Liberia (Samuel Doe, 1980-1989)

Samuel Doe and The People's redemption council (1980-1989) :


After a bloody overthrow of the Americo-liberian regime by indegenous Liberians in 1980, a "Redemption Council" took control of Liberia. Internal unrest , opposition to the new military regime and the governmental reprssion steadily grew, until 1989 Liberia sank into outright tribal and civil war.


Coup d'etat:

Samuel Kanyon Doe (1951 - 1990), a member of the small ethnic group and a master sergeant in the Liberian army, trained by US Army Special Forces, led a bloody coup d'etat against President Tolbert on April 12, 1980 in which Tolbert and 26 of his supporters were murdered. Ten days later, thiteen members of Tolbert's cabinet were publicly executed. Thus 133 years of Americo-Liberian political domination ende and Doe's regime started. Doe established a military rule and formed a Peoples Redemption Council.

Doe established a warm relation with US govt. Ronald Reaganin 1981an got $95 million per year. He cut off all connection with soviet Russia and closed the link with Libyan. He overcame seven attempted coupbetween 1981 to 1985. He began to systematically eliminate PRC members who challenged his authority and replaced them by the members of his ethnic group.

1985 Presiential Election

A draft constitution suitable for multi-party republic had been issued and in 1984 it was approved by a referendum. But the election was not held fairly and Doe won with 51% votes. Doe was attacked opponent ethnic group from north and Charles Taylor assembled rebellion from two ethnic groups in 1989 and resulted in two civil wars one after another.

Samuel
Doe a
visit to
US in1982

(Liberia )One Party state

One Party State

Ninetieth and Twentieth Century

Princple single party state

Nation/Party/Start-End/duration

Liberia / True whig Party/1847-1980/133 yrs

Liberia, (1847-1980, Economy), Spread of Communism

President
Tolbert
and US
Presient
Jimmy Carter
(Left, in car)
in Monrovia
in1978.
During World War I, Germany was the main trading partner of Liberia but had withdrawn all connection after that time causing Liberia customs revenue to decrease. Moreover, a German submarine blockade of Liberia caused decrease of trade with Britain, France and US.

Betwenn 1945 and 1980, Liberia was largely associated with US and had also maintined relation with Soviet Bloc. Liberian economy , between 1847 to 1980 expanded from its primitive agriculture to large scale rubber industries and mineral resources. liberia also received hundreds f millions of ollars in unrestricted investment.


Spread of Communism ;


After World War II, The US viewed Liberia as a useful post from which to fight the supposed "spread of communism" through Africain the Cold War. Between 1946 to 1960 Libeia receivedd from US $ 500 million in unrestricted foreign investment. Liberia voted for US in matters on the Vietnam War and had a permanent mission to train Liberian Military. from1962 to 1980 the US donated $280 million in aid to Liberia.

Liberia (1847-1980, continued)

The Americo-Liberian settlers in 1878 organised their political power in the True Whig party, which permitted no organised political opposition. Until 1980, unremitting uprising rebellion and riots from the native peoples took place causing internal unrest. A list of indegenous uprising is given below :

1836, war with grebo and kru peoples, maryland was annexedwith Liberiain 1857.
1864: uprising of inland and coastal tribes.
1875-76, war in cape Palmas.
1886, an uprising
1880-1890, some tribes stay at war
1900, bloody battle.
1915, rebellion of the Kru.
1912-20, internal wars.

Between two World Wars Liberia had three significant developments.
i) The first was the grant in 1926 of a large concession to the American-owned firestone Plantation Company,that move became a first step in the (Limited) modernizationof the Liberian economy.
ii) The second occurred duringWorl War II , when the United States began providing technical an economic assistance tahtenabled Liberia to make economic progress and itroducesocial changes.
iii) Both the Freeport of Monrovia and Roberts International Airport were built by US personal uring World War II.

After 1927, the league of Nations investigated accusations that the Liberian Govt. recruited and sold indigenous people as contract labour or slaves.
During World War II thousands of indegenous people came from the nation's interior to the coastal regions in search of jobs. Liberia signed a Defence Pact with the US in1942, and assured the Americans and their allies of all the supply of natural rubber(a strategic comodity in war time) that they needed.


Latex being
collected from a
tapped rubber tree.












It also alled the US to use its territory for military bases, and as a bridgehead for American transports of soliers and warsupplies. At this time Liberia had to cut off all connection with all European enemy countries, such as Germany, dutch, Polish etc.

Liberia (1847 - 1980)

During 1847 - 1980, the state of Liberia was governed by the small minority of African - American colonists and their offsprings,together called Americo - liberians. These 5% of the total population suppressed large majority of 95% of the Liberian population.

The Americo -Liberians had been cut off from their African cultural inheritance and adopted Euro - American cultural and formed a new class with a separate physico-economic and religios identity.They were of mixed African and European ancestry and therefore possessed a lighter - skinned than the indegenous blacks.They had absorbed beliefs in the religious superiority of Protestant Christianity. They created a social and material facsimile of American society in Liberia maintaining their English speaking vocabulary.

Joseph

Jenkins

Roberts,

Governer

and first

president

between

1840 and

1850.

In Liberia's early years, the Americo- Liberian settlers periodically encoutered stiff and sometimes violent oppositions from citizens in the new Republic. A list of the Governers are as follows :

!847-56, Presidency Roberts-I

1856-64, Presidency Benson

1864-68, presidency Warner

1868-70, Presidency Payne-I

1870-71, ,, Roye

1871-72, ,, Smith

1872-76, ,, Roberts-II

1876-78, ,, Payne-II

1878-83, ,, Garner

1883-84, ,, Russel

1884-92, ,, Johnson

1892-96, ,, Cheeseman

1896-1900, ,, Coleman

1900-04, ,, Gibson

1904-1912, ,, A Barclay

1912-1920, ,, Howard

World war I (1914-18)

Indegenous

liberian

Woman

in 1910

1920-30, Presidency King

1930-44, ,, E. barclay

World War II (1939-45)

President

Edwin

Barclay(rt)

and US

President

Roosevelt

in

World

WarII
Jan.1943

1944-1971, ,, Tubman

1971-80 ,, Tolbert.

!944-71, Presiency

President Tolbert and US President Jimmy

Carter(Left)

Liberia (1821-1847)

Colonisation(1821 - 1847)

From around 1800, ideas and plans were floating inUS for establishing a colony in Africa with freed African - American slaves. Between 1821 and 1847, a combination of purchase and conquest, American societies developed the colony Liberia which in 1847 they declared it as independent nation.

Areas covered by the Emancipation Proclamation marked red and not covered marked blue

In eighteenth, before American Revolution, they could not think of freed Africans for their superiority complexes but after world wide awakeness they were forced to consider the abolition of slave trade and freed African- American societies. In 1800 and 1802 slave rebellions occurred ( Gabriel Rebellion) in Virginia,which were brutally supprssed. The number of freed blacks and slaves in America was gradually increasing at the end of the eighteenth century. In1790, there were 59,467 free blacks and out of a total US population of almost 4 million ( 4o,00,000) of which blacks were 8,00,000 i.e. one fifth. In 1800, there were 108,378 free blacks in a population of 7.2 million. These factors influenced the idea of forming a colony in Africa with freed freed Africans. It may be mentioned here that in 1787, Britain had started to settle "black poor", from London who helped them during American Revolution, in the colony Freetown in Sierra Leone.

From January1820, the ACS (American colonising Society) sentships from New York to west Africa carrying 88 free blackemigrants an three white ACSagentson board,intening to seek an appropriate spot of land to ground a settlement. After several attempts and hardships, ACS representatives in Dec. 1821 succeded to buy Cape Mesurado, a 36-milelong stripof land near Monroviafrom an indegenousruler king Peter. Until 1835, five more colonies were started by American societies oyher than the ACS , and one by the US Govt. along the coast , sometimes by use of force,in 1824 named Liberia with capital Monrovia in1847 Roberts proclaimed the colony the free and indepenent republic of Liberia. A constitution was drawn upalong the lines uf the US., denying voting rights to indegenous Liberians.

Liberia (continued)

People :

There are 16 ethnic groupsthat make up Liberia's indegenous population. The Kpelle, in central and western Liberia, are descedents of freed slaves arrived in Liberia in 1821. they are 5% of the total population. There are also sizeable numbers of Labanese, Indians, and other west African nationals. Formerly, perhaps, This country was occupied by Kru, Mane migrated to this place sometimes in 12th and 14th century AD and made an alliance with the Kru. Later onVai came to this region from the Mali empire. The Kru became involved with trading with Europeans. At first they traded non-slave commodities but later on they took active participationin the slave trade also.

Portuguese explorers established contacts with the land, in 1461, known at that time as Grain Coast for its abundance in grains. In1602 the Dutch established a trading

post but destroyed it after one year. in1663 The British installed trading postat the grain coast. No other posts were created before the entry of the freedslaves in1821.

Map of Liberia in 1830