{
  "id": "RL32243",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32243",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101005,
      "date": "2004-10-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T20:05:34.866624",
      "title": "Liberia: Transition to Peace",
      "summary": "This report, which is updated periodically, covers recent events in Liberia and related U.S.\npolicy. \nIn 2003, Liberia began a post-conflict transition process to achieve enduring peace, socio-economic\nreconstruction and democratic governance. This process resulted from the signing of a peace accord\nand the resignation of then-president Charles Taylor in August 2003, after months of international\nmediation. The accord ended a civil war that burgeoned in 2000 which pitted the forces of Taylor\nagainst two armed anti-Taylor rebel groups. The war led to an extreme deterioration in political,\neconomic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in Liberia. It also affected neighboring states,\nfrom which anti-Taylor forces operated; against which the Taylor regime sponsored acts of armed\naggression; and in which large numbers of Liberians sought refuge.\n \n Liberia\u2019s security situation, though periodically volatile, has improved steadily since\nAugust\n2003. A disarmament and demobilization program, which encountered repeated initial difficulties,\nhas inducted over 95,000 ex-combatants to date. This process is jointly supervised by the United\nNations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL),\nwhich received over $522 million in aid pledges at a February 2004 donor conference. UNMIL\nbegan operations on October 1, 2003. The NTGL, formed under the August accord and installed on\nOctober 14, 2003, is mandated with re-establishing government authority and preparing for elections\nin late 2005. The transition faces many challenges, most related to the socio-economic effects of\nwar; the dominant role within the NTGL of former armed factions, which are prone to internal\ndissension; and limited state capacities. UNMIL has reached full force strength, and has deployed\npeacekeepers to most areas of the country, but insecurity remains a challenge in many rural areas.\nImplementation of the peace accord and of the NTGL\u2019s mandate have been beset by\ndisagreements\nover the allocation of positions, accusations of corruption, and leadership rivalries within the NTGL. \nThe legal status of Taylor, who is living in exile in Nigeria and is under indictment by the Special\nCourt for Sierra Leone for war crimes related to his alleged involvement in war crimes in Sierra\nLeone, remains unresolved. U.S. legislation urges Nigeria to hand Taylor over to the court.\n \n Considerable public and congressional debate over possible U.S. intervention in Liberia\noccurred in mid-2003. The United States did not intervene militarily, but it did: deploy limited\nmilitary forces to Liberia to bolster U.S. security interests; assist an the Economic Community of\nWest African States (ECOWAS) military force to deploy to Liberia prior to UNMIL; help mediate\nthe August accord; and provide International Disaster and Famine Assistance (IDFA) ($200 million)\nand support for UNMIL ($250 million). In addition to  H.R. 4818 , the Foreign\nOperations FY2005 Appropriations bill, current Liberia-related bills pertain to proposals to change\nthe immigration status of certain Liberian nationals and to cancel certain Liberian national debts.\nLiberia-related bills introduced in the 108th Congress include  H.Con.Res. 240 ;\n H.Con.Res. 233 ;  H.Con.Res. 255 ;  H.J.Res. 2 ;\n H.R. 2673 ;  H.R. 1930 ;  H.R. 3918 ;  H.R. 3289 ;\n H.R. 2800 ;  H.R. 4511 ;  H.R. 4793 ;  H.R. 4818 ;\n H.R. 4885 ;  S. 2812 ;  S. 1426 ; and  S. 656 .",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Immigration Policy",
    "Intelligence and National Security",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}