First Liberian Civil War

Part of the Liberian Civil Wars

Date

24 December 1989 – 2 August 1997
(7 years, 7 months, 1 week and 2 days)

Location

Liberia

Result

NPFL victory

Overthrow of the Doe government
Charles Taylor elected President of Liberia

Belligerents

Liberian Armed Forces

ULIMO
ECOWAS

UNOMIL (September 22, 1993 - September 12, 1997)

NPFL
INPFL

Commanders and leaders

Samuel Doe †

Alhaji Kromah

Roosevelt Johnson

Charles Taylor
Prince Yormie Johnson

Strength

450,000

350,000

Total killed: 400,000 – 620,000 including civilians

NPFL victory

The First Liberian Civil War was an internal conflict in Liberia from 1989 until 1997. The conflict killed over 600,000 people and eventually led to the involvement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of the United Nations. The peace did not last long, and in 1999 the Second Liberian Civil War broke out.

Samuel Doe had led a coup d'état that overthrew the elected government in 1980, and in 1985 held elections that were widely considered fraudulent. There had been one unsuccessful coup by a former military leader. In December 1989, former government minister Charles Taylor moved into the country from neighboring Côte d'Ivoire to start an uprising meant to topple the Doe government.

During the civil war, factions formed around Taylor and those who supported his former soldier with the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, Prince Johnson. Johnson took the capital Monrovia in 1990 and executed Doe, while Taylor's forces, the Armed Forces of Liberia, and Johnson's forces battled for control of Monrovia.

Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 that was broken the next year before a final peace agreement and new national elections were held in 1997. Taylor was elected President of Liberia in July 1997.

Samuel Doe had taken power in a popular coup in 1980 against William R. Tolbert, becoming the first Liberian President of non Americo-Liberian descent. Doe established a military regime called the People's Redemption Council and enjoyed early support from a large number of indigenous Liberian tribes who had been excluded from power since the founding of the country in 1847 by freed American slaves.

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Wikipedia