Liberia government may offer model for Africa

updated 4:56 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2007

A yearlong exploration by The Associated Press suggests that despite immense challenges, progress is gaining a foothold in pockets of Africa, in spheres ranging from democracy to education. After minimal results from five decades of Western advice and aid, the progress is led by Africans themselves.

MONROVIA, Liberia - Rarely in Africa has the human cost of war and greed been clearer than in this dingy, broken, sweltering corner of hell. Yet nowhere has the expectation of change created so much hope.

After 14 years of darkness, street lights shine amid the shattered buildings. And the new president — the first woman elected to head an African country — stands under an umbrella in the driving rain to launch repairs to a street that seems to have more holes than pavement.

Liberia last year began a grand experiment to overcome its past through a sea change in how it is run. The new leaders are elected. Parliament is controlled by the opposition, for the first time in its history. And President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf promises a new deal funded by donors and investors lured by peace and good governance.

"This country will never be what it was before," said Augustine Toe, a lawyer who directs the Roman Catholic Peace and Justice Commission. "People are starting to hold the government accountable more than ever before in our history. For the first time we are beginning to have a semblance of checks and balances."

Two-thirds of African countries now hold elections that are considered democratic, but democracy is a loaded word in Africa. In Zimbabwe, for example, President Robert Mugabe claims he is democratic despite elections widely viewed as fraudulent, and last year's election in Sudan did nothing to curb conflict there.

Polls by the Pew Global Attitudes Project and the Afrobarometer research group find enthusiasm for democracy in Africa is still high but fading, as Africans discover it is a lot messier in practice than on paper.

Liberia is trying to do something Africa has little experience with — forge a system that can survive one leader and contain the excesses of a ruling class. The attempt goes against a history of leaders in Africa who cling to power long after their expiry date.

War-torn nation votes for change
Liberia — its name comes from liberty — was founded by slaves freed by the United States more than a century and a half ago. But despite the mantle of freedom, the leaders of this West African country of 3.2 million people often came to power by force rather than a ballot box. The loser was sometimes tortured and killed under the dispassionate gaze of the winner.

Even on a continent long plagued with violence, the civil war in Liberia stood out for its luridness and for the naked greed that drove it without any cloak of tribal or ideological concerns.

Nic Bothma / EPA file A Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy rebel observes a ceasfire in August 2003. Even on a continent long plagued with violence, the civil war in Liberia stood out for its luridness and for the naked greed that drove it without any cloak of tribal or ideological concerns.

Soldiers for toppled President Charles Taylor, now facing trial for war crimes in the Hague, Netherlands, ate the hearts of slain enemies and decorated checkpoints with human entrails. They sliced open pregnant women and bet on the sex of the unborn child.

Johnson-Sirleaf, 69, was jailed twice under previous leaders and fled into exile. The Harvard-trained economist, who has worked for Citibank and the World Bank, won election in 2005. No public building was in good enough shape to host the inauguration ceremony, so guests sat on white plastic chairs on the grounds of the Capital Building and cheered, "Queen of Africa!"

"We know that your vote was a vote for change, a vote for peace, security," said Johnson-Sirleaf, a mother of four who is known as both Ma Ellen and the Iron Lady. "We have heard you loudly."

Changes start to take hold
Early results are promising. Liberia's economy grew about 8 percent last year, after a freefall of more than 90 percent the preceding two decades. Inflation is in single digits, and growth this year could reach 11 percent.

But one look at Monrovia shows how far there is to go. Dozens of buildings are no longer habitable, and many others are covered in grime and a dull black mold. Electrical power goes up and down like a bucket from a well. Tropical downpours create pools of mud and stagnant water that stink in the heat.

Almost 90 percent of Liberians are unemployed. From early morning until late at night, the streets are clogged with legions of ragged people who seem to drift aimlessly in search of a way to make enough money to buy food.

The government and the United Nations have created 21,000 jobs through projects to repair roads, remove garbage, clean drains and carry out other basic tasks. Foreign investment promises to create thousands more. A billion-dollar payment by steel giant Arcelor-Mittal for an iron ore concession could create 3,500 jobs by itself.

Memory sticks replace rifles
Momolu Norman, a former child soldier, enrolled in a computer school under a U.N. program to retrain combatants. He now teaches at the school in the mornings and studies criminal justice and administration at the university in the afternoons. Instead of a Kalashnikov, he carries a computer memory stick tied to a lanyard looped around the button-down collar of his pink and white checked shirt.

Seven years ago, when Norman was 15, he was selling used clothes on the street when a truck came to round up boys for the army.

"I gave my clothes to someone I knew and tried to run," says Norman, now 22. "But they caught me and put me on the truck. My family didn't even know then what had happened to me."

Five years of terror followed, during which Norman saw friends lose their arms, legs and lives.

"I had to kill people — I had no choice," he says. "I never wanted to be a soldier. When the U.N. intervened to end the war, I could finally do something for myself."

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