Situation Report: Managing Post-War Liberia: An Update, David Zounmenou

For more than a decade, Liberia was the theatre of one of the deadliest wars in Africa. Launched from the neighboring Cote d’Ivoire by a small group of dissidents, trained and armed by Libya with the assistance of Burkina Faso, the war in Liberia left the country with painful memories of destruction, unprecedented protracted violence, killings and above all, the breakdown of state structures. After many peace initiatives including the election of a notorious warlord as president, it was finally the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed by the Liberian government and rebel groups in Accra, that defined a framework for peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. The successful transition towards democratisation created a platform for the November 2005 general elections that brought to power the first female president in Africa, creating an exceptional phenomenon in this predominantly male-dominated political environment.