Amnesty International Liberia: Reports outlining investigation of war crimes and abuses.

BBC Country Profile – Liberia: An insightful overview of the political, social and economical landscape. Also noteworthy is the extensive timeline feature.

Daily Observer Newspaper: Online newspaper with extensive information about the situation in Liberia. Search for articles related to peacebuilding, justice and reconstruction.

Global Security – Liberia: Provides wide range of information on the conflict and its and consequences. Highlights government, rebels, forces and refugees involved in the conflict.

Human Rights Watch: A range of reports and related news from Liberia.

Internally Displaced Monitoring Center: Extensively categorised and comprehensive resource of IDPs in Liberia. Under the ‘Internal Displacement Profile,’ search for the specific reports, statistics and maps.

International Crisis Group: A comprehensive resource for information on the instability and ongoing humanitarian challenges in Liberia. Particularly noteworthy is the categorised Africa Briefing Reports.

IRIN – UN Humanitarian News and Analysis: The U.N. news service IRIN carries news of the latest humanitarian developments, from Liberia and across the world.

Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services: Provides statistics of population composition and distribution released from the Census 2008.

Reuters Alertnet – Liberia Crisis: Navigate through the extensive categorised sections for a comprehensive overview of Liberia. Includes timelines, statistics and a ‘who works where’ database of local and international NGOs.

UNDP Liberia: Official UN website which provides figures and work made in Liberia for development, reconstruction and social recovery after the civil war.

United Nations Mission in Liberia UNMIL: A complete database of all aspects of the mission’s operations in Liberia. This is an essential tool in understanding the complexities and scale of the UN commitment in the Liberia.

USAID Liberia: USAID have been developing programs to help people recover from the war through economic opportunities and return of displaced people.

Books

Journey Without Maps, Graham Greene: This journey across Liberia with his cousin Barbara was Greene’s first book

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1990: As the the rebels look poised to take Monrovia, the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), forms Ecomog – a peace keeping force headed by Nigeria – and sends them into the city. to keep the warring parties apart.
1990: Doe is captured, tortured and killed by a splinter group of NPFL.
1991: An Interim Government of National Unity, headed by Amos Sawyer, and sponsored by ECOWAS is established. The plan is rejected by Taylor, who establishes his own, rival government.
1992: NPFL rebels attack Ecomog peacekeepers in Monrovia.
1993: The warring factions agree to a ceasefire, but it fails to halt the violence.
1995: A peace agreement (pdf) is signed by the temporary Liberian government, rebel groups and civil society.
1996: Fighting between the various factions resumes, and spreads to Monrovia. Around 3,000 people are killed in the battle that follows.
1996 (Aug): Ecowas begins disarmment programme, clearing the way for the return of refugees.
1997: Taylor wins the presidential elections elections with 75% of the vote. Although they are seen as free and fair, many Liberians believed Taylor would resume fighting if he failed to win the presidency.
1999 (Jan): Liberia accused of supporting the RUF rebels in Sierra Leone, leading sactions from the US, UK, and UN.
1999 (Apr): Emergence of a new rebel group, the Liberians United for Reconcilation and Democracy (LURD). Operating out of Guinea, they attack the town of Voinjama in Loma County, north west Liberia.
2000 (Sept): The beginning of a major Liberian operation to end the rebel presence in the north. Guinea accuses Liberia of entering it’s territory.
2001 (Mar): UN imposes an arms embargo against Liberia for their support of Sierra Leonean rebels.
2002: Liberia declares a state of emergency, as the rebels advance on Monrovia.
2003: Heavy fighting in Monrovia as rebel forces seem on the brink of taking the city.
2003 (Jul): Sierra Leone produces indictment accusing Taylor of being implicit in war crimes committed by the RUF. Fighting around Monrovia intensifies, and Ecowas once again deploys peacekeepers to defend the city.
2003 (Aug): Taylor resigns and is exiled in Nigeria, opening the way for a peace agreement between the rebels and the government. US troops arrive to help enforce the peace.

2003 (Oct): US troops withdraw, and are replaced with the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
2004: UNMIL announces it has successfully demobilised over 103,000 ex-combatants.
2005: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is elected president, becoming Africa’s first female democratically elected head of state.
2006(Feb): The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission is established in order to investigate human rights abuses committed between 1979 and 2003.
2006(Apr): Taylor is arrested in Nigeria and handed over to the United Nations in Sierra Leone.
2006(Jun): International Criminal Court agrees to host Taylor’s trial due to fears of instability if the trial were to be held in Sierra Leone. In order to allow training of the security services, the UN eases a ban on weapons sales. The following month the timber export embargo is lifted.
2006(Jul): Generator-powered street lights provide Monrovia with the first electricity it has had for 15 years.
2007(Apr): The UN lifts the embargo on Liberian diamonds.
2007(Jun): Taylor’s trial begins, although it is subsequently postponed for a year.
2008(Mar): Liberia conducts its first census since 1984.
2008(Jun): Taylor’s trial is re-opened.
2009 (Dec): The Truth and Reconciliation Committee produce their final report.

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1970s: Armed southern based groups continue to wage campaigns of violence, mainly through attacks on police posts and government buildings. The government reacts by launching military operations.
1980: General Prem Tinsulanonda assumes power.
1983: Premier gives up his military position and becomes the head of a civilian government. He is re-elected in 1986.
1990: Rebel groups in the south accept an amnesty. This leads to optimism that the insurgency is over, however, low-level militant activity continues.
1991: Another Military coup, the 17th since 1932. A civilian, Anand Panyarachun, is installed as Prime Minister.
1997-98: After a request from the Thai government, Malaysia begins to crack down on Thai separatist leaders in its northern states.
2001: Thaksin Shinawatra, newly elected prime minister, attempts to re-establish a top-down political structure over the southern provinces.
2001 (Dec): Militants carry out a coordinated attacks on police posts.
2003: The Thai government launches a war on drugs, with the southern border provinces heavily affected. More than 2,200 people are killed and thousands arbitrarily arrested, blacklisted and “disappeared”, according to Human Rights Watch.
2004 (Apr): Following more coordinated attacks on police stations and check points in the south, three prominent Muslims are arrested on terrorist charges. 100’s more suspected Islamic militias are killed in fighting. The government imposes martial law.
2004 (Oct): A demonstration outside a police station in Tak Bai results in arrest of hundreds of Muslim men and boys, 85 of whom die from suffocation after being put in army trucks.
2005 (Jul): Prime Minister Thaksin is granted new powers to counter suspected Muslim militants in the region.
2005 (Oct): A Buddhist monk dies when a Temple in the Pattani province is burned down. This is the first direct attack on a Buddhist temple since the onset of violence in 2004.
2005 (Nov): following government crack downs on Muslim militants the death toll, since January 2004, tops 1,000.
2006 (Jan): Prime Minister Thaksin rejects an offer of peace talks by a separatist rebel group, saying he has never heard of them.
2006 (Sept): Four die and 68 are injured when three bombs are detonated in the southern tourist town of Hat Yi.
2006 (Oct): following the earlier disposal of Thaksin, retired General Surayud Chulanont is appointed Interim Prime Minister. He takes a more pacifying approach to the south.
2007 (Feb): yet more coordinated bombings, this time on Lunar New Year, targeting people of Thai-Chinese ancestry. 8 are killed and 50 wounded.
2007 (Mar): Thai security forces raid the jungle camp of a group called Barasi Revolusi Nasional (BRN), killing five militants. This group is believed to one be the largest southern separatist networks, and is an offshoot of the (National Revolutionary Front).
2007 (May): More than 100 killed in one of the bloodiest months since the violence began.
2007 (Aug): Voters endorse a new, military-drafted constitution, the 18th in 75 years of on-off democracy.
2007 (Dec): The Pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) falls just short of outright majority in a general election. The Constitutional Court disbands the PPP.
2008 (Aug): Thousands of protesters from the People Alliance for Democracy (PAD) storm Government House in attempt to unseat the New Prime Minister, Mr Samak.
2008: Mr Samak declares a state of emergency in Bangkok after one person is killed and 45 hurt in clashes.
2008 (Sept): Mr Samak is found guilty of violating constitution and he has to quit.
2008 (Sept): Mr Thaksin’s brother-in-law at the time, Somchai Wongsawat, is elected prime minister by parliament.
2008 (Oct): The Supreme Court sentences Mr Thaksin to two years in jail for breaking a conflict-of-interest law.
2008 (Nov): PAD protesters storm Bangkok’s main airport. Up to 250,000 foreign tourists are stranded.
2008 (Dec): The Constitutional Court disbands the PPP. PAD protesters say they will end the blockade of Bangkok’s two airports after the ruling.
2008 (Dec): Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva becomes the third prime minister in as many months. 200 red-shirted demonstrators block access to parliament, accusing him of links of the military.
2009 (Apr): The red shirts target the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the beach town of Pattaya.
2009 (Apr): The ASEAN summit is cancelled after protesters overwhelm riot troops and storm part of the conference venue. 15 visiting leaders are evacuated by helicopter.
2009 (Apr): Mr Abhisit declares a state of emergency in Bangkok. About 50 protesters force their way into the interior ministry with Mr Abhisit inside. He escapes.
2009 (Apr): The Thai army cracks down on protests in Bangkok; 77 people are reported injured in the clashes

-Reuters

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1998 (Sept): NATO offers an ultimatum to President Milosevic to halt the crackdown on Kosovo Albanians.
1999 (June): NATO Air strikes are suspended after Milosevic agrees to withdraw troops. NATO forces arrive in Kosovo and the KLA agrees to disarm. Serb civilians flee revenge attacks.
2001: General elections in Kosovo see Ibrahim Rugova elected President and Bajram Rexhepi Prime Minister.
2003 (Oct): Kosovo Albanian and Serbian politicians meet for the first time since 1999.
2003 (Dec): The U.N. sets out its conditions for final status talks due in 2005.
2004: A fresh wave of anti –Serb violence and generalised insecurity leaves 19 dead.
2004 (Dec): Rugova is re-elected as President and former KLA commander Ramush Haradinaj is elected as Prime Minister.
2005 (Mar): Mr Haradinaj indicted for war crimes tribunal by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. After resigning as prime minister he is succeeded by Bajram Kosumi.
2005 (July): A series of simultaneous bomb attacks go off near the UN, OSCE and Kosovo parliament buildings in Pristina. Attacks against minority groups continue.
2005 (Oct): U.N. Security Council gives go-ahead for final status talks to begin the following year.
2006 (Jan): President Rugova dies from lung cancer. He is succeeded by Fatmir Sejdiu.
2006 (Feb): Talks on the final status of Kosovo begin. They are brokered by U.N. special envoy, former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari.
2006 (Jul): Talks in Vienna fail to reach a breakthrough.
2006 (Oct): A Serbian referendum approves a new constitution that re-asserts Kosovo’s status as part of the country. Kosovo’s Albanian majority boycotts whilst allegations of massive fraud at polling stations are reported.
2007 (Feb): Special UN envoy Ahtisaari presents an independents plan for Kosovo under European Supervision. Russia threatens to veto the UN resolution. The plan is welcomed by Kosovo Albanians but rejected by Serbia.
2007 (Mar): Talks end in deadlock. Ahtisaari confirms it is now up to the UN Security Council to decide whether to grant the province independence.
2007 (Jun): Although Russia continues to oppose the resolution, U.S. President George Bush clearly states his support for Kosovo independence.
2007 (Nov): UN multi-party talks end with no compromise. Albanian leaders say province will declare independence shortly.
2008 (Jan): Former guerrilla leader Hashim Thaci becomes Prime Minister whilst Serbia’s pro-Western President Boris Tadic wins re-election.
2008 (Feb): Kosovo declares independence.
2008 (Jun): After nine years of UN rule Kosovo’s constitution enters into force; transferring power to a majority Albanian government. Hardline Serbs convene their own rival assembly in the divided city of Mitrovica
2008 (July): 1.2bn Euros is pledged by international donors to help rebuild Kosovo.
2008 (Oct): The UN General Assembly grants Serbia’s request to ask the International Court of Justice to consider if Kosovo’s secession is legal.
2008 (Dec): EU police and justice mission (EULEX) deploys in Kosovo. Serbia accepts the mission.
2009 (Jan): Kosovo’s launches a multi-ethnic Security Force under NATO supervision.
2009 (May): Kosovo joins the International Monetary Fund.
2009 (Jun): Kosovo joins the World Bank.
2009 (Jun): NATO decides to cut its presence in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 peacekeeping troops.
2009 (Feb): UN War Crimes Court acquits former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic of ordering a ‘campaign of terror’ against Kosovo Albanians in the 1990s.
2009 (Apr): Serbian President Boris Tadic makes rare visit to Kosovo.
2009 (Apr): The deadline for parties to submit arguments to the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence passes.

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1964-1966: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is founded, and goes on to be leading guerrilla threat to the Colombian state.
1964: Leftist National Liberation Army (ENL) and Maoist People’s Liberation Army (EPL) is formed.
1970: Formation of left-wing M-19 guerrilla group.
1978: Intense campaign against drug traffickers by President Julio César Turbay Ayala (Liberal).
1982-1985: President Belisario Betancur (Conservative) negotiates a cease-fire, grants amnesties to guerrillas and releases political prisoners. Negotiations fall apart when the armed M-19 guerrillas briefly seize the Justice Court in Bogota. Over 100 people die as the army move to retake the building, including 11 Supreme Court judges and several of the leading members of the M-19. The M-19 was subsequently much weakened.
1985: The FARC and the Colombian Communist Party found the Patriotic Union Party (UP), as part of the peace negotiation process between Betancur and the guerrillas. Since September 2002 the UP has had no legal representatives.
1986-1990: President Virgilio Barco Vargas (Liberal) continues the peace process but the period is marked by extreme violence, including from increasingly powerful drug cartels and paramilitary groups.
1989: M-19 becomes a legal political party (M-19 Democratic Alliance) following a peace agreement with the government.
1990: Three presidential candidates are assassinated by narco-terrorists. President César Gaviria Trujillo (Liberal) is elected on anti-drug platform.
1991: New Colombian Constitution. It replaces the 1886 constitution and bans the extradition of Colombian citizens (this article was repealed in 1996), includes new human rights and for indigenous groups, and reforms Colombia’s political institutions.
1993: Medellin drug-cartel leader Pablo Escobar is killed by Colombian security forces. Indiscriminate acts of violence follow.
1997: The United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) is established, an umbrella organisation of right-wing paramilitary groupings.
1998-2002: President Andrés Pastrana Arango (Conservative) initiates peace-talks with guerrillas. After three years of convoluted talks, they end after the guerrilla kidnaps a congressman and other political figures.
2000: Pastrana launches controversial and unpopular
Plan Colombia, with the aid of the USA, to put to a halt the flow of cocaine and heroine entering the USA over the Mexican border and to fight drug trafficking and rebels that benefit form the trade.
2001: The USA State Department adds the AUC to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
2002: Independent candidate Álvaro Uribe Vélez wins presidential elections.

2003-2006: Demobilisation of the AUC.
2004: Uribe launches ‘Plan Patriota’, which is widely seen as a continuation of Pastrana’s Plan Colombia, and also controversial. With the financial support of the USA, it aims to uproot guerrilla groups in Colombia, gain military presence in remote areas of the country, traditionally controlled by the guerrilla, and introduce social programmes.
2005: Uribe sets the Justice and Peace Law that reduces punishments for guerrilla and paramilitary members if they surrender their arms, renounce violence and return illegal assets.
2006: The FARC launches ‘Plan Resistencia’, a final offensive to counteract military activities and, in view of the 2006 presidential elections, undermine the public’s perception that the security situation has improved under Uribe’s government.
2006: Uribe’s second presidential election win, after apresidential re-election ban is revoked.
2006: Preliminary peace talks between the government and the ELN take place in Cuba. Formal negotiations are yet to start however.
2007: Connections between paramilitary groups and several congressmen come to light, creating the parapolitics scandal.
2008: Diplomatic crisis between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela intensifies following a Colombian cross-border strike into Ecuador. FARC leader Raúl Reyes is killed.
2008: Manuel Marulanda Velez, known as “Tirofijo” and main leader of FARC-EP, dies of a heart attack.
2008: Release of Ingrid Betancourt, a highest-profile FARC hostage, after over 6 years in captivity.
2008: “False Positives” scandal, in which the government and army is accused of colluding in the murder of up to 1,500 civilians who were then presented as guerrillas killed in combat.
2009: The FARC launches “Plan Rebirth” to avoid defeat by intensifying guerrilla warfare – i.e. use of landmines, snipers and bomb attacks in urban areas. This plan is counteracted by ““Strategic Leap”“, a military offensive in areas where guerrillas still have a strong military presence.
2009: Colombia and US sign Military Cooperation Agreement.
2010: Jose Manuel Santos, a former Defence Minister under Uribe, is elected President.

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1980s: Hunger strikes and violent attacks on British targets in Northern Ireland the Britain
1994: IRA and Loyalist groups declare a ceasefire
1996: Multi-party peace talks break down over disarmament, violence resumes
1998 (April): 6 months of peace talks lead to the Good Friday Agreement and a formal end to hostilities
1998 (August): A bomb set by the Real IRA kills 29 civilians in Omagh, the worst single bombing of the Troubles for civilian victims
1999: Direct Rule ends as power is handed to the Northern Ireland Assembly
2000: Continuing controversy over the decommissioning of weapons leads to the re-instatement of Direct Rule and the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly from February to May
2001: The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) is replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) with recruitment set to be 50% Catholic and 50% Protestant.
2005: The PIRA announce that they have decommissioned
2007: A new Northern Ireland Assembly is elected
2009 (March): 2 British army soldiers are shot dead, then one British police officer. Dissident Republicans claim responsibility. Fears grow of a new phase of violence, but there are strong public displays of opposition to any more violence, and the killings are rejected by all political parties
2010 (January): Scandal involving Iris Robinson, MLA and wife of Peter Robinson, the First Minister of the NI Assembly, leads to Peter Robinson temporarily stepping down as First Minister – he resumes his role in February.
2010 (February): Announcement of a deal on the devolution of policing powers to the NI Assembly. This issue had been particularly contentious, and it was feared could cause the collapse of the Assembly.

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2001: Citing its record on terrorism and human rights violations, the US extends unilateral sanctions against Sudan for another year.
2002: The government and the SPLA sign a landmark peace deal. A renewable 6 month ceasefire agreement is made. This brings to an end 19 years of civil war.
2003: Two rebel groups in the Western region of Darfur rise up against what they believe to be government neglect of the arid region. The groups arm Arab militia against civilians.
2004: The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels agree ceasefire in the South.
2004: In Darfur, as the army moves against the insurgency, hundreds of thousands of refugees flee into Chad.
2004 (Mar): UN official says pro-government Arab militias known as “Janjaweed” are carrying out systematic killings of villagers in Darfur.
2004 (May): Further progress is made in North – South relations when the government and southern rebels agree on power-sharing protocols.
2004 (Sept): The US describes Darfur killings as ‘genocide’. The UN says Sudan has failed to disarm pro-government militias but do not accept the term ‘genocide.’ The Sudanese government agrees to the African Union (AU) sending in a protection force.
2005 (Jan): Government and southern rebels sign a comprehensive permanent peace deal.
2005: The UN Security Council says those who commit atrocities in Darfur can be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Three months later Khartoum seeks to head off international action by setting up its own tribunal.

2005: Following the September introduction of a power-sharing government in Khartoum, in October, an autonomous government is formed in the South. The new administration is dominated by former rebels.
2006 (Aug): The UN Security Council vote to send a 26,000 strong peacekeeping force to Darfur but Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir – citing a violation of sovereignty – refuses to allow the deployment of the UN force. Two months later, Jan Pronk, the UN’s top official in Sudan, is expelled from the country.
2007 (May): The ICC issues its first arrest warrants for a Sudanese Minister and a Janjaweed militia leader. Khartoum rejects the statement and says the court has no jurisdiction.
2007 (July): Sudan accepts the deployment of a 26,000 strong AU -UN force to Darfur –UNAMID.
2008: UNAMID officially takes over from the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur.
2008: Troops are deployed in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) to assist with the refugee flow from Darfur.
2008 (April): The UN predict that 300,000 people have been killed in the five year Darfur conflict.
2008 (May): Sudanese government bombs hit schools and market places in Darfur, killing 13 civilians. UNHCR withdraws its staff from sites on the Chad/Sudan border citing insecurity.
2008 (June): Northern and Southern forces begin intense fighting over the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei.
2008 (July): The ICC calls for the arrest of President Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. It is the first appeal the ICC has ever made for the arrest of a sitting head of state. Sudan rejects the charges.
2009 (Mar): The ICC in The Hague issues an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir.
2009 (May): 250 people in central Sudan are killed during clashes between nomadic groups fighting over grazing land.
2009 (July): North and South Sudan accept a ruling by The Hague which gives control of the Abyei region and its oilfields to the North.
2010 (Feb): An ICC appeals court rules that a previous judgement that charges of genocide could not be considered against al-Bashir, was wrong. The case has been passed back for a decision on the case for charging al-Bashir with genocide.

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