a memorial for all wars: the Polynational War Memorial
 

LIST OF WARS: DETAILS

Liberia Civil War

Years: 1989-2003
Battle deaths: 3,051 [1]
Non-state conflict, battle-deaths: 3,057 [3]
Onesided violence: 17,141 [2]

Nation(s) involved and/or conflict territory [note]
Liberia

Published prior to 2013 | Updated: 2016-04-07 00:13:29
First Phase 1989-1996

The First Liberian Civil War was an internal conflict in Liberia from 1989 until 1996. The conflict killed over 200,000 people and eventually led to the involvement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of the United Nations. The peace did not last long, and in 1999 the Second Liberian Civil War broke out.

Samuel Doe had led a coup d’état that overthrew the elected government in 1980, and in 1985 held elections that were widely considered fraudulent. There had been one unsuccessful coup by a former military leader. In December 1989, former government minister Charles Taylor moved into the country from neighboring Côte d’Ivoire to start an uprising meant to topple the Doe government. During the civil war, factions formed around Taylor and those who supported his former soldier with the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, Prince Johnson. Johnson took the capital Monrovia in 1990 and executed Doe, while Taylor’s forces, the Armed Forces of Liberia, and Johnson’s forces battled for control of Monrovia.

Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 that was broken the next year before a final peace agreement and new national elections were held in 1997. Taylor was elected President of Liberia in July 1997.

Second phase, 1999-2003

The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and by June–July 2003, Charles Taylor’s government controlled only a third of the country. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group’s shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.

The Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed by the warring parties on August 18, 2003 marking the political end of the conflict and beginning of the country’s transition to democracy under the National Transitional Government of Liberia which was led by interim President Gyude Bryant until the Liberian general election of 2005.

Source: Wikipedia, published under the GNU FDL. Retrieved [dat]

(ADDITIONAL) SOURCES

Global Security

SOURCES: FATALITY DATA

Data Sources

[1] Battle deaths: UCDP Battle-Related Deaths Dataset v. 5-2014 (link) (1989-) ID: #146
Low: 2,950 High: 3,260

[2] UCDP One-sided Violence Dataset v. 1.4-2015 (1989-2014) (link) including actors: Government of Liberia, NPFL, INPFL, LURD, LPC, ULIMO - J, ULIMO - K, ULIMO, LDF
Low: 17,141 High: 18,795

[3] UCDP Non-State Conflict Dataset UCDP Non-State Conflict Dataset v. 2.5-2015, 1989-2014 (link) including dyads: INPFL vs NPFL, LPC vs NPFL, NPFL vs ULIMO, NPFL, ULIMO-K vs AFL, LPC, ULIMO-J, ULIMO - J vs ULIMO - K, RUF vs ULIMO
Low: 1,403 High: 5,902


More about sources

NOTE ON NATION DATA

NOTE! Nation data for this war may be inconlusive or incomplete. In most cases it reflects which nations were involved with troops in this war, but in some it may instead reflect the contested territory.

 

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