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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The political and social environment was marked by protests, a reminder of the country’s continuing fragility. The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was transitioning to take a smaller political role. By year’s end, UNMIL’s military strength stood at 5,869, its police strength at 1,612, and its civilian personnel strength at 1,518, reflecting a slow and calibrated downsizing. The opposition called for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to resign or be impeached. Corruption remained a key concern. A study commissioned by UNMIL reported a 44% increase in incidents of mob violence over a five-month period in 2013 compared with the same period in 2012. The UN also recorded murders and armed robbery, more than a third of which involved the use of firearms. As a mark of its enhanced international prestige, Liberia early in the year hosted the third UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 MDGs, co-chaired by President Sirleaf, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, and Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. On the economic front, the country registered a growth rate of 8.1% – the third highest in West Africa.