LegiStorm

Summary:

Introduction. Congress has shown enduring interest in Liberia, a small coastal West African country of about 4.8 million people. The United States played a key role in the country's founding, and bilateral ties generally have remained close despite significant strains during Liberia's two civil wars (1989-1997 and 1999-2003). Congress has appropriated considerable foreign assistance for Liberia, and has held hearings on the country's postwar trajectory and development. In recent years, congressional interest partly has centered on the immigration status of over 80,000 Liberian nationals resident in the United States. Liberia participates in the House Democracy Partnership, a U.S. House of Representatives legislative-strengthening initiative that revolves around peer-to-peer engagement. Background. Liberia's conflicts caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, spurred massive displacement, and devastated the country's economy and infrastructure, aggravating existing development challenges. Postwar foreign assistance supported a recovery characterized by high economic growth and modest improvements across various sectors. An Ebola outbreak from 2014-2016 cut short this progress; nearly 5,000 Liberians died from the virus, which overwhelmed the health system and spurred an economic recession. The outbreak also exposed enduring governance challenges, including weak state institutions, poor service delivery, official corruption, and public distrust of government. Politics. Optimism surrounding the 2018 inauguration of President George Weah—which marked Liberia's first electoral transfer of power since 1944—arguably has waned as his administration has become embroiled in a series of corruption scandals and the country has encountered new economic headwinds. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economy contracted by 1.4% in 2019, down from 1.2% growth in 2018, as rising inflation has undermined household purchasing power. Weah's government has struggled to deliver on ambitious pro-poor campaign pledges, as diminishing foreign aid flows, poor tax administration, and low global prices for Liberia's top export commodities have strained state finances. Public discontent with alleged mismanagement and corruption has given way to large anti-government protests in the capital city of Monrovia. The Economy and Development Issues. Liberia faces substantial obstacles to broad-based, sustainable development. Infrastructure gaps, poor electricity provision, corruption, and an uncompetitive business climate impede growth. Exports of raw rubber, gold, iron ore, diamonds, and palm oil are key sources of government revenues and foreign exchange, but these industries provide few high-paying jobs to local Liberians, and much of the population relies on subsistence agriculture. Nearly one-third of Liberians face moderate to severe chronic food insecurity despite the country's fertile land, extensive coastline, and abundant rainfall. Human Rights. Human rights conditions have improved considerably since the early 2000s, though corruption, episodic security force abuses against civilians, and discrimination against women and marginalized communities persist. Press freedoms have come under threat during Weah's presidency; reporters have faced harassment and occasional violence from government officials, including legislators, and some journalists reportedly self-censor to evade persecution. Accountability for wartime abuses remains a highly sensitive issue, and several individuals who played key roles in Liberia's conflicts retain influence and/or serve in elected office. Several perpetrators of wartime abuses have faced trial in the U.S. court system, most on immigration-related fraud or perjury charges related to nondisclosure of involvement in such abuses in applications for U.S. asylum, residency, or citizenship. U.S. Assistance. Since the end of Liberia's second conflict in 2003, the United States has provided more than $2.4 billion in State Department- and USAID-administered assistance to support Liberia's post-war stabilization and development. This does not include nearly $600 million in emergency assistance for Liberia's Ebola response, aid channeled through other U.S. agencies, or U.S. funding for a long-running U.N. peacekeeping mission that completed its mandate in 2018. Current U.S. assistance, which totaled $96.5 million in FY2019, centers on supporting agriculture-led development and strengthening the health system, public service delivery, civil society capacity, and justice and security sectors. An ongoing $256.7 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact seeks to enhance Liberia's power sector and roads infrastructure.