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| Republic of Liberia | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
Motto: The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here | |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Monrovia |
| Official languages | English |
| Demonym(s) | Liberian |
| Dominant mode of production | Capitalism |
| Government | Unitary presidential republic |
• President | Joseph Boakai |
• Vice President | Jeremiah Koung |
| Area | |
• Total | 43,000 km² |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 5,437,249 |
| Currency | United States dollar (USD) Liberian dollar (LRD) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +231 |
| ISO 3166 code | LR |
| Internet TLD | .lr |
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa and former U.S. colony. It borders Sierra Leone and Guinea to the north and Côte d'Ivoire to the east with a coast on the Atlantic Ocean to the south.
History[edit | edit source]
Colonization[edit | edit source]
Eli Ayers of the American Colonization Society took control of Cape Mesurado in May 1822. Six months later, several African nations united and fought against the colonizers but were defeated. In July 1847, Liberia declared independence as a U.S. neocolony.[1]
Independence[edit | edit source]
After so-called independence, the ruling settler elite continued to oppress native Africans. Indigenous Africans could not be citizens until 1904.[1]
The Firestone company arrived in Liberia in the 1920s to form a rubber monopoly and the U.S. pressured the Liberian government into granting the company exploitation rights. Firestone paid the Liberian government a small amount in return for being able to exploit local resources and used forced labour to extract it. Firestone also decimated the local rice industry by persuading the government to send rice farmers to work on their rubber plantations and filling the gap by making Liberia dependent on imported rice.[1]
Under the rule of William Tubman, Liberia held the largest CIA base in Africa and supported the USA's fight against socialist, pan-African, and national liberation movements.[1] During the Second World War Liberia provided a base for allied military operations and supplied resources such as rubber.[2]
Tolbert Presidency (1971–1980)[edit | edit source]
After the death of Tubman in July 1971, his vice-president William Tolbert became president.[3] Tolbert was the only anti-colonial president in Liberian history and as a follower of Nkrumah, Touré, and Cabral, was influenced by socialism and Pan-Africanism. He broke relations with Israel in 1973 while establishing relations with Cuba and the USSR.[1] Domestically he pushed for greater economic self-reliance, and introduced free education and health care, social security and welfare programs along with a progressive tax system.[2]
Tolbert took measures to undermine Firestone and other Western corporations that were plundering Liberia's natural resources. His government also attempted to end the U.S. rice monopoly but was hindered by rice riots organised by Gabriel Backus Matthews' Progressive Alliance for Liberians (PAL) which was backed by the CIA.[2]
Although already operating against him the U.S. finally put a coup into operation when Tolbert agreed with other African leaders to consolidate Africa's national resources into commodity cartels which would allow Africans to control prices of exports rather than the West. The Carter regime attempted to bribe Tolbert with $100 Million USD as a counter offer in return for expanding U.S. military operations in Liberia, but when Tolbert refused they prepared to launch a coup before the commodity cartels could come into effect.[3] On April 12, 1980 soldiers loyal to Samuel Doe shot Tolbert in front of his family, afterwards government ministers were stripped and walked around Monrovia before being taken to the beach and shot.[2]
Doe Presidency (1980–1990)[edit | edit source]
After the murder of Tolbert, Doe took power as a U.S. puppet with the U.S. deploying troops to help restore order following the coup and assigning advisors to key ministries. The U.S. invested over $500 Million USD in Doe's Liberia whilst Doe embraced neoliberal policies, working closely with the IMF to reorient the Liberian economy in favour of the West. Doe also gave the U.S. unlimited access to Liberian facilities in order to send military equipment to anti-communist rebels in Angola among other operations throughout Africa. Doe's military also received special training from the CIA under the orders of CIA Director William Casey, along with several other U.S. backed African leaders.[2]
Over time the U.S. began to sour on Doe as he became influenced by Pan-Africanism and began to consider revoking U.S. military rights to Liberian facilities but Doe still rigged the 1985 elections with U.S. support. The Reagan administration made a last attempt to salvage the Doe regime by persuading him to accept a team of Statesian financial efforts to monitor all expenditure. At the same time the U.S. began supporting opposition leader Charles Taylor and his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) to overthrow Doe. Taylor crossed into Liberia in late 1989 to begin a guerrilla campaign that would become the First Liberian Civil War and in September 1990 Doe was captured by a breakaway faction of the NPLF led by Prince Johnson and murdered.[2][4]
Liberian civil wars[edit | edit source]
The First Liberian Civil War between the forces of Doe and Taylor, lasting until 1997, killed over 250,000 people and possibly as many as 800,000, whilst destroying Liberian infrastructure. Taylor was advised by the U.S. on how to conduct the war but over time the U.S. began to distance themselves and changed support under the Clinton regime to creating the ECOMOG "peacekeeping mission" staffed by mostly Nigerian troops to intervene in the conflict against Taylor. Atrocities occurred on all sides of the war with child soldiers, looting and rape being common, whilst Taylor earned over $421 million a year in diamonds, gold, iron ore and timber.[2]
The First Liberian Civil War came to a formal end after Taylor won the 1997 elections. Over the next few years the U.S. alternated between supporting and working against Taylor whilst Taylor himself attempted to restore close relations with the U.S. by offering Liberian military facilities but also angered the U.S. by refusing exploitive oil contracts. The United States desire to control Liberia's natural wealth resulted in the Bush administration launching a smear campaign, applying UN sanctions and supplying anti-Taylor rebels resulting in the Second Liberian Civil War. In August 2003 Taylor resigned under pressure allowing the U.S. to take de facto administration over Liberia.[2]
21st century[edit | edit source]
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came to power in 2006, ruling until 2018, and established Liberia as once again a close ally of the United States, being the only African leader to offer their country for the headquarters of AFRICOM.[2]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Djibo Sobukwe (2023-04-26). "Liberia and the Challenges of US Imperialism" Black Agenda Report. Archived from the original on 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Jeremy Kuzmarov (2021-07-30). "How the CIA Helped Ruin Liberia" CovertAction Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-11-16.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ijoma Robert Flemister (2017-04-11). "President William Richard Tolbert Assassination: What Was The Rush?" FrontPage Africa. Archived from the original on 2024-01-28.
- ↑ Jeremy Kuzmarov (2022-04-29). "This Man Pulled the Trigger, But Did the CIA and DGSE Put the Idea in His Head and the Gun in His Hand?" CovertAction Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-11-16.