A United Nations-backed court has found former Liberian president Charles Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone. Back home in Liberia, the reaction is complicated. Many there still revere Taylor; while others are upset that he hasn’t been charged with crimes in Liberia.
The verdict in the trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor is expected on Thursday. Taylor is charged with war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, and people in that West African country are hoping for a guilty verdict.
Liberia is trying to rebuild its tourism industry, almost 10 years after the country’s brutal civil war ended. This week, it welcomed its largest group of tourists in decades, when a cruise ship docked in Monrovia. Bonnie Allen has the story.
In Liberia, female traditional leaders who operate powerful secret societies have agreed to shut down “schools” where teenage girls undergo genital circumcision.
In December, the Obama administration issued a policy aimed at promoting gay rights as human rights around the world. But in Liberia the policy may be having the opposing effect.
Getting online is difficult in Liberia. Connections are slow, and internet access can be very expensive. But that may be starting to change. Last week, a fiber optic cable arrived in Liberia. The cable literally emerged from the sea. As Bonnie Allen reports from Monrovia, it’s expected to eventually bring the country a decent high-speed internet connection.
At least one person has died after shots were reportedly fired during an opposition protest in Monrovia ahead of Liberia’s presidential run-off.
Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was named a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, but it’s no guarantee that she’ll win re-election on Tuesday.
Not everyone is happy in Liberia about Sirleaf winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Liberian incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is running for re-election. The women’s vote helped put her in office last time. But many Liberian women are turning their back on the president
Acid throwing attacks are not that common in Africa, but they are starting to happen more often in Uganda.
The fighting has subsided in Ivory Coast, but Ivorians who fled across the border to Liberia still aren’t going home. As Bonnie Allen reports, it is creating a hardship for their Liberian hosts.
