Iron ladies of Liberia, 2006 onwards

After fourteen years of civil war, on January 16, 2006,
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected female head of state
in Africa, in a hotly contested eliction. She was the
first woman candidate in Africa to have this honour.
Since taking office she had appointed other qualified
women to leadership positionin all areas of
Government, including the Police Chief and
ministers of Justice, Commerce and Finance.
For her capability to introduce democracy in a
riot torn state she was termed as Iron Ladies of Liberia.
During her time , in February 2008, President Bush
visited Liberia to extend his support through the
US Agency for Inauguration to increase community
infrastructure projects, such as expaning access to a
buildings , training Liberians in vocational skills,
promoting business development, and improving
standard of living.
Economy:
The liberian economy was mainly based on the
mining of iron ore and on the export of rubber
prior to the civil war. In the 1970's and 1980's,
iron mining accounted for more than half of
liberia's export earnings but economic growth
rate slowed down because of a decline in the
demand of iron orein the world market.
Liberian diamon exports had resumed.
"Curse" of Liberia's resources;
A few miles outside Monrovia, Capital of
Liberia, the humid scrublan gave way to
seemingly endless vistas of tall , geometrically
spaced rubber trees.This was one of the
largest plantations in the world.lokking carefully
through the forest cover one used to find miners
panning gold and diamons. soon enough, one used
to find across a railway that a mountain of iron-ore
in the north of the country which was rehabilitated
with 1bn.$investment.
It is well said that " the peace however remains fragile,
threatened, by the unresolved issue of who will exploit
and who will benefit from Liberia's natural resources.