AIM Liberia
The AIM Team was in Liberia. It is a wonderful country, very green and full of organic life. However, there are many people suffering from the adverse affects of a 16 year war. The elderly and the children have suffered the most. AIM is here to help! We will keep you posted as to our progress in this fact finding / organizational mission. This is just a glimpse into Liberia’s plight.
The AIM Team is looking for ways to enhance this war torn country in its fight toward restoration; We hope to help through community sustainability projects.
The AIM Team will keep you posted as to any new developments. We appreciate your help and prayers with regard to these matters. – Thank You!
WHY LIBERIA NEEDS YOUR HELP:
Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic, but it became better known in the 1990s for its long-running, ruinous civil war and its role in a rebellion in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The West African nation was relatively calm until 1980 when William Tolbert was overthrown by Sergeant Samuel Doe after food price riots. The coup marked the end of dominance by the minority Americo-Liberians, who had ruled since independence, but heralded a period of instability.
By the late 1980s, arbitrary rule and economic collapse culminated in civil war when Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) militia overran much of the countryside, entering the capital in 1990. Mr Doe was executed.
At a glance
Economy: The infrastructure is in ruins. The UN voted to lift a ban on diamond exports, which fuelled the civil war, in April 2007. A ban on timber exports was lifted in 2006
International: 15,000 UN peacekeepers are in place; ex-president Charles Taylor is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes for supporting rebels in Sierra Leone; Liberian refugees are scattered across the region – Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring
Fighting intensified as the rebels splintered and battled each other, the Liberian army and West African peacekeepers. In 1995 a peace agreement was signed, leading to the election of Mr Taylor as president.
The respite was brief, with anti-government fighting breaking out in the north in 1999. Mr Taylor accused Guinea of supporting the rebellion. Meanwhile Ghana, Nigeria and others accused Mr Taylor of backing rebels in Sierra Leone.
Matters came to a head in 2003 when Mr Taylor – under international pressure to quit and hemmed in by rebels – stepped down and went into exile in Nigeria. A transitional government steered the country towards elections in 2005.
Around 250,000 people were killed in Liberia’s civil war and many thousands more fled the fighting. The conflict left the country in economic ruin and overrun with weapons. The capital remains without mains electricity and running water. Corruption is rife and unemployment and illiteracy are endemic.
The UN maintains some 15,000 soldiers in Liberia. It is one of the organisation’s most expensive peacekeeping operations.
Information provided by: BBC
LIBERIA CAN USE YOUR HELP