African Studies
Utafiti: Journal of African Perspectives
Call for Papers: Utafiti is inviting you to submit your manuscript – any topic in the humanities - for consideration in the next issues.
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This was intended to be the year that Liberia made major steps towards peace, stability and the rehabilitation of its government after 14 years or more of war. At the beginning of the year, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), established on 1 October 2003, was still building up to its full strength of some 14,785 soldiers, 215 military observers, 755 civilian police, 360 uniformed police units, 635 international staff, 798 national staff and 431 United Nations volunteers. The UN General Assembly had been asked to appropriate some $ 840 m for UNMIL for the 12 months beginning 1 August 2003, indicating the size of the budget required for the world's largest UN mission. UNMIL enjoyed a robust Chapter 7 mandate, with authority to disarm and reintegrate former fighters, to assist in the reconstruction of Liberia's national police force and to assist in reestablishing national authority throughout the country. The UN mission was empowered to work with the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), an interim administration established by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in Accra on 18 August 2003 between the former government of Liberia and the two main armed factions opposed to it. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was intended to put a final stop to the war that had been fought in Liberia in fits and starts since the 1980s. It was made possible by the departure into exile of Liberia's elected president, Charles Taylor, on 11 August 2003 and his replacement by a government composed of members of the three armed factions that had been disputing control of the country, under a chairman of their choosing, the former businessman C. Gyude Bryant.