Liberian voters in 1997 elected as president the most powerful armed faction leader, Charles Taylor, largely to ensure his cooperation in ending the war. The U.S. government and other major donors agree with that assessment. Apparently so does Alexander Kulue, executive director of the Liberian government's Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission and a frequent public critic of his government colleagues. Our leaders have to realize that the way we're going is not the way to go. The capital city, Monrovia, remains without electricity and is still cluttered with ugly shells of buildings destroyed by the war.
Prices remain higher, and supplies of staple foods and goods remain lower, than pre-war levels.
Several key highways are virtually impassable one-third of the year because of rains and years of neglect. Residents in most rural areas are virtually cut off from regular news and information about their country, unable to hear the capital city's seven radio stations because of the stations' budget problems and government restrictions on broadcasts. Shockingly low student test scores on national scholastic exams in mid-1999 emphasize the deleterious effects of school overcrowding and the erosion of academic standards compared to the pre war period. Struggling to come to grips with the war's legacy of enormous ruin and a substantially lower standard of living, Liberians are impatient for the benefits they expected peace to bring. In addition to economic and social hardships, sporadic violence and looting during the past year kept Liberians on edge.