Liberia Research Articles

The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission: reconciling or re-dividing Liberia?

After 14 years of civil war and violence followed by the momentous and rather unusual elections of 2005, in which a woman defeated a footballer for the presidency, Liberia has seen over six years of state reconstruction and relative peace. Two recent announcements have, however, served as a warning to the extent of progress. The most recent is President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s declaration that she will, despite previous statements to the contrary, stand for re-election in 2011 due to shortcomings in progress. The announcement preceding Johnson- Sirleaf’s was made in the form of the report of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It recommended that Johnson-Sirleaf, and indeed many others accused of involvement in the war, should be barred from public office for the next 30 years, and still more should stand trial on charges of war crimes. Four important questions arise. First, what was the mandate and findings of the TRC? Second, how has Liberia and the wider international community reacted to the final report? Third, has the TRC fulfilled its mandate and contributed to a process of reconciliation? Finally, and in a much broader sense, where does the TRC stand relative to the much wider liberal peace model? Key words: Liberia, truth, reconciliation, peacebuilding

Addressing the Millennium Development Goals From a Surgical Perspective

Surgical and anesthetic care is increasingly recognized as a neglected but cost-effective component of primary health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Strengthening delivery can help achieve Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, and 6. Large gaps in access to essential surgical care in LMICs result in considerable morbidity and mortality. The goal of this study was to provide a baseline overview of essential surgical and anesthetic capacity at district-level health facilities in multiple LMICs. Survey. District-level health facilities in multiple LMICs A standardized World Health Organization tool was used at selected district-level hospitals to assess infrastructure, supplies, and procedures relating to essential surgical and anesthetic capacity. The analysis included facilities from countries that assessed more than 5 health facilities. All data were aggregated and blinded to avoid intercountry comparisons. Data from 132 facilities were analyzed from 8 countries: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (n = 32), Mongolia (n = 31), United Republic of Tanzania (n = 25), Islamic State of Afghanistan (n = 13), Republic of Sierra Leone (n = 11), Republic of Liberia (n = 9), Republic of The Gambia (n = 6), and Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe (n = 5). Universally, facilities demonstrated shortfalls in basic infrastructure (water, electricity, oxygen) and functioning anesthesia machines. Although 73% of facilities reported performing incision and drainage of abscesses, only 48% were capable of undertaking an appendectomy. In line with Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, and 6, only 32% of facilities performed congenital hernia repairs, 44% of facilities performed cesarean sections, and few facilities always had goggles and aprons to protect surgical health care workers from human immunodeficiency virus. Enormous shortfalls in infrastructure, supplies, and procedures undertaken are common at district-level health facilities in LMICs.

Gouvernance « non souveraine » et régulation des services de l'eau à Monrovia (Liberia)

Dans cet article, on s’interroge sur la viabilite des modes de gouvernance « non souverains » ayant emerge a Monrovia (Liberia) suite aux processus de restructuration et de rationalisation de l’approvisionnement en eau. On montre que la diversite des situations technico-territoriales reperee au sein du tissu urbain appelle une regulation renouvelee des services de l’eau afin de repondre a la variete des objectifs (equite, efficacite, legitimite) affichee dans les politiques mises en œuvre. On esquisse pour finir des pistes de recherche afin de consolider theoriquement une telle approche.

Regional conflict resolution mechanisms: A comparative analysis of two African security complexes

The need for regional organizations to take up the resolution of the conflicts in their region or security complex has become important especially following the end of the cold war. Two regional security complexes in Africa, namely ECOWAS and SADC are examined in the light of conflicts erupting in their regions - Liberia and Sierra Leone in the ECOWAS and Lesotho and DR Congo in the SADC sub regions. The paper examines the efforts of the two regional bodies to resolve the conflicts and concludes that intervention in conflicts succeed or fail depending on the level of regionness or the existence of structures for conflict resolution in the regional security complex. In the case of the conflicts in the ECOWAS security complex the organization’s conflict resolution efforts were ad hoc, even though they were bold and innovative, the efforts were not set within an effective conflict resolution mechanism and they were not very successful. In the case of SADC its conflict resolution effort in Lesotho was botched and in the DR Congo it did not make any meaningful effort at helping to resolve the conflict save some mediation efforts by South African leaders. Key words: Security complex, new regionalism, regionness, black holes, overlay, amity, enmity, ECOWAS, ECOMOG, SADC.

Breaking the 'Insecurity Trap'? How Violence and Counter-Violence are Perpetuated in Elite Power Struggles

Half a century after independence, African elites, at least those in conflict‐ridden countries, often live in constant fear for their life. Real or invented coup attempts, political assassinations, beatings of opposition leaders, the distribution of death lists, etc. have a profoundly traumatizing and self‐perpetuating effect. Purges, not least in the security apparatus, are not uncommon, particularly after changes in government, be they peaceful or violent. These purges come at a cost: the excluded elites are frequently tempted to use violence to come back into the “dining room”—and the excluding government tries to prevent reentry by all means. This contribution draws a dense picture of elite (in)security in three African countries (Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia). A comparative analysis of elite security needs and devices is undertaken, permitting the author to draw some preliminary conclusions: The ineffectiveness of state institutions (presidential guards, etc.) in breaking the insecurity trap by providing special elite‐protection services is obvious. The record of private security services is most debatable and efforts by international actors need to be looked at more closely: UN peacekeepers can be effective when they are sufficient in number and have the appropriate mandate. The record of French interventions in former colonies has over time become ever more ambivalent and has lost any preventive meaning. Ein halbes Jahrhundert nach der Unabhangigkeit leben die Eliten zumindest der durch Konflikte zerrissenen Staaten in bestandiger Lebensangst. Tatsachliche oder erfundene Putschversuche, politische Attentate, das Verprugeln von Oppositionspolitikern, die Verbreitung von Todeslisten etc. haben tief traumatisierende und sich selbst verstarkende Effekte. Sauberungen, vor allem im Sicherheitsapparat, sind nicht unublich, gerade nach friedlichen oder gewaltsamen Regierungswechseln. Diese Sauberungen produzieren Kosten: ausgeschlossene Eliten sind oft geneigt, Gewalt anzuwenden, um ins „Speisezimmer“ zuruckzugelangen, und die Regierung versucht, diese Wiederkehr mit allen Mitteln zu verhindern. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeichnet ein dichtes Bild der (Un)Sicherheit von Eliten in drei afrikanischen Staaten (Zentralafrikanische Republik, Cote d’Ivoire und Liberia). Vorgenommen wird eine komparative Analyse von Bedarfen und Mechanismen der Elitensicherheit, um zu folgenden vorlaufigen Ergebnissen zu kommen: offensichtlich ist die Ineffizienz staatlicher Einrichtungen (Prasidialgarden etc.), durch spezifischen Elitenschutz die Unsicherheitsfalle zu durchbrechen. Die Bilanz privater Sicherheitsdienste ist umstritten und die Bemuhungen internationaler Akteure mussen naher betrachtet und differenziert werden: UN‐Friedenstruppen konnen effizient sein, wenn sie in ausreichender Zahl und mit dem richtigen Mandat auftreten. Die Bilanz franzosischer Interventionen in Exkolonien ist dagegen allmahlich immer ambivalenter geworden und hat mittlerweile jegliche vorbeugende Wirkung verloren.

An observation study on mental health of Chinese peacekeepers in Liberia

目的 研究我国赴利比里亚维和官兵在维和期间的心理变化特点.方法 运用随机整群抽样法,对473名维和官兵用中国军人心理健康评估系统(CMMHS)进行前、中、后3次测量.结果 我国维和官兵维和后CMMHS总分[(48.90±21.15)分]、因子分的抑郁[(6.96±3.37)分]、人际关系敏感[(4.02±2.13)分]等均高于中国军人常模[分别为(23.04±14.70)分、(2.47±2.46)分、(1.93±1.56)分],差异具有显著性(P＜0.01);运输组的CMMHS总分、焦虑及躯体化因子分显著高于医疗组(P＜0.05);医疗组和运输组CMMHS各因子分均显著高于工兵组(P＜0.01);维和官兵各因子分与年龄、军龄、受教育年限、职别呈显著正相关关系(r =0.093～0.202,P＜0.05);经多元逐步回归分析表明,受教育年限是影响维和官兵心理健康的主要因素(t =2.288～4.358,P＜0.023～0.000).结论 中国维和官兵心理健康总水平低于中国军人常模;不同职业的心理受损程度不同,受教育年限是影响维和官兵心理健康的主要因素,年龄、军龄及职务为次要因素。

Keeping On: HOW ALP 1 Brings Disaffected Youth Back to School in Liberia

Keeping On: HOW ALP 1 Brings Disaffected Youth Back to School in Liberia

Nopfmdr1Amplifications in Samples from Guinea‐Bissau and Liberia Collected between 1981 and 2004

No<i>pfmdr1</i>Amplifications in Samples from Guinea‐Bissau and Liberia Collected between 1981 and 2004

Organization and practice of nursing work in the training of the peacekeeping level-2 hospital of China in Liberia

根据联合国1509号决议,我国奉命派出首批赴利比里亚维和医疗队,进行为期4个月的封闭式集训.本文介绍了集训中护理工作的组织与实施,包括对护理人员的挑选要求,护理人员的编制组成;外语、军事体能、维和知识、野外求生等培训;维和物资准备.在前期集训和后来执行维和任务过程中得出了一些经验教训:英语是护士集训的重点和难点,一专多能是完成维和任务的关键,充足的医疗护理物资是完成维和任务的前提。

W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Pan‐Africanism in Liberia, 1919–1924

(2004). W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, and Pan‐Africanism in Liberia, 1919–1924. The Historian: Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 19-44.

U.S. Support for Multinational Intervention in Liberia

U.S. Support for Multinational Intervention in Liberia

Eradication of poliomyelitis in countries affected by conflict.

The global initiative to eradicate poliomyelitis is focusing on a small number of countries in Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan) and Asia (Afghanistan, Tajikistan), where progress has been hindered by armed conflict. In these countries the disintegration of health systems and difficulties of access are major obstacles to the immunization and surveillance strategies necessary for polio eradication. In such circumstances, eradication requires special endeavours, such as the negotiation of ceasefires and truces and the winning of increased direct involvement by communities. Transmission of poliovirus was interrupted during conflicts in Cambodia, Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Efforts to achieve eradication in areas of conflict have led to extra health benefits: equity in access to immunization, brought about because every child has to be reached; the revitalization and strengthening of routine immunization services through additional externally provided resources; and the establishment of disease surveillance systems. The goal of polio eradication by the end of 2000 remains attainable if supplementary immunization and surveillance can be accelerated in countries affected by conflict.

Early-Nineteenth-Century Chiefs' Horns from Coastal Liberia

Analysant huit cornes de chefs d'Afrique occidentale, issues de differentes collections museographiques en Grande-Bretagne ou aux Etats-Unis, l'A. tente de demontrer qu'elles sont toutes originaires des zones cotieres de l'actuelle Republique du Liberia. Ces olifants en ivoire partiellement sculptes sont parmi les premiers artefacts en provenance de cette region et constituent un type d'objets stylistiquement distincts. Datant du debut du 19 eme siecle, ils permettent de combler une lacune geographique entre les olifants du Sierra Leone d'une part, et de la Cote d'Ivoire et du Ghana d'autre part, et une lacune chronologique entre les olifants afro-portugais du 16 eme siecle et ceux de l'epoque moderne.

“You Become One in Marriage”: Domestic Budgeting among the Kpelle of Liberia

ResumeA la difference des group es ouest-africaines evoquees dans la litterature sur l’economie domestique, les Kpelle (femmes et hommes) mettent l‘accent sur la communaute des biens entre epoux et sur le fait que les maris, con sideres comme les pourvoyeurs essentiels dans le menage, controlent les revenus communs. Cet article declare la necessite de ne pas se contenter de l’explication fonctionnelle pour justifier la division des responsabilites budgetaires entre les sexes. Il nous demande de considerer plutot le role des ideologies sexuelles et les systemes de production pour expliquer la nouvelle distribution des responsabilites et la valeur accordee aux contri butions economiques et monetaires des hommes et des femmes. La division des spheres de production entre hommes et femmes dans la societe Kpelle ainsi qu’une ideologie generalisee basee sur la superiorite masculine sont les deux elements determinants les plus importants des relations economiques entre epoux et de l’ndependance economique et fina...

Thousands starving in Liberia.

Thousands starving in Liberia.

Liberian Eastern Timber Corporation [letco] v. Government of the Republic of Liberia

343Expropriation — Taking of property — Repudiation by State of its contractual obligations — Confiscation of property without proper notice — Proper law of agreement — Law of Contracting State to be supplemented by international lawNon-appearance — Procedure in default of appearance by State — No lack of notification — Tribunal required to examine substantive merits of both parties’ assertions — Non-appearance of one party not entitling other to award as matter of rightNationality — Of party to dispute — Company incorporated in Contracting State party wholly owned and controlled by nationals of another Contracting State — Whether company national of other Contracting State for purposes of icsid jurisdiction — Relevance of ownership and control — Relevance of evidence indicating company to be treated as national of other Contracting StateJurisdiction — Of arbitration tribunal — Legal dispute ansmg from an investment — Meaning of “investment” — Whether amounts paid and undertakings carried out under concession agreement an investment — Nationality of parties — Whether company incorporated in one Contracting State a national of another Contracting State — Relevance of nationality of controlling stock holdersCompensation — For expropriation — Measure of damages — Damnum emergens and lucrum cessans — Amounts invested and lost due to confiscation — Loss of profits — Costs and expenses incurred

In the Matter of the Application of Liberian Eastern Timber Corporation [letco] v. The Government of the Republic of Liberia

383Execution — State immunity — Waiver of immunity — Property of foreign States used for commercial purposes — Whether tonnage fees, registration fees and other taxes collected by agents of State from shipowners in foreign country where attachment sought immuneRecognition and enforcement — Enforcement through proceedings in national courts — The law of the United States

In the Matter of the Application of Liberian Eastern Timber Corporation [LETCO] v. The Government of the Republic of Liberia

390Execution — State immunity — Property of foreign State used for commercial purposes — Whether bank accounts used for expenses of diplomatic mission immune — Mixed fund in use for commercial and public purposes — Waiver of immunity from enforcement not applicable to embassy bank accounts — Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961State immunity — Embassy property — Bank account — Whether liable to attachment — The law of the United States

Reduction in Grain Yield Attributable to Neckblast (Pyricuhria oryzae) Infection in Liberia

Abstract The loss in grain yield due to neckblast (Pyricularia oryzae) in rice cultivars IR5 and C22 was determined by using fungicides to control the disease in two different experiments made in two consecutive seasons. Yield increases, obtained as a result of fungicide treatments compared with the control plots ranged from 9.5 % with cv. IR5 on Benlate treated plots to 117.4 % with cv. C22 in PP389 treated plots. The percentage neckblast-reducing efficiency obtained for PP389 varied from 58.3 % with IR5 to 66.7 % with C22. The increases in yield over the control achieved by fungicide treatment depended largely on the neckblast-reducing efficiency of the fungicide. Zusammenfassung Eine Reduzierung des Kornertrages in Liberia, der einem Pyricularia oryzae-Befall zuzuschreiben war Auf einen Befall mit Pyricularia oryzae zuruckzufuhrende Kornertragsverluste wurden bei zwei Reissorten IR5 und C22 mit Hilfe von Fungiziden, die die Krankheit in zwei verschiedenen Versuchen und in zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Saisons bekampften, untersucht. Ertragssteigeningen gegenuber der Kontrolle, die durch den Fungizideinsatz entstanden, streuten zwischen 9,5 % bei der Sorte IR5 nach einer Benomylbehandlung bis zu 117,4 % bei der mit PP389 behandelten Sorte C22. Der P. oryzae-Befall wurde durch die Anwendung von PP389 um 58,3 % bzw. 66,7 % bei der Sorte IR5 bzw. C22 reduziert. Verglichen mit der Kontrolle hingen die Ertragssteigerungen, die auf eine Fungizidanwendung zuruckzufiihren waren, hauptsachlich von der Wirksamkeit der Fungizide gegen P. oryzae ab.

In the Matter of the Application of Liberian Eastern Timber Corporation v. The Government of the Republic of Liberia

355State immunity — Attachment and execution — Waiver of immunity — ICSID arbitration — Property of foreign States used for commercial purposes — Whether tonnage fees, registration fees and other taxes collected by agents of State from shipowners in foreign country where attachment sought immuneArbitration — Enforcement — ICSID arbitration — Enforcement through proceedings in national courts — The law of the United States