Waging Peace: Liberia

Mediating Conflict

Read about the Carter Center's Access to Justice project in Liberia >

The Carter Center has worked to foster peace and democracy in Liberia since March 1991. The Center's Monrovia office opened in 1992, closed during full-scale fighting in 1996, and reopened to observe the 1997 presidential election. During this time, President Carter and Conflict Resolution Program staff worked to support regional mediators to reach various peace agreements, the final one of which led to the special elections of 1997. At the same time, working with Liberian partners and the Institute for Multitrack Diplomacy, the Center also established LIPCORE, a group of potential peacemakers representing many different warring factions.

In 1998, the Center began a multifaceted democracy and governance program that:

1. Established an independent printing press, owned and operated cooperatively by Liberia's media houses under the nonprofit corporation, Free Press Inc.;
2. Developed training programs for Liberian journalists;
3. Strengthened and expanded the Justice and Peace Commission's rural offices to train human rights monitors and paralegals;
4. Provided financial and technical support for Liberian human rights nongovernmental
   organizations; and
5. Monitored the political and human rights situation in Liberia.

In September 2000, widespread human rights abuses led the Center to close its Monrovia office. At the time, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wrote in a letter to President Charles Ghankay Taylor that the government of Liberia's actions since 1997 had created an environment that thwarted efforts to strengthen the new democracy and advance human rights. Specifically, he noted that: "Liberia is a country where reports of serious human rights abuses are common; where journalists, human rights organizations, and political activists work in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation; and where there is little political space for meaningful democratic debate."

After the Monrovia office closed, President Carter and the Center continued to speak out on human rights abuses in Liberia. In a December 2000 press release, The Carter Center condemned the ransacking of the offices of the Center for Democratic Empowerment, a leading Liberian nongovernmental organization, and the brutal beatings of both its executive director and chairman. The Carter Center had worked with CEDE on fostering better relationships between the Liberian media and the public and on strategies to strengthen the Liberian economy.

In 2002, the Conflict Resolution Program met with the Liberian government and opposition leaders to discuss possible moves toward peace talks under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States in Abuja, Nigeria. While those talks were not immediately fruitful, the departure of Charles Taylor led to new elections and the ascension to power of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was one of the 2002 attendees.