policy research
organization that often carries out sensitive U.S. government contract work. Quotation from Adedeji Ebo, “Local
Ownership and Emerging Trends in SSR: A Case Study of Outsourcing in Liberia,” in Timothy Donais (Ed.), Local
Ownership and Security Sector Reform, LIT Verlag, 2008. See also Alexander Loden, “Civil Society and Security
Sector Reform in Post-conflict Liberia: Painting a Moving Train without Brushes,” The International Journal of
Transitional Justice
, Vol. 1, 2007.
94 The GRC, later called the Governance Commission (GC), was created under the 2003 peace accord to assess and
reform public sector institutions with respect to such outcomes as operational effectiveness, transparency,
accountability, and public participation and access.
95 Quote from Ebo, “Local Ownership...,” who discusses this process at length. On challenges associated with the
GRC-led process, see also Malan, Security Sector Reform in Liberia. Notwithstanding the GRC’s role, executive
branch domination of the SSR process and lack of public access to it has been a central point of criticism; in early
2009, for instance, the International Crisis Group reported that “more than halfway through Johnson-Sirleaf’s term, the
official national security strategy has yet to be made public, though a supposedly final version is circulating among
Liberian and international officials.” See International Crisis Group, Liberia: Uneven Progress in Security Sector
Reform
, Africa Report 148, January 13, 2009, as well as Malan, Security Sector Reform in Liberia and Ebo, “Local
Ownership...”
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Coast Guard96
In order to protect Liberia's 360 mile coast line and associated 200 nautical mile exclusive
economic zone against periodic poaching by foreign trawlers, potential drug trafficking, human
trafficking, piracy, and illicit maritime dumping, as well as the need for search and rescue
capacities, Liberia is developing a coast guard. The effort is dependent, in large part, on the
provision of U.S. training and technical assistance funded primarily with State Department
Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funding through Defense Security Cooperation Agency in
collaboration with AFRICOM. The field program is coordinated and carried out by the U.S. Coast
Guard (USCG), with some assistance from U.S. Navy elements.
In August 2008, in response to a 2007 request from the Liberian government and a subsequent
request from AFRICOM, and in coordination with the U.S. embassy in Monrovia, a USCG team
conducted an in-country technical needs assessment to identify Liberia’s potential coast guard
needs and capacities. It subsequently produced an assessment report and recommendations based
on its findings, which it presented to the U.S. embassy in Monrovia and the Liberian Minister of
Defense in early 2009. Following this presentation, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) identified a
pool of Liberian Coast Guard (LCG) personnel composed of new AFL members who had already
undergone background vetting and basic military training. In February 2009, a delegation of
Liberian MOD and U.S. Embassy personnel visited USCG facilities in Washington and Virginia
to discuss prospective LCG development plans and to make field visits to small-scale USCG
stations viewed as comparable in size and function to future LCG stations.
The assessment report, which was comprehensive and included a number of core
recommendations, was intended to function as a guideline for the creation of a more detailed
LCG development plan.97 It provided a discussion of common pitfalls often associated with
nascent coast guard development efforts, and recommended, in the interest of program
sustainability, that Liberia take a staged approach to developing and initiating LCG operations. It
urged that Liberia fully construct and staff LCG primary headquarters facilities at Freeport,
Monrovia’s main port, prior to establishing additional LCG stations, and that the LCG carefully
coordinate the timing of training, facilities and infrastructure preparation, and equipment
acquisitions. A crucial overarching recommendation was that LCG development be guided by a
full-time, well experienced advisor or advisory team. The Liberian government concurred with
these recommendations and initiated development of a LCG with a mission to carry out scaled
down versions of applicable USCG functions (e.g., law enforcement, fisheries protection, and
search and rescue).
As a result of consultations between the Liberian government, AFRICOM, U.S. embassy
personnel, and the USCG, an AFRICOM-funded USCG maritime/LCG advisor was deployed to
Monrovia in September 2009.98 LCG personnel, who number under 50 members, subsequently
began basic maritime operations, law enforcement and engineering training provided by USCG
Mobile Training Teams (MTT) in Liberia. Further MTT training is expected to continue for

96 This account is based on a 2008 U.S. Coast Guard assessment report, discussed below; a discussion with a
representative of the Office of International Affairs, Security Cooperation Office, U.S. Coast Guard on March 31, 2010
and subsequent email communications; and CRS research.
97 It dealt with issues including LCG legal authority; personnel and staffing; training (technical, leadership, and
management); infrastructure needs; vessels, equipment, and supplies; technical assistance and mentoring; and planning
and development.
98 The maritime advisor is attached to the Office of Security Cooperation within the U.S. Embassy in Liberia.
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multiple years and may be periodically supplemented by U.S. Navy training. A small cadre of
selected LCG members, both officers and enlisted, are undergoing additional USCG technical and
managerial training in the United States. An activation ceremony for the new LCG attended by
President Sirleaf was held in February 2010.99
U.S. training efforts have been complemented by a U.S. Navy Construction Battalion (Sea Bee)
team, which is building waterfront facilities (e.g., a boat ramp and a related pier) at Freeport.100
The Liberian government has also rehabilitated or constructed a headquarters and barracks at
Freeport. Two 25-foot Defender-class boats for use in harbor and near-coast operations are
expected to be provided to the LCG by the United States in late 2010, along with approximately
two years worth of associated equipment. The duration of U.S. assistance to the LCG will depend
on LCG development progress, and has not been determined; informal projections, based on the
record of similar U.S. assistance programs in Georgia and Haiti, however, suggest that the effort
is likely to last at least five years.
National Guard State Partnership Program
Liberia was added to the National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP) in 2009, making it the
eighth African SPP partner country out of 62 globally. Liberia has been twinned with the
Michigan National Guard (NG).101 The SPP pairs U.S. state National Guard contingents with
foreign militaries in support of diverse civil-military and security cooperation partnership,
training, and exercise activities, depending on mutual partner needs and capacities.102 The
program is designed “to concentrate a small component of the U.S. defense structure ― a state’s
National Guard ― on a single country or region in support of U.S. Government policies” in
support of “the development of long term personal relationships and interagency coordination
mechanisms that would not otherwise exist.”103
The Michigan-Liberia SPP partnership program remains at a formative stage. The process leading
to its creation began in May 2009, when after agreeing to a Liberian request for an SPP state
partner, AFRICOM requested that the NG Bureau (NGB) recommend a state to fulfill the request.
The NGB provisionally decided to make Liberia a SPP partner in August 2009, and Michigan was
selected as Liberia’s U.S. state SPP partner in October 2009.104

99 President Sirleaf, Goodwill Message [2010 Armed Forces Day speech], February 11, 2010.
100 Jason Morris, "APS, Seabees Bolster Liberia's Coast Guard," Africa Partnership Station [APS] Public Affairs, U.S.
Navy, October 20, 2009.
101 Patrick McCollum, "National Guard Adds State Partnership in Liberia," National Guard Bureau, August 13, 2009;
and National Guard (NG), written communication to CRS, April 5, 2010.
102 According to the National Guard, the SPP mission is to “enhance combatant commanders’ ability to build enduring
civil-military relationships that improve long-term international security while building partnership capacity across all
levels of society.” SPP “states and their partners participate in a broad range of strategic security cooperation activities
to include homeland defense/security, disaster response/mitigation, consequence/crisis management, interagency
cooperation, border/port/aviation security, combat medical, fellowship-style internships, and bilateral familiarization
events that lead to training and exercise opportunities. All activities are coordinated through the Combatant
Commanders, U.S. Ambassadors’ country teams, and other agencies as appropriate to ensure National Guard
cooperation is tailored to meet U.S. and international partners’ objectives.” National Guard, written communication to
CRS, April 7, 2010 [NG to CRS hereafter].
103 NG to CRS, April 7, 2010.
104 According to the NGB, the pairing followed “a comprehensive review and selection process, analyzing state port
security operations, military development, agriculture development, engineer operations, medical services delivery,
(continued...)
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While a specific Michigan-Liberia SPP country engagement plan has yet to be finalized, it is
anticipated that the partnership program would build on and complement existing AFRICOM and
State Department/U.S. Embassy-Monrovia country plans. A next step in creating an SPP
engagement plan, based on past SPP experience in other countries, is likely to include a Michigan
NG field visit to Liberia, during which Michigan NG would consult with U.S. embassy-based
State and DoD officials and Liberian MOD officials. Based on provisional findings and planning,
a Michigan Bilateral Affairs Officer (BAO) would then be assigned through AFRICOM to the
embassy’s DoD Office of Security Cooperation (OSC). The BAO would act as a key liaison and
consultant in further formulating a SPP engagement plan. Reciprocal senior leadership country
consultative visits between the Michigan NG and Liberian MOD would then occur, and a
partnership plan would be finalized.105
Other Defense Cooperation
The Liberian government has voiced support for the new U.S. Africa Command, and offered to
host it in the region, although most observers see this as unlikely, given the poor state of Liberian
infrastructure and limited state capacity and resources.106
Liberia has received multiple U.S. Africa Partnership Station (APS) ship visits, most recently in
the fall of 2009. Missions have included Liberian Coast Guard Assistance (see above), U.S.
Marine training for the AFL, humanitarian and development material and medical services
donations, and cultural programming.107 A U.S. Navy-led effort, the APS program conducts ship
visits to ports in the region during which a variety of training, capacity-building, humanitarian,
and cultural activities are undertaken. The APS program, housed on U.S. navy ships, is designed
to function as a “maritime university” housing diverse training and assistance resources.108 It
integrates personnel from other U.S. armed services, civilian agencies, and non-governmental
organizations to provide diverse types of maritime safety and security training, as well as
humanitarian and development assistance.109

(...continued)
crisis management, and State Partnership Program events with previous partners and while considering geographical,
economic, military, and political factors with respect to Liberia.” McCollum, "National Guard Adds,” op cit.; and NG
to CRS
, April 7, 2010.
105 NG, written communication to CRS, April 8, 2010.
106 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, “AFRICOM can Help Governments Willing to Help Themselves,” AllAfrica.com, June 25,
2007. Also see CRS Report RL34003, Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in
Africa
, by Lauren Ploch.
107 Jason Morris, "APS, Seabees Bolster Liberia's Coast Guard," APS/U.S. Navy, October 20, 2009; APS/U.S. Navy,
"Liberian President Accepts Donation from HVS Swift," via DoD Live, September 8, 2009; Dan Meaney, "APS Swift
Army veterinary team in Liberia," U.S. Army news release, September 16, 2009; Elsa Portillo, "U.S. Marines, Soldiers
and Sailor Join With Liberian Soldiers, for AFL Rebuilding," Marine Forces Africa, March 2, 2009; Elsa Portillo,
"Marines Partner With Liberian Soldiers to Deliver School Supplies," Marine Forces Africa, March 3, 2009; Marine
Forces Africa, "Flagship Brings Musical Approach to APS Mission," October 26, 2009; and Jason Morris, "Africa
Partnership Station and Project Hope Team Up in Liberia," APS/U.S. Navy, March 27, 2008.
108 J. D. Hood, Enhancing Maritime Safety and Security in Africa/Africa Partnership Station, U.S. Navy, November
2009.
109 The goal of the APS program, a component of the Navy's larger Global Maritime Partnership (GMP) and the Global
Fleet Stations security cooperation efforts, is to bolster U.S. security relations and coastal security and related maritime
capabilities in African countries. APS cooperation, which began in West Africa and now is being undertaken in East
Africa, is responsive to U.S. and African-identified training and capacity needs, and incorporates contributions by
(continued...)
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Liberia is the signatory of a ship boarding agreement with the United States under the
Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S. effort to prevent trafficking of weapons of mass
destruction and related materiel “to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation
concern.”110
Police and Justice Sector Assistance
The United Nations reports that police reform and restructuring efforts have made significant
progress but that significant challenges remain. As of mid-August 2008, 3,661 Liberian National
Police (LNP) officers, of which 9% were female, had been trained as part of an effort to complete
recruitment and training of an initial target of 3,500 police officers by July 2007. While a full
complement of LNP officers has been trained, the United Nations has reported that LNP
operational capacity remains weak. LNP deployment to the field, particularly up-country, is
limited and has faced constraints, such as lack of basic infrastructure and police equipment,
including vehicles, fuel, and communication gear, for which the LNP is largely dependent on
donor support.111 In recent years, the United Nations has also reported that there are high rates of
LNP absenteeism and other disciplinary problems, such as corrupt practices involving judicial
and law enforcement officials, and that LNP leadership and specialized skills are limited. In part
due to limited police and broad justice sector operational weaknesses, incidents of mob violence
and vigilante justice remain common.112 The “practical import” of such weaknesses, the UNSG
reported in mid-2008,
is that the United Nations police advisers and formed police units are daily called upon to
support the Liberian National Police in mounting operations critical to the maintenance of
law and order and to sustain the emerging peace and stability in Liberia.113
While the challenges facing the LNP remain substantial, diverse efforts to address them are being
pursued, including the development of a Professional Standards Division to effectively

(...continued)
selected foreign donor nations. Training is tailored to specific country needs and takes place over repeated port calls by
APS vessels, which are capable of housing and deploying multiple training teams, platforms, and mechanisms.
Training is diverse, pertaining to such areas of activity as port management and security capacity building; law and
regulatory enforcement; engineering and logistics; maritime skills and professionalization education; search and rescue;
and disaster response. APS personnel also provide humanitarian and limited development assistance, sometimes inland.
Hood, Enhancing Maritime Safety, op cit; Gene Porter, “Global Maritime Partnerships - GMP,” Office of Global
Maritime Situational Awareness Wiki, January 4, 2010; David B. Waidelich, A New Twist to an Age Old Naval
Tradition: the Maritime Strategy and its Impact on Humanitarian Assistance and Maritime Security Operations

[Master of Military Studies thesis], Marine Corps University, 2008/9; U.S. Marine Corps, Global Fleet Stations
Concept
, July 30, 2007; and Ploch, Africa Command (CRS Report RL34003, Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests
and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa
), op cit.
110 Such agreements allow boarding by security officials of each signatory country and certain third countries of a ship
flagged and registered under the other signatory country's laws, if the vessel is suspected of engaging in illicit
proliferation activities. See State Department, "Proliferation Security Initiative Ship Boarding Agreement with Liberia,"
signed and provisionally applied as of February 11, 2004; entered into force December 9, 2004; and State Department,
"The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)," Fact Sheet, May 26, 2008.
111 S/2009/411, August 10, 2009.
112 See periodic reports on UNMIL and Liberia by the U.N. Secretary-General; and Andreas Mehler, The Production of
Insecurity by African Security Forces: Insights from Liberia and the Central African Republic
, GIGA Working Paper
114, November 2009, among others.
113 S/2008/553, August 15, 2008; see also S/2008/183, op cit.
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investigate complaints of LNP misconduct and efforts to prevent absenteeism by vetting LNP
payroll records and the duty status of officers. In mid-2008, the LNP, in collaboration with U.N.
partner agencies, held a workshop to examine the long-term strategic development of the LNP,
including with regard to professional standards, logistics and maintenance systems, human
resource development, and effective management.114 In mid-2009 and again in September 2009,
the LNP presented to donor government a strategic plan and 18 proposed capacity building
projects estimated to jointly cost $18 million. Little donor support had been provided to fund the
plans as of early 2010, but in 2009 the UNDP established a Liberia Justice and Security Trust
Fund, and some donors are reportedly interested in funding police needs though it or on a
bilateral basis.115
Due to previous U.N. Security Council arms embargos, the LNP is unarmed, with the exception
of a Police Support Unit (PSU) and an Emergency Response Unit (ERU).116 The PSU, originally
slated to include 600 personnel, currently has a force size of 200. It is intended to provide armed
backing for regular LNP officers and respond to situations of public disorder. The ERU is
designed to provide mobile capacity to respond rapidly and robustly to critical threats to internal
security or public safety, particularly in anticipation of the eventual departure of UNMIL from
Liberia. The ERU has a current strength of 287, with an additional 47 staff expected to join the
force after completing training in March 2010. Originally envisioned as a 500-person force, in
response to the current level of tactical demands on the unit, it will not be further expanded in the
short-term. While the ERU has been a key recipient of foreign capacity building assistance, its
long term sustainability and effectiveness may be curtailed by resource constraints and lack of
equipment and vehicles necessary to reach remote parts of Liberia, notably after the eventual
termination of UNMIL. Due to very poor road conditions in many parts of Liberia, the unit is
heavily “dependent on UNMIL air assets to deploy quickly, particularly during the rainy
season.”117
The United States is continuing to provide the LNP and its ERU with training assistance through
UNMIL, as it has for several years, primarily through U.S. civilian police (CIVPOL) seconded to
UNMIL, who provide training, mentorship, and advice. The U.S. police training contingent, the
size and focus of which has varied from year to year, has typically consisted of 10 to 20 U.S.
CIVPOL officers, as well as equipment and contractor-based logistical support, in addition to
other police capacity-building support.118 This aid, which is administered by the State
Department's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Bureau (INL), is aimed at
developing the LNP “into a credible and competent police service that respects human rights and
the rule of law” and “bolstering the operational and administrative capacity of the LNP,” which
the United States views as “a critical precursor” to eventual draw-down of UNMIL. Improved
police-community relations and human rights abuse prevention are keystones of this training. A
another component of INL support is the deployment of a U.S. police Senior Advisory Team
(SAT), which works with UNMIL “to help the LNP leadership improve and establish personnel
policies, internal affairs, logistics, payroll, discipline, promotion, and civilian oversight” both
through the provision of technical advice and through leadership mentoring. In FY 2010, the

114 S/2008/553, August 15, 2008, op cit.
115 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010.
116 The SSS is also armed. UNSC Resolution 1903 (S/RES/1903, December 17, 2009) allows the controlled shipment
of arms and related materiel to the Liberian government.
117 S/2010/88, February 17, 2010; and President Sirleaf, annual message to the legislature, January 26, 2009.
118 There were 10 U.S. UNMIL CIVPOL officers in February 2010, according to the United Nations.
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Obama Administration plans to deploy additional ERU advisors to provide field training and
mentoring program for the ERU; provide training and equipping for the PSU; and provide non-
lethal equipment and support police infrastructure improvements.119
U.S. and UNMIL assistance efforts also support the rehabilitation of the judicial and penal
systems. U.S. efforts are provided under the INL-administered Justice Sector Support Liberia
(JSSL) project, as well as by USAID-funded rule of law programs. The general aims of the JSSL
program are to improve the administration of justice and bolster adherence to the rule of law
generally and respect for human rights. The JSSL deploys justice sector legal and technical
advisors, provides training, professional mentoring, and equipment, and helps develop and
strengthen justice sector effectiveness and infrastructure. The program focuses on the judicial
system broadly, including the Ministry of Justice, the corrections system, and other rule of law
organizations. It has helped create Liberia's first ever public defender program, train prosecutors,
renovate the main judicial building in Monrovia, create a case-numbering system slated to be
scaled up nationally, and enhance LNP-prosecutor linkages, as well as providing some vehicles
and equipment in support of such functions. Current efforts seek to expand capacities outside of
Monrovia.120
Special Security Service
The Special Security Service (SSS), which provides executive branch and VIP close protection
services, is undergoing a process of restructuring and professionalization. It was a roughly 1,252-
member presidential protection unit that functioned under the NTGL and the Taylor government.
Under Taylor, the SSS—which was run by Benjamin Yeaten, a former Taylor militia commander
who is currently being sought by the Sirleaf government for alleged treasonous activities—gained
a reputation for brutality. The SSS has continued to have a sometimes troubled reputation. Some
members of the leadership that initially served under the Sirleaf Administration were viewed by
informed observers as unprofessional and corrupt. Multiple acts of arbitrary violence committed
by SSS officers have been reported.
As part of the restructuring process, a substantial number of SSS members were decommissioned;
on May 1, 2006, UNMIL announced that 841 SSS members had accepted U.S. and UK-funded
buyout packages and been deactivated in April. There are press reports, however, that allege that
some decommissioned SSS officers had not received their severance packages, and there have
been protests associated with such claims. Some protesting claimants, however, are reportedly
ineligible to receive severance payments.
The restructuring process, which seeks to correct reported leadership weaknesses and
professionalize all aspects of SSS organization and operations, is being undertaken with the
assistance of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). Using a mix of
Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related Projects (NADR) and other foreign
assistance funds, DSS directly provided close protection services for President Sirleaf during the
first few months of her tenure, while about 100 SSS agents underwent specialized DSS close
protection training in Liberia and in the United States. About 300 SSS agents received basic close

119 INL, FY 2010 Program and Budget Guide.
120 See S/2007/151, March 15, 2007; other Secretary-General’s reports on Liberia; and INL Program and Budget
Guides
for FY 2008, FY 2009, and FY 2010.
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protection support and perimeter training in Liberia. About 600 SSS officers have also reportedly
received general UNMIL police training.121
Humanitarian Conditions
Humanitarian conditions are much improved from the context of severe and widespread post-war
need that was prevalent in the years after the war, but high rates of poverty remains endemic.
Liberia continues to receive substantial international food aid and is highly donor-dependent.
International assistance is, however, increasingly supporting resettlement and socio-economic
recovery, rather than emergency humanitarian needs. According to a U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) briefing note, about 200,000 Liberian refugees had repatriated by mid-
February 2006. By late April 2006, over 321,000 Liberian internally displaced persons (IDPs),
including over 59,000 families, had returned to their places of origin or resettled. Most had
received resettlement assistance, usually consisting of basic non-food items, transport aid, and
two months of food supplies. U.N. agencies, together with non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and NTGL ministries have implemented a wide range of reconstruction and capacity
building projects relating to nutrition, water and sanitation, primary health care services, and
transport infrastructure. Numerous schools have reopened nationwide, with extensive assistance
from UNICEF.
Nearly all child ex-combatants were reportedly been reintegrated into their communities of
origin, and many received follow-up aid in the form of social services. In mid-March 2006, the
U.N. Secretary-General reported (S/2006/159, March 14, 2006, op. cit.) that 65,000 of 101,495
demobilized ex-combatants had benefitted from donor-financed reintegration and rehabilitation
projects, and that about 37,000 were still waiting to be placed in such programs. The Secretary-
General reported that although funding was available for most of these ex-combatants, about $5
million was “urgently needed” to provide such assistance to some 5,125 ex-fighters.
Health Issues
Liberia faces substantial public health challenges. Malaria is endemic, water-born stomach
illnesses are common, tuberculosis cases often go uncured, and there are periodic outbreaks of
diseases like Yellow Fever, measles, and cholera, but Liberia lacks an adequate health
infrastructure for combating such illnesses.122 Medical supplies and trained staff are in chronic
short supply. A number of donor-backed initiatives help improve health care capacity, however.
UNICEF is aiding the reopening of health clinics nationwide, and a UNICEF/WHO polio

121 In 2006, DSS planned to continue to assist the SSS on an interim basis, and proposed provision of a more structured
two-year-long assistance package. The proposal called for DSS to provide five U.S. contract-based presidential security
advisors who would help run SSS operations on an interim basis and at the same time help the SSS to enhance its
operational and administrative capacities. It also called for some equipment and training to be provided under the
package, projected to cost about $3 million per year.
122 War-related psycho-social trauma is also seen as widespread. The preliminary findings of a September 2005
WHO/Liberian government sexual and gender-based violence survey found that 91.7% of women and girls interviewed
had been the victims of multiple violent acts during Liberia’s war (Security Council, S/2005/764, December 7, 2005).
The transitional legislature made all rape illegal in December 2005 (only gang rape had previously been illegal) and
laid out punishments for rape-relation violations, but activists say increased sexual violence-related law enforcement is
needed. See U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN hereafter), “Liberia: Sexual Abuse of Children Still
Rampant, Report Says,” February 22, 2006, inter alia.
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vaccination campaign that began in October 2004 has reached some 1.2 million children. WHO
coordinates a U.N./government/NGO/USAID technical group that is working to improve the
national health system, notably regarding HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (see below). WHO
and FAO are also helping the government to create an avian flu surveillance and response plan.
AIDS
The threat of HIV/AIDS in Liberia is gaining increasing attention, though recent survey
information indicates that HIV prevalence rates are lower than had been commonly assumed
previously. A 2007 demographic and health survey showed that the national adult HIV infection
rate was 1.5%, and indicated that infection rates varied from 2.5% in urban areas to 0.8% in rural
ones, with the highest prevalence rate, 2.6%, in and around Monrovia.123 Previous estimates of
infection rates, albeit not based on national surveys, had ranged between 5.9% and 8.2%, with
some observers positing that the rate could be as high as 12% in some population sub-groups.124
The UNMIL HIV/AIDS Adviser’s Office is supporting public education-related AIDS prevention
and national planning efforts focused on care of orphans and vulnerable children, among other
activities. The World Health Organization, in coordination with other U.N. agencies and the
NTGL, is developing project proposals to fight AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and build health
system capacity. The U.N. Population Fund supports several AIDS awareness and prevention
programs. Liberia receives Global Fund assistance, but its application for further assistance under
the Fund’s recent Round 5 funding project assessment process was reportedly rejected.125
USAID implements several AIDS-related programs in Liberia on behalf of the Office of the U.S.
Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC). These include the 2007 demographic health survey, in
partnership with other donors, which includes HIV surveillance; targeted behavior change efforts
focusing on youth and other groups; and support for home-based care and related assistance. In
her inaugural speech, in which she cited a 12% HIV infection rate, President Sirleaf vowed to
“tackle this national scourge.” At a February 2006 House International Relations Committee
hearing on Liberia (see below), Members suggested to then-USAID Assistant Administrator for
the Bureau for Africa Lloyd O. Pierson that Liberia be considered for U.S. assistance under the
Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in South Africa (PEPFAR). Liberia has received
about $.7 million a year in Global HIV/AIDS Initiative (GHAI) account funds in recent years.
Governance: Background
Liberia’s supreme law is its 1984 constitution, effective since 1986. It provides for a political and
legal system that is substantially modeled on that of the United States, though not entirely; for
instance, federalism is absent. Liberia’s government is made up of three branches that exercise
separate powers and authorities: a bicameral legislature, which consists of a 64-member House
and a 30-member Senate; a presidentially led executive branch that controls multiple line
ministries and several independent agencies; and a judiciary. Legislators are directly elected by

123 UNAIDS, AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2007.
124 IRIN PLUSNEWS, “Youth Not Putting HIV Prevention Lessons into Practice,” October 27, 2005 and USAID,
Health Profile: West Africa-HIV/AIDS, n.d.
125 For background on the Global Fund, see CRS Report RL31712, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and
Malaria: Background
, by Tiaji Salaam-Blyther.
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voters in each of Liberia’s 15 counties, while the president is directly elected by universal
suffrage. The President and House Members are each elected to six-year terms, and Senators
serve nine-year terms, except in cases of irregular vacancies of elected positions. Presidents may
serve up to two terms. Although the Sirleaf government’s mandate is derived from the
constitution, that of the NTGL was extra-constitutional. During its tenure, those provisions of the
Constitution and laws of Liberia that were inconsistent with the provisions of the 2003
Comprehensive Peace Agreement were suspended, though all other provisions of the constitution
remained in force.
Although Liberia’s constitution provides for a system of checks and balances among the three
branches of government, in practice the executive branch has historically exerted extensive
influence over the legislature, the judiciary, and local governments. Historically, Liberian
presidents have wielded exceptional, sometimes extra-constitutional powers and closely
controlled the legal system, the security forces, and the economy, as well as headed majority
ruling parties. Liberia has also long suffered from the effects of public sector corruption and a
tradition of political patronage. This often resulted in uneven, urban-centered socio-economic
development and often deprived large segments of the population, notably the rural indigenous
majority, of access to public goods and services.
Given this history, President Sirleaf could have attempted to aggregate predominant power in her
office, but doing so would have run counter to her emphasis on building national unity,
constitutional and institutionally robust governance, fighting corruption, and institutionally
developing the state. Her emphasis on developing state institutions and processes, rather than
exerting presidential command authority may mean that she is both less likely and less able to
rule in the largely unilateral manner of her predecessors. However, she also came to power with a
weaker electoral mandate than those of past presidents; neither Sirleaf’s Unity Party nor any other
party commands a legislative majority. Similarly, no candidate was able to command majority
support in the initial 22-candidate presidential first round presidential vote.
The relative strength of opposition parties in the parliament initially led some observers to
hypothesize that Liberia’s legislators might bridge their party differences and cooperate in
furtherance of their collective institutional power vis-à-vis the executive branch, and take on a
more engaged and assertive role in policy-making than has been traditional. To date, however,
President Sirleaf has often been able to dominate the national policy agenda. This is attributable,
in part, to a tradition of strong executive leadership; limited capacity within the legislature; the
limited legislative experience of many current legislators; the fractionalized party make-up of the
legislature; and to the governing experience of Sirleaf and many in her cabinet. Most bills
continue to be originated by the executive branch and passed with presidential priorities intact. A
notable exception to this pattern was the legislature’s September 2007 rejection of the asset
seizures bill targeting former president Taylor and his associates.
Transitional Government
A key impetus for the Sirleaf administration’s policy emphasis on anti-corruption initiatives was
the mixed governance record of its predecessor, the NTGL. The NTGL was able to successfully
carry out most of the basic functions assigned to it under the August 2003 peace accord, but its
efforts to restore state authority and the rehabilitate state institutions were hampered by central
government ministry inefficiencies, widespread resource constraints, and lack of institutional and
financial system capacities and trained manpower. Despite such challenges, it did make
significant progress during the last half of its tenure. During this time, many revenue, customs,
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immigration, and local officials were deployed to sites outside Monrovia. Regional Central Bank
offices were also opened, permitting salary payments without recourse to time-consuming travel
to Monrovia. The process of deploying government officials upcountry was supported by USAID,
which has supported the rehabilitation of administrative buildings in several key counties.
Among the most challenging issues facing governance capacity-building efforts were persistent
reports of corruption within the NTGL, in some cases on a large scale. Alleged acts were
particularly notable in the context of import-export transactions, government contracts and
budgeting, and the issuance of commodity marketing or land, natural resource, and associated
concession rights.126 The U.N. Secretary-General reported in mid-March 2005 that there was a
“lack of [NTGL] transparency in the collection and use of revenues and the resistance of some
government and public corporation officials to reforms and audits aimed at fighting corruption”
(S/2005/177). The World Bank and bilateral donors made similar observations and called for
transparency measures. National fiscal and budget obligation mechanisms and voucher record-
keeping systems under the NTGL were chaotic and subject to manipulation by key officials in
some cases.127 In some government agency budgets, the miscellaneous expense budget account
category “Other” was reportedly substantial in many cases, and expenditures of such “Other”
funds were said to have been carried out in an ad hoc manner, with few controls. Actions by the
transitional legislature either to appropriate for private use or pay very nominal lease fees for
expensive vehicles that each legislator was given drew local and foreign condemnation. In
November 2005, the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia stated that the U.S. government was
shocked and disappointed by the recent incidents of transfers of Liberian Government
property and resources into private ownership. This drains vital government resources that
could otherwise be used for critical developmental programs, and sends the wrong signal to
international donors who finance such programs. It also perpetuates the culture of abuse of
public trust and impunity that has contributed to two decades of decline in Liberia. The U.S.
Embassy considers these transfers unscrupulous, irresponsible, and contrary to the public
interest of the people of Liberia. Liberian government resources are for the benefit of the
Liberian people and should not be misappropriated for private use.128
Citing a 2004 presidential proclamation, it stated that Liberian government officials who engage
in “violations of the public trust” and persons who abet such actions might, along with their
families, be ineligible for U.S.-funded programs and services, including consideration for
Diversity Visa, Immigrant Visa, and other visa services.129

126 See, for instance, The Analyst, “NTGL’s Past Haunts Bryant, Others,” March 9, 2006, regarding Liberian
parliamentary investigations into the transitional government’s budget and EU audits of key Liberian parastatals,
available online through FrontPage Africa http://www.frontpageafrica.com.
127 Discussion with U.S. embassy official.
128 See U.S. Embassy-Monrovia, “U.S. Embassy Shocked and Disappointed at Abuse Of Public Trust,” Press Release,
November 18, 2005, and Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), “Liberia: Scramble for Goodies Ahead of
Political Handover,” November 21 2005. IRIN is an editorially independent component of the U.N. Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It provides news and analysis about sub-Saharan Africa and other selected
global regions. It seeks to inform decision makers in host and donor governments, non-governmental and international
humanitarian and advocacy organizations, academic institutions, and the media about developments in the regions it
covers.
129 See Proclamation by the President, To Suspend Entry as Immigrants or Non-immigrants of Persons Engaged in or
Benefitting From Corruption
, January 12, 2004.
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Post-NTGL Corruption Trials
In January 2009, jury selection began in a corruption case involving the alleged embezzlement of
Liberia Petroleum Refinery Company (LPRC) funds by former National Transitional Government
of Liberia (NTGL) Chairman Gyude Bryant and four former LPRC executives from the NTGL
period.130 Bryant is separately being tried on charges of economic sabotage relating to the alleged
embezzlement of $1.3 million during his tenure as chairman. The charges stem from a Sirleaf
administration investigation that began in January 2007 in the wake of an Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) audit probe of the NTGL. Bryant pled innocent to the charges,
which were laid against him in February 2007 and carry a possible 10-year prison sentence. At
trial in April 2007, Bryant unsuccessfully claimed constitutionally derived sovereign immunity
from prosecution on the basis that he was a serving head of state at the time his alleged crimes
took place. In August 2007, Liberia’s Supreme Court approved his trial, ruling that he was not
eligible for immunity because the NTGL, over which Bryant presided, was a product of the extra-
Constitutional August 2003 peace accord that authorized creation of the NTGL. Other NTGL
officials, such as former Finance Minister Lusinee Kamara, have also faced corruption charges
linked to their NTGL duties. The charges against Kamara were spurred by the findings of the
ECOWAS audit. Court proceedings in all of these cases have often been slow and protracted.
Concession Deals
Natural resource and land concession contract deals drew attention during the NTGL’s tenure
because of their financial significance and potential long-term effects on national development.
U.N. experts and donor governments questioned the propriety of a March 2005 monopsony
diamond concession deal with a previously unknown firm, which was later canceled. Some
observers also questioned the NTGL’s award of offshore oil exploration permits to three relatively
small firms just prior to elections.
The NTGL also signed two major long-term natural resource concession deals. One, with the
Firestone group of companies, extends and amends a previous series of concession agreements,
first signed in 1926, giving Firestone rights to large plantation areas for the cultivation of
rubber.131 The contract was amended, in part, because Firestone contended that it was unable to
exploit its holdings due to fighting over the last decade and a half, and in order to boost foreign
investment in Liberia. The deal gave the Firestone group surface rental and other rights to nearly
200 square miles of active or proposed rubber plantation land for 36 years in exchange for $.50
per acre per year and various investments, tax payments, social and infrastructure development
outputs, and various other commitments. It was extendable for an additional 50 years after
renegotiation. Another deal, with Netherlands-based Mittal Steel Holdings, provided for the
rehabilitation or construction of diverse mining, administrative support, processing, and transport
infrastructure intended to support the extraction and shipment of iron ore from northern Liberia. It
gave Mittal a variety of surface rental, mineral license, iron ore extraction, transport infrastructure

130 Two of the other LPRC accused include the former speaker of the incumbent Liberian House of Representatives,
Edwin Swone, Jr., and Senator Richard Devine. C. Emmanuel Johnson, "Court Continues Jurors Selection," The News
(Monrovia) via AllAfrica.com January 6, 2009; and Agence France Presse (AFP), "Former Liberia Leader Faces More
Corruption Charges," May 17, 2008.
131 The agreement is between the government of Liberia and Firestone Natural Rubber Company, a U.S. limited
liability firm that is an affiliate of Bridgestone-Firestone North American Tire, and its Liberian subsidiary, Firestone
Plantations Company.
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construction, and other rights in exchange for diverse capital investments, totaling about $900
million, and royalty, lump sum, tax, and other payments to the government. The initial term of 25
years was extendable for an additional 25-year term, if certain criteria were met.
Both deals drew criticism from some civil society groups that contended that the NTGL lacked a
legal mandate to negotiate long-term concessions, that such functions could only be carried out
by a duly elected government, and that such deals should be negotiated in a manner more
favorable to Liberian economic and other national interests.132 The contracts were also politically
controversial. The Mittal deal was the subject of rival bids by the large mining firms Global
Infrastructural Holdings Limited (GIHL), BHP Billington and Rio Tinto, and its ratification was
contested legally and in parliament. Some civil society critics have alleged that the deals were not
undertaken in a transparent manner.133 Mittal denied that charge and maintained that the contract
was won in a “transparent and competitive bid process” and will bring significant foreign
investment and infrastructure development to Liberia.134 The former U.S. Ambassador to Liberia,
John Blaney, reportedly pushed for a deal that would require that a major railroad that was to be
rehabilitated as part of any proposed iron ore investment arrangement would be made into a
multi-use railroad, regardless of what firm was awarded mining rights.135
The Firestone contract has also drawn attention for other reasons. Some Firestone plantation
workers have complained about poor working conditions and high production quotas. Some
environmental advocacy groups and residents living near Firestone rubber processing facilities
have alleged that chemicals used in latex processing are polluting wells and the water and aquatic
life of the Farmington River, and damaging these resources or preventing their use by local
residents.136 A Firestone spokesperson has denied that “effluent—the by-product that comes out
into the water from our operations” pollutes the Farmington River. A Firestone spokesperson
reportedly stated that Firestone “consistently” samples water from the Farmington River, is in

132 A coalition of Liberian human rights groups unsuccessfully petitioned the Liberian Supreme Court to halt execution
of the two contracts on such grounds and contended that the deals had been made without public input. The
complainants reportedly may seek to re-file their case after the formation of the new elected government. See Morrison
O.G. Sayon, “Supreme Court Places ‘Stay Order’, Firestone, Mittal Steel Agreements,” The Inquirer (Monrovia),
November 7, 2005; John Walsh, “Supreme Court Issues Stay Order On NTGL; Ja’neh Appears Today,”
FrontPageAfrica, November 7, 2005; George Bardue, “Supreme Court Stops Budget Execution and Summons NTGL
Officials,” The News (Monrovia), November 7, 2005.
133 Ben Garside, “Police probe Mittal Steel’s Liberian Iron Ore Deal,” Metal Bulletin News Alert Service, July 13,
2006.
134 Alphonso Toweh, “Liberia Minister Wants Mittal Iron Ore Deal Revised,” Reuters, September 14, 2005; D. Moses
Wantu, “Mittal Steel Hearing Backfires,” The Analyst (Monrovia), September 6, 2005; Economist Intelligence Unit,
“Liberia: A steel?,” Country Monitor, August 29, 2005; Steve Swindells, “Mittal Steel Defends Pursuit of Liberian Iron
Ore Concession,” June 14, 2005 Metal Bulletin News Alert Service; The Analyst (Monrovia), “Bryant, Mittal Steel
Flout Law,” June 13, 2005; The Analyst (Monrovia), “NTGL Sued in U.S. District Court - Over LIMINCO Bidding,”
June 13, 2005, inter alia.
135 A smaller former mine railroad between Monrovia and Bong County has been rehabilitated by AmLib, a mineral
exploration firm, and put into use as a multi-use transport line. It has reportedly contributed to a several-fold drop in
charcoal prices in Monrovia, and is increasing the supply of other farm products to the capital. Charcoal is the main
cooking fuel in Liberia.
136 Pollutants that reportedly may potentially be released into rivers or streams in the Firestone concession area as a
result of agricultural or rubber processing include chemical residues such as ammonium nitrates, sulfuric acid,
formaldehyde, and pesticides like dieldrin. The Analyst (Monrovia), “EPA Wants Tough Measures Against Firestone,”
April 5, 2005; George Bardue, “Firestone Discharges Waste Without Permit, Management Admits,” The News, March
18, 2005; Gibson W. Jerue, “Threat to Life,” The Analyst (Monrovia), March 14, 2005; and Syrulwa Somah, “Liberia
is At a Brink of Irreversible Environmental/Ecological Impotency,” Liberian Observer, March 21, 2005; and The
Analyst
(Monrovia), “Firestone Refutes Allegations, Says It Has Acted In Line With The Laws, But,” March 17, 2005.
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compliance with relevant Liberian environmental laws, and has developed multiple safe drinking
wells areas in its plantation concession area.137
The Firestone group is the subject of a class action suit brought in California by the International
Labor Rights Fund, an advocacy organization that says its goal is to counter child, forced, and
other abusive labor practices internationally, including through litigation. The suit alleges that
Firestone employs children, practices forced labor, involuntary servitude, and negligent
employment practices. Firestone categorically denies these charges, describing the suit as
“outrageous” and “completely without merit.” It maintains that its operations comply fully with
Liberian laws and asserts that its workers are all adults of legal working age, are union-
represented, are paid well above prevailing wages, and are provided with social services, and that
Firestone is bringing much needed investment to Liberia.138
In June 2007, a U.S. District Court (Indianapolis Division, Southern District of Indiana) judge
granted Firestone’s motion to dismiss 11 of 12 counts in the case, but denied the motion with
regard to one count, a child labor claim made under international law and the Alien Tort Statute
(ATS).139
In late April 2007, Firestone production was decreased as a result of a labor strike that reportedly
concerned worker benefits, rivalry over leadership control of the union, and issues related to talks
on a collective bargaining agreement.140 In late 2007, the Liberian Supreme Court reportedly
ratified the election of a new Firestone workers union. Labor activists had long contended that the
previous Firestone union, whose leadership had launched a court case to prevent the new union
from being legally recognized, was a company-controlled entity. Firestone reportedly refused to
recognize the new union prior to its legitimation in court.
New Contracts
Upon taking office, President Sirleaf vowed to review and renegotiate concession contracts
signed by the NTGL to ensure that they were fair, provided Liberia with favorable terms, and did
not cede national financial or other interests to foreign firms, or give such firms undue control
over variables such as future prices or regulatory powers. A renegotiated contract with
ArcelorMittal (the name of the firm after a 2006 merger) took effect in May 2007. In late 2007,
the Liberian government announced that ArcelorMittal had agreed to increase its proposed

137 The Firestone spokesperson reportedly stated that such effluent “is comparable to if not lower than the effluent
standards in other rubber-producing countries such as India Malaysia and Indonesia.” See BBC News, “Liberia Rubber
Pollution Denied,” May 2, 2007.
138 Femi Oke, “Is Bridgestone/Firestone Exploiting Liberian Workers?,” Inside Africa, CNN International, November
12, 2005; Joe Bavier, “Firestone Lease an Issue in Liberia Election Campaign,” VOA News, September 14, 2005; Gary
Gentile, “Firestone Accused of Using Slave Labor,” Associated Press, November 17, 2005; and Reuters, “Labor Group
Sues Bridgestone on Liberia Plantation,” November 17, 2005, inter alia.
139 See U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, John Roe I, et al., Plaintiffs v.
Bridgestone Corporation, et al., Defendants, Case No. 1:06-cv-0627-DFH-JMS, http://www.insd.uscourts.gov/
Opinions/AP6270O1.pdf.
140 Reportedly at issue in strike was an internal union split dividing, including between workers supportive of leaders
favorable to accommodation with Firestone and a group seen as sympathetic to the views of the Minister of Labor, a
long time human rights and labor activist. Tim Urquhart, “Strikes Hit Production at Bridgestone’s Liberian Factory,”
Global Insight Daily Analysis, April 30, 2007; James Butty, “Liberia Begins Reviewing Firestone Agreements,” VOA
News, April 5 2007; and information provided by the State Department.
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investment in Liberia from $1 billion to $1.5 billion over ten years or so, and that the firm expects
to ship the first consignment of ore in mid-2009. The government projects that the new contract
will eventually generate as many as 20,000 jobs for Liberians.
The Liberian government has released a detailed summary comparing the old Mittal contract and
the new one.141 According to Global Witness, a non-governmental organization critic of the
original Mittal contract, improvements in the revised contract include:
• Provisions requiring iron ore prices under the contract to be set by the ore
market, in contrast to the first contract, which gave Mittal the right to set the
price, “thereby giving it control of royalty rates and tax payable, and encouraging
transfer pricing”;
• A limited five-year tax holiday for Mittal, in comparison to an indefinitely
extendable one;
• Liberian national control over two key public infrastructure assets, the port of
Buchanan and the railway to Yekepa (a major iron ore mine site);
• The non-exemption of Mittal from future human rights or environmental laws
passed by Liberia;
• Recognition of the Mittal parent company’s responsibility for liabilities faced by
its operating affiliate in Liberia; and
• Increased balance between the rights of existing property holders and Mittal
regarding the latter’s right to expropriate new concession land.142
Global Witness, however, continues to criticize what it asserts is the contract’s “precedence over
Liberian law on income tax, royalties and other payments due to government.” It also views in a
negative light a contractual confidentiality clause “which will make it very hard for Liberian
citizens to monitor revenue flows from Mittal and ensure the government uses the money wisely
to reduce poverty.”143 Such challenges may subject to change as a result of Liberia’s joining of the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in 2009; see below.
The re-negotiation of a new contract with Firestone was finished in early 2008, and the agreement
is slated to be submitted to the legislature. According to President Sirleaf, the agreement:
includes aggregate investment on the order of $130 million in replanting, and the
establishment of a rubber wood processing plant. This model agreement subjects Firestone,
for the first time in its eighty-two year history of operations, to the payment of taxes of
general application; to a five year plan of providing better living conditions for workers and
employees; and to limited land holdings.144
The Sirleaf government also plans to use the new Firestone contract as a model agreement in
separate renegotiations of other rubber and palm oil plantation concession agreements.

141 See “Summary of the Main Changes Brought About by the Review of the Mittal Mineral Development Agreement,”
http://www.emansion.gov.lr/doc/MittalAgreementFinalMitrix.pdf.
142 See Global Witness, “Mittal Steel Did the Right Thing—Will Firestone?,” April 4, 2007.
143 See Global Witness, “Mittal Steel Did the Right Thing...”.
144 President Sirleaf, annual message to the legislature, January 28, 2008.
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NTGL Anti-Corruption Efforts
The NTGL took some steps to halt corrupt practices. It established a Task Force on Corruption
and a Cash Management Committee and attempted to eliminate bribe-taking in relation to
commodity imports, notably by better managing Monrovia’s port, of which UNMIL took
temporary control in late April 2005. In addition, the National Transitional Legislative Assembly
(NTLA) created a committee to investigate allegations of administrative and financial
irregularities by its leadership, which eventually led to the removal of key NTLA leaders. Some
observers, however, saw the NTGL Task Force as lacking the capacity or political will to achieve
significant results, and some Liberian officials resisted donor and ECOWAS-backed transparency
and audit measures. An African Development Bank loan was reportedly not disbursed in 2005
because Liberia failed to provide required fiscal data, and an ECOWAS-sponsored auditing
mission was opposed by Liberian auditors and certain government officials, who cited concern
over a violation of Liberian sovereignty, despite the publicly-stated support of Chairman Bryant
for the audit. In July 2005, Chairman Bryant suspended two officials over their alleged diversion
of funds paid by the satellite communications firm Inmarsat to several Liberian state entities, and
the NTGL suspended three Bureau of Maritime Affairs officials, including the Commissioner, and
Liberia’s International Maritime Organization representative for fraud.145
To help the NTGL tackle corruption, the United States sent several Treasury Department experts
to advise the Liberian government in the areas of budget and tax policy, management, and
administration and in central bank operations and fiscal policy and regulation. These U.S. experts
have also assessed Liberia’s financial enforcement (financial crime and corruption) capacity. A
resident U.S. legal advisor and a temporary duty team of prosecution experts have been deployed
to Liberia to assist in building Liberia’s judicial capacity. Similar efforts have continued under the
Sirleaf administration.
Concerns over transparency produced a sometimes halting and often highly conditional provision
of pledged aid by donor governments and agencies to NTGL-led Liberia, as well as some
reticence to offer new funding. This negatively affected the scale and pace of resettlement,
reintegration, and socio-economic rehabilitation. Nonetheless, a network of national,
international, U.N., and private development and relief organizations has made considerable
progress in these areas. Most of them participate in an inter-sectoral, U.N.-coordinated initiative,
the Results-Focused Transitional Framework (RFTF). An April 2005 NTGL/U.N./World Bank
assessment of the RFTF found that it has been effective in “addressing short-term, stabilization
priorities,” but that medium- to long-term post-transition institutional and reconstruction
development will require a more robust, coherent, and comprehensive strategy.

145 Liberia’s Solicitor-General, the former human rights lawyer Tiawan Gongloe, reportedly stated that the Liberian
government will seek to extradite from the United States the former Maritime Commissioner, J.D. Slangar, to face
charges of alleged public funds embezzlement. “Accused Former Official to Be Extradited,” UNMIL Media Summary
June 19, 2006 citing the Daily Observer and New Democrat newspapers.
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Key Governance Issues
Anti-Corruption Efforts Under Sirleaf
Liberian-donor government relations have improved under President Sirleaf, in large part due to
her strong support for anti-corruption and other economic governance efforts. In late January
2006, she announced a financial audit of the outgoing transitional government, which had
repeatedly been accused of corruption. Sirleaf has also suggested that she may seek a review of
other public contracts and concession deals granted by the NTGL.146 The Liberian government is
also working to reform its key export-earning forestry and diamond sectors.
Forestry Sector
In early February 2006, Sirleaf adopted the recommendations of the Liberian Forest Concession
Review Committee, an entity comprised of Liberian civil society, government agency, UNMIL,
and donor government representatives. It reviewed the legality and propriety of logging
concession contracts and recommended diverse logging sector reforms. Sirleaf’s action
effectively canceled all existing logging concessions and created a Forestry Reform Monitoring
Committee (FRMC) to regulate future concession contracts. The natural resources and human
rights policy advocacy group Global Witness, which has tracked abuses and corruption in
Liberia’s forestry sector for several years, praised the move. It called, however, for “greater
support” by UNMIL “to the Forestry Development Authority ... to ensure that it is able to operate
in a secure environment” as a prerequisite to the removal of then-current U.N. timber sanctions
on Liberia.147 UNMIL, along with a consortium of donor governments and specialized agencies
known collectively as the Liberia Forest Initiative (LFI), is assisting the Liberian government to
implement timber reforms.148
The FRMC is tasked with carrying out its functions by applying or establishing the following:
• land-use planning principles;
• a timber production and export chain-of-custody tracking system;
• a market value-based tax system timber tax system defined by “equitable sharing
of the benefits with local communities;”
• revised contract requirements;
• transparent forest concession allocation procedures, based on Liberia’s Public
Procurement and Concession Act of 2005, which allows the suspension of
participants who abet civil disturbances or default on their financial obligations—
a key aim in light of alleged patterns of abuse under the Taylor administration;

146 Katharine Houreld, “Liberian Leader Says to Review Govt Contracts,” Reuters, February 20, 2006.
147 “Global Witness Welcomes President Sirleaf’s Decision to Cancel All Forest Concession Agreements,” February 9,
2006.
148 Information on the LFI is available online. See http://www.fao.org/forestry/site/lfi.
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• a regulatory and law enforcement regime to counter financial and tax fraud,
human rights abuses, economic sabotage, and violations of labor and other laws
relating to the misuse and mismanagement of forest resources; and
• an environmental impact assessment process.
It was also given the tasks of advising on the implementation of GEMAP goals (see below) as
they pertain to the Liberian Forestry Development Authority; ensuring the full and transparent
participation of communities and civil society in forest management, conducting a full review of
the forestry laws and regulations; and recommending legislation to implement forestry reforms.149
Sirleaf’s cancellation of prior logging concessions and creation of the FRMC were seen as key
steps prompting the U.N. Security Council to pass Resolution 1689 on June 20, 2006, which
lifted the ban on Liberian timber exports first imposed under Security Council Resolution 1521
(2003). In passing Resolution 1689, the Security Council cited the Sirleaf administration’s
“commitment to transparent management of the country’s forestry resources for the benefit of
Liberians and its reforms in the timber sector.” It warned, however, that it would reinstate the
timber ban if the government does not adopt FRMC-proposed forestry reform legislation. Global
Witness opposed the Security Council’s lifting of sanctions, contending that the Liberian
government lacks full control over forest lands and has not yet adequately reformed the forestry
sector.150 Some other experts have expressed concerns that echo those of Global Witness.151 The
U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is reportedly currently preparing updated
regulations to allow the import of Liberian timber into the United States.
In early October 2006, President Sirleaf signed into law the National Forestry Reform Law of
2006, passed by the legislature in mid-September 2006 in one of its first major legislative actions.
In doing so, she fulfilled the U.N. Security Council’s criteria for lifting its ban on exports of
Liberia timber. Among other measures, the new law divided Liberia’s forest lands into three
categories: protected areas, areas where community logging and wood processing can be pursued,
and commercial logging concession areas. It also requires that logging firms publicly disclose
their revenues and that 30% of commercial timber concession lease revenues be used to fund
education, healthcare, and other basic community social services. The law reportedly does not,
however, clearly define how revenues for such services are to be divided among beneficiaries,
which may make decision making processes pertaining to that end politically controversial.
Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority has formulated a timber concession bidding process,
based on the new forestry law, which was initially implemented in early 2007. Environmental
activists are monitoring this process to ensure that it meets the forestry management,
conservation, and other goals of the new law.152

149 See Liberia, Forest Sector Reform (Executive Order #1), February 7, 2006, available online at http://www.elaw.org/
resources/text.asp?id=3051.
150 See Global Witness, “United Nations Security Council Lifts Liberia Timber Sanctions Despite Insufficient Reform
of the Industry [press release],” June 22, 2006, and Global Witness’s Cautiously Optimistic: The Case for Maintaining
Sanctions in Liberia
, June 2006.
151 E.g., remarks at “Conflict Timber, Sustainable Management, and the Rule of Law: Forest Sector Reform in Liberia,”
Woodrow Wilson Center panel presentation, June 8, 2006.
152 “Liberian Leader to Ratify Forest Concession Pact to Ensure End of Un Timber Ban,” Liberian Star Radio via BBC
Monitoring Africa, October 4, 2006; UN News, “Country Enacts New Forest Policy With UN Help to Ensure Benefits
for All,” October, 5, 2006; IRIN, “Government Lays Foundation for Legal Logging,” December 15, 2006; and
Environmental Law Institute, “Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Signs National Forestry Reform Law of 2006,”
October 5, 2006.
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Liberia’s forests are the home to diverse species of flora and fauna, some rare or endangered.
According to U.N. research findings, in 2000, Liberia’s forests “constitute[d] approximately 45%
of the remaining Upper Guinea Forest, which spans 10 West African States from Guinea to
Cameroon” and were “variously assessed as [occupying] between 31.3% and 50% of the total
territory of Liberia.” Estimates of the contribution of timber exports to Liberia’s foreign exchange
earnings vary. They declined after the imposition of sanctions on such exports in 2003, but U.N.
research findings indicate that for 2002, such earnings totaled “at least $146 million” and could
have been as high as “$180 to 200 million.”153 Although precise data on the value of pre-war
timber revenues vary, such revenues are generally thought to have comprised as much as half of
all export earnings.
Depending on such factors as price, rates of cutting, and relative use of sustainable forestry
practices, future export levels could vary widely from those estimated for 2002, when forestry
concessions were administered by the Taylor regime and harvested by commercial interests with
allegedly close links to the Taylor administration. The Taylor regime was accused of allowing the
use of unsustainable forestry practices and illicitly diverting earnings from the timber sector. It
also allegedly used some timber firms’ transport and trade activities as cover for arms trafficking
and turned the security forces of some firms into pro-government militias.154
Diamonds
On May 4, Liberia was admitted into the Kimberley Process155 following the U.N. Security
Council’s passage on April 27, 2007, of Resolution 1753, which lifted an export ban on Liberian
diamonds imposed by the Council in late 2003 (Resolution 1521).156 In passing Resolution 1753,
the Council also announced its intention to review Liberia’s admission to and general compliance
with the Kimberley Process.157 In May 2007, ten diamond screening and evaluation offices were

153 See United Nations, Report of the Secretary-General in Pursuance of Paragraph 19 of Resolution 1478 (2003)
Concerning Liberia
, S/2003/793, August 5, 2003.
154 See Taylor-Made: The Pivotal Role of Liberia’s Forests and Flag of Convenience in Regional Conflict, Global
Witness and the International Transport Workers Federation, September 2001, inter alia. The environmental activist
Silas Siakor, who ran the Save My Future Foundation (SAMFU) of Liberia from 2000 to 2003, is credited by many
with carrying out then-politically risky documentary work that eventually led to the imposition of U.N. forestry
sanctions on Liberia. Siakor, a 2006 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, now heads the Sustainable Development
Institute (SDI), an NGO that helps to coordinate Liberian civil society participation in national forest sector reform
efforts. See SAMFU, Living Dangerously: An Assessment of Multinationals in Liberia Logging Industry, February 20,
2001.
155 The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is a voluntary international trade regime that regulates the
global trade in rough diamonds in order to prevent the sale of “conflict diamonds,” i.e., rough diamonds used to fund
armed conflict.
156 The Kimberley Process decision followed a March 2007 Kimberley Process Review Mission to Liberia that had
concluded that Liberia met the conditions for admission. European Community, “Kimberley Process: Liberia Enters the
Diamond Trade,” (press release IP/07/612) May 4, 2007.
157 The diamond ban had been left in place when the Security Council lifted timber sanctions on Liberia (Resolution
1689) in June 2006. It had last been renewed in December 2006. A diamond embargo was initially imposed on Liberia
in 2001 after the Security Council found that the Taylor government was “actively supporting” the RUF, the rebel
group then fighting the government of Liberia’s neighbor, Sierra Leone, including by illicitly trading in Sierra Leonean
diamonds. See U.N. Security Council, Resolution 1343, March 7, 2001. The diamond sanctions under Resolution 1343
were terminated by Security Council Resolution 1521 (December 22, 2003), which imposed a new ban on diamond
exports from Liberia. Resolution 1521 asserted that there existed a “linkage between the illegal exploitation of natural
resources such as diamonds and timber, illicit trade in such resources, and the proliferation and trafficking of illegal
arms as a major source of fueling and exacerbating conflicts, in West Africa, [and] particularly in Liberia.”
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opened across Liberia, and in July began to offer mining, selling and broker licenses. The first
post-embargo diamond exports began in September 2007.
In order to meet Kimberley Process certification criteria, the Liberian government had suspended
the issuance of diamond mining licenses, all of which expired at the end of December 2005,
making diamond mining effectively illegal in Liberia pending its accession to the Kimberley
Process. As part of its efforts to implement the Kimberley Process, the government now has a
diamond office in Monrovia and several regional diamond certification offices. Liberia’s
Kimberley Process-related capacity building and a technical training effort have been
substantially aided by the United States. In addition to constructing the Government Diamond
Office and providing it with gemology equipment and office furnishings, U.S. assistance in this
area has included the following:
• Training of Liberian diamond evaluators in South Africa (three staff) and Dubai
(two staff);
• Training of Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy staff to manage ten regional
offices and related material and salary assistance, including vehicles, to support
the establishment and future functioning of these posts throughout Liberia;
• Salary support for five diamond evaluators;
• Provision of specialized technical training to multiple ministry staff in the areas
of Stream Sediment Studies, database applications, and GIS and remote imagery;
• Production of a comprehensive geological assessment of Liberia’s diamond
production capacity, and digitization and reproduction of geological maps of
Liberia;
• Provision of software and hardware components of a database for tracking
diamond production and Kimberley Process admission and program compliance;
and
• Production of 1,000 Kimberley Process rough diamond export certificates.158
Much of this assistance was provided under a $1.44 million FY2005 ESF funding tranche under a
U.S. Geological Survey-implemented contract with the Constella Futures International, a social
development technical assistance firm. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is
reportedly currently preparing updated regulations to allow the import of Liberian rough
diamonds into the United States.
Diamond deposits in Liberia are mostly alluvial, that is, found on or near the surface after having
been deposited by water flows, often far from their point of origin. In January 2006, however, the
firm Diamond Fields International (DFI) Ltd. announced that it had discovered strong indications
of a kimberlite, or pipes of igneous, volcanic, often diamond-bearing material, in Grand Cape
County.159 If the kimberlite is verified as being richly diamondiferous, Liberia’s future production
of diamonds could rise substantially, potentially to the level of neighboring Sierra Leone.

158 State Department/Monrovia Embassy, “U.S. Contributions to the Kimberley Process Certification Program,”
Embassy News, [n.d.].
159 See DFI, “Diamond Fields Announces the Discovery of Kimberlite in Liberia and Progress with Gold Exploration,”
January 9, 2006. Several other firms are involved in diamond explorations in various counties of Liberia. DFI is also
(continued...)
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GEMAP
The Sirleaf Administration strongly supports the Governance and Economic Management
Assistance Program (GEMAP), an agreement signed in September 2005 by the NTGL and the
International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL), an international policy coordinating group of
donor and regional governments and multinational institutions.160 The aims of GEMAP are to
secure Liberia’s revenue base; improve budgeting, expenditure management, procurement
practices, and concession grant-making; establish mechanisms to control corruption; build the
capacity of government agencies involved in financial management and economic governance
reform, e.g., the General Auditing Commission (GAC,) General Services Agency (GSA),
Governance Reform Commission (GRC), and Public Procurement and Concessions Commission
(PPCC) will be strengthened through international assistance, as well as the ability of line agency
activities in these areas. GEMAP also supports public accountability-focused access to
government information by journalists, civil society, and citizens.
A key component of GEMAP was the provision of contract-based management of the revenue
and expenditure flows of key public sector entities, notably the main port, airport, and fuel
refining firm, among others, in order to strictly enforce central government controls over state
revenues and to improve public fiscal capacities.161 Under this component of the program,
international financial comptrollers with co-signing authority regarding key fiscal management
mechanisms, assumed duties at the Central Bank of Liberia and other key ministries, notably the
Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Lands, Mines, and Energy and the Bureau of Budget, and as
well as key revenue-earning agencies, including ports, airports, customs offices, and the forestry
sector.162 A key GEMAP benchmark was met in September 2009, when GEMAP’s international
comptrollers relinquished co-signatory authority to their government counterparts in those
agencies that had not previously “graduated” from GEMAP, i.e., met their goals under the
program.163 GEMAP also involves donor-assisted support for diverse economic governance,
financial management technical assistance, and judicial capacity-building efforts to
institutionalize transparent state management capacity-building goals and related reforms.164 The

(...continued)
involved in gold exploration in Liberia.
160 The GEMAP agreement and a wide range of GEMAP reports, bulletins, and other documents are online at
http://www.gemapliberia.org/. On the goals of GEMAP, see GEMAP-Liberia, “What are the components of
GEMAP?/Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Regarding GEMAP,” n.d.
161 The program appears to have resulted in some rapid early gains; Sirleaf administration officials reported that 2006
first quarter revenues collections were reportedly 34% higher than those for the same period in 2005, and similar
revenue gains continued. The Analyst (Monrovia), “Liberia: Govt. is 34 Percent Richer!,” June 8, 2006; and
USAID/Liberia, “Governance and Economic Management (GEMAP),” current as of May 11, 2010.
162 The external management and financial monitoring role components of GEMAP was initially opposed by some in
Liberia as an intrusion on national sovereignty, but donor governments, including the United States, pushed for strict
conditionality for future assistance to Liberia. IRIN, “Liberia: Foreign Nationals Step into Government Positions to
Combat Graft,” March 3, 2006; IRIN, “Liberia: Foreign Corruption Spotters Now in Place,” May 24, 2006; and
S/2006/159, op. cit., among others.
163 USAID/Liberia, Overview of USAID Programs in Liberia, March 2010; and State Department, Background Note:
Liberia, April 19, 2010.
164 GEMAP is overseen by an Economic Governance Steering Committee (EGSC) chaired by President Sirleaf, assisted
by representatives of the United States, the European Union, the African Union, ECOWAS, and the International
Monetary, World Bank, and U.N. agencies.
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United States and other donors are continuing to provide financial management technical
assistance aimed at consolidating gains made under GEMAP.165
Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI)
Liberia is a signatory of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an international
effort to foster transparent and accountable governance in resource-rich countries through the
publication of verified government revenues derived from extractive industry company payments.
In October 2009, Liberia became the second EITI signatory to be judged an EITI Compliant
Country, i.e., a country that has undergone EITI “validation,” a formal assessment process that
verifies compliance with EITI transparency standards, goals, and processes that signatories agree
to implement and uphold.
Liberia committed to join EITI in October 2006, and formally agreed to participate under a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in April 2008, shortly after the formation of the
Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), a national EITI group of
government, civil society, and private business stakeholders. The MOU formally committed
LEITI members to full implement EITI principles in Liberia. Like most EITI-signatory countries,
Liberia's EITI program addresses revenues from oil, gas, and mined commodities, but is unique in
that it is the first one to include forestry as a sector subject to EITI compliance. Agricultural
production is also subject to LEITI reporting.
Among other actions taken to implement the LEITI program, a forestry scooping was produced in
June 2008; a presidential proclamation was issued in September 2008 making the LEITI program
a key, binding government policy; a LEITI public communications strategy was initiated in
October 2008; and two EITI validation reports were published (in February of 2009 and 2010). In
addition, in July 2009 Liberia a public act was signed into law that formally established LEITI as
an independent state entity, albeit made up, in part, of non-governmental actors, and laid out its
legal and functional mandates; it was the second country to pass such a law. Significantly, the act
requires public access to all contracts subject to LEITI reporting compliance.166
Legislative Branch
As discussed elsewhere in this report,167 Liberia’s current Congress could potentially play a more
prominent role in governance than have its predecessors, in part because President Sirleaf’s party
does not enjoy a majority in either chamber of the legislature. Many Members are enthusiastic
about their representative role and are determined to assertively exercise the constitutional powers
and responsibilities of the legislature.168 A range of challenges may, however, impede the

165 On the U.S. role, see USAID/Liberia, “GEMAP International Controllers End Terms at Four Government
Enterprises-Technical Assistance and Training to Continue,” October 7, 2009; and USAID/Liberia, “Governance and
Economic Management (GEMAP),” current as of May 11, 2010.
166 LEITI documents available online (http://www.leiti.org.lr); GOL, LEITI Act of 2009: An Act Establishing the
Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI)
, July 10, 2009; and EITI, "Liberia," September 30, 2009.
167 See section entitled “Governance: Background.”
168 The following account draws from the author’s observations; John Johnson and Robert Nakamura, Liberia
Legislative Needs Assessment, Univ. at Albany, State Univ. of New York for U.N. Development Program-Liberia,
February 2006; parliamentary information by European Commission/Konrad Adenauer Foundation, SUNY; and news
(continued...)
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realization of such goals. A key impediment is the relative inexperience of many of Liberia’s
legislators. Although a number of Members are professionals with varying private or public sector
experience and a few served previously in the legislature as Members or staff, the vast majority
have never previously held elected office and have no lawmaking or policy-making experience.
In meetings attended by the author in July 2006, many Members expressed a need for instruction
or information regarding the basic functions of being a legislator, the workings of the committee
system, and the legislature’s oversight, appropriations, authorizing, and constituent relations
roles.
In many cases, Members are unable to turn to their personal staffs to provide expertise on
legislative functions because, as is common across the public sector in Liberia, many staff lack
appropriate training or job-specific skills. In many instances, the professional work of the
legislature is carried out by university students, reportedly because pay levels are viewed as too
low to attract trained, professional staff. In other cases, staff reportedly lack appropriate skills
because they were hired “based solely on contacts and family relationships,” with little regard to
competence or training, “rendering [many offices...]dysfunctional.”169
There is also a paucity of institutional resources available to Members. Committee staff are
virtually nonexistent, and the legislature as a whole lacks many of the assets necessary to
independently carry out its principal roles. The two chambers largely lack bill drafting expertise,
and most bills are drafted by the executive branch or by outside organizations. Parliamentary
record keeping capacity is also limited; legislative debates and votes are recorded by hand, in part
due to a lack of audio or stenographic recording equipment. Legislative debates and decisions,
therefore, are reportedly often documented incompletely and sometimes erroneously.
The manner in which legislative resources are allocated also appears to curtail the institution’s
potential effectiveness. In comparison to many countries, the size of Liberian Members’ office
staffs is large, and a high proportion of Members’ staffs perform non-legislative services, such as
food preparation, gardening, and driving. Similarly, despite a general lack of resources, the two
chambers of the legislature maintain duplicate services; each, for instance, has its own research
department. These institutional challenges are compounded by a dearth of office space and
equipment. The legislature’s Capitol building, which was looted and suffered decay due to neglect
during the civil war, lacks most basic functional infrastructure elements, such as water and
electricity, though it is currently undergoing an upgrade (see below).
Some Liberians, including some legislators, as well as outside observers are also concerned that
legislators’ lack of knowledge regarding their normative and constitutional roles as
representatives of the public might cause some to seek use their offices for purposes of private
gain, rather than to serve the public. Such concerns were highlighted in October 2006 when, just
prior to the slated start of a U.S.-supported project to rehabilitate the Capitol building (see below),
several Liberia news reports described acts of alleged “looting” of the Capitol building by some
Members and staff of the legislature, who were reported to have removed and appropriated

(...continued)
accounts. In July 2006, the author participated in a U.S. government mission to assess the needs and status of the
Liberian legislature; the assessment team met with numerous Members of the Liberian legislature.
169 Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Background information on the National Legislature Senior Staff Workshop, March
13, 2006.
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government property for personal use from the Capitol.170 Similar concerns reportedly arose in
relation to legislative negotiations relating to the recently enacted forestry law reforms. According
to informed observers, during talks prior to the passage of the forestry reforms, some legislators
made remarks suggesting that they viewed a successful outcome of the reform process as being
one in which they personally—as persons representing the public, in contrast to the general
Liberian public itself—would directly benefit from processes at issue, such as the allocation of
forestry concessions or revenues.
A certain amount of on-going public skepticism about government transparency in general may
be attributable to public perceptions formed of the NTGL and of the transitional legislature, the
decision-making conduct of which was often opaque and sometimes allegedly corrupt (see
“Transitional Government,” above), and to widespread reports of corruption under previous
Liberian governments. Such views may be spurred by on-going investigations of alleged
corruption under the NTGL.171
U.S. Legislative Assistance
To help overcome the challenges faced by the legislature, the United States supported a $1.8
million USAID project to rehabilitate the Capitol and is providing legislative capacity-building
assistance through the U.S. democracy-building organization, the National Democratic Institute
(NDI). This follows on an earlier post-elections governance capacity-building effort undertaken
by NDI, the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the International Foundation for Election
Systems.172 NDI describes its current work as follows:
NDI is implementing a 14-month USAID-funded program to support the modernization of
the Liberian legislature by: developing sustainable systems and institutional practices that
improve the effectiveness of the legislature; improving the ability of legislative staff to
respond to current members' requests and manage the day-to-day operations of the
legislature; and enhancing the capacity of legislators to fulfill their representative,
lawmaking, and oversight roles. The Institute has been working closely with the Joint
Legislative Modernization Committee (JLMC), a group of legislators tasked with identifying
institutional challenges and recommending viable remedies. Additionally, NDI provides
support to the Women's Legislative Caucus of Liberia (WLCL) to strengthen its
organizational structure and refine its strategic plan. NDI is also providing technical and

170 Although some legislators later explained that they had removed personal property prior to the rehabilitation project,
press reports suggested that what was removed in many cases included physical fixtures, such as doors and windows,
and publicly funded office equipment and furnishings.
171 An audit of the NTGL performed by ECOWAS reportedly “points to a lot of criminal activities, criminal charges,
malpractices, inefficiencies, [and] corruption of former officials in the Gyude Bryant administration, including
chairman Bryant himself,” according to the current information minister, Lawrence Bropleh. Bropleh’s comments came
in the wake of the detainment of two former NTGL officials, finance minister Lusinee Kamara and his deputy, Tugbeh
Doe, in a $9 million public funds corruption probe. See James Butty, “Liberia - Government Says Former Leader
Could Face Charges,” VOA News, December 5, 2006; The Analyst, “Police Clutches Lusinee Kamara, Tugbeh Doe,”
December 5, 2006; and Jonathan Paye-Layleh, “Liberia Charges Former Finance Minister with Stealing from
Government,” Associated Press, December 4, 2006, among others.
172 USAID political institution strengthening, starting with support for the 2005 elections, was supported through FY
2008 under a USAID-backed contracting coordination mechanism known as the Consortium for Elections Political
Process Strengthening (CEPPS). See Democracy International/USAID, Liberia Elections and Political Processes
Program Evaluation, Final Report
, November 2008; IFES, IFES Final Report - Liberia Election Administration
Program
, November 1, 2004-January 31, 2009; and information from NDI, IRI, and IFES.
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financial support to a local radio partner to connect lawmakers with their constituents and
disseminate information nation-wide on legislative activities.173
Congressional Role
In addition to appropriating funds to assist Liberia, Congress is taking a direct role in supporting
governance capacity-building in Liberia. In July 2006, following a visit by a congressional
delegation and a parliamentary assessment by a House Democracy Assistance Commission
(HDAC) staff team, Liberia was selected to participate in a multi-year HDAC House Democracy
Partnership (HDP) program. HDAC partnerships provide “technical assistance to the parliaments
of newly democratic countries on a peer-to-peer basis, with Members of Congress working with
Members of Parliament and congressional staff working with their parliamentary counterparts.”174
HDAC’s goal is to help partner legislatures improve “fundamental capabilities of legislatures to
serve as effective, independent, representative bodies of government.” Key HDAC activities
include Member Outbound Programs, in which U.S. Members and staff delegations hold
discussion on topics such as “essential legislative capabilities, policy questions, bilateral relations
and regional issues” and constituent relations with their counterparts in partner legislatures.
HDAC Staff Institutes, in which HDAC and other Congressional staff hold U.S. and overseas-
based training sessions for partner legislature staff focusing on such areas as “budget analysis,
committee operations, research, and administration” are another key activity, as are Member
Inbound Programs. In the latter, Members of partner legislatures travel to the United States for
“training focusing on Congressional operations and constituent services.” Specialized trainings
focus on such areas as defense oversight, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, ethics,
and budget committee work. HDAC provides limited material assistance “in areas where it can
achieve immediate impact,” such as planned legislative research and library capacity-building in
Liberia.175
War Crimes, Human Rights Cases, and Transitional
Justice

Taylor Trial
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is defending himself against an 11-count war crimes
indictment first brought against him in 2003 by the Prosecutor of the U.S.-supported Sierra
Leone-based Special Court for Sierra Leone.176 The indictment against Taylor alleges that he

173 NDI, "Liberia," http://www.ndi.org/liberia. Much of the work takes the form of workshops, technical assistance,
mentoring and overseas study visits. According to USAID, the program also seeks to codify standing rules and orders;
develop ethics rules; improving legislative research and information resource capacities; institutionalizing a law-
making training program; and professionalize legislative staff. The radio program element centers on production of
Legislative Spotlight, a current legislative events program aimed at expanding democratic participation in legislative
processes. USAID/Liberia, "Support to the Legislature," current as of May 11, 2010.
174 HDAC fact sheet, November 2006.
175 HDAC, House Democracy Assistance Commission – At a Glance, n.d.; also see annual HDAC reports.
176 The original indictment, dated March 3, 2003, approved on March 7, 2003, and unsealed on June 4, 2003 during
Liberian peace talks in Ghana, charged Taylor with 17 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other
(continued...)
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violated international and Sierra Leonean law by actively aiding and abetting activities in
furtherance of the armed insurgency against the government of Sierra Leone by the Revolutionary
United Front, a now defunct Sierra Leonean rebel group.
Taylor’s trial is being conducted by the SCSL in the Hague, the Netherlands, where under a
special agreement the SCSL is using the premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC).177
The trial, which had originally been slated to begin in April 2007, opened in early June 2007, but
proceedings were delayed after Taylor boycotted his trial and later fired his initial defense team. A
new defense team was later hired. It successfully requested increased funding for his legal
defense and in mid-August 2007 won a postponement of Taylor’s trial on the basis that the team
must be allowed adequate time to review extensive evidence that has been submitted in the case.
The trial resumed in January 2008, with testimony by 91 witnesses for the Prosecution, which
wrapped up its case in February 2009. The defense opened its case in July 2009. Cross-
examination of defense witnesses by the Prosecutor’s Office of the U.S.-backed Special Court for
Sierra Leone (SCSL), which began in November 2009, proceeded in early 2010.178
Taylor was taken into the custody of the SCSL following his arrest on March 29, 2006, at a
border checkpoint in the northern Nigerian state of Borno, as he tried to cross by road into
Cameroon. He was apprehended by Nigerian security forces after fleeing the southern Nigerian
city of Calabar, where he had lived with an entourage of aides and family members beginning in
August 2003, when he was given asylum by Nigeria’s government. He reportedly fled on March
27, two days after Nigeria’s government announced that Liberia was “free” to take Taylor “into
its custody,” while not specifying how that end could or would be achieved, or moving to arrest
him. After his capture, Taylor was extradited to Liberia in a Nigerian presidential jet. He was then
immediately flown by UNMIL helicopter to the premises of the SCSL in Freetown, the capital of
Sierra Leone, where he was taken into SCSL custody. On April 3 he was arraigned and pled not
guilty, though he qualified his plea by questioning the SCSL’s “jurisdiction over me, as the 21st
President of the Republic of Liberia.”179

(...continued)
serious violations of international humanitarian law. The indictment was amended on March 16, 2006, to 11 counts to
“ensure a more focused trial,” according to a statement by the prosecutor. The SCSL Prosecutor’s indictment is online;
see http://www.sc-sl.org/Taylor.html.
177 The trial was transferred to the Hague from the SCSL premises in Freetown, Sierra Leone for reasons of security
and to prevent possible instability in Sierra Leone and Liberia arising from the trial. Trial documents and recordings are
available at the SCSL website: http://www.sc-sl.org/taylor.html. A non-governmental group has also created a Taylor
trial tracking website: http://charlestaylortrial.org.
178 Taylor’s trial, which began and then recessed in mid-2007, had resumed on January 7, 2008. See SCSL/Office of the
Prosecutor, "Testimony for the Prosecution Concluded in Taylor Trial," February 2, 2009, and other SCSL documents
(see http://www.sc-sl.org Cases >> The Prosecutor vs. Charles Ghankay Taylor); and Open Society Institute, "Trial
Proceedings," http://www.charlestaylortrial.org.
179 The arraignment hearing judge, however, reminded Taylor that the SCSL Appeals Chamber had in May 2004
decided that heads of state could be prosecuted before the SCSL. It had ruled in response to a motion by an attorney,
acting on behalf of then-president Taylor, who requested that the court quash Taylor’s indictment on the grounds that
the court lacked jurisdiction to indict Taylor because he was a head of state at the time he was indicted. At Taylor’s
April arraignment, a court-appointed defense attorney for Taylor also requested that he be tried in Sierra Leone, to
facilitate the logistics of bringing defense witnesses resident in the sub-region before the SCSL and to prevent their
possible denial of visas to travel to a venue held in Europe. See IRIN, “Transcript of Charles Taylor’s Plea on First
Court Appearance,” April 4, 2006.
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Trial Venue
In June 2006, Taylor was transferred from the headquarters of the SCSL, in Freetown, Sierra
Leone, to the prison premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, the
Netherlands. The ICC, with the agreement of the Dutch government, agreed to allow the SCSL to
use ICC facilities in order to conduct the Taylor trial.180 Dutch authorities agreed to allow Taylor
to be tried on Dutch soil after Britain offered to imprison Taylor if he is convicted. 181 The SCSL
will retain legal and institutional control over the Taylor case but will use the physical premises of
the ICC in the Hague, the Netherlands, to conduct his trial and related hearings. Taylor’s transfer
to the Netherlands was made for reasons of security and to prevent potential instability in Sierra
Leone and Liberia, where his trial could prove politically controversial and emotive.182 The
decision to transfer him to the Hague remains a topic of debate.
The decision to transfer the trial to a venue outside of Sierra Leone or the continent of Africa
stimulated debate over the over the implications for justice of the transfer.183 Some have
contended that Taylor’s trial should have been conducted in the country where his alleged crimes
took place. Such an outcome, in this view, would demonstrate—both to victims and perpetrators
of international human rights and laws of war violations in Sierra Leone and the surrounding sub-
region—that accountability for such actions can be achieved in the same social and geographic
contexts in which they were committed. Similarly, some have argued that the didactic and
symbolic value for the region of a local public trial would be greater than one conducted abroad,
in part because it would allow more direct and proximate access to the court proceedings by the
local population. Some observers have worried that because many Sierra Leonean journalists lack
the ability to cover the trial directly due to cost or other factors, Sierra Leoneans would be
deprived of a key channel of information and analysis accessible to them in the local patois (Krio,
an English-based Creole) and responsive to local concerns. Sierra Leoneans lack widespread
access to television and print media, particularly western media sources that are more likely to

180 On the day that Taylor was taken into SCSL custody, the SCSL made a request to the Dutch government and to the
ICC asking that the SCSL be permitted to use the Hague premises of the ICC while hearing Taylor’s trial. See SCSL
Press and Public Affairs Office, “Special Court President Requests Charles Taylor be Tried in The Hague,” March 30,
2006. The U.N. Security Council subsequently endorsed an agreement later reached between the Dutch government
and the SCSL, after a memorandum of understanding was agreed between the SCSL and the ICC.
181 The Netherlands agreed to accept Taylor’s transfer onto its territory on the condition that, prior to the transfer,
provisions be put in place to ensure that Taylor depart Dutch soil following his trial. It is not clear where Taylor might
go if he is acquitted, but Dutch authorities will not, at present, permit him to remain in the Netherlands after he is tried.
Britain’s offer to imprison Taylor is subject to approval by its parliament, but prior to its proffer, the UK government
reportedly consulted the political opposition, which agreed to support the proposal. Sweden’s parliament had earlier
passed legislation, “specifically because of the Charles Taylor case,” that amended Swedish laws to enable it to
imprison an SCSL convict. The Swedish government, however, had not formally offered to imprison Taylor if he were
convicted, though it had reportedly considered doing do.
182 Once the decision to transfer Taylor out of Sierra Leone had been made, the SCSL Prosecutor stated that the transfer
of the Taylor trial to the Hague was “the only option” because the courts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia or the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)—two institutional venues to which the
transfer of the Taylor case was reportedly considered—are “too full.” The ICTR is based in Arusha, Tanzania. The
Prosecutor also stated that President Sirleaf had requested that Taylor’s case be heard outside of Sierra Leone and the
local Mano River sub-region. See SCSL, Office of the Prosecutor, “The Prosecutor’s Meeting with Civil Society of
Sierra Leone: The Prosecutor’s Statement,” April 12, 2006, as well as U.N. Security Council resolution 1688
(S/RES/1688, June 16, 2006).
183 Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reviewed many of the arguments for and against transferring Taylor’s case to the
Hague and has made a number of related recommendations. See HRW, Trying Charles Taylor in The Hague: Making
Justice Accessible to Those Most Affected
, HRW Briefing No. 2, June 2006, as well as Howard Lesser, “In Sierra
Leone, Mixed Reaction to Taylor’s Trial Transfer,” VOA, June 21, 2006, among other press analyses of the transfer.
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have the resources to cover a trial in the Hague. Other factors cited in favor of holding a trial
locally have included concerns about the logistical, legal, financial, and bureaucratic barriers that
an overseas venue might pose for witness participation in the trial, as well as for its general
organization and staging.184 Such concerns continue, and may potentially imperil the reputation of
the SCSL as a novel, cost-effective international judicial model.185
Others have supported the transfer on the basis that any factor that might spark political unrest or
conflict—such as Taylor’s trial—should be avoided, given the relatively fragile and recent
transition to peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, both of which have extended histories of political
instability. In this view, moving the trial to the Hague has decreased the chance that political
controversy prompted by Taylor’s trial may lead to local unrest, and has undercut his ability to
directly appeal to or rally potentially armed followers, should he attempt to use the trial as a
political platform. Some have also maintained that holding the trial in a distant location would
help Sierra Leoneans and Liberians overcome the legacies of war. A local trial, according to this
point of view, might present too immediate and visceral a reminder of the wartime suffering that
many in these two countries have only recently overcome. Sierra Leoneans, this line of reasoning
emphasized, are weary of war and its effects and want to “move past” their experiences of
wartime brutality and focus on peace and socio-economic reconstruction.
Sirleaf Administration Role
Taylor’s SCSL case and extradition have been delicate matters for President Sirleaf, because her
government was not party to his asylum deal or indictment, but was charged with resolving issues
arising from them. Prior to his transfer to the court, some observers had raised concerns over the
hypothetical possibility that the stability of Sirleaf’s government might be undermined if Sirleaf
were to alienate or anger supporters of former President Taylor, particularly given that he won the
presidency with 75.3% of the vote in 1997, and because he is a former warlord whose factional
fighters had a reputation for brutality. Prior to her mid-March 2006 visit to the United States,
Sirleaf had stated that her administration would eventually seek the repatriation of former
president Charles Taylor from Nigeria or his transfer to the SCSL under certain conditions. These
included consultations with and the assent of “regional leaders who managed the process of
leading to his exile;” accommodation for certain unspecified timing considerations; and a transfer
process that would “not undermine the security” of Liberia. She also reportedly said that she did
not view it as an immediate priority. She specifically stated that any solution would require the
concurrence of the European Union, the African Union, and West African leaders, with whom she
met during a regional pre-inauguration consulting tour, in part intended to address “certain
national and regional sensitivities.” Notwithstanding these actions, in March 2006 her
government formally requested Taylor’s extradition from Nigeria, prompting the sequence of
events leading to Taylor’s capture.
In mid-July 2007, the Sirleaf Administration submitted a bill to the national legislature that would
have allowed it to seize and seek international cooperation in “tracking, freezing and confiscating
the funds, properties and assets” allegedly misappropriated and/or controlled by Taylor and

184 The potentially higher costs of conducting a trial in the Netherlands may pose a particularly significant funding
challenge to the SCSL. See IRIN, “Sierra Leone: New War Crimes Court President Pleads for Extra Funds,” May 25,
2006.
185 Marlise Simons, “Liberian Ex-Leader’s War Crimes Trial Is Stalled,” New York Times, August 25, 2007.
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certain of his relatives and associates.186 The bill was considered controversial because Taylor has
not been convicted of any crimes in Liberia or by the SCSL. In September 2007, the legislature
rejected the bill on ground that it would unconstitutionally deny due process rights.187 The
government has pledged to attempt to continue to pursue efforts to effect such seizures, and may
amend and resubmit the bill.
SCSL: U.S. Views and Assistance
The United States strongly supports the SCSL’s mandate to try those responsible for war crimes
in Sierra Leone. The court is also seen by some as providing an alternative institutional model to
the International Criminal Court and is viewed as a smaller, leaner organization compared to the
more administratively extensive and costly international criminal tribunals for the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, though questions have recently been raised about its cost-
effectiveness.188 Court officials, however, point out that per-capita “justice” cost comparisons
with larger war crimes and related courts are misleading, since the latter can achieve efficiencies
on the basis of larger economies of scale and because the SCSL had to invest in substantial initial
fixed costs, even though the number of plaintiffs was relatively small. They also point out that the
court has been able to maintain a relatively rapid trial and appeals process, which has kept down
costs. They also point out that the court is expected to provide a substantial legacy, in the form of
buildings and institutions, that is expected to bolster the rule of law in the region after the court
has completed its activities. Lastly, they point out that the SCSL has achieved several milestones
in the administration of international justice, as the first international court to:
• Indict a sitting African head of state for war crimes;
• Derive its funding from voluntary contributions;
• Be established in the country where the alleged crimes at issue took place; and
• Issue rulings on the recruitment and use of children in the context of a war crimes
trial and the treatment of forced marriage as a war crime separate and distinct
from crimes of sexual slavery and rape.
Table 2. U.S. Assistance for the Special Court for Sierra Leone
($ millions)
Accounta
Amount Fiscal Years by Appropriation and Obligation
ESF 2
FY2000b
DFA 3
FY2001c
ESF 5
FY2002


186 The assets of such persons are subject to a U.N. assets freeze imposed in 2004 under U.N. Security Council
Resolution 1532. For information and documents pertaining to the assets seizure and related matters and a list of
affected individuals, see the website of the U.N. Liberia sanctions committee: http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1521/
index.shtml.
187 BBC News, “Liberia ‘to Seize Taylor Assets’,” July 2007; and Jonathan Paye-Layleh, “Liberian lawmakers reject
bill to freeze Taylor’s assets,” Associated Press, September 23, 2007, inter alia. See also the May 2007 report by the
Security Council Panel of Experts on Liberia (S/2007/340, published June 7, 2007) and Following Taylor’s Money, op
cit
.
188 Simons, “Liberian Ex-Leader’s War Crimes Trial is Stalled,” op cit.
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Accounta
Amount Fiscal Years by Appropriation and Obligation
ESF 10
FY2003d
K Fund
2
FY2005
ESF 13
FY2006e
ESF 13
FY2007f
ESF 12.4
FY2008
ESF 9
FY2009
ESF 7.5
FY2010
Total through
FY2008 76.9g

ESF
5
Requested FY2011 level
Source: State Department information provided orally or in writing.
Notes:
a. K Fund: Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service; DFA: Development Fund for Africa; ESF:
Economic Support Fund.
b. Funds provided in FY2001.
c. No-year funds de-obligated from prior year funds. Funds provided in FY2001.
d. $5 million provided in FY2003 and $5 million provided in FY2004.
e. P.L. 109-102, which contained appropriations for FY2006 foreign operations, stated that $13 million
“should” be provided to the SCSL.. The State Department reports that this amount was, in fact, provided to
the SCSL in FY2006.
f.
The $13 million figure was composed of $3 million in FY2007 supplemental ESF account funds provided
under P.L. 110-28 (passed as H.R. 2206/Obey) and $10 million in ESF appropriations provided under P.L.
110-5 (passed as H.J.Res. 20/Obey).
g. $69.309 million transferred to the SCSL as of March 9, 2010. FY 2010 contribution to be provided after
annual foreign operations appropriations funding al ocation notification to Congress.
Currently the SCSL is facing a severe funding shortfall that could critically impair its ability to
both complete its judicial activities and wind up its operations on schedule. The court also faces
the prospect of difficulties in financing its long-term residual activities, which are expected to
pertain to witness protection; archival activities, including record keeping associated with future
legal and financial documents of the court; a residual registrar’s capacity required for enforcing
court sentences and maintaining relations with countries hosting imprisoned convicts of the
SCSL; legal decision-making regarding future appeals, conditions of prisoner treatment, or
contempt proceedings; and financial matters pertaining to such activities.
There was occasional friction between the Bush Administration and the SCSL with regard to the
effect that certain of the court’s actions have had on political events and U.S. policy goals in West
Africa. Some State Department officials in private, for instance, questioned the political prudence
or timing of certain actions taken by former SCSL Prosecutor, David Crane, such as his unsealing
of the indictment against Taylor at a critical juncture during Liberian peace talks held in Ghana in
June 2003. Some critics also faulted the Administration for not pushing harder to obtain the
extradition of Taylor from Nigeria after the latter provided him with asylum in August 2003. In
2006, however, the United States began to pursue this goal more urgently, explicitly, and directly,
and such criticisms declined.
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Transitional Justice in Liberia
Potential for War Crimes Tribunal in Liberia
There have been some calls for a special court to try crimes committed during Liberia’s civil
wars.189 Many Liberians who suffered the death of loved ones or personal attacks and other
crimes, and some have expressed a desire to see those who committed such deeds punished.190
Some observers have suggested, however, that President Sirleaf does not, in general, support
prosecuting those who committed war time atrocities during the 1989-2003 civil wars because
such tribunals might reignite old antagonisms and conflict. Such sentiments may be held by many
Liberians, in part due to personal or familial linkages to parties involved in the conflict, and due
to concerns similar to those cited in favor of moving the Taylor trial to the Hague. Some have
argued that the current legislature might not support the creation of a tribunal because some of its
members might be targets of subsequent prosecutions. The creation of a tribunal could face legal
barriers, as well as political ones. Some peace agreements covering Liberia first civil war contain
amnesty provisions for war-time crimes. There is no apparent legal barrier to one that might cover
Liberia’s second civil war, however. The 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement provided for a
“recommendation for general amnesty to all persons and parties engaged or involved in military
activities during the Liberian civil conflict that is the subject of this Agreement” but did not
explicitly provide for one. It did, however, endeavor to “address issues of impunity, as well as an
opportunity for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their
experiences” by providing for the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
While no war crimes tribunal special tribunal has been established, in late February 2006,
President Sirleaf inaugurated the Liberian TRC, which the transitional legislature created in 2005.
She also pledged to support and strengthen the TRC, which has a mandate to investigate crimes
and human rights abuses committed from 1979 until 2003.191 The TRC formally began operations
in early June 2006, but did not begin to collect testimony until October 2006 and had to halt
operations about a month later due to financial shortfalls. In mid-2007, after having undertaken a
fund-raising effort, it launched a multi-month project to collect testimony from the substantial
Liberian community living in the United States, in part supported by Minnesota-based Advocates
for Human Rights and Northwestern University’s Center for Human Rights Law, which had
begun to collect diasporic statements for the TRC in early 2007.192 In October 2007, it re-
launched field hearings in Liberia after receiving assistance from the U.N. Development Program

189 See, for instance, Amnesty International, Liberia: Time for Truth, Justice and Reparation for Liberia’s Victims,
2007.
190 See Catherine Maddux, “Hague Trial Could Mean Justice for More West African War Victims,” VOA News, April
10, 2006 and IRIN, “Liberia: Youths Petition for War Crimes Court,” April 11, 2006; Jeremy I. Levitt and J. Peter
Pham, “Liberia Must Confront its Past If It Wants a Brighter Future,” The Baltimore Sun, December 8, 2005; IRIN,
“Liberia: Post-war justice stirs division,” July 6, 2006; and Sebo Daniels, “Liberia: War Crime Advocate Arrested,”
The Inquirer (Monrovia), February 14, 2007.
191 The TRC website http://www.trcofliberia.org contains documents about the mandate and current activities of the
Commission.
192 The Advocates for Human Rights, “Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Diaspora Project,”
http://liberiatrc.mnadvocates.org; and VOA, "Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to Get Boost From
Northwestern University in Chicago," March 8, 2007.
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and USAID, among other donors. In FY2006, USAID provided $.5 million in support to the
TRC.
In June 2009, the TRC released a draft of its final report, which was formally published in its
final form in December 2009. It examined the root causes and social effects of armed conflict in
Liberia, and presented findings regarding gross violations of human rights, violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law, and “egregious domestic law violations.”193 It
laid out recommendations for public sanctions, including lists of alleged perpetrators of human
rights violators and economic crimes whom the TRC “recommended for prosecution” or further
investigation, and for non-judicial public sanctions, such as a prohibition on holding public
office” or “elected or appointed for a period of thirty (30) years.”194 The latter included a list of 49
persons named “for their role in supporting, financially and otherwise, various warring factions.”
Numerous other recommendations in the report related to diverse issues, “including public
integrity, corruption, human rights, economic empowerment, good governance, national identity
and reparation, amongst others intended to resolve past conflicts as part of a national progression
towards lasting peace and reconciliation.”195
The TRC report was controversial, in part, because President Sirleaf was included on the list of
alleged leaders or key supporters of armed civil war factions whom the TRC recommended be
barred from holding public offices” or “elected or appointed for a period of thirty (30) years.” The
basis for the recommendation was not explained in detail in the report, but appears to have been
rooted in Sirleaf's short-lived support for Charles Taylor at the start of his effort to oust Doe. In
early 2009, Sirleaf, who was imprisoned by former President Taylor, had testified that she had not
been party to any armed group during Liberia's civil wars. She said, however, that she had “to
apologize to this nation” for initially supporting Taylor after being “fooled by” him.196
President Sirleaf appears to have rejected the TRC’s recommendation that she not hold public
office. In addition to not resigning her position, during her annual message to the legislature in
January 2010, she announced that she would seek reelection to a second term in 2011, as many
observers had expected. In the same speech, she raised questions over the legal standing and
import of the TRC’s recommendations. She stated that the TRC’s recommendations on “criminal
tribunal, criminal sanctions and public sanctions and economic crimes and investigations” had
“been the subject of great debate since the TRC Report was made public” and that
To deal with this, I propose amendments to the Independent National Human Rights
Commission (INHRC) Act of 2005 to enable that body to seize itself of those aspects of the
TRC Report, and to work in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice to determine those
recommendations that are implementable or enforceable under the Constitution and laws of
Liberia.197

193 TRC, “Liberia’s TRC Presents Final Report,” June 29, 2009.
194 TRC, Consolidated Final Report (unedited), Volume II, June 29, 2009.
195 TRC press release, December 11, 2009 and other TRC documents.
196 TRC, Consolidated Final Report (unedited), Volume II, June 29, 2009; TRC, "Liberia’s TRC Presents Final
Report," June 29, 2009; The Analyst, "TRC Members Threatened," via AllAfrica, July 9, 2009; IRIN, "TRC Furore
Overshadows Peace Building Proposals," July 9, 2009; Boakai Fofana, "Sirleaf Testifies to Truth Commission,"
AllAfrica.com, February 13, 2009.
197 President Sirleaf, annual message to the legislature, January 25, 2010.
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Cases Against “Chuckie” Taylor
In mid-September 2006, former President Taylor’s Boston-born son, Roy M. Belfast Jr. (AKA
Charles McArthur Emmanuel and Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr.) pled guilty to a federal passport
fraud relating to his official submission of false data regarding his father’s identity. He had been
arrested at Miami International Airport by U.S. customs agents while attempting to enter the
United States from Trinidad on March 30, 2006, one day after his father was apprehended in
Nigeria. Belfast, who reportedly has an extensive U.S. juvenile criminal record, was sentenced on
December 7, 2006 to 11 months in prison for the fraud.198
Hours after being sentenced in the passport fraud case, Belfast pled not guilty to a separate
indictment brought against him by a U.S. federal Grand Jury. It charged Belfast with torture,
conspiracy to torture, and of using a firearm during an act of violent crime while serving as the
head of the Liberian Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU, known informally as the “Demon Forces”) during
his father’s presidency. The ATU was a state security unit staffed primarily by members of
Taylor’s former civil war faction. Belfast is reportedly the first person ever to have been charged
under a statute that allows U.S. courts to hear criminal cases involving acts of torture committed
abroad by any person present in the United States.199
The initial charges against Belfast, in his capacity as an ATU official, related to the alleged 2002
torture of one person, but other self-identified victims publicly accused him of having committed
similar crimes against them after he was indicted. In November 2007, he was charged under a
superseding indictment with torturing at least seven Liberians “under color of law” and in
furtherance of a conspiracy to maintain and protect his father’s political power. The charges
included violent acts, such as burning, beating, stabbing, and the application of electrical shocks,
in some cases in association with murder, committed between April 1999 and July 2003. Belfast’s
initial indictment followed efforts by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) to
persuade the Justice Department to investigate him “for torture and war crimes.” HRW submitted
a dossier to the Justice Department in support of its allegations against Belfast.200 In early July
2007, a U.S. Southern District of Florida judge denied a defense motion to dismiss the case. After
several continuances, Belfast’s trial was held over a period of six weeks in September and
October, 2008. He was convicted on October 30, 2008 on five counts of torture, one of

198 Jay Weaver, "Son of Liberia's Taylor sentenced to 11 months," Miami Herald, December 7, 2006; Curt Anderson,
“Son of Ex-Liberian President Admits Passport Fraud,” Associated Press, September 15, 2006; verbal communication
from U.S. Attorney’s office, November 28, 2006; Dept. of Justice press release, Sept 15, 2006; Curt Anderson,
“Activists Want Charles Taylor’s Son Tried for War Crimes, Torture,” Associated Press, August 6, 2006; and HRW,
“U.S.: Investigate Taylor’s Son for Torture, War Crimes,” May 26, 2006, inter alia.
199 The main charges were brought under 18 USC § 2340, which was first passed under P.L. 103-236, later amended, to
implement U.S. commitments as a signatory of the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment. For background, see Human Rights Watch, "Charles 'Chuckie' Taylor, Jr.’s Trial
in the United States for Torture Committed in Liberia/Questions and Answers," September 23, 2008 and CRS Report
RL32438, U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT): Overview and Application to Interrogation Techniques, by Michael
John Garcia.
200 Department of Justice (DOJ), “Roy Belfast Jr. AKA Chuckie Taylor Indicted on Torture Charges/First-Ever Torture
Charges,” December 6, 2006; and R. Jeffrey Smith, “Anti-Torture Statute Used to Indict Son of Liberia’s Ex-Leader,”
Washington Post, December 7, 2006; and IRIN, “Liberia: Speaking Out About Taylor’s Son,” December 13, 2006; Jay
Weaver, “Liberian ex-official faces more torture charges,” Miami Herald, September 7, 2007; and DOJ, “Chuckie
Taylor Charged with Additional Acts of Torture in Superseding Indictment,” September 6, 2007; and Elise Keppler,
Shirley Jean, and J. Paxton Marshall, "First Prosecution in the United States for Torture Committed Abroad: The Trial
of Charles ‘Chuckie’ Taylor, Jr.," Human Rights Brief, 15:3, Spring/Summer 2008, inter alia.
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conspiracy to torture, one of using a firearm while committing a violent crime, and one of
conspiracy to use a firearm while carrying out such an act. In January 2009, he was sentenced to
97 years in prison for these crimes.201
In May 2009, five plaintiffs who sued Belfast in civil court for damages that they claimed to have
sustained as a result of the torture that he was convicted of committing won a default judgment in
the case. In February 2010 they were collectively awarded $22.4 million in compensation for
physical pain and mental suffering, and as a punitive measure against Belfast.202
Like former President Taylor and many of his associates, Belfast is also subject to a U.S. asset
freeze under Executive Order 13348 (July 22, 2004) and to a United Nations travel ban. These
measures were originally imposed to halt support by the Taylor government for the Revolutionary
Front of Sierra Leone (see “Taylor Trial,” above). Some press reports suggest Belfast may have
abetted such activities.203
U.S. Relations
The United States and Liberia have a long-standing historical relationship.204 The United States
has long provided Liberia with substantial assistance, and U.S.-Liberian bilateral ties have often
been close, with some exceptions, including the final years of late president Samuel K. Doe’s
regime and during the tenure of former President Charles Taylor. Official U.S. interactions with
the NTGL were also guarded, due to real or perceived problems of corruption within the NTGL
and due to the participation in it of members of the armed parties to the conflict, some suspected
of human rights abuses.
Current U.S.-Liberian relations are warm, as they were during the Administration of former
President George W. Bush.The Sirleaf Administration’s close working relationship with the Bush
Administration began with her inauguration in 2006, which former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush
and former Secretary of State Rice attended, among other prominent U.S. guests.205 Former

201 Commenting on the sentence, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division stated
that "Our message to human rights violators, no matter where they are, remains the same: We will use the full reach of
U.S. law [...] to hold you fully accountable for your crimes." FBI Executive Assistant Director Arthur M. Cummings,
II, similarly, stated that the sentence "sends a resounding message that torture will not be tolerated here at home or by
U.S. nationals abroad" and that such acts would be investigated "wherever they occur." See Department of Justice,
"Roy Belfast Jr., AKA Chuckie Taylor, Convicted On Torture Charges," October 30, 2008; and Department of Justice,
"Roy Belfast Jr., A/K/A Chuckie Taylor, Sentenced On Torture Charges," January 9, 2009.
202 World Organization for Human Rights USA, “Final Judgment Issued in Civil Case Against Charles Taylor, Jr. –
Plaintiffs Awarded $22.4 Million,” February 5, 2010; Curt Anderson, "Liberians Look For Justice In Miami Court
Torture Victims Seek Damages From Ex-President's Son, Associated Press/South Florida Sun-Sentinel," December 15,
2009; and Associated Press via Boston Globe, "$22m Awarded in Liberia Torture Case," February 6, 2010.
203 See James Rupert, “Diamond Hunters Fuel Africa’s Brutal Wars; In Sierra Leone, Mining Firms Trade Weapons
and Money for Access to Gems,” Washington Post, October 16, 1999; U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC), Liberia Sanctions, http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/liberia/liberia.shtml; and U.N.,
Security Council Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1521 (2003) Concerning Liberia, http://www.un.org/
Docs/sc/committees/Liberia3Template.htm.
204 See section entitled “Background: Historical U.S.-Liberian Ties” in CRS Report RL30933, Liberia: 1989-1997 Civil
War, Post-War Developments, and U.S. Relations
, by Nicolas Cook, among other sources.
205 Their presence, Sirleaf stated in her inaugural speech, was welcome because it manifested “a renewal and
strengthening of the long-standing historic special relations which bind our two countries and peoples.” She also stated
that it “reflects a new partnership with the United States based on shared values” and that Liberians are “confident that
(continued...)
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President Bush ― whose Administration had played key roles in ending Liberia’s second civil
war and in stabilizing and helping the country to rebuild in the immediate post-war years, backed
by substantial, Congressionally-supported U.S. post-war rebuilding assistance206 ― admired
Sirleaf’s leadership and achievements, and awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom to
her in November 2007.207 In February 2008, then-President and Mrs. Bush traveled to Liberia,
among other African countries.
Diverse U.S. officials have repeatedly voiced support for President Sirleaf’s government since her
election, most recently in April 2010, when Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William
J. Burns visited Liberia. During his visit, he stated that it was “remarkable to see how far the
country has come since it held its first free and open post-conflict election in 2005,” but added
that it is “equally evident is that much work remains for Liberia to fully recover after years of
horrific civil war.” Burns stated that the core purpose of his trip was to send the message that “the
United States will stand by Liberia as it continues to make progress towards reaching its full
potential as a democratic state.” His comments echoed those of Secretary of State Clinton, who,
after meeting with President Sirleaf in April 2009, stated that Sirleaf’s leadership had “been
exemplary and extraordinary” and had “made an enormous contribution” to Liberia’s
advancement, and that “President Obama and I are very committed to the future of Liberia and to
President Sirleaf’s continuing leadership.”208 During his trip, Burns also announced a U.S.
commitment to “provide $19.75 million in funding to further advance Liberia National Police
force training,” which, he said fulfilled “a promise made by Secretary Clinton during her visit last
August.”209
Clinton’s 2009 trip was the second most recent visit by a high-level U.S. official to Liberia, and
the most senior leadership visit to date to the country during the Obama Administration. During
the visit, in a speech to the Liberian parliament, she related the importance of expanding
democratic participation and institution-building to Liberia’s prospective success in meeting its
substantial challenges, among the most pressing of which she cited as corruption and the need for
land tenure reform, and lack of access to jobs, electricity, housing, education, and law
enforcement. She specifically called on the legislature to develop its budgetary oversight role,
counter corruption and promote transparency, and pass a code of conduct in order to ensure
“ethical standards that guide the pursuit of the common good.”210 She also called on the
legislature to help ensure “credible... free and fair elections in 2011,” in part by passing a
threshold bill.211 In remarks delivered at the Liberian National Police (LNP) Academy, she

(...continued)
we can continue to count on the assistance of the United States [...] in the urgent task of rebuilding of our nation.”
206 See CRS Report RL32243, Liberia: Transition to Peace, by Nicolas Cook.
207 She was cited for her efforts as the first elected female African president to “heal a country torn apart by conflict”
and “to expand freedom and improve the lives of people in Liberia and across Africa.” White House, “Citations
Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” November 5, 2007.
208 State Department, "Remarks With Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf After Their Meeting," April 21, 2009.
209 William J. Burns, “Under Secretary Burns Travels to Liberia,” April 26, 2010 [State Department blog]. According
to a May 14, 2010 State Department response to a CRS inquiry; the $19.75 million is made up of $9 million in FY
2010 INCLE account funds and $6.25 million in combined FY 2005 and FY 2009 ESF funding implemented by INL;
and $4.5 million in FY 2010 ESF funding for work implemented by USAID.
210 State Department, "Address to Joint Session of Liberian National Legislature," August 13, 2009.
211 A proposed threshold bill would guide a constitutionally-required legislative boundary delimitation and
reapportionment process following Liberia's 2008 population census. It has been controversial due to its potential
impact on the national budget and political representation patterns, in part given that nearly ½ of the population is
(continued...)
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discussed the importance, challenges, and achievements of U.S., multilateral, and Liberian
partnership in rebuilding Liberia's police force during the on-going post-conflict period. In
particular, she emphasized the importance to the United States of its investment in assisting in the
development of the LNP Emergency Response Unit, and announced a prospective increase in
U.S. financial support for LNP training (discussed previously in this report).212
President Sirleaf has made several official visits to the United States, including one in February
2007, when she attended a World Bank-organized Liberia Partners’ Forum donor meeting in
Washington D.C.213 She made another such visit in March 2006, during which she addressed a
joint session of Congress on March 15 and met with President Bush on March 21. 214 She
reportedly closely consulted with U.S. officials regarding her priorities for Liberia and the status
of Charles Taylor. During a pre-inaugural December 2005 trip to the United States, Sirleaf also
met with key U.S. and international financial institution officials.215
President Sirleaf is expected to undertake a further official visit the United States in late May
2010. While her itinerary has not been released, the trip is expected to focus on deepening
Sirleaf's high-level contacts with Obama Administration officials. Sirleaf is expected to update
U.S. policy makers, including interested Members, on Liberia's progress since her election, as
well as remaining challenges in such areas as security sector reform, anti-corruption efforts,
unemployment, economic growth, and legal system capacity building. Her visit may occasion the
announcement of a possible Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Program and a
possible U.S. Global Food Security Initiative country program (see “Development Assistance and
Related Bilateral Cooperation”).
111th Congress
Liberia-related activities in the 111th Congress have focused on Liberian U.S. immigration issues;
support for Liberian female legislators; transparency in Liberia's natural resource sector; and the
appropriation of U.S. assistance for Liberia and the SCSL (on the latter, see Table 2, above).

(...continued)
centered in and around Monrovia, as well as issues of constitutionality, and President Sirleaf has vetoed two versions of
legislature-passed bills. At the heart of the matter is a constitutional conundrum: The Constitution requires that House
of Representatives electoral constituencies be delimitated after any national census and prior to the next election. It also
requires nearly equally-sized constituencies made up of 20,000 persons or a number prescribed by the legislature, but
also requires that there be no more than 100 constituencies in total. Based on the 2008 census of 3.48 million,
constituencies of 20,000 persons would produce a constitutionally-barred total of 174 seats, while ones made up of
35,000 persons would yield 99 seats, the maximum constitutionally-permitted number of seats. If the current 64-seat
system was to be maintained, the size of constituencies would rise to 54,000. The Analyst, "Liberia: Threshold
Quagmire -Constitutional Hypocrisy, Power Play Or Democratic Doom?," April 19, 2010; The Informer (Monrovia),
"Liberia: Referendum Before 2011 Poll Impossible - as Lawmakers Sit Over Election Bills," December 9, 2009; and
internal IFES working report by consultant Dr. Lisa Handley, March 2010.
212 State Department, "Remarks at Liberian National Police Academy," August 13, 2009.
213 Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Statement at Liberia Partners’ Forum, Washington, DC, February 13, 2007.
214 Congressional Record (House), pp. H996-H998, March 15, 2006.
215 Reed Kramer, “Showered With Enthusiasm, Liberia’s President-Elect Receives High-Level Reception in
Washington,” AllAfrica.com, December 11, 2005, inter alia. During a March 20 appearance with Sirleaf, World Bank
President Paul Wolfowitz reportedly announced that the World Bank would provide $25 million for a road-building
fund for Liberia and stated that he was seeking debt forgiveness for Liberia by the World Bank, the IMF, and the
African Development Bank. See VOA, “World Bank Commits $25 Million to Liberian Infrastructure Fund,” March 21,
2006.
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Other Liberia-related issues matters likely to continue to draw the attention of some Members in
the 110th Congress include Liberia’s relative progress with respect to security sector reform, anti-
corruption and transparency efforts, and democratization; its economic growth prospects; and its
politico-military stability in relation to the relative need for continued UNMIL operations and
funding.
Appropriations
In addition to appropriating funds for foreign operations that are normally allocated, in part, for
programs of assistance to Liberia, the 111th Congress laid out several Liberia-related provisions
in its FY 2009 and FY 2010 appropriations.216 The Explanatory Statement accompanying P.L.
111-8, Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (passed as H.R. 1105, Obey):217
• specified that Marquette University be made eligible for consideration as one of
multiple potential recipients of funding for “exchanges between United States
and Liberian officials” under a one-time $6 million international exchange grant
program;
• allocated $90.3 million in Economic Support Fund (ESF) assistance for Liberia;
• directed, with respect to ESF funding for Liberia, that “USAID should support
efforts to increase access to electricity, and should expand programs that promote
and strengthen the rule of law, consistent with country plans” and “consider the
work of North Carolina State University.”
• Stated that “USAID and the Department of State should support international
efforts to trace and freeze assets allegedly confiscated and controlled by former
Liberian President Charles Taylor, and by his family members and associates.
Funding is encouraged to support programs that work with the Liberian Solicitor
General to identify and recover these funds”; and
• Stated that the Trade and Development Agency “should consult with the
Committees on Appropriations on the next phase of work related to the Mount
Coffee Hydro Power Station and the construction of a proposed fiber optic ring
around Monrovia.”
P.L. 111-117, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (passed as H.R. 3288, Olver) allocated for
Liberia $153 million in ESF assistance and $10 million in regional Peacekeeping Operations
funding.218 It also directed that funds appropriated in the law

216 In addition to allocating funds to specific countries and programs, the Congress annually allocates appropriations
foreign operations to broad functional accounts. The President, for the most part via the State Department, then notifies
the Congress of the manner in which he intends to allocate these funds by category of assistance or program and by
beneficiary foreign country or international organization. Formally, this process ― defined under Section 653(a) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended ― only requires notification. In practice, the Administration seeks
congressional sign-off on these allocations, which in some cases is only provided following protracted executive-
legislative branch negotiations. Allocations of appriopriations may also be subject to other applicable reporting or
notification requirements.
217 Under Section 5 of P.L. 111-8, the House Explanatory Statement has the same effect as would a Joint Explanatory
Statement.
218 See H.Rept. 111-366, the conference report which accompanied P.L. 111-117, which contains a Joint Explanatory
Statement; it has the force of law, in accordance with conditions set out in section 7019 of P.L. 111-117.
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that are available for assistance for Liberia... shall be made available to promote and support
transparency and accountability in relation to the extraction of timber, oil and gas, cacao and
other natural resources, including by strengthening implementation and monitoring of the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Kimberley Process Certification
Scheme.
Immigration
As in previous Congresses, some Members have argued in favor of measures to allow certain
Liberian refugees to reside in the United States, either on a temporary or permanent basis. Most
recently, some Members have urged that Deferred Enforced Departure (DED; see text box), a
special immigration status under which certain eligible Liberian aliens may legally reside and
work in the United States, be extended by President Obama for such persons upon its current
scheduled expiration on March 31, 2010. Two bills would also provide permanent residence
status to Liberian refugees in the United States.

Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) is established by discretionary presidential fiat based on the president's
constitutional power to conduct foreign relations. It is not a specific immigration status under the law; rather, it has
the effect of suspending enforcement of certain immigration laws for eligible persons, primarily by deferring or
preventing the deportation of persons subject to a loss of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS is a temporary
"safe harbor" immigration status granted to qualified persons from countries affected by various types of crises, such
as ongoing armed conflict, natural disaster, or other severe challenges. Aliens who enjoy TPS and DED status may
also apply for authorization to work in the United States, which is sometimes granted automatically. Eligible Liberians
were first given TPS after the start of Liberia's first civil war in 1991. This status was terminated and they were
granted DED in 1999. Their TPS status was later renewed several times. Upon its expiration in late September 2007,
former President George W. Bush, citing the continued fragility of “the political and economic situation in Liberia,”
granted affected Liberians DED status for 18 months, effective October 1, 2007. Upon the expiration of President
Bush’s directive, President Barack Obama, citing “compelling foreign policy reasons" and pursuant to his
"constitutional authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United States,” extended DED status for such
persons through March 31, 2010.219

On March 10, 2010, a Liberian National Immigration Conference was held on the Capitol to
“highlight the need for an immediate extension of DED for the approximately 3,600 eligible
Liberians living in the United States and ... efforts supporting the extension.” In a Dear Colleague
letter announcing the forum, Representative Donald M. Payne invited Members to participate in
the event. He also stated that he would be “sending a letter to President Obama urging an
extension of DED.”220 In late February 2010, over 20 Members also wrote a similar letter to
President Obama.221

219 See U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), "Deferred Enforced Departure," current as of March 10,
2010; Administration of Barack H. Obama, 2009, "Memorandum on Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians,"
March 20, 2009; Department of Homeland Security, “Fact Sheet: Liberians Provided Deferred Enforced Departure
(DED),” September 12, 2007; and CRS Report RS20844, Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy
and Issues
, by Ruth Ellen Wasem and Karma Ester, inter alia.
220 Honorable Donald M. Payne, “Dear Colleague: Conference on Liberian Immigration,” March 8, 2010
221 The Honorable Patrick J. Kennedy, “Dear Colleague: Support Liberia's Refugees,” February 23, 2010
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Two bills, S. 656 (Reed), the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 2009, introduced
March 19, 2009, and H.R. 2258 (Kennedy), the Liberian Refugee Immigration Protection Act of
2009, introduced May 5, 2009, seek to adjust the immigration status of various categories of
Liberians in the United States. S. 656 would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to adjust
the U.S. residency status of qualifying Liberian aliens to that of lawful permanent residents. The
bill would require qualifying applicants to be non-criminals, as defined in the bill; to be present in
the United States since January 1, 2009; and to apply for adjustment before April 1, 2011, among
other criteria. It would also authorize the Secretary to authorize applicants to work in the United
States while their cases are pending and would not trigger a reduction in the number of immigrant
visas available to Liberians not eligible for adjustment under the Act. H.R. 2258 provides for a
broadly similar immigration status adjustment process for qualifying Liberians as those that set
out in S. 656, but defines eligibility differently, and similarly provides that such adjustments will
not offset the number of immigrant visas otherwise available to Liberians. In contrast to S. 656,
eligibility for adjustment under H.R. 2258 would be limited to Liberian U.S. alien residents who
were granted TPS on or after March 27, 1991; or were eligible to apply for TPS on or after March
27, 1991.
Other Bills
Liberia-related bills or measures introduced in the 111th Congress that have not been passed into
law include the following:
• As passed by the House, H.R. 2410 (Berman), the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, introduced May 14, 2009, would
establish a new State Department exchange program, to be undertaken in
cooperation with the Liberian Women's Legislative Caucus. It would fund
scholarship-based exchanges for female legislators and congressional staff from
Liberia in order to increase active female participation in Liberian politics and
democratic processes. H.R. 2475 (Ros-Lehtinen), the Foreign Relations
Authorization and Reform Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, introduced May 19,
2009 contains an almost identical measure. According to H.Rept. 111-136, which
accompanies H.R. 2410, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that this
program would cost under $.5 million per year, and total $1 million between
2010 and 2014.
• S. 1434 (Leahy), Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act, 2010, introduced July 9, 2009 would mandate that assistance
funds appropriated under the Act for Liberia, among three other West African
countries, “be made available to promote and support transparency and
accountability in relation to the extraction of timber, oil and gas, cocoa and other
natural resources, including by strengthening implementation and monitoring of
the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme,” and prohibits such funds from being used to
support “industrial-scale logging.”
• The House report (H.Rept. 111-105) accompanying P.L. 111-32 (passed as H.R.
2346, Obey) called for Liberia, among nine other countries, to “receive priority
consideration” with respect to receiving a potential portion of a $300 million FY
2009 ESF appropriation to assist developing countries affected by the global
financial crisis. Such language, however, did not appear in P.L. 111-32 or the
conference report accompanying it.
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110th Congress
Liberia-related activities by the 110th Congress built on those pursued by the 109th Congress.
Congress continued to monitor the activities of the SCSL and, in particular, the Taylor war crimes
case, and provide funding for the SCSL. Congress’s focus on Liberia also centered on aiding
Liberia’s efforts to consolidate its post-war governance and economic rebuilding processes. Issues
that drew particular congressional attention included:
• Efforts to rehabilitate schools, clinics, roads and other public facilities;
• Progress under the GEMAP transparency initiative;
• Progress of U.S.-backed security sector restructuring, and possible expansions of
related assistance, e.g., for the creation of a quick reaction gendarme unit;
increased mobility capacity building for the police and military; and maritime
waters and land border monitoring and interdiction capacity building.
• Consideration of potential continued support for UNMIL and the pace of its
projected draw-down; and
• U.S. decision-making on debt relief for Liberia and the status of future Brooke
Amendment restrictions on Liberia.222
The 110th Congress provided continuing appropriations for the purpose of assisting Liberia’s post-
war rebuilding process when it passed P.L. 110-5 (H.J.Res. 20/Revised Continuing
Appropriations Resolution, 2007), which provided approximately $120.81 funding for FY2007
foreign operations.223 The Congress also provided $48.95 million in supplementary FY2007
funding for Liberia under P.L. 110-28 (H.R. 2206/U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina
Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007). In FY 2008, Congress allocated
$125.35 million in FY2008 Liberia funding for Liberia, as laid out in its joint explanatory
statement for P.L. 110-161 (H.R. 2764/Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008). The final amount
allocated to Liberia, which included funds allocated for Liberia from central appropriation
accounts under the law, totaled $163 million in FY 2008.
The Liberia Stabilization, Economic Empowerment, Development and Security Act of 2008
(Liberia SEEDS Act of 2008, or H.R. 6655, Jackson, 110th Congress) would have authorized
assistance to Liberia for the following: (1) roads and bridges; (2) rehabilitation of Monrovia
Freeport; (3) water and sanitation; (4) the electricity sector; (5) vocational education programs for
war-affected youth and ex-combatants; (6) establishment of a government employee training
institute and enhancement of government accountability and effectiveness; (7) narcotics control
and law enforcement; (8) educational exchanges; and (9) the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Liberia.
Other Liberia-related bills introduced in the 110th Congress include the following.

222 These restrict certain kinds of assistance to Liberia owing to its arrears on national debt repayments to the United
States. See USAID, Audit of USAID/Liberia’s Compliance with the Brooke Amendment and Sections 620(q) and 617 of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
, (Audit Report No. 7-669-02-001-P), March 7, 2002, provides background on the
Brooke Amendment.
223 Funding breakouts are specified in Table 3, below. Specific allocations for some accounts were not finalized until
August 2007, and funding for some accounts, such as food aid, is allocated from centralized accounts in response to
changing needs, and is subject to change.
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• H.R. 1941 (Kennedy), Liberian Refugee Immigration Protection Act of 2007;
• H.R. 1591 (Obey), U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and
Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007;
• H.R. 3123 (Kennedy), To extend the designation of Liberia under section 244 of
the Immigration and Nationality Act so that Liberians can continue to be eligible
for temporary protected status under that section;
• S. 396 (Dorgan), A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat
controlled foreign corporations in tax havens as domestic corporations;
• S. 554 (Dorgan), Act For Our Kids;
• S. 656 (Reed), Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 2007;
• S. 965 (Byrd), U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq
Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007;
• S. 1508 (Dorgan), Clean Energy Production Tax Incentives Act of 2007; and
• S. 1903 (Reed), A bill to extend the temporary protected status designation of
Liberia under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act so that
Liberians can continue to be eligible for such status through September 30,
2008.224
Immigration Issues
H.R. 1941 and S. 656 would have provided permanent residency status to certain Liberian
nationals who were granted or were eligible for TPS, while H.R. 3123 and S. 1903 would have
extended the status of persons eligible for TPS. On July 30, the House passed H.R. 3123, which
was received in the Senate on August 3. On September 12, 2007, President Bush, citing the
continued fragility of “the political and economic situation in Liberia,” directed that eligible
Liberians resident in the United States and subject to a loss of TPS as of October 1, 2007 be
granted DED for 18 months, until March 31, 2009. He also directed that such grantees be allowed
to work in the United States. His action fulfilled basic underlying aims of the TPS-related bills
discussed above.
In December 2008, a number of House Members co-signed a letter to former President Bush and
similar one to the Transition Team of then-President-Elect Barack Obama calling for an extension
of DED for eligible Liberians resident in the United States and subject to a loss of TPS on March
31, 2009.225

224 The Liberia-related provisions of S. 396, S. 554, and S. 1508 would have designated Liberia as a "tax-haven
country," allowing the Internal Revenue Code to treat certain foreign corporations created or organized under Liberian
law as U.S. domestic corporations for tax purposes.
225 President Bush had previously extended DED, but did not act in response to the Congressional request. The Obama
Administration has not, to date, stated if and how it may intend to act regarding this matter. Representative Patrick J.
Kennedy and Representative Keith Ellison, "Support Liberia's Recovery: Request Deferred Enforced Departure for
Liberians in the United States,” [“Dear Colleague” letter soliciting co-signatories for a letter to former President Bush],
December 16, 2008; and oral information from office of Representative Kennedy, February 6, 2009.
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U.S. Assistance Summary
U.S. assistance to Liberia, which is broken out by accounts and amounts for FY2004-FY2010,
appear in Table 3. The Obama Administration’s assistance agenda for Liberia, which continues
many of the same kinds of activities that had been pursued by the Bush Administration, centers
on “fostering peace and security, strengthening democratic institutions, and rebuilding the
economy in a country recovering from 14 years of civil war.”226
Development Assistance and Related Bilateral Cooperation227
In addition to security sector assistance, which is discussed elsewhere in this report, current
USAID and State Department assistance is focused on increasing good governance and
democratization; advancing economic growth through assistance to capacity-building and
investments related to agriculture, sustainable natural resource management, energy, and
infrastructure; and investments in the education and health sectors.
Apart from elections support and legislature strengthening, which are discussed elsewhere in this
report,228 focal governance-strengthening activities center on rule of law judicial system
strengthening and in creasing access to justice through support for magistrate and legal assistance
training, notably through a long-term American Bar Association program called the Judicial
Training Institute (JTI), and alternate dispute resolution, notably with regard to land disputes.
Efforts to bolster government transparency and accountability are another key component of such
programs. Such assistance is provided through support for the Anti-Corruption Commission and
USAID follow-on support for GEMAP (discussed elsewhere in this report), under a USAID
program called the Financial Management and Capacity Building Program (FIMCAB) and other
civil services training programs.229 There are also USAID-supported civil society and media
capacity building efforts to increase human rights education.230
Economic growth and related programs center on agriculture capacity-building and the small
business sector (e.g., tree crop rehabilitation, livestock re-stocking, and small business training
and credit programs, notably in rural and farm areas); and food-for-work initiatives targeting rural
areas and food aid for vulnerable groups. Another key program provides capacity-building
assistance to the Ministry of Agriculture. Programs in this area also support community-based
land and forest management; transparent regulation and governance of commercial forest
management; and support for biodiversity conservation goals. According to the FY 2011 CBJ,

226 State Department, "Liberia," Congressional Budget Justification - Foreign Operations, Annex: Regional
Perspectives,
FY 2011 [FY 2011 CBJ].
227 In addition to the sources noted below, this section draws from USAID/Liberia, Overview of USAID Programs in
Liberia, March 2010; FY 2011 CBJ; and multiple USAID/Liberia program descriptions found online at
http://liberia.usaid.gov/.
228 See discussion of IFES’s work on elections administration and NDI's legislature strengthening activities in previous
sections of this report.
229 State Department/U.S. Embassy-Monrovia, "LIPA/USAID Training Program Graduation," March 3, 2010.
230 These goals are being pursued, in part, through a five-year, $11 million USAID civil society and media support
program run by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and a five-year, $6 million USAID human
rights capacity-building and legal training program run by Freedom House and the American Bar Association. USAID
response to CRS inquiry, April 28, 2010.
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As part of the new Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, the United States will help
Liberia design and implement a country-led comprehensive food security strategy to help the
country increase long-term food security and provide support to entire value chains, in order
to bring produce to markets and enable Liberia’s farmers to feed all the country’s citizens.231
USAID energy and infrastructure assistance is another key component. Activities in this area
focus on rebuilding roads and bridges to enable farm to market transport; rehabilitation of
government buildings, e.g., schools, clinics, and training institutions; and increasing access to
electricity. The latter centers on increasing access to electricity through increased power
distribution and generation, notably through the use of clean and renewable energy technologies,
e.g., solar, water-based and biomass power generation, and technical energy efficiency use gains.
Support is also provided to enhance energy-related government policy-making capabilities and
public utility effectiveness. Micro-power generation, particularly in rural areas and in support of
other USAID activities, is also a key focus of these efforts.
Health and education programs form the final two main pillars of U.S. development assistance in
Liberia. Health assistance seeks to rebuild and improve basic health services through support for
staffing, equipment and supplies, and training, and facilities upgrades, notably in rural areas;
ensure child welfare, notably for orphans and other vulnerable or special needs children; and
increase access to clean water and sanitation. There are special programs for family planning and
reproductive health; nutrition; and for prevention and intervention programs aimed at combating
malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. USAID also supports efforts to bolster the program
planning and management capabilities of the Ministry of Health. Education programs center on
teacher training, with a special program aimed at improving reading instruction and testing;
increasing professional public service worker access to higher education; providing financial
support and mentorship to poor children and programs to facilitate the access of older youth to
access formal education and life skills training; and a book distribution program. USAID also
supports Ministry of Education policy-making, program management, and financial capacity-
building, and broader community outreach education programs pertaining to health, nutrition,
hygiene, and sanitation.
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Liberia has been eligible for Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Program
assistance since late 2008. As of early April 2010, MCC and USAID were working with Liberia's
Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs to develop a country Threshold Program, for which
an agreement may be signed by mid-2010. The program is currently conceived of as a three-year
program (2010-2013) that would focus on girl's primary education; land rights and access; and
trade policy.232
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is expanding its presence in Liberia. In August 2008, the Peace Corps—which
had deployed over 3,832 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) to Liberia from 1962 to 1990, when

231 For background, see CRS Report R40945, The U.S. Global Food Security Initiative: Issues for Congress, by Charles
E. Hanrahan and Melissa D. Ho.
232 MCC, “Liberia Program Status,” Threshold Quarterly Status Report, October 2009; and USAID, “Millennium
Challenge Corporation Threshold Country Program,” April 9, 2010
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war-related security conditions led to a suspension of the program—officially reopened its
program in Liberia. In October 2008 the first group 12 volunteers, of an eventual total of 13,
deployed to Liberia under the new program, which was initiated under the Peace Corps Response
(PCR) program (formerly called Crisis Response), a special short-term humanitarian service
deployment program. Under the program, veteran PCVs called Peace Corps Response Volunteers
(PCRVs) deploy to countries that have special needs, typically ones recovering from armed or
political conflict or natural disasters, but which may eventually host a regular Peace Corps
country program. In Liberia, PCRVs have worked on health and education system reconstruction,
mentoring teacher trainers, training health professionals, and supporting Parent Teacher
Associations and resource libraries for teachers, among other education capacity-building
projects. The program helped lay the groundwork for a transition to a full Peace Corps country
program that is expected to receive its first group of PCVs in July 2010. The new PCVs, whose
services will overlap with the continuing PCRV program, will support secondary education,
working as English, science, and math teachers. Funding for Peace Corps activities in Liberia is
estimated at $1.44 million in FY 2010 and projected to rise to $2.45 million for FY 2011, when
the program is expected to support 41 volunteers.233
Trade Benefits
The United States is also supporting President Sirleaf’s market-based economic growth agenda in
a variety of other ways. In late February 2006, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that
President Bush had reinstated duty-free Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade benefits
for Liberia. USTR said that the action was intended to provide “strong support to recently elected
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s efforts to increase employment, diversify exports, and stabilize
society.” It was made, according to the USTR, because Sirleaf had repealed a decree prohibiting
strikes and invited the International Labor Organization (ILO) to help Liberia to conform with
ILO obligations, thus making “improving worker rights a high priority.”234 On January 1, 2007,
Liberia became eligible to receive U.S. trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA).235 In February 2007, Liberia and the United States signed a bilateral Trade and
Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Its aim is to bolster bilateral economic cooperation,
primarily by creating a U.S.-Liberia Council on Trade and Investment charged with monitoring
bilateral trade and investment developments and opportunities, related policy problems, and
identifying and working to remove impediments to bilateral investment.236
Economic Cooperation and Investment
In February 2007, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) announced that it would
provide a $400,000 grant to the Liberian Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy to fund a technical
and economic feasibility study of the rebuilding and expansion of the Mount Coffee Hydropower

233 Peace Corps, "Liberia," December 17, 2009; Peace Corps press releases "Peace Corps Reopens Program in Liberia,"
August 20, 2008; "Peace Corps Response Volunteers Will Serve in Education and Health," October 22, 2008;
communication to CRS from Peace Corps, May 12, 2010; and Peace Corps, Congressional Budget Justification, FY
2011.
234 USTR, “U.S. Reinstates Trade Preference Benefits for Liberia,” February 22, 2006.
235 See CRS Report RL31772, U.S. Trade and Investment Relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa: The African Growth
and Opportunity Act
, by Vivian C. Jones.
236 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Liberia,
February 15, 2007, http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/TIFA/Section_Index.html.
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Station. The station, once a key national source of electricity, was destroyed during the first civil
war. USTDA had first announced plans to support such a study in mid-May 2006.237 This
announcement had been preceded by a February 2006 announcement by the U.S. Export-Import
Bank (Ex-Im) stating that it had renewed its Short-Term Insurance Pilot Program for Africa
(STIPP) for three years beginning March 31, 2006, and that Liberia had been added to the
program.238 Similarly, in March 2006, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had
announced that “following the election of President Ellen John Sirleaf and the conclusion of its
long civil war,” it had “reopened its programs in Liberia for the first time since 1990” as part of
an effort of “[r]eaffirming U.S. government support for Liberia.”239
OPIC is now involved in a public-private commercial and investment business development
lending project, the Liberia Enterprise Development Fund (LEDF), together with the RLJ
Companies of Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson, CHF International, and
the U.S. African Development Foundation (ADF). The purpose of LEDF is to create a projected
$30 million loan portfolio aimed at supporting small businesses in Liberia. OPIC has committed
to provide $20 million in debt financing to LEDF, and Mr. Johnson and the ADF have committed,
respectively, to provide $3 million and $1 million annually over three years. CHF International
will administer the program in Liberia.240 OPIC also co-sponsored a Liberia Private Sector
Investment Forum in February 2007.
Air and Communications Links
Another effort aimed at fostering bilateral ties, including commercial ones, was the February
2007 signing of an Open Skies aviation agreement between the United States and Liberia.241 In
October 2008, Delta Airlines announced plans to initiate U.S.-Liberia flights, an outcome that
would fulfill some of the goals of the Open Skies agreement.242 Flights were originally slated to
begin in mid-2009, but Delta’s plans faced delays, and flights are now slated to begin in mid-
2010.243 Delta’s initial plans were deferred in June 2009, when the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) announced that it would not authorize the operation of the planned route, pending
further DHS evaluation of Delta’s request to initiate the flights. The decision followed an
assessment of Roberts International Airport (ROB), outside Monrovia, by the Transportation

237 USTDA, “USTDA Supports Development of the Power Sector in Liberia During President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s
Visit,” February 15, 2007; and USTDA, Pipeline [Bi-Weekly E-Mail Update], May 12, 2006.
238 See Export-Import Bank, “EX-IM Bank Renews, Expands Africa Short-Term Insurance Initiative,” February 10,
2006. The STIPP helps businesses in eligible countries buy U.S.-made goods and services by insuring short-term
export credit transactions involving various payment terms in countries where Ex-Im Bank is otherwise not open.
239 OPIC, “OPIC Reopens Programs In Liberia,” March 21, 2006. OPIC provides political risk insurance and financing
aimed at helping U.S. businesses invest in emerging markets and developing nations.
240 See CHF International, “Liberia Economic Development Fund Launched by CHF, RLJ, OPIC & ADF,” February
14, 2007, http://www.chfhq.org/content/general/detail/4614.
241 The purpose of the agreement is to “significantly modernize U.S.-Liberia aviation relations by allowing airlines
from the two countries to make commercial decisions with minimal government intervention” and “provide for open
routes, capacity, frequencies, designations, and pricing, as well as cooperative marketing arrangements, including code-
sharing.” See State Department, “U.S. Signs Open Skies Aviation Agreement with Liberia” [Media Note], February 16,
2007; and State Department, “Open Skies Agreement Highlights,” June 1, 2006.
242 The Delta route is planned between Atlanta, GA and Monrovia, with a stop-over in Cape Verde.
243 Harry R. Weber, “Delta Air Lines Making Changes to International Schedule; Some Additions Coming,” Associated
Press, October 20, 2009; and President Sirleaf, annual message to the legislature, January 25, 2010.
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Security Administration (TSA), a DHS unit. It indicated that ROB did not meet international
security and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.244
TSA is providing Liberia with technical assistance to enhance aviation security and compliance
with ICAO standards. It has deployed an Aviation Security Sustainable International Standards
Team (ASSIST) to Liberia to assess local needs and help build national capacities in this area,
and is slated to conduct a reassessment of ROB capabilities in these areas.245 ROB services and
infrastructure are also being upgraded, in part with the U.S.-supported, contract-based assistance
of Lockheed Martin Global Services.246 Another key benchmark necessary prior to the initiation
of flights to Monrovia was met in October 2009, when the TSA reportedly gave provisional
approval for the operation of Delta flights at Amilcar Cabral International Airport in Cape Verde,
which is slated to function as a refueling stop for Delta's planned flights to Liberia and other
African destinations.247
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), in cooperation with the Departments of Defense and State, is
also helping to boost U.S.-Liberian communications and help rebuild Liberian government
capacity. USPS has donated postal equipment to Liberia, trained Liberian postal workers, and
provided recommendations regarding its future development.248
Debt Relief, Donor Cooperation, and Related Issues
In February, 2007, the United States, other governments, and several multilateral organizations
co-hosted the Liberia Partners’ Forum, a meeting between the Liberian government and Liberia’s
public sector creditors and bilateral assistance donors in Washington, D.C.249 The aim of the
event, following a similar one held in July 2006, was to review Liberia’s achievements and
challenges in the areas of economic governance, fiscal policy implementation, general economic

244 Delta reportedly had held Department of Transportation to authority to serve Liberia since April 2007. Weber,
"Delta Air Lines...”; Kelly Yamanouchi and Jeffrey Scott, "Delta flights to Nairobi put on hold: Homeland Security
postpones approval," The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, June 3, 2009; Kerry Lynch, "TSA Cites Threat In Blocking
Delta's Atlanta-Nairobi Service," The Weekly of Business Aviation, June 8, 2009; Dow Jones News Service , “TSA
Blocks Delta Flights To 2 African Cities On Security,” June 3, 2009; and Liberian Government, "Delta Postpones New
Service to Liberia And Kenya," June 3, 2009 via All Africa.
245 Andrew Compart, "TSA Holds Up Two Africa Routes, Citing 'Credible Threat' To Aviation," Aviation Daily, June
3, 2009; TSA, "TSA and Liberia Partner to Enhance Aviation Security," April 7, 2009.
246 The cost of the entire ASSIST technical assistance is currently estimated at $.34 million in FY 2009 and FY2010
funds. TSA/DHS written response to CRS inquiry, March 19, 2010; African Press Agency, "Lockheed Martin Global
Services Takes Over Liberia’s Roberts International Airport," August 21, 2009 via Net News Publisher; Airport-
Technology.Com, "American Firm Gains Control of Roberts International Airport," August 27, 2009; Lennart Dodoo,
"RIA Will Be 'Hub for Aviation in Sub-region'," Liberian Observer, August 26, 2009; and Sidiki Trawally, "Roberts
International Airport Meetings International Standards," Ministry of Planning & Economic Affairs - Liberia
Reconstruction and Development Committee (LRDC), n.d.
247 Agência Lusa, "Cabo Verde: Delta Airlines Começa a Voar Para o Sal No Primeiro Trimestre de 2010," October 23,
2009.
248 Derek Repp, "Liberians Soon May Be Getting More Mail, with U.S. Help," America.gov, April 7, 2008.
249 Items reviewed included the status of peace consolidation, Liberia’s transition to democracy, and the rule of law;
public financial management, civil service, and anti-corruption reforms; the status of public financial management
reform efforts, including with respect to budgeting, revenue administration, and auditing and procurement;
requirements for clearing local and national public debt; private sector-driven economic revitalization and job creation,
and the status of basic services and infrastructure provision; and planning and international backing for reconstruction
and development, including the status of Liberia’s international financial institution-backed Interim Poverty Reduction
Strategy (iPRS).
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development, and related matters. During the meeting, Bush Administration officials announced
their intention to cancel $391 million in debt owed by Liberia to the United States, both under the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and in cooperation with other donors, such as
the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.250 In early
June 2008, the United States acted on its pledge, writing off $394 million of Liberian debt under
HIPC and Paris Club agreements. The U.S. Treasury has also provided over $185 million to
support Liberian IMF debt relief financing and provided $17.5 million to clear Liberia’s African
Development Bank debt. As of mid-2009, official bilateral debt owed to the United States, slated
to be cancelled after Liberia completes the HIPC process, totaled $29.26 million.251
Several multilateral and bilateral creditor deals both prior to and after the U.S. action had also
reduced Liberia’s debt substantially, and as April 2010, bilateral debt reduction deals with all with
all Paris Club creditors except Switzerland had been reached. In April 2009, Liberia was able to
finalize negotiations to buy back $1.2 billion in outstanding government commercial debt held by
hedge funds and other distressed debt investors (sometimes called vulture funds) at a deep
discount of 97.5%, after the World Bank and several bilateral donors, including the United States,
agreed to provide $38 million to pay off 25 outstanding commercial claims. The balance of its
sovereign debt, $1.7 billion, was expected to be written off when Liberia reaches its HIPC
Completion Point. The IMF also reported in April 2010 that the Liberian government planned to
reach agreements with remaining official non-Paris Club creditors, holding debt of $129 million,
and private creditors holding $21 million of commercial debt, and was on target to reach its HIPC
completion point in mid-2010, providing it met certain conditions. The $21 million (reported
elsewhere as $20 million) is held by two vulture funds, Wall Capital Ltd. and Hamsah
Investments, who were awarded a claim for that amount by a UK court after suing the Liberian
government for repayment. The government has announced that it would be unable to pay the
award, as doing so would violate its HIPC commitments, although it was seeking a waiver to do
so. The original debt associated with the claim totaled $15 million, and had been resold several
times.252
U.S. Assistance Levels
Levels of U.S. bilateral and U.N. peacekeeping assistance for Liberia, for FY2004 through
FY2011, appear in Table 3.

250 Secretary Condoleezza Rice, “Liberia Partners’ Forum” [statement], Washington, DC, February 13, 2007; and U.S.
Treasury, “Treasury Working with Congress to Relieve Liberia’s Debt Burden,” press release HP-262, February 14,
2007.
251 State Department, "U.S. Joins Paris Club in Forgiving Liberia's Debt" [press statement], April 18, 2008; and
information provided by Treasury Department officials, June 2008 and March 2010.
252 World Bank, "Liberia Slashes Debt with $1.2 billion Buyback at Steep Discount," 2009/310/AFR, April 16, 2009;
IMF, “Liberia: Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative—Request for Additional Interim
Assistance; and Press Release,” IMF Country Report No. 10/91, April 2010; Ansu Konneh, "Liberia Government
‘Unable’ to Repay Debt Owed to Vulture Funds," Bloomberg News, November 27, 2009 .
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Table 3. U.S. Bilateral and Related Assistance to Liberia, FY2004-FY2011
($ millions; actual, estimated, or requested levels; errors due to rounding)
Accounta FY2004
FY2005 FY2006 FY2007
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010
FY2011
Actual
Actual
Actualb Actualc
Actuald
Actuale
Estimate Request
CSH f 2.82
3.97
2.87
8.50
-
-
-
-
GHCSf -
-
-
-
24.04
25.7
35.65
34.15
DA -
6.85
23.73
30.50
29.86
32
-
-
ESF -
24.8
92.72
30
43.19
104.3
153
137.34
FMF -
2.98
1.98
1.52
.30
1.50
6
9
GHAIf -
.70
.70
.95
-
-
-
-
IDFA-
Supplementalg
200 - - - - - - -
IDFA/IDAg .04
9.71
3.71
2.46 - - - -
INCLE 0
5
0.99
1
4.10
4.13
6
17
IMET
0 0 .13 .21 .38 .44 0.5 0.53
NADR-SALW 0.16 -
.22 5
-
-
-
-
PKO -
25
20
53.25
51.66
49.65
10
5
P.L. 480, Title
6.30 15 15
II/Food for
21.53 22.55 26.97 16.47 9.41
Peace Title IIg
TIh
3.072
2.58
6.39
5.60
.06
-
-

MRAg
27.89
28.19
31.65
22.5
-
-
-

Sub-Total:
255.51 132.33 212.06 177.96 163.00 224.02 226.15 218.02
Bilateral
and Emerg.
Aid
UNMIL/CIPAi 290.34 235.42 77.17 177.21 154.28 123.40 135.40 135.40
Totals - All
545.85 367.75 289.23 355.17 317.28 347.42 361.55 353.42
Funding
Sources: State Department, Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations [CBJ] and Department of State
Congressional Budget Justification for FY2011 and prior fiscal years, and information from USAID/OFDA,
State/PRM, State/OGAC, and State/Political-Military Affairs officials.
Notes:
a. Account names: CSH: Child Survival and Health Program Fund Account; GHCS: Global Health and Child
Survival Account; DA: Development Assistance Account; ESF: Economic Support Fund Account; FMF:
Foreign Military Financing Account; GHAI: Global HIV/AIDS Initiative; IDA: International Disaster
Assistance (former IDFA account; renamed IDA in FY 2008); IDFA: International Disaster & Famine
Assistance Account (once known as the IDA account, which it was again renamed in FY 2008); INCLE:
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement ; IMET: International Military Education and Training
Account; NADR-SALW: Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related Projects-Small Arms and
Light Weapons; PKO: Regional Peacekeeping Account; TI: Transition Initiatives Account; MRA: Migration
and Refugee Assistance Account; and CIPA: Contributions for International Peacekeeping Account
b. Reflects regular FY2006 appropriation al ocations and FY2006 supplemental appropriation under P.L. 109-
234. The Administration requested $13.8 in MRA funds for Liberia but did not request the $50 million in
ESF support that the law provided. The purposes for which the ESF appropriation were used are listed on
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page 125 of the FY2008 CBJ. Regular and supplemental FY2006 bilateral and emergency aid totals $208.35
million; that assistance plus CIPA funding for FY2006 totals $280.77 million.
c. Reflects regular FY2007 appropriation al ocations and FY2007 supplemental funding levels as described in
the FY 2009 Congressional Budget Justification and in State Department, Congressional Budget Justification -
Foreign Operations, FY 2010. Supplementary FY2007 funds were provided to assist Liberia under P.L. 110-28
(passed as H.R. 2206 [Obey], the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq
Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007, which former President Bush signed into law on May 25, 2007).
Under P.L. 110-28, $40 million in regional Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) funds were allocated to support
security sector reform in Liberia; $3 million in Economic Support Fund (ESF) supported the Special Court
for Sierra Leone; and $5 million in regional Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related
(NADR) Programs were provided "for the protection of the Liberian President." P.L. 110-28 also authorized
the U.S. Treasury to use FY2007 appropriated Bilateral Economic Assistance to aid Liberia in retiring its
international financial institution debt arrears. Some of the Liberia-related language in P.L. 110-28 is
contained in the joint explanatory statement in H.Rept. 110-107, which Section 3807 of P.L. 110-28
mandated guide the foreign assistance allocations, reporting requirements, and directives for which it
provided appropriations. H.Rept. 110-107 accompanied H.R. 1591, which was vetoed by former President
Bush. For background, see CRS Report RL33900, FY2007 Supplemental Appropriations for Defense, Foreign
Affairs, and Other Purposes, coordinated by Stephen Daggett.
d. FY 2008 spending al ocation notification to Congress, including appropriations designated for Liberia under
P.L. 110-161, and State Department, Congressional Budget Justification - Foreign Operations, FY 2010.
e. All FY 2009 funding from regular FY 2009 foreign operations appropriations except for $10 million in DA
funding from the FY 2009 Bridge Supplemental (P.L. 110-252, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008)
and $24 in ESF from the FY 2009 Spring Supplemental (P.L. 111-32, the Supplemental Appropriations Act,
2009). Several acts funded regular FY 2009 appropriations; for background, see CRS Report RL34552, State,
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2009 Appropriations, by Susan B. Epstein and Kennon H.
Nakamura.
f.
The Global Health and Child Survival account, created in FY 2008, integrates funds formerly al ocated under
the CSH and GHAI designations. In FY 2008, these were allocated between USAID and OGAC in the
amounts of $23.235 million and $.8 million, respectively. In FY 2009, $24.9 million was allocated to USAID
and $0.8 million to OGAC.
g. Funding under some accounts, such as IDFA/IDA, MRA, and P.L. 480/Food for Peace Title II, often rises
during a given fiscal year because these accounts are appropriated in a global lump sum and allocated
throughout the year in response to emergent needs. Therefore requested amounts may differ substantially
from actual disbursements, and in some cases, no country-specific level is requested. Congress official y
designated food assistance that had long been referred to as P.L. 480 Title II, in reference to P.L. 83-480
(the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, as amended), as the Food for Peace Act
in the 2008 farm bill (P.L. 110-246). This assistance provides U.S. food aid in response to emergencies and
disasters overseas and non-emergency, development-focused programs that help improve food insecurity
global y. For background, see CRS Report R41072, International Food Aid Programs: Background and Issues, by
Melissa D. Ho and Charles E. Hanrahan.
h. TI entries for FY2004, FY2005, and FY2006 reflect levels reported in USAID’s Budget Justification to the
Congress FY2007 and the Administration’s combined Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign
Operations for FY2008. Internal OTI data reflect annual funding levels that differ from those reported in the
Budget Justifications listed above. OTI reports the following actual TI funding levels for Liberia: FY2004:
$4.067 million; FY2005: $2.15 million; and FY2006 $7.57 million. The FY2007 and FY 2008 levels reflects
data in the FY 2009 Congressional Budget Justification.
i.
CIPA entries for FY2004 and FY2005 reflect levels reported in the State Department’s Budget in Brief.
Entries for FY2007 and FY2007 reflect information received by CRS from the International Organizations
Bureau of the State Department. The FY2008 level reflects information provided by the State Department’s
International Organizations Bureau.

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Figure 1. Map of Liberia

Source: Map Resources. Adapted by CRS.

Author Contact Information

Nicolas Cook

Specialist in African Affairs
ncook@crs.loc.gov, 7-0429


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