Requirements of Lagos: Some Remarks on The Republic of Liberia

Abstract

Since 1980, the news from the Republic of Liberia has seldom been cheerful. At the present time, the Republic is again offered an opportunity to rebuild and emerge from under the rule of the gun either by its pretend governments or any number of thugs and bandits masquerading as liberators. Liberia is working, with the crucial assistance of the international community, to rebuild itself. It is struggling with the arduous task of creating a meaningful common citizenship for its inhabitants and ensuring that the promise of that citizenship is redeemed for all. One of the principal obstacles on that road is traceable to the nature of the relationship between its indigenous, aboriginal population and its settler Americo-Liberian component. For those familiar with Liberia’s recent history, it was a core element of the Samuel Doe’s putsch in 1980 and the recent demographic composition of the main rebel group—Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy—reminds us of how much this issue continues to steer Liberian politics and her fortunes as a state.