Pessimism in Liberia
Jim Dunnigan discusses the history of Liberia and it prospects.
The history is not just about the freed slaves from American. Apparently they were only five percent of the population. However because of education and background they were able to dominate the native population.
"...During the 1930s, there was a major scandal when senior government officials were caught, by the League of Nations, engaging in slavery. The government was exporting tribal Liberians to serve as slave labor in Spanish colonies. International pressure forced the government to treat the tribal people more fairly, something which was already happening, at least in terms of education, because of the growing economy."
"...With the Amero-Liberians no longer in power, there followed over two decades of fighting between the major tribes over who would get control of the government, and the opportunities to plunder the national wealth. After 1990, cheap guns (AK-47s for $20) and a network of middlemen willing to pay cash for natural resources like diamonds and lumber, armed tribal militias that kept fighting over what wealth was left. The AK-47s came from the huge arsenals of the former communist countries. They didn't need all those weapons, so they sold them cheap. AK-47s were showing up all over the world in the early 1990s, being hustled by East European gunrunners."
"...To stop the fighting, you have to intimidate the teenage gunmen into giving up their weapons and force them to go back to subsistence farming, because that's all that's left. Billions of dollars in infrastructure has been destroyed, and donors are not lining up to replace it. Firestone is gradually leaving and other foreign firms only want to come in quickly and take diamonds or lumber. No one wants to set up a business in a country where the people hate each other in 34 different languages. There are no easy answers to the problems in Liberia, there aren't many hard answers either. Africa's last colony wants someone to come in and put the pieces back together. But no one is eager to do the job. Neighboring African countries, who have a direct interest in maintaining peace in the region, want the United States to help subsidize the peacekeeping. Even the neighbors don't want to get lost in Liberia."
Jim Dunnigan discusses the history of Liberia and it prospects.
The history is not just about the freed slaves from American. Apparently they were only five percent of the population. However because of education and background they were able to dominate the native population.
"...During the 1930s, there was a major scandal when senior government officials were caught, by the League of Nations, engaging in slavery. The government was exporting tribal Liberians to serve as slave labor in Spanish colonies. International pressure forced the government to treat the tribal people more fairly, something which was already happening, at least in terms of education, because of the growing economy."
"...With the Amero-Liberians no longer in power, there followed over two decades of fighting between the major tribes over who would get control of the government, and the opportunities to plunder the national wealth. After 1990, cheap guns (AK-47s for $20) and a network of middlemen willing to pay cash for natural resources like diamonds and lumber, armed tribal militias that kept fighting over what wealth was left. The AK-47s came from the huge arsenals of the former communist countries. They didn't need all those weapons, so they sold them cheap. AK-47s were showing up all over the world in the early 1990s, being hustled by East European gunrunners."
"...To stop the fighting, you have to intimidate the teenage gunmen into giving up their weapons and force them to go back to subsistence farming, because that's all that's left. Billions of dollars in infrastructure has been destroyed, and donors are not lining up to replace it. Firestone is gradually leaving and other foreign firms only want to come in quickly and take diamonds or lumber. No one wants to set up a business in a country where the people hate each other in 34 different languages. There are no easy answers to the problems in Liberia, there aren't many hard answers either. Africa's last colony wants someone to come in and put the pieces back together. But no one is eager to do the job. Neighboring African countries, who have a direct interest in maintaining peace in the region, want the United States to help subsidize the peacekeeping. Even the neighbors don't want to get lost in Liberia."
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