Timeline Liberia
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National Motto: The Love of
Liberty Brought Us Here."
(WSJ, 7/31/03, p.A19)
1809
Mar 15, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first president of
Liberia, was born.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1816 A project to repatriate freed
slaves from American was begun by the American Colonization Society. It
was supported by Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster and James Monroe.
(WSJ, 7/31/03, p.A19)
1821-1867 The American Colonization Society helped
some 13,000 black Americans go to Liberia.
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M1)
1822 Feb 4, Free American Blacks
settled in West Africa. The first group of colonists landed at Cape
Mesurado and founded Monrovia, named in honor of President James
Monroe. They named their colony Liberia.
(HNPD, 7/26/98)(MC, 2/4/02)(NG, Feb, 04)
1822-1904 Some 23,000 immigrants, mostly from the US,
arrived in Liberia.
(NG, Feb, 04)
1824 Aug 15, Freed American slaves
formed the country of Liberia.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1836 Isaac Wade Ross,
Revolutionary war hero, died in Mississippi. His will stipulated that
his slaves should be emancipated upon his death, but only if they
agreed to go to Liberia. The 1st of almost 200 were finally set free in
1848. In 2004 Alan Huffman authored "Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of
the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia
Today."
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M1)
1847 Jul 26, Liberia became the
first African colony to become an independent state. A mutual agreement
between the settlers and the society created the republic of Liberia.
More than 10,000 free blacks had moved there. Joseph Jenkins Roberts,
the Virginia-born son of free blacks, was elected the first president
of Liberia, an African nation that grew out of the efforts of the
American Colonization Society. Roberts made a state visit to the United
States in 1851. The American Colonization Society supported setting up
a colony for freed slaves in Africa as an alternative to American
integration. [see Aug 26]
(HNPD, 7/26/98)(HN, 7/26/98)
1847 Aug 26, Liberia was
proclaimed an independent republic. Freed American slaves founded
Liberia. They modeled their constitution after that of the US, copied
the US flag, and named their capital Monrovia, after James Monroe, who
financed early settlers. Over the decades 16,400 former slaves made the
voyage. They assumed that the 16 native tribes were there to be
exploited.
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFC, 4/10/96, p.A-4)(SFC, 4/16/96,
p.A-9)
1871 Mar 1, J. Milton Turner was
named US minister to Liberia.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1878 Apr 21, Ship Azor left
Charleston with 206 blacks for Liberia.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1895 Mar 18, Some 200 blacks left
Savannah, Ga., for Liberia.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1926 Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.
created the world's largest plantation at Harbel, Liberia, and rubber
became the backbone of the economy. Firestone had signed a 99-year
concession agreement with the Liberian government in the 1920s to grow
and export rubber.
(AP, 7/1/03)(NG, Feb, 04)(AP, 10/30/09)
1943 William Tubman was elected
president of Liberia. He promoted foreign investment and local
participation in government.
(AP, 7/1/03)
1945-1971 William Tubman, president, began to address
the inequalities between the Americo-Liberians and the native tribes.
(SFC, 4/16/96, p.A-9)
1948 Jan 28, Charles Taylor, later
president of Liberia (1997-2003), was born in Arthington, Liberia, into
a family descended from freed American slaves.
(AP, 7/14/09)
1971 Jul 13, William Tolbert
(1913-1980), vice-president of Lebanon 1951, succeeded William Tubman
as president and continued Tubman’s policies until his own death in
1980.
(SFC, 4/16/96,
p.A-9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Tolbert,_Jr.)
1971-1980 William Tolbert Jr. succeeded Tubman and
continued his policies.
(SFC, 4/16/96, p.A-9)
1973 Oct 3, Sierra Leone’s
President Stevens engineered the creation of the Mano River Union, an
economic federation of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Guinea joined in 1980.
(http://tinyurl.com/58uymq)
1975 May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was
signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
(www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)
1980 Apr 12, In Liberia Master
Sergeant Samuel K. Doe (1951-1990) of the Krahn tribe staged a coup.
Doe, a high school dropout, and a few soldiers killed Pres. William
Tolbert and fatally shot a dozen of his ministers. He was backed by the
US and became one of Liberia’s most brutal dictators.
(SFC, 4/10/96, p.A-4)(SFC, 4/16/96,
p.A-9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Doe)
1980 May 9, In Florida 35
motorists were killed when a Liberian-flagged freighter rammed the
Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, causing a 1,400-foot section of
the bridge to collapse.
(AP, 5/9/97)
1980 Guinea joined the Mano River
Union, an economic federation of Sierra Leone and Liberia created in
1973. Due to conflicts involving the countries the objectives of the
Union could not be achieved. The union was reactivated in 2004.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mano_River_Union)
1980-1989 Samuel Doe held dictatorial power for 9
years. His reign was marked by personal enrichment, favoritism to his
Krahn ethnic group, and the brutal liquidation of opponents.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A16)
1981 Jun 27, The African States
members of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in Liberia,
adopted a Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Article 5 specifically
prohibited slavery. It became effective as of October 21, 1986.
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/z1afchar.htm)
1981-1985 The US gave $402 million in aid to Liberia.
(SFC, 4/10/96, p.A-4)
1983 Charles Taylor fled Liberia
after being accused of embezzling nearly US$1 million. He was later
detained in the United States on a Liberian arrest warrant.
(AP, 7/14/09)
1984 In Liberia Samuel Doe allowed
the return of political parties under pressure from the US.
(AP, 7/1/03)
1985 In Liberia national elections
were held and Samuel Doe was elected president.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A9)(AP, 7/1/03)
1985 Charles Taylor escaped from a
Plymouth County jail in Massachusetts while awaiting extradition to
Liberia, where he was accused of embezzling money as an official in the
dictatorship of Samuel Doe. He went to Libya received military training
as a guest of Col. Moammar Khadafy. Taylor met Foday Sankoh, a corporal
from Sierra Leone while training in Libya.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A10)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B5)(AP,
12/16/02)
1989 Dec 24, Charles Taylor, a
member of the Gio tribe and a former cabinet minister under Samuel Doe,
led a small group of fighters across the border from the Ivory Coast
into Liberia. Within a few months he had looted and terrorized much of
the countryside and reached the capital. Taylor led the NPFL or
National Patriotic Front. The NPFL was composed mainly of the Mano and
Gio tribes from northern Nimba County.
(SFC,4/16/96,
p.A-9)(SFC,4/17/96,p.A-8)(SFC,1/30/97,p.A9)(SFC,7/19/97, p.A8)
1990 Jul 23, As rebel forces
closed in on presidential palace, Liberian President Samuel K. Doe
refused to leave until the civil war was decided. Charles Taylor tried
to take Monrovia in this year. He had begun the war in Liberia from the
Ivory Coast in 1989.
(AP, 7/23/97)(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A-8)(SFC, 5/11/96,
p.A-9)
1990 Jul 30, In Monrovia, Liberia,
soldiers opened fire on worshippers in church over 600 Gios and Manos
were killed.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/liberia/army.htm)
1990 Sep 9, Liberian dictator
President Samuel K. Doe was killed after being captured by rebels. Doe
was tortured by rivals and bled to death after an ear was cut off. The
remains of Doe’s Krahn-dominated army composed the AFL or Armed Forces
of Liberia.
(SFC, 4/10/96, p.A-4)(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-8)(AP,
9/9/00)
1990 US Marines were sent to
Liberia to rescue American citizens.
(WSJ, 7/31/03, p.A16)
1990-2004 A 14-year civil war began in Liberia. 1.2
million people were forced flee their homes. 700,000 sought shelter in
Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and other West African countries.
14 years of fighting left some 250,000 people dead.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A12)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.48)
1991 Alhaji Kromah, an ethnic
Mandingo, set up ULIMO with a group of former government officials and
army officers.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-11)
1991 RUF guerrillas including Sam
Bockerie invaded Sierra Leone from Liberia. Charles Taylor formed the
guerrillas in 1989.
(SFC, 5/7/03, p.A11)
1992 Oct 31, It was announced that
five American nuns in Liberia had been shot to death near the capital
Monrovia; the killings were blamed on rebels loyal to Charles Taylor.
(AP, 10/31/97)
1992 ULIMO, The United Movement of
Liberia arose as a guerilla force to stop cooperation between Sierra
Leone’s rebel leader Foday Sankoh and Charles Taylor.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-8)
1992 Charles Taylor again tried to
take Monrovia.
(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A-8)
1993 Jun 5, Liberian Charles
Taylor's rebellion killed 550 fugitives.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1994 ULIMO split into two
factions: ULIMO-K and ULIMO-J. ULIMO-K was composed of members of the
Mandingo ethnic group. ULIMO-J was made up of ethnic Krahns led by
Roosevelt Johnson.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-8)
1994 The Lofa Defense Force was
set up under Francois Massaquoi to clear ULIMO-K out of Lofa County. It
holds no significant territory.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-11)
1994 Charles Taylor enlisted
Joshua Milton Blahyi, aka Gen’l. Butt Naked, into his force. After the
fighting Gen’. Naked resumed his birth name and turned into an
evangelical preacher.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A10)
1995 Aug 20, Liberian warlords
agreed in Nigeria to end hostilities in six-year old civil war, which
had killed 150,000 people. The Economic Community of West African
States brokered a peace treaty between two warring movements.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A-8)(AP, 7/1/03)
1996 Jan 1, Rebels massacred at
least 50 civilians at a refugee camp west of Monrovia.
(WSJ, 1/5/96, p.A-1)
1996 Jan 7, Relief workers said
15,000 people have fled fighting in the northwest and have crowded into
the city of Tubmanburg. Fighting between Ulimo rebels and West African
peacemakers was continuing.
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar, Johnson’s chief of
staff, Armah Youlo, and a group of supporters deposed Johnson as leader
of ULIMO-J.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-11)
1996 Apr 6, Fighting and looting
began in Monrovia, Liberia, and a six year civil war resumed between
rival ethnic groups. Supporters of Roosevelt Johnson faced off
against the ruling council of state, which sacked Johnson as
rural development minister and ordered his arrest for murder. Johnson
accused Charles Taylor of violating the Abuja accord of August, which
set up a transitional government.
(SFC, 4/10/96, p.A-4)(SFC, 4/18/96, p.a-12)
1996 May 3, Roosevelt Johnson was
sneaked out of Liberia to neighboring Freetown, Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 5/4/96, p.A-8)
1996 May, ECOWAS, the Economic
Community of West African States, whose members are Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, has
spent huge resources in the peace process for Liberia.
(SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-18)
1996 May 27, The military militias
completed their withdrawal from Monrovia.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A8)
1996 Jun 11, A rusty Russian
freighter carrying hundreds of Liberian refugees remained at sea after
Ghana refused to let it dock.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 Jun 17, Health workers have
dug up an additional 150 bodies, many of them headless, along the beach
at Mamba Point. Exhumations started 2 weeks ago and about 500 bodies
have been found and reburied. 1,500 bodies were exhumed from around the
capital.
(SFC, 6/18/96, p.A9)(USAT, 6/27/96, p.10A)
1996 Sep 7, Emergency food from
the World Food Program reached Tubmanburg, Liberia, where half the
35,000 population suffered from extreme hunger.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A11)
1997 Jan 31, The deadline for some
14,000 rebels to hand in their weapons.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1997 May 30, Elections were set
for this date.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1997 Jun 3, Reinforcements from a
peace-keeping force in Liberia was sent in to help Nigerian troops
against the insurrectionist troops of Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 6/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 15, In Liberia pres.
candidate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (58), a banker and UN official, led a
women’s solidarity march. She had recently emerged as the leading rival
of warlord Charles Taylor.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A9)(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 22, In Liberia results
from the election showed Charles Taylor in the lead with about 75 of
the vote.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 2, Charles Taylor was
sworn in as president of Liberia.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 8, In Liberia some
200,000 refugees from Sierra Leone had spilled over from escalating
violence.
(WSJ, 9/9/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 4, Samuel Dokie, an
opposition politician, was found slain in Bong County with his wife and
bodyguard. He had been reported missing after being arrested by
security men in Pres. Taylor’s stronghold of Gbarnga.
(SFC,12/5/97, p.B5)
1998 Sep 19, Fighting in Monrovia
left at least 33 dead as the government tried to arrest Roosevelt
Johnson, former rebel leader. The next day he was accused of plotting
against Pres. Taylor and fled to the US Embassy.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 25, In Liberia the US
transported Roosevelt Johnson out of the country to Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 9/26/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep, Clashes between the
Krahn under Roosevelt Johnson and state forces in Monrovia left 300
dead and created 4,000 new refugees.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A16)
1999 Apr, Violence occurred in
Voinjama and left a number of people dead.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A16)
1999 Jun 8, Pres. Charles Taylor
announced that the ECOMAG intervention force would leave for good on
July 26 marking the end of the 7-year civil war.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C4)
1999 Aug 11, In Liberia 6 European
relief workers were kidnapped in Kolahun by insurgents based in Guinea.
(SFC, 8/13/99, p.D2)
1999 Aug 13, In Liberia 7 abducted
aid workers were freed and some 90 other UN and foreign workers fled
into Guinea to avoid fighting.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.C1)
1999 Aug 20, It was reported that
tens thousands of refugees from Sierra Leone had fled to northern
Liberia and that many were robbed and killed by retreating rebels.
(SFC, 8/20/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug, Violence occurred in
Kolahun and left a number of people dead.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec, Sam Bockerie fell out
with RUF leader Foday Sankoh over diamonds and fled to Liberia with
several hundred loyalists.
(SFC, 5/7/03, p.A11)
1999 Britain and the US threatened
to suspend aid after Liberia was accused of supporting militants in
neighboring Sierra Leone.
(AP, 7/1/03)
2000 Mar 15, In Liberia the
government closed 2 leading independent radio stations saying they
posed a security risk.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A15)
2000 Apr 16, The winners of the
Goldman Environmental Prize included: Alexander Peal (55), for
environmental work and founding a national park in Liberia.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.A2)
2000 Jul 31, US and British
diplomats accused the Pres. Charles Taylor of Liberia and Pres. Blaise
Compaore of Burkina Faso of trading arms for diamonds and aiding the
rebels in Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A8)
2000 Aug 19, Four journalists for
British TV were charged with espionage while filming for a 3-part
documentary about Liberia, Mauritania, Mali and Angola.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 25, Liberia freed the 4
arrested TV journalists.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A9)
2000 Oct-Feb, Slovak brokers were
involved in a plan to ship Mi24 helicopter gunships from Kyrgyzstan to
Liberia. One was shipped and another was confiscated by Slovak customs
agents.
(WSJ, 12/11/01, p.A15)
2000 Dec, It was reported that
Robert Taylor, brother of Pres. Charles Taylor, headed the Forestry
Development Authority and allowed Oriental Timber of Hong Kong to wipe
out entire forests.
(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B5)
2000 Dec 20, A UN panel linked
Liberian Pres. Charles Taylor to illegal diamond smuggling and arms
trafficking with the rebels in Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.C6)
2000 Liberian forces launched an
offensive against rebels in the country's north.
(AP, 7/1/03)
2000 A shipping concern in
Virginia, LISCR, helped Pres. Taylor procure weapons in violation of
the UN arms embargo. The Liberian International Ship and Corporate
Registry began managing Liberia’s shipping regitry this year.
(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A1)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.45)
2000 A loose coalition named
"Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy" (LURD) began
fighting against Charles Taylor. Covert support included the US.
(WSJ, 7/31/03, p.A19)
2001 Jan 19, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor said that he has ended support of the RUF in Sierra
Leone and would submit to int’l. scrutiny of his finances.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A14)
2001 Mar 7, The UN Security
Council imposed an embargo on Liberia’s trade in weapons and diamonds
in an effort to halt arms to rebels in Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 3/8/01, p.A13)
2001 Mar 20, Liberia ordered its
security forces to seal its border with Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.A14)
2001 May 4, The UN Security
Council imposed sanctions against Liberia for failing to sever ties
with rebels in Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 5/5/01, p.D2)
2001 May 23, Pres. Bush banned the
import of rough diamonds from Liberia in an effort to deprive rebels in
Sierra Leone of a source of funds.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.C3)
2001 Nov 2, It was reported that
Ibrahim Bah, a Libyan-trained former Senegalese rebel, lived in Burkina
Faso and selected diamond dealers to handle deals in Liberia between
rebels from Sierra Leone and the al Qaeda network.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.A8)
2001 Nov, In Liberia government
forces started a new offensive against rebels.
(AP, 7/1/03)
2002 Jan, More than 50,000 Liberia
and Sierra Leone refugees fled fighting.
(AP, 7/1/03)
2002 Feb 7, Rebel forces,
Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, attacked Klay
Junction 25 miles north of Monrovia.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A3)
2002 Feb 19, Rebels were repelled
at Heindi and Bong Mines, 20 miles northeast of Monrovia, as some
15,000 civilians fled.
(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A13)
2002 Apr 25, Police shut down the
independent Analyst newspaper and arrested Tiawan Gongloe, a leading
human rights lawyer.
(SFC, 4/26/02, p.A15)
2002 Apr 29, Pres. Taylor
suspended all political activity. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, leader of the
opposition Unity Party, returned to Liberia to gear up for elections.
(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A13)
2002 May 9, Many civilians were
reported killed as rebels attacked Gbarnga, the stronghold of Pres.
Charles Taylor.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A16)
2002 May 13, Rebels attacked
Arthington and threatened to move on Monrovia unless Pres. Charles
Taylor is arrested and tried.
(SFC, 5/15/02, p.A14)
2002 May 16, Liberian forces
claimed to have stopped the rebel offensive to have killed 100 in the
process.
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A20)
2002 May 20, Liberia rejected a
cease-fire appeal by neighboring West African nations and ordered its
forces to look for a missing British priest and 60-blind Liberian
civilians last seen May 13.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A16)
2002 Jun 8, Liberian troops
recaptured a northern town believed to have been used by insurgents as
a transit point for supplies and rebels fighters based in neighboring
Guinea.
(AP, 6/8/02)
2002 Jun 20, Liberian rebels
attacked a refugee camp near the border with Sierra Leone, seizing five
nurses and sending thousands fleeing as they battled government troops.
Four people died in the fighting.
(AP, 6/21/02)
2002 Jul 20, Refugees in flight
from Liberia's war surged to 200,000, and those reaching safety in
neighboring Guinea spoke of worsening atrocities by President Charles
Taylor's forces: looting, raping, burning and killing trapped
villagers. Jubilant government troops strutted through heavily looted
Tubmanburg after driving away rebel forces who had controlled it for
close to three months.
(AP, 7/20/02)(AP, 7/21/02)
2002 Jul 26, Liberian attackers
crossed into eastern Sierra Leone and abducted 18 villagers, in the
second such raid in just over a week.
(AP, 7/26/02)
2002 Sep 1, In Liberia rebel
forces shelled the northern town of Voinjama in a push to recapture
their former stronghold from government forces.
(AP, 9/1/02)
2002 Sep 14, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor lifted the state of emergency he imposed eight months
ago, declaring that the rebel insurrection against his government had
been all but crushed.
(AP, 9/14/02)
2002 Sep 21, In Liberia government
forces and rebels battled for at least three northern and northwestern
towns in a new outbreak of fighting near the border with Guinea.
(AP, 9/21/02)
2002 Dec 7, In Liberia civilians
were killed in a government offensive on a rebel-held town. Their
deaths were blamed on crossfire.
(AP, 12/9/02)
2002 Dec 13, In northwest Liberia
an overcrowded boat capsized, killing at least 48 people and leaving
more than 100 others missing.
(AP, 12/16/02)
2003 Jan 11, It was reported that
former combatants from Liberia and Sierra Leone were pouring into Ivory
Coast to fight with the rebels.
(SFC, 1/11/03, p.A8)
2003 Feb 1, In Liberia fighting
between government and rebel forces raged within 60 miles of Monrovia.
(AP, 2/1/03)
2003 Mar 3, A Special Court for
Sierra Leone indicted Liberian Pres. Charles Taylor on charges
including murder, rape, sexual slavery, conscripting child soldiers and
terrorizing civilians for his support of rebels during Sierra Leone
civil war. The Indictment was unsealed on June 4, 2003, during Taylor's
first overseas trip since his indictment.
(AP, 7/14/09)
2003 May 6, The Liberian
government announced that Sam Bockerie (39), a guerrilla RUF leader,
was killed in a shootout with Liberian soldiers.
(SFC, 5/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 4, A UN-backed war crimes
court indicted Liberian Pres. Charles Taylor, accusing him of "the
greatest responsibility" in the vicious 10-year civil war in
neighboring Sierra Leone.
(AP, 6/4/03)
2003 Jun 5, In Liberia deputy
ministers Isaac Nuhan Vaye and John Winpoe Yormie were arrested about
the same time that Pres. Taylor announced that a coup plot had been
uncovered. Vaye and Yormie were later reported killed.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.A12)
2003 Jun 9, As rebels bore down on
the capital of Liberia, French helicopters rescued more than 500
Americans, Europeans and other foreigners.
(AP, 6/9/04)
2003 Jun 17, Liberia's President
Charles Taylor pledged to yield power as part of a cease-fire with
rebels, but his government quickly hedged on the resignation.
(AP, 6/17/03)
2003 Jun 20, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor renounced his peace pledge to cede power and announced
that he will serve to the January 2004 end of his term — and might run
again.
(AP, 6/20/03)
2003 Jun 23, The main rebel group
in Liberia said it was pulling out of peace talks and accused the top
peace mediator of allowing Pres. Taylor to renege on a promise to step
down. Swiss authorities ordered a freeze on any bank accounts of
Pres. Charles Taylor, so war crimes prosecutors can search for possible
illegal diamond profits linked to West Africa's conflicts.
(AP, 6/23/03)
2003 Jun 26, In Monrovia, Liberia,
3 days of rocket and mortar fire left at least 200 civilians dead.
(SFC, 6/27/03, p.A17)
2003 Jun 28, West African leaders
promised to deploy a peace force of at least 5,000 troops to warring
Liberia after a cease-fire has been reached, and said France had
offered soldiers and logistical support.
(AP, 6/28/03)
2003 Jul 3, The US military
commander in Europe was ordered to begin planning for possible American
intervention in Liberia.
(AP, 7/3/03)
2003 Jul 4, Liberia's President
Charles Taylor, under US pressure to quit, said he had agreed to step
down. A senior Nigerian official said Taylor had accepted an offer of
asylum.
(AP, 7/4/03)
2003 Jul 6, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor announced that he would leave the country and accept
refuge in Nigeria.
(SFC, 7/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 8, US military experts
arrived in Liberia to assess the need for help in the local civil war.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 20, In Liberia rebels
advanced deeper into the war-ravaged capital, trading mortar, grenade
and machine-gun fire with government troops.
(AP, 7/20/03)
2003 Jul 21, In Liberia mortar
shells hit the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in the Monrovia, injuring
at least three people. Fighting in the Liberian capital of Monrovia
left over 600 dead.
(AP, 7/21/03)(AP, 7/22/03)
2003 Jul 24, In Monrovia, Liberia,
the bloodiest mortar attack in days killed at least 12 men, women and
children.
(AP, 7/25/03)
2003 Jul 25, Pres. Bush ordered a
naval amphibious force from the Mediterranean to position itself off
the coast of Liberia.
(SFC, 7/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 26, In Liberia a mortar
attack into a church harboring thousands of refugees, killed at least
15 and wounded about 55 others.
(AP, 7/26/03)
2003 Jul 28, In Liberia rebels
captured the second-largest city of Buchanan, depriving embattled
President Charles Taylor of his last significant port outside the
besieged capital.
(AP, 7/28/03)
2003 Jul 29, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor's forces launched what they called a major counterattack
on the key port of Buchanan, battling to take back Liberia's
second-largest city a day after it fell to insurgents.
(AP, 7/29/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Monrovia, Liberia,
shelling erupted after a one-day lull, killing at least 9 people. Top
West African officials flew into the capital to press the country's
president to cede power after peacekeepers arrive, but Charles Taylor
kept them waiting by reportedly heading to a southern war zone. Taylor
actually flew to Libya to gather arms and ammunition.
(AP, 8/1/03)(SFC, 8/8/03, p.A10)
2003 Aug 1, The UN Security
Council approved sending a multinational force to Liberia.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2003 Aug 2, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor agreed to cede power on Aug. 11.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2003 Aug 4, West African forces
arrived in Liberia to oversee the departure of President Charles Taylor.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2003 Aug 7, In Liberia Charles
Taylor picked Vice Pres. Moses Blah (56) as his successor. West African
peacekeepers entered Liberia's rebel-besieged capital.
(AP, 8/7/04)
2003 Aug 7, Bangladesh and Namibia
pledged more than 6,000 troops for a UN peace-keeping force to replace
multinational soldiers now deploying in war-torn Liberia.
(AP, 8/8/03)
2003 Aug 10, Liberian President
Charles Taylor delivered a farewell address to a nation bloodied by 14
years of war.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2003 Aug 11, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor shook hands with his designated successor as his
long-promised resignation ceremony started in Monrovia. A UN official
later reported that Taylor took $3 million with him, that had been
donated for disarming and demobilizing thousands of armed combatants.
Taylor flew into exile in Nigeria following his resignation.
(AP, 8/11/03)(SFC, 9/6/03, p.A3)(AP, 7/14/09)
2003 Aug 12, Liberia's leading
rebel movement agreed to lift its siege of the capital and vital port
within two days, allowing food to flow to hundreds of thousands of
hungry people.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2003 Aug 14, Dozens of American
troops landed at Liberia's main airport, increasing the U.S. presence
to boost West African peacekeepers, as rebels began withdrawing from
Monrovia. A "quick reaction" force of 150 combat troops were sent to
back up Nigerian peacekeepers.
(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 15, Tens of thousands
Liberian civilians, desperate for food, broke through barricades on
Monrovia's front-line bridges, reuniting the capital after 10 weeks of
rebel siege.
(AP, 8/15/03)
2003 Aug 18, In Accra, Ghana,
Liberia's government and rebels signed a peace accord to end 14 years
of vicious war with plans for elections in 2 years.
(AP, 8/19/03)
2003 Aug 21, Liberia's rebels and
government chose Gyude Bryant, a gentle-mannered businessman, to lead a
transition administration.
(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Aug 24, A 150-strong US
Marine force ended an 11-day deployment and headed back to warships off
the coast of Monrovia, Liberia.
(AP, 8/24/03)
2003 Oct 1, In Liberia West
African forces traded their camouflage helmets Wednesday for the blue
ones of the UN. Hours later clashes flared between rebels and loyalist
forces in Monrovia, leaving three civilians dead.
(Reuters, 10/1/03)
2003 Oct 14, In Liberia
businessman Gyude Bryant was sworn in as leader of the post-war
government, taking up a 2-year term.
(AP, 10/14/03)
2003 Nov 7, The first UN peace
missions to Liberia's rebel-held far east found deserted towns emptied
of all but looting insurgents, and terrorized civilians under rebel
grip or lying rotting, dead, in the bush.
(AP, 11/8/03)
2003 Nov 10, The US State Dept.
distanced itself from a congressional push to capture toppled Liberian
leader Charles Taylor in Nigeria via a $2 million reward.
(SFC, 11/15/03, p.A9)
2003 Nov 25, Nigeria's President
Olusegun Obasanjo said he will surrender ousted Liberian leader Charles
Taylor to face a war crimes trial if Liberia asks.
(AP, 11/25/03)
2003 Dec 4, Interpol put ousted
Liberian leader Charles Taylor on its most-wanted list, issuing a "red
notice" calling for his arrest on war crimes charges in Sierra Leone's
civil war.
(AP, 12/4/03)
2003 Dec 7, In Liberia government
troops launched U.N.-sponsored disarmament.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 10, In Liberia rampages
by ex-government fighters left at least nine people dead in Monrovia.
All but one of the deaths came in fighting between U.N. troops and the
ex-militiamen.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 15, The UN said it was
suspending for a month a disarmament campaign in war-battered Liberia
so it can improve a camp for former combatants.
(AP, 12/15/03)
2003 Dec 22, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to maintain sanctions on Liberia including an
arms embargo and a ban on importing diamonds from the west African
nation.
(AP, 12/23/03)
2003 The UN imposed a ban in
Liberia on trade in logs due to uncontrolled and environmentally
devastating logging.
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.92)
2004 Jan 6, In Liberia the LURD
and MODEL rebel groups demanded the resignation of Gyude Bryant,
interim government head.
(Econ, 1/31/04, p.48)
2004 Jan 20, Asha Keita-Conneh,
the wife of the leader of Liberia's most powerful rebel movement
announced she was taking charge, backed by dozens of guerrilla
commanders in ousting a husband whose ambitions she said were
endangering the nation's hard-won peace.
(AP, 1/20/04)
2004 Feb 6, International donors
pledged $520 million to start the long process of turning Liberia from
a failed war-ravaged state into a democracy with a thriving economy.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 May 24, In Liberia an
American citizen working with a U.S. military assessment team was
killed in his hotel room in the capital Monrovia.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 Jul 23, President Bush froze
the assets of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, his family and
top aides and accused them of undermining the country's transition to
democracy.
(AP, 7/24/04)
2004 Oct 1, The United Nations
launched a massive voluntary repatriation program to return an
estimated 340,000 Liberian refugees still scattered across West Africa.
(AP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 29, In Liberia mobs
brandishing machetes, sticks and Kalashnikov rifles rampaged through
Monrovia, prompting interim head of state Gyude Bryant to order an
immediate daylight curfew to stem the rare Muslim-Christian violence. A
UN armored vehicle trying to disperse a crowd inadvertently crushed
three people to death.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 30, Liberians ventured
back onto the streets of Monrovia during a temporary lifting of a
round-the-clock curfew imposed after at least 7 people were killed in
religious riots.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Nov 3, Liberia's three former
warring factions jointly announced they had disarmed and disbanded
their forces, marking a milestone in a quest for peace in this battered
West African nation after nearly 15 years of war.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Dec 21, The U.N. Security
Council voted unanimously to maintain economic sanctions against
Liberia but promised to review a ban on diamond sales in three months
and a ban on timber exports in six months.
(AP, 12/21/04)
2005 Oct 11, Liberia held
presidential elections. 22 candidates included an international soccer
star, two former warlords and a Harvard-educated woman. Election
officials using battery-powered lanterns counted ballots through the
night from the country's first postwar polls. Ex-soccer star George
Weah led 21 rivals.
(AP, 10/11/05)(Reuters, 10/11/05)(WSJ, 10/12/05,
p.A1)
2005 Oct 12, Officials said former
Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and soccer star George Weah
emerged as early front-runners in Liberia's first post-war elections.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 13, Soccer star George
Weah took an early lead as results trickled in from Liberia's first
post-war elections, but he seemed likely to face a run-off with former
Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 19, Libya sent to prison
for 18 months a blogger who criticized the government on the Internet.
A Tripoli court convicted Abdel Raziq al-Mansuri of illegal possession
of a handgun and sentenced him to 18 months' imprisonment. A rights
group said that after detaining al-Mansuri, Libyan security officials
searched his home and "found an old pistol that belonged to his father."
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 8, Liberia held runoff
elections.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 10, In Liberia Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, a former finance minister and Harvard graduate, edged
closer to becoming Africa's first elected female leader, while her
soccer star opponent alleged fraud in the presidential runoff. With 80%
of votes counted, Johnson-Sirleaf had 58% and her opponent, George
Weah, had 42%.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 23, Officials declared
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the winner of Liberia's first postwar balloting,
making her Africa's first elected female president.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Dec 1, A UN Security Council
committee called on all governments to freeze the assets and travel of
two individuals linked to international gunrunner Victor Bout over past
arms sales to Liberia. The council added Syrian-born accountant Richard
Ammar Chichakli of Texas and Ukrainian-born businessman Valeriy Naydo,
with an address in the United Arab Emirates, to its list of people
whose assets and travel are to be frozen around the world.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 8, Firestone, a
multinational rubber manufacturing giant known for its automobile
tires, has come under fire from human rights and environmental groups
for its alleged use of child labor and slave-like working conditions at
a plantation in Liberia.
(http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/123600/1/)
2005 Dec 16, Liberian electoral
authorities dismissed international soccer star George Weah's claims
that fraud had robbed him of victory in a presidential run-off vote
last month, but his party vowed to appeal.
(Reuters, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 21, George Weah, the
loser of Liberia's first postwar presidential elections, dropped his
legal challenge of the results, saying he would accept the outcome in
the interest of national reconciliation.
(AP, 12/21/05)
2005 Dec 21, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to maintain diamond and timber sanctions
against Liberia but said it will lift the embargoes when the country's
new government ends illicit trade in its valuable resources.
(AP, 12/21/05)
2005 P.W. Singer authored
“Children at War,” a detailed analysis of the use of child soldiers
around the world, including Liberia and Sierra Leone.
(SSFC, 1/30/05, p.C3)
2006 Jan 6, Liberia's
President-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf agreed to pay out benefits and
pensions to widows of soldiers killed in a civil war after they blocked
roads in the capital Monrovia in protest.
(Reuters, 1/6/06)
2006 Jan 16, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
pledged a "fundamental break" with Liberia's violent past as she was
sworn in as president, carving her name into history as Africa's first
elected female head of state.
(AP, 1/16/06)
2006 Feb 1, Liberia’s Pres. Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf fired top officials appointed by a transitional
administration to help run the Finance Ministry, a perceived center of
corruption.
(AP, 2/2/06)
2006 Feb 8, In Libya the leaders
of Sudan and Chad signed a peace agreement to end increasing tension
over Sudan's Darfur region, pledging to normalize diplomatic relations
and deny refuge to each other's rebel groups. A communique issued by
Sudan, Chad and Libya, as well as Burkino Faso, Congo and the Central
African Republic, whose leaders attended the talks, said a committee of
African countries overseen by Libya would monitor the implementation of
the deal.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 20, Liberia's president
inaugurated a truth commission to investigate crimes and human rights
abuses committed in the war-battered country over the last quarter
century.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Mar 14, In Italy 2 local
trains collided head-on outside a station near Milan, killing at least
two people.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2006 Mar 17, Liberia said it has
asked Nigeria to hand over former Pres. Charles Taylor, who is living
there in exile and wanted on war crimes charges for his role in Sierra
Leone's civil war.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 21, President Bush
welcomed Liberia’s Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the White House,
calling Africa's first democratically elected female head of state "a
pioneer."
(AP, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 28, Officials said former
Liberian President Charles Taylor disappeared from his Nigerian haven,
days after his hosts agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal
for the murder, rape and maiming of more than a half-million Africans.
Taylor was arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon. He then
was flown back to Liberia.
(AP, 3/28/06)(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Mar 29, Former Liberian
President Charles Taylor, accused of war crimes, was flown to Sierra
Leone after he was captured in northern Nigeria.
(AP, 3/29/07)
2006 Apr 4, Charles Taylor
appeared in a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone with 11 counts of crimes
against humanity and other violations of int’l. law.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.46)
2006 Apr 24, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. The winners
included Craig Williams (58) for helping to persuade Congress to order
the Defense Dept. to consider alternatives to incinerating chemical
weapons; Tarcisio Feitosa (35) of Brazil for his campaign against
rampant logging; Olya Melen (26) of Ukraine for her suits forcing the
government to scale back a large canal project impacting wetlands; Yu
Xiaogang (35) of China for his reports on damages caused by new dams;
Silas Siakor (36) of Liberia for his documentation showing how logging
was used to fund civil war; and Anne Kajir of Papua New Guinea for her
work to get reimbursements from logging companies to peasants.
(WSJ, 4/24/06, p.B7)
2006 May 8, A report said UN
peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers are having sex with Liberian
girls as young as 8 in return for money, food or favors, threatening
efforts to rebuild a nation wrecked by war.
(AP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 21, In Liberia tens of
thousands of children marched against hunger, adding their voices to a
global event to tackle food shortages that many in the war-battered
west African nation have felt firsthand.
(AP, 5/21/06)
2006 Jun 1, Swedish lawmakers
approved a law that makes it possible for the Scandinavian country to
imprison former Liberian President Charles Taylor if a UN-backed
tribunal convicts him of war crimes.
(AP, 6/1/06)
2006 Jun 5, Liberia, the first
African country led by a democratically elected woman, began recruiting
women into its new postwar army.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun 13, The UN Security
Council eased a ban on weapons sales to Liberia so it could arm newly
trained security forces. The US proposed lifting a UN embargo on
Liberian timber exports.
(AP, 6/13/06)
2006 Jun 15, Britain promised to
hold Liberia's Charles Taylor in jail if he is convicted of war crimes,
paving the way for Liberia's former president to be tried in The Hague.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jun 20, A senior UN official
marked World Refugee Day by welcoming home 125 Liberians from Sierra
Leone where they lived for years seeking haven from Liberia's civil
war. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was taken to a Dutch
prison to await a UN war crimes trial for the killing, rape or
mutilation of hundreds of thousands in West Africa.
(AP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 22, Liberia's truth
commission formally began work to document atrocities committed during
nearly a quarter-century of conflict including the country's 14-year
civil war (1990-2004), which left some 250,000 dead.
(AP, 6/23/06)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.48)
2006 Jul 24, Liberia began
training the first soldiers of a post-war army that officials hope will
grow into a small but effective force to take over peacekeeping from UN
troops.
(AP, 7/24/06)
2006 Jul 26, Power was restored to
parts of Liberia's dilapidated capital Monrovia for the first time in
15 years, another step in the country's emergence from more than a
decade of civil war.
(AP, 7/26/06)
2006 Aug 30, Nigerian officials
and the UN refugee agency appealed to some 6,000 recalcitrant Liberian
refugees to go back home, warning that time and hospitality were fast
running out for them.
(AFP, 8/30/06)
2006 Oct 8, Liberia’s presidency
said ECOWAS leaders, who met in Nigeria on Oct 6, had agreed for an
extension of the term of office of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo
by 12 months, paving the way for presidential and general elections
there.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 10, Liberia's truth
commission began taking public testimony.
(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Dec 6, The US indicted
Charles McArthur Emmanuel (29), son of former Liberian President
Charles Taylor, with committing torture in Liberia. This was the
Justice Department's first case under a 12-year-old anti-torture law.
The indictment came the day before Emmanuel, He currently in federal
custody was scheduled to be sentenced on the passport fraud charges in
Miami.
(Reuters, 12/6/06)
2006 Antoinette Sayeh, Liberia’s
finance minister, called on foreign creditors to forgive the country’s
$3.7 billion external debt.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.48)
2006 Arcelor Mittal, the world’s
largest steel company, negotiated a deal with Liberia’s government to
restart operations at the mine in Nimba County with a new investment of
$1.5 billion. The company said it would create some 3,500 jobs.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.38)
2007 Jan 18, India prepared to
send 125 of its crack policewomen to Liberia to act as UN peacekeepers,
the first time the world body has deployed an all-female unit.
(AFP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 30, The first all-female
UN peacekeeping unit, made up of 103 women from India, arrived in
Liberia to help the West African nation recover from 14 years of
on-and-off civil war.
(Reuters, 1/30/07)
2007 Feb 13, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said the US plans to cancel $391 million in
outstanding debt owed by Liberia, and she urged others to help the
struggling West African nation.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Apr 27, The UN Security
Council lifted its embargo on Liberia's diamond exports, saying the
west African nation has made progress in certifying the origin of its
rough diamonds. A multi-day strike at the Firestone Rubber plantation
in Liberia turned violent as police clashed with striking workers,
leaving at least six people wounded.
(AFP, 4/27/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 May 1, Liberia relaunched its
diamond trade after the UN lifted an embargo, hoping the revival of the
industry will fund reconstruction rather than lead to more bloodshed.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Jun 4, Charles Taylor
boycotted the start of his Liberia war-crimes trial at the Hague.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Jul 20, Officials said
Liberia's former House speaker and an ex-military commander have been
charged with treason for their involvement in an alleged coup plot.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 28, The Liberian
government said it had lifted a six-year moratorium on the diamond
trade, put in place after former President Charles Taylor was accused
of using "blood diamonds" to fuel civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
(AP, 7/28/07)
2007 Aug 7, ECOWAS said the last
refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone in Nigeria have been allowed to
settle and they will have access to work, education and health on the
same terms as Nigerians, West African regional bloc.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 25, It was reported that
Liberia had some 2,511 ships registered under its flag, the world’s 2nd
largest fleet after Panama, which had 7,357. The population was
reported to be 3.3 million, with two-thirds of the people living on
less than a dollar a day. Since 2000 the Liberian International Ship
and Corporate Registry, a Virginia-based company, managed the registry.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.44)
2007 Nov 2, A UN helicopter
crashed on a routine flight in northern Liberia, killing two crew
members and leaving a third missing.
(AP, 11/2/07)
2007 Nov 20, Israel signed an
agreement with Liberia to extract diamonds from the African nation,
seven months after sanctions barring Liberia from exporting the gems
were lifted.
(AFP, 11/20/07)
2007 Dec 5, Liberia cleared its
debt arrears with the World Bank, paving the way for new development
lending and debt cancellation that will help the West African country
rebuild after years of civil war.
(Reuters, 12/5/07)
2007 Dec 7, Gyude Bryant, a former
president of Liberia (2003-2005), was arrested for violating the
conditions of his bail while on trial on charges of embezzling $1.3
million in government funds.
(AP, 12/7/07)
2008 Jan 20, Joshua Milton Blahyi
(37), one of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as Gen.
Butt Naked for charging into battle wearing only boots, spoke of his
role under Charles Taylor in the civil war. He returned last week to
confess his role in terrorizing the nation, saying he is responsible
for 20,000 deaths.
(AP, 1/21/08)
2008 Feb 21, President George W.
Bush promised US support for Liberia in its recovery from a crippling
civil war as he visited the close U.S. ally on the last stop of a
five-nation tour of Africa.
(AP, 2/21/08)
2008 Feb 28, Liberia's Health
Minister Walter Gwanigale said health services are chronically
understaffed with only 51 native doctors in the west African nation.
(AP, 2/28/08)
2008 Jun 1, In Liberia at least
eight people suffocated at an overcrowded stadium during a soccer match
between Liberia and Gambia.
(www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/02/2263028.htm)
2008 Aug 18, US and Liberian
officials said US Peace Corps volunteers will return to Liberia for the
first time since civil war broke out in this West African nation nearly
two decades ago.
(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Oct 30, In Florida the son of
former Liberian President Charles Taylor was found guilty by a US court
in Miami of torture in the first prosecution under a 14-year-old law
that allows citizens to be prosecuted for such crimes committed abroad.
Charles Taylor Jr. was arrested at Miami International Airport in 2006
and pleaded guilty to a charge of lying about his father's identity on
a passport application.
(Reuters, 10/30/08)
2009 Jan 9, In Miami Charles
Taylor Jr. (31), the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor,
was sentenced to 97 years in prison for mutilations and executions
carried out in Liberia, in the first US prosecution for torture
committed abroad.
(Reuters, 1/10/09)
2009 Jan 23, Officials said
Liberia's worst caterpillar plague in three decades has spread to
neighboring Guinea after swarms of the crop-eating insects devastated
more than 45 towns.
(AP, 1/23/09)
2009 Jan 25, Liberia’s Ministry of
Agriculture said it has set up a command post and called on
international experts to help fight an invasion by millions of
crop-devouring caterpillars that are eating their way across the
country with dire economic consequences.
(AP, 1/25/09)
2009 Mar 12, Liberia’s agriculture
ministry said the country has been hit by a 2nd invasion of
crop-destroying caterpillars. Over a hundred villages have so far been
affected by the plague.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 May 29, The nonbinding New
York Declaration, an agreement between the signatory flag states which
condemns acts of piracy and armed robbery against vessels and
seafarers, was originally tabled by The Bahamas, the Republic of
Liberia, the Republic of Marshall Islands and the Republic of Panama,
four nations that account for more than half of global shipping.
(www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/13476.html)
2009 Jul 2, Liberia's truth and
reconciliation commission recommended that ex-President Charles Taylor
and seven other former warlords be prosecuted for crimes against
humanity for their alleged roles in the West African country's civil
war.
(AP, 7/2/09)
2009 Jul 6, Liberia's truth and
reconciliation commission recommended barring President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf and dozens of other high-profile figures from public office for
30 years for supporting armed groups in the country's civil wars.
(AP, 7/7/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Liberia US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the country’s post-war
transition to democracy and threw support behind President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, who has faced calls to resign because she helped fund
a warlord.
(AFP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 24, An American UN
peacekeeper under investigation for sexual exploitation and abuse of
minors in Liberia was found dead in his house in Monrovia. Sources said
it appeared that the American, a civilian in the Liberia mission, known
as UNMIL, had committed suicide due to the investigations.
(Reuters, 8/26/09)
2009 Sep 2, Liberia's Defense
Minister Brownie Samukai said police had arrested six Pakistani men
earlier in the week who tried to enter Liberia on fake US passports
with possible intent to carry out terrorism.
(AP, 9/3/09)
2009 Sep 16, Liberia's parliament
approved a new law to crack down on narco trafficking amid concerns
that druglords want to turn the west African nation into a transit
point.
(AFP, 9/16/09)
2009 Oct 29, The US rubber company
Firestone said in a statement that it has conducted its own extensive
testing of discharge water in Liberia and found it was not harmful to
human health. The Liberian government has said a three-month
investigation found high levels of orthophosphate being released into
the water.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
president of Liberia, authored “This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a
Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President.”
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.84)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Liberia
End of file.