Liberia: One year after Accra, immense human rights challenges remain

Hopes were raised on 18 August last year that Liberia’s protracted human rights crisis would finally end but major challenges remain, Amnesty International says in a new report. "The Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Accra augured well for the Liberian people who had suffered more than a decade of appalling human rights abuses. But one year later, despite some major advances, progress towards ensuring protection of human rights is disappointingly slow," the organization said. Harassment, intimidation, extortion, forced labour and looting are reported to continue in Lofa County, still controlled by forces of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), and in the south-eastern counties of Sinoe, Grand Kru, River Gee and Maryland, where forces of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) still hold sway.