The 2011 Economic and Product Market Databook for Monrovia, Liberia

In performing various economic analyses for its clients, I have occasionally been asked to investigate the market potential for various products and services in Liberia. The purpose of this study is to understand the density of demand within Liberia and the extent to which Monrovia might be used as a point of distribution within Africa. From an economic perspective, however, Monrovia does not represent a population within rigid geographical boundaries, rather, it represents an area of dominant influence over markets in adjacent areas. This influence varies from one industry to another, but also from one period of time to another.

In what follows, I summarize the economic potential for Monrovia over the next five years for hundreds of industries, categories and products. The goal of this report is to report the real economic potential, or what an economist calls the latent demand, represented by Monrovia when defined as an area of dominant influence. The reader needs to realize that latent demand may or may not represent real sales. For many items, latent demand is clearly observable in sales, as in the case for food or housing items. Consider, however, the category "satellite launch vehicles". Clearly, there are no launch pads in Monrovia used by the space industry to launch satellites. However, the core benefit of the vehicles (e.g. telecommunications, etc.) is "consumed" by the area served by Monrovia. Without Monrovia, in other words, the market for satellite launch vehicles would be lower for the population in Liberia, Africa, or the world in general. One needs to allocate, therefore, a portion of the worldwide economic demand for launch vehicles to both Africa and Monrovia.

Liberian returnees from Cote d'Ivoire arriving at the airport outside Monrovia, Liberia.
UNHCR / S. Momodu / May 2011

Stranded Liberian refugees return home from Cote d'Ivoire

MONROVIA, Liberia, May 27 (UNHCR) – More than 200 Liberian refugees have ended months of ordeal in strife-torn Cote d'Ivoire by returning home as the UN refugee agency resumed airlifts to Liberia this week.

They were among hundreds of Liberian refugees who had moved into the UNHCR office compound in Abidjan in December following the outbreak of post-election violence in Cote d'Ivoire. The refugees had previously been well integrated in their host country but were targeted in recent months amid allegations that Liberian mercenaries were fighting for former president Laurent Gbagbo in the west.

Earlier this year, as the fighting intensified across Abidjan, the refugees asked UNHCR to repatriate them to Liberia. One group was flown home in March before growing insecurity forced the operation to be suspended temporarily.

Margaret, 26, said her husband "ran away to Ghana" when people came looking for Liberian men. She recalled her experience at the overcrowded Abidjan compound: "As a pregnant woman, it was very hard for me during the fighting in Abidjan. Bullets were flying all over the place and we were sleeping outside the UN office. Bullets hit two people where I was. I even fell down. There was no food, no water, nothing. It was also very dangerous to access medical services."

With calm slowly returning in Cote d'Ivoire, UNHCR resumed the air repatriation earlier this week. Margaret, who had given birth two weeks ago, was on one of those flights. "It was not easy but by the grace of God I am now home," she said after arriving at Roberts International Airport near the Liberian capital, Monrovia, where the returnees were screened by security and immigration staff.

So far this year, UNHCR has helped a total of 434 Liberian refugees to go home from Abidjan. Most of this week's returnees have been in exile for nearly 20 years. Several were born in exile and are more fluent in French than English, Liberia's official language. UNHCR provided them with voluntary repatriation grants, including transportation allowances to go to their final destinations.

One of the younger returnees also received a surprise homecoming present. Soon after landing at Roberts International Airport, 16-year-old Mekape Tonan was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she gave birth to a baby boy. UNHCR is helping them as well as Tonan's mother and siblings by covering the medical bills, accommodation and providing a modest subsistence allowance before they return to their village in Nimba county in eastern Liberia.

Since 2004, UNHCR has helped more than 170,000 Liberian refugees to return home from the region. The agency has been supporting Liberian returnee communities by rehabilitating schools, clinics and roads. It is also providing water and sanitation facilities and supporting income-generation projects across the country.

Meanwhile, back in Abidjan, there are still some refugees at UNHCR's office compound who have not yet made up their minds about repatriation. New groups have also approached the office to find out more about returning to Liberia.

Although the Liberian war ended in 2003, there are still some 24,000 Liberian refugees in Cote d'Ivoire, mainly living in the western and south-western cities of Tabou and Guiglo.

By Sulaiman Momodu in Monrovia and Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba in Geneva

Workers unload the Boeing 747 carrying UNHCR aid at Monrovia's Robertsfield International Airport.
UNHCR/S.Winters

Another aid airlift arrives in Liberia as flow of Ivorian refugees continues

MONROVIA, Liberia, February 14 (UNHCR) – As a UNHCR-chartered aircraft carrying 100 tonnes of emergency shelter aid landed in the Liberian capital of Monrovia on Monday morning, the number of refugees to arrive in the country from Cote d'Ivoire in recent weeks passed the 36,300 mark.

The Boeing 747 flight – the third organized by UNHCR to Liberia – landed at Roberts International Airport with a cargo of 15,000 plastic sheets, more than 400 rolls of plastic sheeting and 400 lightweight family tents. Many of the items were sent immediately to north-east Liberia's Nimba County, where UNHCR is helping to set up a camp for up to 15,000 refugees.

"Seven trucks carrying the stocks are expected to reach Nimba County today," said UNHCR Supply Officer Yohannes Hailu Gebre-Mariam. "The tents and plastic sheeting will then be used to construct temporary shelters and for the bathing and sanitation areas in the camp."

To date, the 36,318 refugees registered with UNHCR have been staying in 76 villages in the country. The registration process is continuing with UNHCR staff estimating that up to 100 people are crossing every day from western areas of Cote d'Ivoire. Tension has been mounting since the presidential election of last November, with the rival candidates both claiming victory.

Many of those fleeing into Liberia are avoiding the main crossing points and using small trails or going by boat along canals and other waterways connecting the two countries.

UNHCR and the Liberian government hope in the next few days to start moving some 15,000 of the refugees into the camp being built at Bahn. They have also identified 15 villages that have agreed to shelter the remaining refugees, who would be moved from the areas where they are currently staying.

Both the camp and the villages are located more than 20 kilometres from the border with Cote d'Ivoire. UNHCR is working closely with the government and other agencies to ensure that essential facilities and services, such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, education and health care, are available in both the camp and the relocation villages.

Last Saturday, UNHCR launched a campaign to inform the Cote d'Ivoire refugees about the options available to them. "Through the campaign, we hope to help the refugees make a fully informed decision about whether to move to the camp, the relocation villages or to remain at the border," said Raouf Mazou, a deputy director of UNHCR's Africa Bureau. "We hope to start moving people into the camps and relocation villages this weekend," he added.

Meanwhile, because of the difficult terrain and lack of infrastructure, humanitarian agencies are struggling to reach all the refugees in good time. So far UNHCR has distributed basic household items such as blankets, plastic mats, jerry cans and kitchen sets, along with food rations for up to 20,000 refugees in villages along the border. Distributions will continue once the refugees have been moved.

By Sulakshani Perera in Monrovia, Liberia

Set in Monrovia during the administration of Liberia's former president, Charles Taylor, this riveting debut is a story of recovery, atonement, and the continuing quest for peace and justice in a nation plagued by conflict and inequalities since its founding by free blacks and former American slaves. Life in war-torn Liberia is not easy, and it is especially challenging for Bendu Lewis, a young woman who counsels traumatized survivors of Liberia's civil war while struggling silently with memories of her own war-time experiences. When the warlord who once held her in captivity suddenly appears in town, she decides that for her own healing, and for the voiceless victims of the war, she must bring him to justice for his past atrocities. In her pursuit of Commander Cobra, Bendu finds much more than she bargained for, including the courage to finally confront and make amends for her own painful war-time secret. Written with compassion, honesty and clarity, Elma Shaw's Redemption Road helps us to finally begin to make sense of what has often been termed a 'senseless' war. Hers is a new but mature voice that shows remarkable insight into both the causes of Liberia's civil war, and the cure for healing the wounds and averting further conflict.