LIBERIA, WEST AFRICA POST WAR-photos 2005-2006

Liberian Civil War-1st war-1989-1996-97, 2nd war-1999-2003

Photos: Debra L. Bell 

The city of Monrovia is located in Montserrado County on Bushrod Island and Cape Mesurado at the Atlantic coast, at the estuary of the Mesurado River. A population approx. 1 million in the Greater Monrovia District. 

Short history: Founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society as a new home for freed slaves from the United States and the British West Indies. The city was named for James Monroe, then the president of the United States.

Until recently the city was still controlled by descendants of the early settlers who arrived between 1830 and 1870. Since it broke ties with the United States after 1871, it was a cultural combination of pre–Civil War Southern American and West African influences. The city and the nation was destroyed during the Liberian Civil War - 1st civil war 1989-1996 and again 2nd civil war from 1999-2003. 

(You can research information about the war yourselves. There's too much political info for me to share, however you can view my photos below as a visual documentation of the post war in this section from 2005-2006. I will be posting more as time allows.)

I was blessed to serve with Mercy Ships (MS) for 8 years (Dec 2005-Nov 2013) as the ship's photographer on two hospital ships-the m/v Anastasis & the m/v Africa Mercy, the world's largest charitable floating hospital. Mercy Ships is a global humanitarian organization who uses hospital ships to deliver free, world class health care services, capacity building and sustainable development to those without access in the developing nations in Africa. 

https://www.mercyships.ca, https:/www.mercyships.org

During my volunteer service with MS, I was in West Africa-Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Western Africa in the Congo & South Africa. Apart from my role on the ship, I was fortunate to explore the country, meet the locals and capture their cultural.  

  

Inaugurated in January 2006, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, also known as  "Iron Lady", 

became the world's first elected black female president and Africa's first elected 
female head of state. 

The second Liberian disarmament program – the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) Programme, each combatant would surrender his or her weapon, register for the program and receive an ID.  Each would receive a reinsertion benefit:  As of February 2005, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) had disarmed and demobilized approx. 103,019 combatants.

Hand painted poster in Monrovia market. 

A report by the UN Mission in Liberia and the Office of the High Commissioner 
for Human Rights (OHCHR) said rape has become the second-most reported serious 
crime in the country.  Between 61 per cent and 77 per cent of all woman and girls 
in the country were raped during the conflict, according to previous research by the 
World Health Organisation.

One of many hundreds of internally displaced people camps (IDP's).

Thousands went homeless for many years. Many never returned back to their home villages. 

A lady makes her way to her temporary home in a IDP camp for displaced civilians.

In the IDP camps, one must find a way to survive, markets & small business
 begin in the midst of their suffering & rebuilding. 

Capital city Monrovia, people squat in a destroyed business building. 

Capital city Monrovia on the coast, a business building destroyed in the devastation
of the war.  Squatters & small shanty shack street stalls rebuild at the base of the building.

Bullet riddled pillar (L) and burning trash accumulates on the streets & in the markets.

Billboard of the President elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the midst of the burning rubble.

Street garbage mounts up on-top of a burned and stripped car in Monrovia.

Abandon cars on the Monrovian streets. Eventually stripped clean of parts
to be recycled to rebuild other vehicles.

Prior to the inauguration of Presidential Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a national day of street cleaning was ordered throughout the city. An abandoned car supported by sticks was lifted to clean underneath.

Abandon vehicles stripped of the precious medal and parts for recycling to build 
and create other items or means of transport. 

 

Monrovia along the river mouth 

Monrovia street scenes, rainy season.

The all in one shop-petrol fill up (petrol in a jar), local calls, jewelry shop

Filling up the van with petrol.  Curiosity brings a team to fill. 

Little by Little petrol station (small, small) as the locals say.  No business today!

Even the youngest boys work, he awaits his next customer at filling station.

Communication booth-cell phone service & barber shop

The capital, Monrovia street scenes.

Bullet riddled building yet people rebuild with whatever materials they find. Many

destroyed homes are left abandoned never to be rebuilt as the owner may not have

survived the war and others can not take ownership unless they become squatters.  

Floods during monsoon season

Local church destroyed in civil war. Graveyard next to it with garbage mounting up.

The UN had a presence in the nation for a number of years. 

Local Police stop a vehicle 

Monrovia streets. Electrical wires criss-cross the buildings as homes and businesses try to
gain access to electricity. 

Broken satellite dish

The bullet riddled Gabriel Johnson Tucker Bridge crosses the Mesurado River and connects Main Land Monrovia to Via Town/ Bushrod Island.  Also known as the Johnson Street Bridge which is the only access to the historical Providence Island.  During the 2nd civil war,  the rebels blockaded the bridge making it impossible to escape out of Monrovia. 

The bridge is very busy, locals cross it daily to travel inland, or fetch water 

and purchase supplies outside of downtown Monrovia. 

Painting and Restoration of the bidge began in 2006