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by William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberia’s vice president since 1951.

Violent Change

Under Tolbert’s leadership during the 1970s,

Liberia loosened somewhat its close ties with the United States. In 1974 it accepted

economic aid from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and in 1978 it joined

with other developing countries in a trade agreement with the European Community.

Domestically, emphasis was placed on bringing the isolated interior into national

political life and on improving the economic conditions of the indigenous population. In

1979, however, the country was paralyzed by riots caused by a proposed increase in the

price of rice, the staple food. More than 40 people were killed in the violence.

In 1980 Tolbert’s opponents, emboldened by a court decision recognizing them as an

opposition party, openly called for his overthrow. Their leader, Gabriel B. Matthews, and

a dozen others were arrested. A month later, on April 12, a bloody coup was staged by army

personnel under the leadership of Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe. Tolbert and many of his

aides were killed. A People’s Redemption Council, headed by Doe, subsequently suspended

the constitution and assumed full legislative and executive powers. More than a dozen

officials of the previous regime were publicly executed.

Under pressure from the United States and other creditors, in July 1984 Doe’s government

issued a decree that allowed the return of political parties outlawed since 1980. Doe,

however, used his power to assure that opposition parties did not threaten his domination,

and he won the presidential election in 1985. By the late 1980s inflation was rampant and

exports were almost nonexistent. In addition, relations with the United States, Liberia’s

major foreign benefactor, deteriorated because of government corruption and human-rights

abuses.

Civil War

In December 1989 a group of dissidents began an

uprising against the government. The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), a rebel

group led by Charles Taylor, soon had an ill-trained army of 10,000 men, and within weeks

they controlled much of the countryside. A split among the insurgents only increased the

violence as fighting continued into 1990. An Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) monitoring group (ECOMOG) was sent to Liberia as a peacekeeping force, but failed

to halt the fighting. Doe was captured and executed by a splinter group of the NPFL in

September 1990. The destruction of Liberia’s economy begun by Doe was completed by the

war.

The war spread through Liberia, as the NPFL battled ECOMOG, the Liberian army, their

splinter group the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), and the United

Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), composed of former allies of Doe. By

early 1991, ECOMOG held Monrovia and the NPFL controlled the rest of the country. In

October 1991 ECOWAS and the NPFL agreed to disarm and establish an Interim Government of

National Unity (IGNU) under civic leader Amos Sawyer; this agreement failed, however, when

Taylor refused to disarm out of fear of being attacked by ULIMO and distrust of factions

within ECOMOG. The NPFL began to disarm in early 1992, but clashed with ECOMOG forces, and

in August was attacked by ULIMO from Sierra Leone. In September the NPFL launched an

all-out assault on ECOMOG forces in Monrovia, recruiting boys as young as eight to fight,

and executing civilians who refused to join. The siege temporarily shut down all

transportation in or out of the capital and killed thousands of civilians in the

crossfire. ECOMOG responded offensively, bombing NPFL positions outside the city, and by

January 1993 succeeded in pushing the NPFL back into the countryside. In the

meantime, ULIMO had captured much of western Liberia, but had split along ethnic lines

into two warring factions, ULIMO-J and ULIMO-K.

At a peace conference in July 1993 the leaders of IGNU, NPFL, and ULIMO-K drew up a plan

for a Liberian National Transitional Government, led by a five-member Council of State

consisting of one NPFL leader, one ULIMO-K member, one IGNU representative, and two other

civilians. A cease-fire was implemented, but again Taylor was slow to disarm. Rural

hostilities flared up in late 1993, with two new armed groups sprouting up, the Liberian

Peace Council (LPC) and the Lofa Defense Force (LDF), a strongly anti-ULIMO faction from

the western Lofa region. In early 1994 ULIMO-J, led by General Roosevelt Johnson, refused

to give up its weapons. By mid-1994 the cease-fire had completely failed, and fighting

raged between the LPC and the NPFL, between ULIMO-J and ULIMO-K, and between ULIMO-J and

ECOMOG. The United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) was deployed to cooperate

with ECOMOG in March. At this time the United States issued a report condemning widespread

human-rights violations in Liberia, noting in particular an LPC massacre of civilians

suspected of being NPFL supporters. The leaders of the factions secretly met in August

1994, and negotiated a timeline for disarmament and the institution of a Council of State

based on the 1993 plan, but with six members. A cease-fire in December was interrupted by

skirmishes until a formal peace accord was signed on August 19, 1995. The implementation

of the Council of State was hampered by Taylor’s insistence on being its chairman. The

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