- Mark Toner, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, retires early citing “a personal choice”
- Toner also denies U.S. news media that the reason for President Trump’s meeting with President Boakai and four African leaders was to pressure them to take third country nationals, including convicted criminals who are being deported from the U.S.
- Toner says there will be no immediate U.S. support for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives
Mark Toner, the United States Ambassador to Liberia, is retiring from his role less a year into what was to be a two-year post. His announcement to embassy staff on Tuesday, came as a surprise, particularly as it came just a day before Liberia President Joseph Boakai secured a coveted meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump along with the presidents four other African countries.
In an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa/New Narratives on Thursday, Toner insisted his decision was driven by a desire to spend more time with his family after 33 years in the foreign service and not because of any differences with the Trump administration. A Wall Street Journal article on Thursday claimed that Boakai and the other four presidents received a message just before the White House meeting, requesting they take third country deportees from the U.S. to help Trump’s campaign promise that he would deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally.
“Like members of the military, diplomats also spend large parts of their career away from family,” said Toner, 61, during the interview inside the U.S. embassy. “I made a personal choice that I had to return to be with my family and I don’t regret that at all. It has nothing to do with any political choice. I am proud to serve any administration.”
Ambassador Toner presents his credentials to President Boakai in 2024
People close to Toner said he had not signaled any intention to serve less than the full two years in what was to be his last post in a career that included stints as deputy spokesperson and acting spokesperson for the U.S. State Department during the Obama administration under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and Rex Tillerson during Trump’s first term.
Experts have speculated that Liberia’s inclusion in Wednesday’s meeting, along with the presidents of Senegal, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania, came in part because of the opportunity Liberia offers America in its economic rivalry with China. Liberia potentially possesses critical minerals like lithium and cobalt, seen as vital to the U.S. technology industry. The discoveries are expected to generate $3 billion in investment. Liberia and China signed an economic and technical agreement in March.
Toner said “China is a strategic competitor. Absolutely,” but said the US was “are the partner of choice for Liberia because of our long history, because of our shared history and our shared culture you know, cultural ties.”
The news also came just days after the Boakai administration signed a deal with Ivanhoe Atlantic, a U.S.-based company that has a mining concession in neighboring Guinea and plans to ship iron ore from Guinea through Liberia to a new port. The deal, which must be ratified by the Legislature, will allow Ivanhoe to share an existing rail line with Luxembourg-based Arcelor Mittal which has strongly opposed plans for the multi-user railway. In 2024, President Boakai established the National Railway Authority “to oversee and manage Liberia’s National Rail Assets,” and ensure “the efficient and equitable use of rail infrastructure by all stakeholders, particularly in the mining sector and for the transportation of passengers and goods.”
Toner said the deal with Ivanhoe was a sign of the new U.S. administration’s change in policy to focus heavily on trade. The Trump administration has slashed aid money to Liberia. The country has seen the biggest cut to aid compared with its economy of any country in Africa.
“This is a U.S. investment. We’re able to get over the finish line. I’m celebrating it,” said Toner. “I think it’s a good thing. The fact that they had the opportunity to close a major trade deal before going to Washington to frankly tell President Trump that ‘we did this, that we are open for business’ is not necessarily the worst signal to send. And again, talk to anybody involved in these negotiations. This has been under the in the works for many, many years.”
Toner insisted the White House meeting was simply a reflection of Liberia’s growing clout on the world stage.
“Don’t underestimate it. Don’t try to see false narratives out of this meeting,” said Toner. “The White House reached out to five African leaders and the fact that Liberia was included on that list speaks, I think significantly to Liberia’s position both regionally but also globally. Let’s not forget Liberia won a non-permanent member status of the UN Security Council. Liberia is one of the strongest and most stable democracies in the region. So, you know, let’s not under try to understate Liberia’s importance.”
President Trump made global headlines after complimenting President Boakai on his English language skills, seemingly to reflect a lack of knowledge that Liberia, founded by free African Americans, is an English-speaking country.
Trump has made no secret of his wish to find countries that will take large number of third country citizens that he would like to deport from the U.S. as part of his sweeping plan to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally. Eight convicted criminals were deported from the U.S. to South Sudan this week after the deportees’ lawyers failed in their legal bids to stop the deportations. Liberia has been named on a list of countries that face a travel ban to the U.S. because of its very high rate of visa overstays.
The Trump administration has said that one of the ways these countries can avoid a travel ban is to agree to take the deportees. The Washington Post, a U.S. media outlet, quoting a leaked memo from the State Department, said diplomats at U.S. missions in Liberia and other countries were being asked to work with these countries to accept third country nationals. The Wall Street Journal, another U.S. media, claimed that before the meeting, the Trump administration had requested Boakai and the leaders of the four other countries to accept undocumented migrants from third nation countries, an issue that’s been a signature policy of the Trump administration.
“I just don’t know that that was brought up in the in the in the actual meeting,” said Toner. “What I can say more broadly is this administration is very serious about illegal immigration and they’re looking at all kinds of methods and working with all kinds of partners in ways to combat that. And you know, that is a sovereign nation’s right. And it’s also any nation like Liberia’s, right to either agree or not to agree with, for example to take the deportees or others back into their soil. How I feel personally about it is not important.”
William Gyude Moore, a Liberian policymaker and international development expert said the issue was “simply a speculation, for now,” and that “we have no basis to assume that this will be an American request. However, it is worth preparing for. An agreement of such would very likely require legislative input, so President Boakai can always respond by saying he will have to consult the Liberian legislature.”
Moore does not think “all migrants are criminals or security risks. Many of the migrants are simply people who came to this country through irregular means and have lived and worked here for years” and said “It is therefore not a given that they pose a security risk to Liberia. There are also reports that more than 70% have no criminal record.”
Toner had bad news for Liberia’s push to establish a war and economic crimes court and a national anti-corruption court. The U.S. has been Liberia’s key partner in prosecuting and convicting Liberian war criminals for war-related crimes. The previous administration of U.S. President Joseph Biden, which left office in January, had promised to provide funding for the court. But Toner said no funding would be coming from the Trump administration.
“Not right now,” said Toner. “We’ve provided considerable technical assistance. We’re looking at ways we can continue to provide that technical assistance, but no funding now.”
But he urged Liberia to press ahead with accountability for past crimes.
“A war and economic crimes court can help in some ways. It can hold people accountable,” said Toner. “It doesn’t have to be everybody, but it has to hold some people accountable. And by doing that, you send a signal that there is an impunity here, that there is rule of law here in Liberia.”
“At some point you need to decide whether the WEC is a priority and if it is, fund it as such. And then from there you can start really putting the pieces together.”
On the fight against corruption, Toner said “Liberia has all the right mechanisms” in place in terms of corruption but said the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission and the Justice Ministry needed resources to fully operate. He urged the government to task track prosecutions.
The U.S. aid cuts have not entirely ended all U.S.-funded programs. Toner disclosed that “some basic health assistance, that will remain.”
“Our PEPFAR program, our malaria program will remain in place as well as our Central Medical Store at least through the foreseeable future, I think, until late next year,” said Toner. “And that also delivers life-saving drugs to clinics up country. So, what does remain is mostly humanitarian focused.”
Toner’s retirement ends a 40-year involvement with the country where he was a peace corps volunteer in the late 80s. He praised the hospitality of Liberians and said he would like to return with is family after his retirement.
This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project. Funding was provided by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia which had no say in the story’s content.
