Liberia was Africa’s first Republic and is currently ruled by the continent’s first female president; sadly however it is now probably best known for a long-running and brutal conflict that ran for most of the period 1989-2003 (this is sometimes broken into two Civil Wars, 1989-96 and 1999-2003). The role of diamonds in fuelling the fighting brought the conflict to wider international attention.

Although the conflict officially ended in 2003, the recovery from a conflict that brought the state to verge of collapse will be long, even in a best-case scenario. Though a relatively small country (the population is below 4 million), the reach and resources of the government remain severely constrained and local civil society groups play a key role in rebuilding Liberia.