Liberia's New President Must Lead on Land Rights or Risk Conflict

Apr 9, 2018 | Solange Bandiaky-Badji
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Earlier this year, the outgoing President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf handed over power to George Weah in the country’s first peaceful and democratic transition of power since 1944. It was a moment that crystallized just how far Liberia had come in the last 13 years, since a 2005 peace agreement brought an end to over a decade of civil war, raising hopes internationally that the country remains on course towards lasting peace. But President Weah also inherited a country that, like much of West Africa, is plagued by insecure community land rights and at risk of trending toward instability and conflict. Disputes over land and natural resources were among the structural causes of Liberia’s prolonged civil war, and advocates warn that failure to address this issue threatens to undermine the country’s hard-won peace. Millions of Liberians depend on the lands and resources that investors covet for mining, logging, and agriculture. Yet, research shows that the plantation model of development has failed to deliver promised benefits to Liberia’s rural people and that they benefit far more from retaining their traditional lands. Time and again they have been forced from their lands or faced the destruction of resources they depend on to make way for palm oil plantations and logging concessions.