Liberia - The African Mirror

Feb

2021

‘Liberia will bounce back from COVID-19 crisis with 3.2% growth’

ALPHONSO TOWEH LIBERIA is in talks with China over debt relief and expects to return to economic growth this year of 3.2% after an estimated 3% contraction in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis, Finance Minister Samuel Tweah told Reuters yesterday. Tweah said he had feared the worst when the pandemic struck last year, since the West African nation's economy was already fragile partly due to the winding down of some foreign aid flows after a 2014-16 Ebola outbreak. "We thought the economy would have collapsed, but it did not happen," he said in an interview. "That suggests strong resilience.…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Liberia votes in referendum to shorten Presidential terms

NEWS

ALPHONSO TOWEH LIBERIANS lined up at polling stations across the country on Tuesday to decide on a variety of constitutional changes including the shortening of presidential terms to five years and allowing dual citizenship. Half of the Senate's 30 seats were being contested alongside the referendum, which was promised by President George Weah's predecessor Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Former soccer star Weah's election victory in 2017 was greeted with wild celebrations, but he has since faced protests from those who say he has failed to tackle corruption or revive a stagnant economy. In October Weah's team was forced to publicly denounce…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Liberian rebel commander shouts out at start of Swiss trial for cannibalism, rape

NEWS

EMMA FARGE A former rebel commander accused of involvement in killing civilians, rape and eating pieces of a school teacher's heart during Liberia's civil war decried his long pre-trial detention in an outburst as proceedings began in Switzerland. The trial is just one of a handful of cases brought to international courts in connection with the West African country's 1989-2003 civil war, which became a byword for savagery and killed hundreds of thousands of people. The defendant, 45-year-old Alieu Kosiah, denies the charges. His lawyer said Kosiah, who was arrested in Switzerland in 2014, was not present in the area…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Liberian electoral body says referendum on presidential terms will take place

NEWS

LIBERIA will hold a referendum next month on constitutional changes to reduce the length of the president's term and allow for dual citizenship, as it has resolved a procedural issue that risked its cancellation, the election commission has announced. On November 18, the Supreme Court said the December 8 vote would have to be cancelled after it found the ballots violated the law by presenting multiple referendum questions on the same sheet of paper. In response, the election commission has said it can resolve the issue by printing the questions on separate sheets of paper, allowing the vote to take…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

UK police arrest man over alleged Liberian war crimes

NEWS

BRITISH police have arrested a man on suspicion of war crimes relating to conflicts in Liberia between 1989 and 2003. Police said detectives had detained the unnamed 45-year-old man in southeast London over alleged offences contrary to the International Criminal Court Act, and he was now in custody. From 1989 to 2003, up to a quarter of a million people in Liberia were killed in a civil war, while thousands more were mutilated and raped. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is serving 50 years in a British prison after being found guilty by an international tribunal of crimes against humanity.…