About the Author

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Taylor enigma

Context of the war and definitions

A country destroyed and a region torn

Liberia: county map

Part One: The Land of the Freed

1 | Foundations of a Settlement

End of the Tubman era

Shotgun settlement in the palaver hut

Mythical Matilda Newport

West Africa regional map

A Western colony in all but name

Entering the unknown Liberia

Paramount patronage

The modern commodity era begins

Beginnings of dissent

2 | The Spirit of Liberia

Arthington journey: inauspicious early times

Humble origins and adoption

A trip to Bomi County

Society and economy

Liberty, fraternity, spirituality

Liberian ethnic and language groups map

Tribal Affiliations of Liberian Population, 1962 Census

Poro practices and rituals

The heart of the matter

Traditional forces for contemporary power

3 | Confronting the Old Order

Tolbert’s uncomfortable balancing act amid change

An age of agitation

The right to rice

Leaving for studies in the United States

Bentley days and family life

ULAA and expatriate activism

Showdown with the president

Invitation to return

Coup of April 1980

Native power: the People’s Redemption Council

Part Two: From Dictatorship to Anarchy

4 | Sergeant-in-Charge: Samuel Doe’s presidency

A new career in procurement

Sitting up and taking notice in Washington DC

Charlie tap-dances as Nancy rocks

The mood towards Monrovia hardens

Succumbing to temptation at the GSA

Punishing Nimba

Taylor apprehended on his adoptive home turf

Business as usual despite criticisms

5 | Doe’s Decline, Taylor’s Travels

Thomas Quiwonkpa’s coup

Breakout and flight: New England getaway drama

White-collar prison life

Running spy rings around Ghana

The diaspora regroups

Building a movement

6 | Charles Taylor’s War

Taylor the adoptive Nimbaian

Swelling ranks, declining discipline

The rebel communicator

AFL crumbles on the battlefield

Doe’s internal purge intensifies

Internal tensions and rivals’ disappearances

First battle of Monrovia, July - August 1990

Fatal distraction

The second rebel faction appears

Taylor claims the presidency

Nigerian element drives a wedge between Taylor and the USA

Assassination of Doe

Gruesome ending on videotape

7 | The Pantomime of Peace

Brute force prevails in negotiations

ECOMOG, the civil war’s imported faction

Operation Octopus

Map: Conflict in Greater Liberia,1991 - 1994

Cotonou Accords offer amnesty to perpetrators

Taylor returns to Monrovia

Transitional government no. 2: new game, same rules

Third battle for Monrovia

International community trapped in Monrovia inferno

Another triumph for the strongmen

Part Three: Power in Greater Liberia

8 | Greater Liberia: Prospering and Assimilating

Getting down to foreign deals

Solidarity with Francophonie

Ghankay–Leaks, a media operation ahead of its time

The wealth of war

Connecting with country spirits

Excesses in the interior

Master of stagecraft

9 | Sierra Leone: Liberia’s Sister Revolution

Forming Corporal Sankoh

Connecting in Libya – launching from Liberia

Valentine Strasser’s coup: another boy soldier takes over

Diamonds are a warlord’s best friend

Defiant Sierra Leone goes to the polls

Sankoh goes AWOL

Cry Freetown: New Year’s massacre of 1999

Regional blunders by the Reverend Jackson

Taylor works to free UN hostages

UK search for scapegoat in Sandline affair

10 | Election Victory and the Taylor Presidency

Family values versus fear of violence

Life-or-death calculation by the electorate

Mastering the airwaves

Early Taylor administration

Faltering steps on the path to respectability

Counting the cost, forgetting the guilty

Uphill struggle to repair US relations

Cash-strapped and cut off from aid

Defence and domestic order: the ATU and the SSS

Charles Taylor Jr, Liberia’s wayward apprentice

Squandering the democratic opportunity

Part Four: Fallout from a Revolution

11 | A Government Embattled

Intransigence over Sierra Leone

The LURD is born

Sanctions crush the Liberian economy

Special Court closes in on its prey

Map: Taylor’s last Battle: Monrovia, June - August 2003

Backpedalling from peace

Charles Taylor’s last day in office

Exile years in Nigeria

Foot-dragging by the old guard

Dash for the border

12 | Relations withthe United States

US policy towards West African conflictin the late 1980s

US suspension of arms signals end of Doe

Preparations for the Gulf War: the death knell for peace in Liberia

ECOMOG, the newest looting faction in Liberia’s war

The Taylor Project, a turning point in trust

Taylor’s Washington spy

Clearing the file in Massachusetts

Visit to United States aborted

The Americans’ African

13 | Liberian Legacy

Young Liberia: conflict and flight

Voyage of the Bulk Challenge and Buduburam Camp

Youth on the run – and on the rampage

The disrespect of the displaced

Women and war

Praying away the devil

Truth, reconciliation and impunity

A president repents

14 | Justice à la Carte

From Calabar to courtroom

Charges against Taylor

Charles Taylor trial finally proceeds

Arms-for-diamonds allegations

UN comes in for Taylor attacks

Challenges facing prosecution

Proceedings drag on and funds run short

Notes

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Bibliography

Books and reports

Newspaper, online and journal articles

Video

Index