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Liberia

Negociating Peace in Liberia: Preserving the Possibility for Justice

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Liberia has been at peace since 18 August 2003, when a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in Accra, Ghana. After a brutal war in the early-to-mid- 1990s, a repressive government headed by Charles Taylor was in power from 1997. By the time the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy started encroaching on the capital in 2003, there was mconsiderable pressure for a firm and lasting peace agreement. But Liberia had seen over a dozen peace agreements in the previous dozen years, and all suffered from questionable political commitment of the signatories actually to keep the peace and build a truly democratic society.

This article is based on extensive interviews with many of those who took part in the 2003 talks. It aims to record the dynamics, actors and elements that determined how and why many of the key decisions were taken that resulted in the 2003 peace agreement, with a particular focus on questions of justice, accountability and the rule of law. It also tracks developments in the four years after the accord was signed, and provides insights that may be useful in future mediation contexts.