The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and by June-July of 2003, Charles Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group's shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.

Overview of the war

The First Liberian Civil War ended with the Liberian general election, 1997 in which Charles Taylor took power.

The second civil war began in April 1999, when Liberian dissidents under the banner of the Organisation of Displaced Liberians attacked into Liberia from Guinea. Guinea became LURD’s main source of military and financial support. By July 2000, the various dissident groups had coalesced as the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) led by Sekou Conneh. The dissidents were thought to be mostly Mandingo and Krahn fighters of the former ULIMO-J and ULIMO-K. Also important in forming LURD was an alliance, brokered by ECOMOG-SL Nigerian chief General Maxwell Khobe, between Liberian dissidents and the Sierra Leonean Kamajors hunter militia, including chiefs Sam Hinga-Norman and Eddie Massally. Against the dissidents Taylor deployed irregular ex-National Patriotic Front of Liberia fighters with his more privileged units, such as the Anti-Terrorist Unit, positioned to ensure the irregulars did fight.

Simultaneous September 2000 counter-attack on Guinea from Liberia and Sierra Leone by RUF – still loyal to Taylor and Guinean dissidents – achieved initial success. By January 2001, however, Taylor’s forces were pushed back inside Sierra Leone and Liberia. The insurgents were posing a major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic. By the beginning of 2002, both of these countries were supporting Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), while Taylor was supporting various opposition factions in both countries. By supporting - practically creating - the SL rebels, the Revolutionary United Front, Taylor also drew the enmity of the British and Americans. British and U.S. pressure on Taylor increased with rising financial support for Guinea and U.S./UK-proposed sanctions, a weaker version of which were imposed by UN Security Council May 2001.

By mid-February 2002 LURD troops were just 44 kilometres from Monrovia, at Klay Junction, and Taylor was forced to declare a state of emergency. The February 2002 ICG report says that this attack was made by pursuing ‘a strategy of infiltration of south-western Liberia through the thick bush of Southern Lofa, looping around government strongholds and disrupting supply lines. … while LURD claims between 300 and 500 men were assigned to that mission,.. the number that actually attacked was likely closer to twenty.’ Any image of a large force gradually pushing toward Monrovia is mistaken; ‘hit and run’ raids, rather than a continuous advance, seem to have been the pattern. Through the first half of 2002 LURD mounted raids in Bomi, Bong, and Montserrado counties, hitting, in addition to Klay Junction, Gbarnga and Tubmanburg, each time temporarily seizing control from government fighters. In May, an attack on Arthington, less than 20 kilometres from the capital, apparently prompted panic in Monrovia. The state of emergency was lifted in September 2002, after, the government claimed, the township of Bopolu had been retaken.

In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Ivoirian-backed Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerged in the south, and by the summer of 2003, Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. Despite some setbacks, by mid-2003 LURD controlled the northern third of the country and was threatening the capital. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group's shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.

A new bout of fighting began in March 2003 after a relative lull and by early May, LURD and MODEL had gained control of nearly two thirds of the country, and were threatening Monrovia. Regional and wider pressure led to the convening of a conference in Accra by the then Chair of ECOWAS, John Kufuor of Ghana, on June 4, 2003.

By July, Monrovia appeared to be in danger of being occupied and devastated despite ongoing peace talks. The U.S. established Joint Task Force Liberia, built around a U.S. navy amphibious group with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, positioned off the West African coast. In July the United States sent a small number of troops to bolster security around their embassy in Monrovia, which had come under attack, during Operation Shining Express.

President Taylor resigned on August 11, 2003, ahead of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which formed the negotiated end to the war, and was flown into exile in Nigeria. An arrest warrant for Taylor for war crimes committed by his Revolutionary United Front rebel allies in Sierra Leone was later issued by Interpol but Nigeria refused to deport him for a time unless they receive a specific request from Liberia. Vice-President Moses Blah replaced Taylor.

On August 14, rebels lifted their siege of Monrovia and 200 American troops landed to support a West African peace force. Thousands of people danced and sang as American marines and ECOMIL, the Nigerian-led West African troops, took over the port and bridges which had split the capital into government and rebel-held zones. An estimate 1,000 people had been killed in Monrovia between July 18 and August 14.

Moses Blah handed over power to the National Transitional Government of Liberia on October 14, 2003. However, the transitional government exercised no real authority in the country, 80% of which was controlled by the rebel groups.

United Nations peacekeeping

On September 11, 2003, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended the deployment of the peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Mission in Liberia, to maintain the peace agreement. The UN Security Council approved the mission on September 19. Nigeria sent in peacekeepers as part of the interim ECOMIL Economic Community of West African States force. UNMIL was made up of over 15,000 personnel, including both military and civilian troops. The bulk of the personnel were armed military troops, but there were also civilian policemen, as well as political advisers and humanitarian aid workers. On October 1, the first peacekeepers changed their berets and became a UN force, with many more troops earmarked. During three days of riots in Monrovia in October 2004, nearly 400 people were wounded and 15 killed. The UN slowly built up its forces in the country, with 5500 projected to be in place by November 2003, and worked to disarm the various factions. However, instability in neighbouring countries, an incomplete disarmament process, and general discontent threatened Liberia's fragile peace.

See also

• Siege of Monrovia
• Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders (documentary film about Médecins Sans Frontières's work in Liberia after the war)

Notes

External links

• United Nations Mission in Liberia website
• Text of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, U.S. Institute of Peace