Foreign relations of Liberia

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Liberia

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Liberian foreign relations were traditionally stable and cordial throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. During the 1990s, Charles Taylor's presidency and the Liberian Civil War underscored Liberian relations with the Western world, the People's Republic of China, and its neighboring countries in Western Africa. Stabilization in the 21st century brought a return to cordial relations with neighboring countries and much of the Western world. Liberia holds diplomatic relations with many western nations, as well as Libya, Cuba, and the People's Republic of China

Contents

[edit] Liberian-African Relations

The Liberian Civil War, instigated by Charles Taylor and the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) on December 24, 1989, eventually spread to neighboring Sierra Leone in 1991 when dissidents of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, began using Liberia as a staging ground for NPFL backed military assaults on border towns in Sierra Leone.[1][2][3]

By 1992, 120,000 people had fled from Sierra Leone to Guinea due to the RUF's practice of targeting civilians. In 2001, Liberian forces along with the RUF began attacking and burning refugee camps and Guinean villages along the border. This led to an inflammatory speech by Guinean president Lansana Conté which blamed the refugees for the border destabilization and alleged that the vast majority of refugees were rebels.[1] He called for the Guinean population to defend its nation and this subsequently led to a large number of attacks, beatings, rapes, and abductions of refugees by Guinean police and military forces. This was a reversal of Guinea's previously open policy towards refugees and it further escalated the refugee crisis as refugees attempted to cross back through RUF territory.[2] By 2002, the United Nations estimated that three million people, or one in five people of the Mano River Union countries, were displaced. [4][3]

Neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone have accused Liberia of backing rebels who have devastated their countries.[1]

[edit] Relationships between Liberia and the United States

Main article: Liberia-United States relations

U.S. relations with Liberia date back to 1819 when the US Congress appropriated $100,000 for the establishment of Liberia.[5] After official US recognition of Liberia in 1862, the two nations shared very close ties until strains in the 1970s due to Liberia's establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries.[6]

During the 1980s, the United States forged especially close ties with Liberia as part of a Cold War effort to suppress socialist and Marxist movements in Africa. Liberia received between $500 million and $1.3 billion dollars during the 1980s from the United States government.[7]

The rise of Charles Taylor's government, the Liberian Civil War, regional instability and human rights abuses interrupted the previously close relations between Liberia and the United States. The United States cut direct financial and military aid to the Liberian government, withdrew Peace Corps operations, imposed a travel ban on senior Liberian Government officials, and frequently criticized Charles Taylor's government.[8][5] Due to intense pressure from the international community and the United States, Charles Taylor resigned his office on August 11, 2003.[6]

The resignation and exile of Charles Taylor in 2003 brought changes in diplomatic ties between the United States and Liberia. The United States proposed a UN Security Council draft resolution to authorize the deployment of a multi-national stabilization force,[9][10] and 200 marines as well as warships were sent to Monrovia's airport to support the peace-keeping effort.[11] The United States committed $1.16 billion to Liberia between 2004 and 2006.[12][5]

[edit] Relationships between China and Liberia

Relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Liberia have been broken and reestablished several times since February 17, 1977, when diplomatic relations between the PRC and Liberia were first formed.[13] The PRC broke off relations with Liberia on October 10, 1989 in response to Liberia's recognition of the Republic of China (Taiwan).[14] Taiwan had offered $200 million in aid to Liberia for education and infrastructure in exchange for this recognition. The PRC reestablished relations with Liberia on August 10, 1993 and opened an embassy in Monrovia, making Liberia one of the few nations with established diplomatic ties to both the PRC and ROC.[15] In 1997, Charles Taylor's government proclaimed to recognize "two Chinas" and the PRC subsequently severed diplomatic relations. [16]

Liberia dropped diplomatic relations with the ROC on October 12, 2003 and reestablished ties with the People's Republic of China.[17] This move was seen largely as a result of the PRC's lobbying in the UN and plans to deploy a peacekeeping force in Liberia. [18]

[edit] Relationships between Pakistan and Liberia

[edit] Diplomatic Agreements

Liberia is a founding member of the United Nations and its specialized agencies and is a member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Development Bank (ADB), Mano River Union (MRU) and the Non-Aligned Movement. Liberia is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98). [5][19]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Guinea: Refugees Still at Risk, Human Rights Watch, Vol. 13, No. 5 (A)
  2. ^ a b Yekutiel Gershoni. War without End and End to a War: The Prolonged Wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, African Studies Review, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Dec., 1997), pp. 55-57
  3. ^ a b Blood diamonds: Timeline of conflict, CNN, January 18, 2001
  4. ^ United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for West Africa, 2001, U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), March 23, 2001, section 2
  5. ^ a b c d State Department Profile of Liberia
  6. ^ a b http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/liberia/timeline/time4.html
  7. ^ Monrovia - US Embassy, http://globalsecurity.org, Retrieved October 2, 2006
  8. ^ U.S. offers U.N. resolution on Liberia, CNN, Friday, August 1, 2003
  9. ^ Liberia's Historic Ties to America, Zachary K. Johnson, May 2005
  10. ^ Taylor sets date to step down, CNN, August 2, 2003
  11. ^ Welcome for US Liberia deployment, BBC News, 26 July, 2003
  12. ^ Liberian president invites rebels into government, CNN, August 12, 2003
  13. ^ Taiwan as an Emerging Foreign Aid Donor: Developments, Problems, and Prospects, Gerald Chan; Pacific Affairs, Vol. 70, 1997
  14. ^ Taiwan Edges Out China for Liberia's Diplomatic Recognition, Global News No. GL970-25, February 21, 1997
  15. ^ Cross-Strait Scramble for Africa, A Hidden Agenda in China-Africa Cooperation Forum, Harvard Asia Quarterly, Volume V, No. 2. Spring 2001
  16. ^ ' China and Liberia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, August 8, 2003
  17. ^ http://www.china-un.org/eng/xw/t29261.htm
  18. ^ Taiwan plays down Liberia blow, BBC News13 October, 2003
  19. ^ [CIA Factbook, Retrieved October 2, 2006]
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