By Nemen M. Kpahn
By June 2003, Liberia found itself at a perilous crossroads. Yet, in the face of rebel forces and mounting civilian casualties, the people of Monrovia showed their resilience. They converged on the US Embassy Greystone Compound, displaying bodies with gruesome injuries, urging the US government to intervene and put an end to the fratricidal madness in Liberia.
Only an American intervention could put an end to the madness in Liberia in 2003. Did not our West African brothers send thousands of troops to Liberia, dying to bring peace to Liberia since 1990, and yet peace remained elusive? ECOMOG was sent by then predominantly military governments in Anglophone countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and a small Guinean contingent fearful of a civilian like Charles Taylor leading an armed rebellion has so far failed to bring peace to Liberia as armed groups multiplied under their watch.
If President Samuel Doe government fell through armed rebellion, there could be a boomerang effect with dissidents opposed to Jerry John Rawlings, Ibrahim Babangida, Joseph Momoh, and Dauda Jawara forming rebel armies to overthrow them. So ECOMOG spent more than a decade trying to bring peace to Liberia. According to Stephen Ellis book, The Mask of Anarchy (prefix to the second edition), President George W. Bush seeing rebel forces besieging Monrovia against the troops of Taylor having caught civilians in an orgy of bloodletting needed US intervention.
Why wouldn’t America have intervened after 14 years of war in the small West African country? There were very close historical ties between Liberia and America. Seven of Liberia’s Presidents were African-Americans born and raised mainly in America. Descendants of formerly enslaved Americans founded modern Liberia. Wasn’t the capital of Liberia named after James Monroe, a former American President?
And aren’t the names of places in Liberia reminiscent of antebellum America? Louisiana, Virginia, Mississippi, Africa, Maryland, and so on and on. The Liberian flag and constitution are modeled after the United States. During the Cold War, Liberia was the strongest American ally on the African continent. Roberts International Airport began as an American base for the invasion to clear the German Nazis from North Africa during WWII. Then, the Omega Navigational Tower guided international shipping back before satellite navigation. The Voice of America (VOA) broadcast relay station was based in Liberia. The US embassy in Monrovia was one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa. Every diplomatic communication from the African continent to America passed through the Monrovia embassy, which served as CIA base for West Africa. The largest number and richest number of the Liberian diaspora resided in America. Almost all Liberian government officials and their children were educated in America. America was a beloved second home for many Liberians.
Ok, let me stop here. I think you got the picture. I could go on and on writing about the proximity of American Liberian relations. You could read the book by retired Professor Elwood Dunn, Liberia and the United States during the Cold War: Limits of Reciprocity, 2009, if you want to read more.
When George Bush announced in 2003 that Taylor must leave Liberia, even a casual observer of Liberian politics knew the tenuous hold of the Liberian President at the time was over. When asked by journalists what he would do if Taylor said no, President Bush said he did not expect no for an answer. August 2003, Taylor was soon headed to Nigeria out of the presidency, and peace was on its way to Liberia. The vicious belligerents of the war soon laid their arms down.
Would America intervene in Liberia today if 2003 was 2025 with a mercurial and transactional US President like Donald Trump in the White House? What would America gain from Liberia today in exchange for American intervention if there was a crisis in Liberia?
Now we have satellite navigation, so there is no need for Omega Satellite. The VOA transmitter that used to be in Liberia is now in Seychelles. Firestone? The 99-year lease on the plantation expires this year.
I was surprised when Donald Trump and his South African-born interloper Elon Musk repeatedly referred to the paltry 1.5 million USAID set aside to boost voter confidence in Liberia as an example of fraud and waste eliminated by DOGE. Believe it or not, the 1.5 million aid waste made it to President Trump’s State of the Nation address. What was the US President talking about in his SONA? Was President Trump speaking of US 150 million dollars given to Liberia as aid?
No, it was 1.5 million dollars out of USAID 40 billion dollars budget. Despite the close historical, political and economic links between Liberia and America, Liberia is not even among the top ten recipients of US aid. These are the top 5 recipients of US aid as of 2024:
1. Ethiopia $1.20 billion
2 Congo DR $1.20 billion
3 South Sudan $795.41 billion
4 Somalia $756.85 million
5 Nigeria $738.75 million
Do you see the picture? And yet Trump talks about $1.5 million saved from Liberia from USAID grant. I was more than shocked during a vote in the UN Security Council recently. The US voted along with China, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea on February 25, 2025, against a resolution drafted by some of America’s closest allies, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and others, against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I never thought I would live to see that.
What am I driving at? The world has changed, and Liberia must change with it. We must take responsibility for our own development. No longer can we rely on donor aid while our budget is spent on recurrent expenses. Recurrent expenditures are necessary and unavoidable part of running a government, but it must not use up the bulk of the budget. Liberia must choose its priorities wisely and spend its budget on things that matter, roads, electricity, bridges, hospitals, education and health. Let me end with a personal anecdote.
The first time visiting Ghana in 2003, I was surprised at how underdeveloped Ghana was compared to the Ivory Coast. Today, with massive infrastructure spending, Ghana is one of the most developed nations in West Africa. We (Liberia) cannot depend on America or any other nation. Liberia development depends on no other country, but ourselves. If we use our resources wisely on things that matter, we can regain our place as the 5th biggest economy of West Africa as it was in the 1970s.
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