Liberia’s hopes for peace were rekindled last October when a power-sharing transitional government took office with a mandate to run the country until elections in 2005.
Thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, Monrovia, to celebrate an end to more than 20 years of intermittent fighting -‒ and displaced Liberians began returning home.
Economic trends appeared to validate hopes that the situation was finally taking a turn for the better. The exchange rate fell from 45 Liberian dollars to one US dollar, to about 35 to one -‒ although inflation has since taken off in the country.
But, with just over a 100 days having passed since the inauguration, has the new government lived up to expectations?
From the outset, it was clear that disarmament of Liberia’s various factions was going to be a key part of bringing lasting peace to the country.
Faction leaders such as Sekou Damate Conneh of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) and Thomas Yaya Nimely of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model) said they supported efforts to disarm the estimated 40 000 combatants in Liberia. The commanders of soldiers who fought for ex-President Charles Taylor, now exiled in Liberia, took a similar stance.
However, former government militias brought the capital to a standstill last December when they rioted in support of demands that they should be paid to surrender their weapons to United Nations peace-keepers.
Although a new round of disarmament was supposed to have kicked off on January 20, the UN mission to Liberia, Unmil, has postponed this process until faction commanders have discussed it at greater length with their troops.
Sporadic fighting has also broken out in the south-east and north of the country, with reports of looting, rape and intimidation in rural areas.
”As long as young men and women continue to carry the guns around the country, intimidating citizens, the economy will remain under siege and Liberians will remain vulnerable to hunger and other vices,” said activist Winston Jacob.
”So in 100 days, the Gyude Bryant government is faced with the harsh reality that the plight of the masses remains precarious,” he added.
After squabbles over government posts, Gyude Bryant was sworn in as chairman of the transitional administration. However, he has since been accused of making government appointments without allowing parliament to vet the individuals concerned — as required by the peace agreement signed in Ghana last year.
And top appointments aside, Bryant still presides over a government that has virtually no local administrators or mayors.
”What we have in terms of political administration is nothing but a perpetuation of the Taylor regime”, said Joseph Kingston, a civil servant.
The opposition Liberia People’s Party, in its turn, has complained of ”the ‘business as usual’ approach in governance”.
”Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the peace agreement continues to be violated in ways that render the peace process compromised significantly,” it added.
Bryant hit back at critics recently, when he pointed out that salary payments to government employees are now current, while prices of fuel and the nation’s staple food -‒ rice -‒ have been reduced. Certain basic services have also been restored.
The chairman also cautioned Lurd against allowing its internal disputes to degenerate into ”hooliganism and jungle justice”. This was a reference to statements by Sekou Conneh’s wife, Aisha Conneh, that she had taken over leadership of the faction. The claim has been disputed by her husband, who recently returned to Monrovia after an absence of several months.
Government claims that Liberians are well aware of the problems that it inherited when coming into office on October 14, and that they understand the slow pace of improvements.
But, the combined effects of a lack of export earnings, inflation and a suffocating national debt will undoubtedly start to bite deeper as the year progresses. Even supporters of the Bryant administration admit that the honeymoon period, such as it was, is over. – IPS