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Vallis Commodities – Country Report – Liberia – November 2013.Pdf November 2013 DRUM COMMODITIES LIMITED – COUNTRY REPORT LIBERIA 1. GENERAL 1.1 Liberia is situated on the west coast of Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north/northeast, Cote d’Ivoire to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. It covers an area of 111,396 Km Sq. (43,000 Sq. miles), and lies between latitudes 4° and 9°N, and longitudes 7° and 12°W. 1.2 The republic of Liberia is home to 4 million people, 1.2 million of whom live in the capital, Monrovia. The population density is low; in 2010 it was just 39.9 per square kilometre. 1.3 The graph below displays population growth in Liberia from 1950 to 2010 increasing by over 270% in these last 60 years. Liberia Population 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 POPULATION 1,000,000 0 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 YEAR population Page 1 of 11 United Kingdom: Drum Commodities Limited, 18 Vallis Way, Frome, Somerset BA11 3BJ, UK +44 (0) 1373 301 382 South Africa: Drum Commodities Limited, Office 308 Cowey Office Park, 91-123 Cowey Road, Durban 4001 Drum Commodities Limited: Benin, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia Incorporated in England: Company Registration No. 4524501 | www.drumcommodities.com | [email protected] 1.4 The currency of Liberia is the Liberian Dollar (LRD) (US$1=74LRD). 1.5 English is the official language spoken in the country. However, there are also over 30 indigenous languages spoken. 1.6 The climate is hot and equatorial with a rainy season from May-October; the dry and dusty Harmattan winds affect most of the country for the remainder of the year and throughout the dry season. 1.7 Liberia is divided into fifteen counties which, in turn, are subdivided into districts and further into clans. The oldest counties are Grand Bassa and Montserrado, both founded in 1839 prior to Liberian independence. The newest county is Gbarpolu, created in 2001. 1.8 Liberia is one of only two newly founded countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the other being Ethiopia, without roots in the European colonisation of the continent. 1.9 With an unemployment rate of 85% and an average income of just US$1.50 per day, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Life expectancy is 56.5 years, the infant mortality rate in 2010 was 76.43 per 1000 live births (18th highest in the world), and there are an estimated 35,000 people living with AIDS. The percentage of people living without basic sanitation facilities is amongst the highest in the world. 2. HISTORY 2.1 In 1829 the American Colonisation Society (ACS) founded a colony along the pepper coast for Freed African American Slaves, these people become known as Americo- Liberians. This idea was supported by prominent politicians such as Abraham Lincoln. 2.2 On July 26th 1847, the Americo-Liberians signed a declaration of independence, and thus, soon after, created the independent Republic of Liberia. Page 2 of 11 2.3 Liberia is believed to be the oldest republic in Africa, with an independent republican history that dates back to the 1880s. 2.4 In the mid-20th century, Liberia gradually began to modernise with American assistance. Both the Freeport of Monrovia and Roberts International Airport were built by US personnel through loans from America during World War II. US President Eisenhower encouraged foreign investment in the country, resulting in the second-highest rate of economic growth in the world during the 1950s. Liberia also began to take a more active role in international affairs; it was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945. 2.5 In 1980, a Military coup led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe overthrew the Government and the True Whig party (the most prominent party in politics at the time) through violent force. Doe created the People’s Redemption Council (PRC) and became President in 1985. Soon after, the PRC was condemned by many for corruption and political repression. Subsequently, future elections won by Doe were commonly deemed as deceitful. The first of Liberia’s civil wars was sparked by a coup against the PRC in 1989 by The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), a rebel group led by Charles Taylor, and was supported by neighbouring nations such as Cote D’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. The Government was overturned and Doe executed in 1990. Nevertheless fighting continued between allied troops for various reasons. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) organised a military task force to reinstate order in the country. The attempted restoration of peace resulted in one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars, claiming the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and displacing more than 1,000,000 civilians to neighbouring countries. Eventually a peace deal was reached and new president Charles Taylor, leader of the NPFL, was elected in 1997. 2.6 Under Taylor's leadership, blood diamonds and illegal timber exports were used to fund the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in the Sierra Leone Civil War, exporting over $300 million in blood diamonds annually. The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LUFD), a rebel group based in the northwest of the country, launched an armed coup against Taylor. In March 2003, a second rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, began attacks against leadership from the southeast. Peace talks between the factions began in Accra in June 2003 and Taylor was charged by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity in 2012. 2.7 The UN maintains some 15,000 soldiers in Liberia. It is one of the organisation's most expensive peacekeeping operations. 2.8 Liberia is in recovery from the crippling civil war era and is showing slow signs of recovery despite 85% of the population living below the poverty line. 3. POLITICS 3.1 Liberia takes the framework of US politics i.e. a presidential representative democratic republic. The President is the head of state and head of government. Unlike the US however (dual party), Liberia is a multi-party state. 3.2 The President acts as head of government, head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. 3.3 The government is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The House, led by a speaker, has 73 members assigned among all the counties, with each county receiving a minimum of two members. Today there are over 20 registered political parties in the country; many of these are based groups or traditions. 3.4 Elections in 2005 were considered the most free and uncorrupted in the nation’s history; they symbolised a recovery from the decades of civil war that had ruined much of the country. Page 3 of 11 3.5 Liberia's highest judicial authority is the Supreme Court; this is made up of five members and headed by the Chief Justice of Liberia. There are also sub courts in each of the counties. Liberia scored a 40% on the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). This gave it a ranking 71st of 178 countries worldwide and 10th of 47 in Sub-Saharan Africa. This score represented a significant improvement since 2007, when the country scored 21% and ranked 150th of 180 countries, and 2010 when the country scored 33% and ranked 87th. However these figures are far from satisfactory; when seeking attention from a selection of service providers, 89% of Liberians had to pay a bribe, the highest national percentage in the world. Corruption is in fact still rife. However, indications of improvement are evident. The country is currently attempting to outlaw all corruption in all sectors. In 2012, the government imposed an asset-declaration requirement as part of a code of conduct for officials reflecting on-going efforts to reduce bribery, control violence, and establish political stability. 3.6 Liberia maintained close relations with the US throughout history, dating back to 1819 when the US congress granted Liberia $100,000 for establishment. Ties with the US weakened when relations with Russia strengthened in the 1970s. Relations between India and Liberia have traditionally been strong and in recent years both nations have developed close and extensive cooperation in trade, military and strategic fields. Liberia and Russia have maintained good relations, and future trade relations between the two nations are expected to take off, with Russia already trading with many of Liberia’s neighbouring nations such as Sierra Leone. On top of these key diplomatic relations, Liberia is a member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Development Bank (ADB), the Mano River Union (MRU) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Liberia is also a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military. 4. MAIN INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY 4.1 Civil war and government mismanagement destroyed much of Liberia's economy, especially the infrastructure in and around Monrovia. 4.2 The Liberian economy had relied heavily on the mining of iron ore prior to the civil war. It was a major exporter of iron ore on the world market. In the 1970s and 1980s, iron mining accounted for more than half of Liberia's export earnings. Since the coup d'état of 1980, the country's economic growth rate has slowed down because of a decline in the demand for iron ore on the world market and political upheavals in Liberia.
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