What is the current political situation in Liberia? Has there been any progress toward peace?
Yes, Liberia is taking steps toward peace. Liberia’s current president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, was democratically elected on November 8, 2005. Daughter of the first indigenous Liberian to be elected to the national legislature, Jahmale Carney Johnson, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was born in rural Liberia but is a Harvard-trained economist. She has been widely celebrated for being the first elected female head of state in Africa. A former Citibank and World Bank employee, Johnson-Sirleaf’s career also includes heading the U.N. Development Program for Africa [3]. Johnson-Sirleaf was jailed twice during the Doe administration before escaping and going into exile. As president, she hopes to bring her credentials as an economist to bear and enlist the help of the international community in rebuilding Liberia’s economy and infrastructure. Her efforts to have Liberia’s external debt of $3.5 billion cancelled were at least partially rewarded on November 12, 2007, when the IMF agreed to begin providi
