A Primer on Liberia

A Primer on Liberia.

We had a primer on Liberia in advance of our night flight to Brussels and Monrovia.

Raymond Gilpin is a Cambridge educated economist who analyzes the complex economic forces at work in a country or region during and after conflict.  He is the director of the Sustainable Economies Center of Innovation for the United States Institute of Peace. USIP is congressionally funded and charged with providing “independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress.”

Mr. Gilpin says to understand Liberia, or the West African region, we have understand the pivotal factors of capital, labor and land.

More than any other country on the continent, he says, the motto of Liberia, “ Love of Liberty Brought Us Here,” recurs in pernicious ways. Because of this, Liberia has the most troubled history in Africa.

When the Americo-Liberians settled on the shores of Liberia, they brought everything with them, including cutlery and even timber. He says they never saw themselves as part of Africa. They insisted the British colonialists in Sierra Leone deal with the as Americans.

There followed 133 years of one party rule by the Americo-Liberian True Whig party.

Harvey Firestone arrived in the 1920’s to get the rubber harvest for the American Auto industry. By that time, the country was bankrupt, in debt to the British, Americans and other creditors. Firestone convinced the US government to cover their debts. In return Firestone got 10% of the arable land in the country on a 99-year lease.

The True Whigs were now beholden to Firestone and the US government. This began the tradition, Gilpin says, of the US overseeing the Liberian budget from D.C.

The many indigenous peoples were left out of the arrangement. Many were displaced, and Liberian boys of many different ethnic groups were forced to work in almost slave like conditions by the Liberian army.  Much of this forced labor was documented by the Christy report in the 1930’s.  Here also begins the tradition of forcing children into labor and military action.

By now the notion of land, labor and capital, Gilpin says, reveals itself as inherently unfair. Many groups are unhappy with the elites, even though the nation, particularly those in power, did pretty well. Investments and infrastructure projects were healthy. Pan Am flew into Monrovia’s airport, the only airport with direct service from them in Africa.

Animosity was growing and some Liberians turned to other models.  Charles Taylor, later warlord and President of Liberia, received training in tactics and Marxist ideology at camps set up by Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi. They saw control of Diamonds and other resources as a way to destabilize the elites and import weapons.  In the 70’s, a growing debt crisis and the decline of rubber and iron ore undercut the linchpins of  Liberia’s economy. Military and civil servants went unpaid. When Samuel Doe executed President William Tolbert, many embraced the coup.

According to Raymond Gilpin, a new elite took over. Americo and native Liberians, educated in the U.S. and Europe became the new ruling intelligentsia. But the notions of Land, Liberty and Capital remained defined by personal interests.  These new leaders came to Monrovia defining liberty as allowing them to act with impunity. It was a free for all, again and these new leaders continued to loot the county.

Then others emerged, including Charles Taylor and the ethic shifted from state theft to predatory resource capture.  Groups emerged to seize and control different resources, mines, diamond smuggling routes out of Sierra Leone. Liberty was defined as the liberty to be lawless.

When peace talks finally took place in 2003, the rebel leaders sought amnesty and demanded pieces of the state in exchange for an end to the fighting. Rebels demanded different ministries, or they threatened to return to war. Others in the intelligentsia backed different warlords and power bases emerged.

Today some of the most ruthless warlords are sitting senators and ministers and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is bound to some of them.

Gilpin argues that a Truth and Reconciliation commission set up to bring peace to Liberia was hamstrung and ineffective. Warlords saw it as a chance to get amnesty. No one had to answer for his or her actions and apologize, as occurred in South Africa and no one was held truly accountable.

This leaves the nation still wounded, with many ex soldiers still on the a payroll of Senators cum warlords, who threaten to mobilize them again if their demands are not met or they are somehow forced to account for their actions during the war.  Warlord and Senator Prince Yormie Johnson has said that if anyone comes for him they better bring a bulldozer.

Even Charles Taylor, now on trial in the Hague, may avoid a harsh sanction, since he is charged with crossing the border to terrorize nationals in another country, but the case is reportedly weak.

Next year, national elections are scheduled. President Sirleaf, condemned by the unpopular Truth and Reconciliation Commission for her early support of Taylor, says she will run again. Many Liberians see her as a Mandela figure, a unifying leader who has held the warring factions back and helped build a national identity.  Efforts to rebuild national institutions and separate them from political influence are ongoing but incredibly difficult.  Now the notion of liberty, according to Gilpin, is boiling down to a question of whether to return to war or accept messiness of democracy.  And underlying much of the turmoil are ongoing disputes over land ownership.

For Liberia to succeed, Raymond Gilpin says three things must occur Land issues must progress, people have to get title to their own lands, the nation has to invest in retraining for the thousands of young men who only know how to make a living through war and pillaging and the rule of law must be asserted on the ground and also in an overarching way. Those who waged war must be given a way to apologize; victims and warriors have to come to terms, even if the idea of punishment is dropped.

At this juncture he says, there needs to be robust international assistance or violence will re-emerge as parties jockey for power in the run up to the 2012 elections.