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In an interview conducted in 2020, ethnomusicologist Ruth M. Stone looks back on a career that began with field research in Liberia in the Kpelle communities where she grew up and continues, despite her retirement, to this day. In her reflections, Dr. Stone emphasizes the people in her life—students she has taught; families with whom she has lived, conducted research, and maintained long-term relationships; and colleagues with whom she has worked across disciplinary lines to foster rich understandings of expressive cultural dimensions of African life. She discusses her commitment to administration and service, including her efforts to institutionalize ethnomusicology and the study of African music in North America, Africa, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of their country's 14-year civil war (1989–2003), Liberian women established Peace Huts to provide conflict resolution and mediation services to disputing community members. Peace Huts are modeled on the centuries-old Palava Hut system used to address disputes, but the latter are largely run by men. This article examines how Liberian women have adopted the Palava Hut system to suit their needs in the interest of advancing transitional justice. We document and analyse what women do at Peace Hut sites and how their pursuit of peace and gender justice is related to motherwork, understood in feminist scholarship as the exercise of political agency through maternal activism. Based on a year-long study with women who provide social labour in Peace Huts, this article seeks to provide insight into how women participate in post-conflict initiatives amid infrastructural challenges, structural violence and tensions between the best legal approaches to gender justice and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to restore citizens' trust and cooperation with the police in the wake of civil war? We report results from an experimental evaluation of the Liberian National Police's (LNP) "Confidence Patrols" program, which deployed teams of newly retrained, better-equipped police officers on recurring patrols to rural communities across three Liberian counties over a period of 14 months. We find that the program increased knowledge of the police and Liberian law, enhanced security of property rights, and reduced the incidence of some types of crime, notably simple assault and domestic violence. The program did not, however, improve trust in the police, courts, or government more generally. We also observe higher rates of crime reporting in treatment communities, concentrated almost entirely among those who were disadvantaged under prevailing customary mechanisms of dispute resolution. We consider implications of these findings for post-conflict policing in Liberia and weak and war-torn states more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the personal missionary experience of an African American woman physician, Dr Georgia Ester Lee Patton (1864-1900), later known as Georgia Washington. Patton worked in Liberia, a unique setting for missionary activities, being a colony established by former American slaves. The primary resource materials used here are missionary photographic archives, which comprise a distinct category of colonial cultural production. Photography assisted missions in promoting western achievements, disseminating Christianity, and advancing progress, by exposing Africans to western civilization. Such imagery was largely created by European photographers working within the social milieu of missionary organizations. Missionary photographs, therefore, functioned as an official public record of the missionary enterprise; today they are invaluable records of the histories of Christian missions around the globe. Missionary archives exist as both public and private archives. Private archives, as opposed to the images planned for a public audience, were compiled by individual missionaries and intended for private viewings. For this case study I use the private archive Patton compiled after she worked as a medical missionary in Liberia between 1893 and 1895. Patton later returned to Tennessee, where she became the first woman physician in the city of Memphis. This article seeks to determine how Patton’s perception of herself as an African American, as a woman, as a Christian, and as a physician influenced her unusual experience as a medical missionary in late nineteenth-century West Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For fourteen years, Liberia was involved in a bloody civil war, in which the state and armed non-state actors made use of children as soldiers in combat operations. The overwhelming involvement of children in the armed struggles was presumed to be a negative trend that seriously undermined their personal productive capacity and the Liberian national security. This paper examined the use of children as soldiers in Liberia and its implications for the security of the country. The paper explored the causes of the Liberian civil war, the nexus between the war and child soldiering, the factors that aided the recruitment of children as soldiers and the physical and psychological effects of the war on the children. Findings from the study, which utilized data from secondary sources, were that the Liberian civil wars were caused by structural violence, perpetrated by indigenous rulers against their citizens for decades. Many children were forcefully or willfully recruited by the government and armed non-state actors to prosecute the war. Children were more preferable for the war because they were cheap to procure and easy to be lured into combatant operations because of their tender age and low level of comprehension and perception of dangers associated with war and their less understanding of the implications of their actions for national security at that formative age. The Liberian war had both physical and psychological effects on the children. Apart from the physical destruction of their lives and those of other innocent citizens, many of the child soldiers showed symptoms of psychological complications in form of post-traumatic stress disorder. The paper also found that the use of child soldiers by warring factions in Liberia denied the kids of their childhood with negative consequences for their future progress and prosperity as adults. The reintegration programmes that were put in place for the rehabilitation of the children into the communities ended with marginal success due to concert of internal and external factors. Evidence still remains of past maltreatment and neglect of Liberia's ex-child soldiers, many of who are still physically and psychologically traumatized having remained largely uneducated, unemployable and thus, vulnerable to permanent poverty and re-recruitment for armed conflicts elsewhere across the world. The paper concluded that the use of child soldiers in Liberia, just like in other parts of the world will not stop until extreme deprivation facing the children, which leads to their impoverishment, is addressed and until they have better opportunities for their personal and group development aspirations. It is recommended; amongst others, that good governance should be pursued to a logical conclusion in Liberia while the government should continue to address all acts of structural violence against the children in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plural legal system in post-conflict Liberia expresses tensions between modern and customary institutions. This article seeks to understand how Liberians navigate choices in the plural legal system to address gender-based violence cases. By asking how and why people make the choices they do, we highlight how Liberians solve tensions between institutions, by creating flexible categories that allow them to pursue a course of action that does not compromise their ability to access social networks and resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ebola virus disease that emerged in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea in 2014 created an unprecedented public health emergency that caught national and international organizations off guard. Despite available guidelines to respond to public health emergencies, coordinated action to control the disease only came almost 6 months after what is now considered the first human contact with the virus. Theory-based frameworks, like the ideation model and the pathways framework, are important tools for guiding research and the design of communication activities and strategies to effectively impact on the more likely determinants of the intended behavior. By using theory, these frameworks increase the chances that localized research and communication interventions can effectively change desired behaviors and their behavioral determinants. In an outbreak situation such frameworks are all the more important, when time is of the essence and lives are on the line. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic entered Liberia through Lofa County in February 2014 and spread to two health districts where the nongovernmental organization Global Communities had been implementing community-led total sanitation (CLTS) since 2012. By December 2014 the county had 928 Ebola cases (422 of them confirmed) and 648 deaths. Before the epidemic, CLTS was triggered in 155 communities, and 98 communities were certified as Open Defecation Free (ODF). Using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods, we determined that no cases of EVD were found in ODF communities and in only one CLTS community that had not reached ODF status. No differences were found between EVD and non-EVD communities in tribe, religion, ethnic group, or major sources of Ebola information. Radio was the most common source of information for all communities, but health workers were the most trusted information sources. CLTS ODF communities attributed their avoidance of EVD to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene behaviors, especially hand washing with soap and disposal of feces that they learned from CLTS prior to the epidemic. Communities that got EVD blamed their strong initial resistance to Ebola response messages on their distrust that Ebola was real and their reliance on friends and family for advice. A strong inverse correlation between EVD and CLTS with or without ODF emerged from the regression analysis (R = –.6). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This brief essay is a commentary on how critical health communication theory can contribute to an understanding of the cultural dynamics of infectious disease pandemics. In particular, we focus on a specific trajectory of health communication theorizing—the culture-centered approach—and its heuristic and pragmatic utility in enhancing knowledge about public health crises like infectious disease outbreaks. In the backdrop of the mobilizations against the 2014 Ebola virus disease epidemic in the 3 West African nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, indigenous cultural practices were construed as pathogenic and local agency of affected communities disregarded, even as the global risks of the epidemic were highlighted. In contrast to this interventionist notion of culture, the culture-centered approach offers a heuristic rubric through which to scrutinize the dialectical interrelationship between indigenous cultural practices, structural determinants of health, and the everyday agency of individuals of affected communities. We argue that such a listening-based paradigm of communication theorizing is instrumental in developing authentic, ethical, and effective health communication practice in public health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

During an emerging health crisis like the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, communicating with communities to learn from them and to provide timely information can be a challenge. Insight into community thinking, however, is crucial for developing appropriate communication content and strategies and for monitoring the progress of the emergency response. In November 2014, the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative partnered with GeoPoll to implement a Short Message Service (SMS)–based survey that could create a link with affected communities and help guide the communication response to Ebola. The ideation metatheory of communication and behavior change guided the design of the survey questionnaire, which produced critical insights into trusted sources of information, knowledge of transmission modes, and perceived risks—all factors relevant to the design of an effective communication response that further catalyzed ongoing community actions. The use of GeoPoll’s infrastructure for data collection proved a crucial source of almost-real-time data. It allowed for rapid data collection and processing under chaotic field conditions. Though not a replacement for standard survey methodologies, SMS surveys can provide quick answers within a larger research process to decide on immediate steps for communication strategies when the demand for speedy emergency response is high. They can also help frame additional research as the response evolves and overall monitor the pulse of the situation at any point in time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The literature on the sexual violence (SV) in many arms-ravaged countries offers a gruesome and horrific narrative of how the feminine sex has become a victim of such conflict. The literature relates how women were both victims and weapons of war in both physical and psychological ways. However, the literature contains very little relating to the issues of sexual justice for victims as well as perpetrators. In Liberia, years of conflict and abuses against women have been given great attention, but little has been said about regimes of reparation, rehabilitation, and compensation for the victims of war. While there were attempts to ensure that victims of war be systematically compensated and rehabilitated as in Rwanda, the Liberian experience left much to be desired in this respect. The reason for this deserves investigation. Although there are traditional and contemporary barriers barring access to sexual justice in many developing countries, Liberia included, efforts to achieve sexual assault justice in post-conflict societies remain very sensitive for the reason that they may inadvertently lead to stigmatization. The social deficit resulting from this failure has yet to be analyzed in many states. Similarly, a systemically dysfunctional judicial process cannot serve as an agency of remedy. This system is usually expensive to service and maintain. This is coupled with a loss of faith in government and its institutions by the victims. As a combination of weak judicial institutions and social and economic impediments limits the prospects of a sexual justice, this study assesses sexual justice in post-conflict Bahn and Nimba County in Liberia. It examines the broader implications, as it raises questions about the relevance of the regime of justice on the Bahn and Nimba County victims and the perpetrator and draw lessons from this experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the use of Personal Protective Equipment in humanitarianism. It takes the recent Ebola outbreak as a case through which to explore the role of objects in saving individual lives and protecting populations. The argument underlines the importance of PPE in mediating between individual patient care and biosecurity. In addition it questions the preoccupation with technical fixes; challenges dominant perceptions about the subject of humanitarianism being the victims of disaster; traces the production of a particular politics of life; and explores the individualisation of risk and concomitant processes of labour discipline in the everyday lives of humanitarian workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN Security Council meeting on 18 September 2014 represented a major turning-point in the international response to the Ebola outbreak then underway in West Africa. However, in the light of widespread criticism over the tardiness of the international response, it can be argued that the UN, and particularly the Security Council, failed to make best use of a potential resource it already had on the ground in Liberia: the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). This article examines whether UNMIL could have done more to contribute to the emergency response and attempts to draw some lessons from this experience for potential peacekeeper involvement in future public health emergencies. UNMIL could have done more than it did within the terms of its mandate, although it may well have been hampered by factors such as its own capacities, the views of Troop Contributing Countries and the approach taken by the Liberian government. This case can inform broader discussions over the provision of medical and other forms of humanitarian assistance by peacekeeping missions, such as the danger of politicising humanitarian aid and peacekeepers doing more harm than good. Finally, we warn that a reliance on peacekeepers to deliver health services during ‘normal’ times could foster a dangerous culture of dependency, hampering emergency responses if the need arises. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores how refugees at the Buduburam Liberian refugee settlement in Ghana constructed and imagined home in and through a place they have never been to--"America." Drawing on ethnographic examples of homemaking at Buduburam, this article develops the concept of entanglement to show how preferences for and access to the three durable solutions of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees were influenced by centuries of transnational homemaking embedded in the histories of the transatlantic slave trade and colonization of Liberia. Refugees preferred and practised resettlement not as a final destination, but as an active form of transnationalism. The reconfiguration of homemaking through the lens of entanglement demonstrates the importance of developing migratory policies and practices that are attentive to historic and future forms of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost forty years after the first truth commission convened and more than sixty-seven others have been employed, there is little clarity on how they contribute to their stated objectives and in which transitional contexts they succeed or fail. This Article uses data gathered from my field research in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia to develop a theoretical framework for understanding in which contexts truth commissions may be the most effective. Using insights from the legal transplant literature and applying it to the diffusion of truth commissions, this Article finds that truth commissions face greater challenges carrying out their mandates in post-conflict as opposed to post-authoritarian societies. In post-conflict societies, weak institutions to support a truth-telling process combined with large numbers of victims and perpetrators will tend to overwhelm truth commissions. These factors, along with the lack of moral consensus surrounding mass violence, interact to make truth commissions function less optimally in post-conflict contexts. This Article finds that despite their widespread use in post-conflict and fragile states, truth commissions may have more utility in post-authoritarian or even non-transitional states. In sum, this Article argues that the kind of transition should determine the kind of transitional-justice interventions employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elections in postconflict countries are commonly seen as evidence that hostilities have come to an end and a new era of peace, reconciliation, and development will begin; however, the reality may be quite different, particularly when setbacks include lingering antagonism and ongoing division between opposing groups or former parties to the conflict. With a focus on the 2011 elections in postconflict Liberia, this article presents some of the central historical background to be considered, the dilemmas to be resolved, and obstacles to be overcome if not only democratic elections, but also a democratic society, is to emerge there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peacebuilding actors have been heavily criticized for being postcolonial, orientalist and mired in a Western rationality, causing a gap between needs on the ground and the means provided, and resulting in poor delivery. From recent fieldwork in Liberia, Haiti and South Sudan we argue that while there is merit to much of this critique, there is also a will to analyse and understand the local political economy and how international actors become a part of it, but that peacebuilding tends to fall victim to conflicting power structures within the UN and between international actors, as well as to the lack of application of acquired knowledge and cumbersome processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite increased international attention to managing the potential impacts of peacekeeping on host countries, unintended consequences continue to emerge. This article focuses particularly on the alternative economies that peacekeeping operations generate and the differential economic impacts on individuals who come into contact with peacekeepers. Based on empirical evidence derived from fieldwork in Liberia, the article highlights the everyday lives of women whose livelihoods have been affected by the presence of peacekeeping missions. It also discusses how such economies adjust during the peacekeeping drawdown phase, and explores the dynamics that such economies have on specific segments of the Liberian population. The argument is that, while peacekeeping economies are critical in stimulating the local economy and providing livelihoods during and in the immediate aftermath of war, they have negative unintended impacts that need mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following the reestablishment of peace in war-torn Liberia, a door-to-door mental health epidemiological study sampling of 500 Liberian civil war survivors living in Monrovia was implemented in July 2010. Under the supervision of a clinical psychologist, surveys assessing demographics, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and war trauma experiences were administered to roughly equal numbers of men and women by volunteers working for a local nongovernmental organization. From an evolutionary perspective, two hypotheses were tested based on previous research findings that linked PTSD symptoms to olfactory experiences. First, it was predicted that olfactory-related trauma would be positively correlated to higher reports of intrusive traumatic memories. Second, it was predicted that olfactory-related trauma would be positively correlated to the number of reported symptoms of hyperarousal. A Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that both hypotheses were supported at a p < .05 or better. Treatment implications for the use of olfactory stimuli in exposure therapy are discussed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes, return to home communities is a normative given, around which reinsertion and reintegration support is planned. Yet such an approach is oblivious of pre-war social dynamics of rebel recruitment and civilian experiences of rebel abuse and coercion. These manifest as important sources of social tension between communities and combatants in the post-war period and complicate reintegration. This research shows that the ‘recruitment–reintegration’ nexus offers a key variable for explaining tensions between civilian communities and ex-combatants in post-conflict Liberia, and could be leveraged in future efforts to improve DDR programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the efforts of external actors to influence opportunities for national political elites to gain or maintain positions of power in post-conflict societies. The analysis compares the cases of Liberia and Kosovo, both of which have been characterized by high levels of external intervention though with significant differences in the scope of authority of external actors. Despite these differences, similar dynamics have characterized elite formation in both countries. The impact of external actors on elite systems is mostly indirect, and chances for accumulating authority provided by the national setting determine elite careers. External actors bow to these national conditions rather than decisively changing them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information on the Liberian shipping industry. It is one of many which provide flags of convenience for ship owners who do not wish to comply with the relatively onerous registration requirements of more developed countries. Liberia offers low rates and minimal oversight for firms which fly the Liberian flag at sea. The extent to which this business served to enrich the Liberian warlord Charles Taylor is addressed, and an overview of the history of the development of the flag of convenience business is provided.

The war that ravaged Liberia between 1989 and 2003 had myriad causes and belligerents, but there can be little question of the demographic cohort that provided the manpower for the war machine: youth. Young, disconnected Liberians became easy recruits to the conflict's warring factions as they sought a sense of importance and independence away from the cultural background that marginalized them. Building on qualitative field research in Liberia, this article bridges its primary case study with theory and secondary data, to examine the threat of post-war re-marginalization and disengagement of youth in the country. The article argues that economic reintegration programmes have not addressed issues of youth empowerment directly enough, and that targeted political and social engagement strategies from a vertical and horizontal integration perspective would be more effective in the re-engagement of youth in civilian life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the report issued in 2009 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Liberia, listing people who should be prosecuted for war crimes and people who should be barred from public office because of their roles in that country's civil war. Among the latter was Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, regarded by the international community as a worthy leader. The history of the TRC from the time it was suggested during peace negotiations in 2003 is discussed, as are the problems with its final report.

Since the cessation of civil conflict in 2003, the Liberian government is poised to expand greatly its protected area network to conserve the country's remaining rainforest. Liberia holds within its borders nearly half of the remaining Guinean rainforest, a global biodiversity hotspot. The planning process for this effort has been a central part of rebuilding Liberia's forestry sector, which helped fuel past conflict. The process, known as the Liberia Forestry Initiative, is widely considered to have been exemplary with regard to multistakeholder dialogue and policy making. Because the issue of land tenure remains widely contested, however, the initiative risks seriously aggravating land rights problems, complicating the prospects for a durable peace. This article focuses on the process through which land was zoned for strict protection and how this process is likely to exacerbate land tenure conflict in Liberia's priority conservation areas. Although the international conservation community sees postconflict scenarios as opportunities for promoting conservation initiatives, unresolved land tenure issues make for problematic outcomes, including land disputes and legal disarray. Such problems can result in significant volatility and can make the peace process and recovery much more, not less, difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Liberia, examining the steps necessary to help the country recover from its civil war. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been the president of Liberia from 2006-2009, the article states, becoming the first elected female head of state in Africa. Topics of discussion include civil wars in Liberia that occurred almost without ceasing from 1989-2003, violence visited upon the civilian population by child soldiers, and more than 850,000 Liberians forced into refugee camps in neighboring countries.

What were the causes of the second Liberian civil war (1999-2003)? The contingent causes consisted of the failure of the post-first civil war transitional processes such as disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and re-integration, security sector reform. In short, the post-first civil war peace-building project was a dismal failure. The proximate causes included the use of ethnic scapegoating by the Taylor government, the regime's abuses of human rights, and its failure to tackle the chronic social and economic problems. Against this background, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) launched armed attacks initially against the northwestern regions of Liberia on April 21, 1999. As expected, the Taylor regime launched counter-attacks against the insurgents, thereby setting into motion the second Liberian civil war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the results of research which was conducted in an effort to assess the prevalence and impact of war related psychosocial trauma, including information on participation in the Liberian civil wars, exposure to sexual violence, social functioning and mental health. Researchers surveyed 1,666 adults over a three week period. They found that both female and male former combatants who experienced sexual violence had worse mental health outcomes than noncombatants and other former combatants who did not experience exposure to sexual violence.

International agencies intervene to promote reform in Liberia with promises to remake the country. Yet elections produce victories for former wartime commanders and officials accused of corruption. Many of these people continue to play important roles in the economy and command vocal followings. International organizations face a choice between a more radical intervention that amounts to a counterinsurgency operation to remove these people from their positions at the risk of creating political instability, and tacit acceptance of their power. Looking beyond these choices, is it possible that corrupt members of the elite and insiders can contribute to economic growth and political stability? Comparison of the organization of corruption in Liberia with models in East Asia indicates that political networks rooted in Liberia's economy may offer the promise of helping to integrate ex-combatants into the economic life of the country and address local demands for participation in politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restoration of public spaces and monuments in post-conflict situations is often associated with negotiation of trauma and reconciliation. The focus of this article is on the restoration of the national museum as a focus for the restoration of pre-civil war order in Liberia. By concentrating on the restoration of commemorative and public ceremonial spaces 'as they were', 'forget- ting' allows the re-emergence of a visual culture that sustains the continuity of an idea of `civilization'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I argue that the meaning and use of reintegration, both as a concept and a postconflict peacebuilding practice, is overloaded and unclear, thus contributing to problematic policy responses and impeding accountability. I draw on the Liberian case to show how vague, platitudinal, or contradictory understandings of reintegration can translate in the field to ad hoc and disengaged planning processes and programs that lack a clear strategy and lead to overblown expectations. I also contend that the ongoing securitization of reintegration can actually undermine both developmental and security objectives by instrumentalizing reintegration's original, socioeconomic aims, at the same time that it engenders frustration arising from inflated and unfulfilled expectations. The article concludes with recommendations for improving the thinking, practice, and evaluation of reintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberian ex-combatants are generally seen as uprooted urban youths with a history of unemployment, underemployment and idleness. The data that form the basis of this article suggest another picture. What caused the Liberian youth to fight were mainly security concerns, suggesting that the effects of 'idleness' and 'unemployment' are overstated with regards to people joining armed groups. They went to school, worked and lived with parents or close relatives prior to the war. They are not Mkandawire's (2002) uprooted urban youths or Abdullah's (1998) 'lumpens'. They lived quite ordinary Liberian lives, and based their decision on whether to join an armed group on the security predicament that they believed that they and their families were facing. This suggest that disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and rehabilitation approaches are in need of rethinking that links them more directly to social cohesion and societal security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the importance of the compilation of the Liberian civil war research guide to teach people about the occurrences that happened during the war from 1989 to 2007. It states that the compilation of the guide aims to address the issues that arise due to the inaccuracy of the information, and to identify the resource materials that are useful to students, scholars, and librarians. It also mentions that the guide is designed to determine the latest and valuable sources on various topics including databases, bibliographies, and government information.

Explores the scheme by Baltimore-based abolitionists, emigrationists and business interest groups after 1820 to establish exclusive monopolistic relationship with some commercial and political leaders in the area of Pongo and Nunez river in Liberia. Objectives of the movement; Objections from people based the African side of the Atlantic Basin.

Examines the possible effectiveness of subregional military groupings through the case of the Economic Community of West African States Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). Description of the ECOMOG; History; Background to the conflict in Liberia; Public reaction to the group; Implications for the military capabilities of third-world subregional groupings.

The article discusses the improvement of economic, social, political and legal statuses of women in Liberia, under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Women's rights and political participation were key aspects of governance when President Sirleaf assumed the leadership in 2006. She still needs to confront problems pertaining to rape and sexual violence, the spread of HIV/AIDS, universal primary education, maternal health and extreme poverty.

The article highlights the 2007-2008 budget of Liberia. Minister of Finance Ramakrishna Sithanen outlined his 2007-2008 budget, which is a balancing act between demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and social expectations. The main subjects of his second budget are speeding up the transition to global competitiveness, securing full employment and improving the living standard for the whole nation. The budget largely represents a continuation of previous policies and measures, except for the unexpected reduction to a flat rate corporate and personal tax of 15 percent from July 1, 2007.

The article discusses the World Health Organization's claim that an Ebola epidemic in Liberia is officially over as of May 2015, and it mentions how the number of cases of Ebola have been declining since the last confirmed Ebola patient as buried. The incubation period for Ebola is examined, along with the deaths of more than 4700 people in Liberia from Ebola. It states that there is still an Ebola epidemic in Guinea and Sierra Leone.