Liberia: Government vows transparency in new oil exploration deals

Liberia's transitional government has signed offshore exploration agreements with three little-known oil companies, just three months before elections to return the war-scarred West African country to democracy. Musa Dean, the head of the state-run National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), announced the three deals last Thursday as the international community considered hard-hitting proposals to limit the government’s economic powers in order to crack down on rampant corruption.