The 3.5 million people of my small West African nation of Liberia ended a most auspicious year last November 8, 2006. That day marked the first anniversary of a historic vote by the people of a nation founded almost 160 years ago, when freed American and later Caribbean slaves joined indigenous Africans of varying ethnic groups to become Africa’s first independent state. On that day, a year ago, our people decisively chose a new government to direct their affairs for the next six years. In doing so, Liberians made the historic decision of democratically electing their own, and indeed Africa’s, first female head of state. In a real sense that very act signaled our people’s firm commitment to breaking with the past 25 years of debilitating instability, which included a devastating civil war for more than half of that period. When that process of political change was formally consummated with the swearing in of my inclusive and human rights sensitive administration on January 16, 2006, Liberia had laid the political infrastructure for a new dawn. A long awaited national renaissance was at once underway. It was sweet victory for a people that have endured so much for far too long.

Within a mere ten months in office, my administration has already taken the first vital steps on the long road to national economic recovery, in pursuit of the hitherto elusive goal of shared growth and development. But we are fully conscious as a nation that we cannot singularly confront the enormous challenges ahead. We will need to draw strength and support once again, as in our past crises, from our partners and friends—regionally and internationally. Such strategic partnerships for development are imperative. But given the unequivocal commitment of my new administration to conducting our business differently from how it was done in the past and the resilience and determination of our people, I am fully confident that as a nation we will surmount the enormous challenges that lie ahead in our reconstruction endeavors.

From Relative Prosperity to Absolute Poverty

In less than three decades, Liberia underwent a tragic collapse from relative post-war growth and success to one of the poorest nations on earth. The seeds for this dramatic collapse were sown many years prior to the 1980 military coup that triggered the decline. For many decades political and economic power in Liberia had been increasingly concentrated in a few hands. That together with a closed political system over time bred corruption, restricted access to the decision making process, limited the space for civil society participation in the process of governance, and fuelled ethnic and class animosities and rivalries. Political agitation and tension in response to years of monopolization of power and privilege added to the problem. This resulted in the 1980 coup d’etat led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe which toppled then president, William Tolbert. The military coup was followed by periods of severe instability, which culminated in a deadly 14-year civil war that began in 1989.

That instability, which was exacerbated by the actions of the Charles Taylor administration and a series of earlier interim regimes, also resulted in continued sharp declines in our national fortunes. Liberia had for many years qualified as a failed state by the time an internationally brokered cessation of hostilities took effect in August 2003. Our country’s economy had completed a free fall for over two decades, with national incomes plummeting almost nine fold from twenty years earlier, to annual per capita levels of well under US$200. Our national budget dwindled to as low as US$80 million in 2005 in stark contrast to some US$900 million in 1980. We were by then externally indebted to the tune of some US$3.5 billion (now about US$3.7 billion). Poverty, both income and non-income, had implanted itself among our people in an alarming manner. Some three quarters of Liberians lived on less than US$1 per day. The entire nation was virtually deprived of basic services and infrastructure such as roads, clean water, electric power, and solid waste disposal. By some estimates, well over three quarters of our formal sector employment had been lost, resulting in severe hardships for most households. Rampant corruption had become a way of life in our nation and our social institutions, and social capital had been destroyed. Managerial and technical capacity was universally fragile across the nation virtually in every sector. We could clearly no longer attain any of our Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Responding to Poverty

Poverty, corruption, and destroyed social capital formed broadly the distressing national social and economic architecture that my government faced upon assuming office in January 2006. Virtually everything needed to be done, while our own resources were too negligible even to make a minimal impact. Quick, substantive, and sustained external support and assistance was therefore an urgent priority.

Some of that necessary assistance has fortunately already come and was quickly expanded. Official donor assistance since the cessation of hostilities in 2003 has averaged some US$500 million per year, a significant portion of which was put towards the massive cost of maintaining some 15,000 UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) peacekeeping forces, one of the largest ever assembled in the world. Vital support of a humanitarian and development nature has also come principally from the rest of the UN system, the United States, the United Kingdom, the People’s Republic of China, the World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank, the IMF, and a number of regional African governments, especially Nigeria and Ghana. This timely and welcome support has undoubtedly permitted my new government to plunge headlong into the arduous task of rebuilding our severely broken country.

In our reconstruction efforts, we have taken several political, economic, and military measures. First, our country is now at peace. In concrete terms, we have completed the deactivation of the former Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) soldiers, and we are well along in the process of rebuilding a small army, more professional than the AFL, and vetting the first class of recruits for training. We have deactivated the ineligible members of our Special Security Forces, and are in the process of restructuring our National Police Force. Our partners have helped us to facilitate the return and rehabilitation of approximately 80,400 refugees, 61,000 ex-combatants and some 321,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), many of whom have received modest packages of agricultural tools and equipment in time for the current farming season.