Liberia

Fourteen years of civil war, brought on by marginalisation and economic collapse, ended with a Peace Agreement brokered in Accra in June 2003 and a two-year National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL). This was followed by presidential and legislature elections in late 2005 which resulted in the inauguration of the first elected female President in Africa, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She launched an ambitious transitional and development programme, stating transparency and anti-corruption as the main items on her agenda.

However, Liberia’s conflict makes achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) a daunting challenge that will require more than the pre-war rates of growth and more rapid progress over the next ten years than anywhere else in the world. Moreover, the war essentially ended human capital formation and resulted in the mass exodus of skilled workers. The country’s infrastructure is completely destroyed and the state incapable, given the lack of financial and human resources, to provide basic services to the population. Despite richness in natural resources such as timber, iron ore or diamonds, government revenues will remain insufficient to meet the needs of the country.

Against this background, the New Government of Liberia (NGoL) has launched, mainly for HIPC purposes, an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy (iPRS) for a 24-month period starting July 2006 that is centred on consolidating national peace and positioning the nation on a path of sustained poverty reduction through economic growth and human development. A full PRS on the same lines should follow, covering the period from July 2008, and is to be implemented over a four-year period. The EU’s Strategy for Africa coincides with the priorities outlined by the Government and therefore the development of the EC’s CSP and IP for Liberia has embraced the iPRS process and utilised its participatory approaches to ensure broad stakeholder consultations. The country’s needs are enormous but donors are few, even if the interest is increasing at European and international level. National revenues are limited but the Government is actively encouraging the private sector. Capacity is in short supply given the post-conflict setting. It is clear that the country mainly remains in a rehabilitation phase and that various areas of the country still need to be viewed as being in an emergency situation.

In view of the above and in line with the GOL development policy and the EU Strategy for Africa, under the 10th EDF it is proposed to follow a flexible approach of Linking Relief Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD) in the context of Post-Conflict Fragile States. Rehabilitation (basic physical infrastructure and provision of social services) and Governance (institutional support and capacity building) will be the key drivers of this needed flexible LRRD strategy. Furthermore, delivery in basic social sectors such as education and health should contribute to bridging the existing and wide gap between the emergency and sustainable development phases.

Finally, the more flexible procedures (Article 73 of the Cotonou Agreement) applied to an immediate post-conflict country should always be considered in Liberia, which will only have its full PRS in operation by 2009. The mid-term review would be a good time to re-assess a programme so difficult to design in this country with such a fast evolving situation.