• Liberia
    History Casts a Long Shadow Over Liberia’s Democracy
    As Liberia heads to a closely contested runoff election, the possibilities are decidedly limited. 
  • Liberia
    Jail Term for Former Liberian Defense Minister Offers Ray of Hope to Anti-Corruption Forces in Africa
    A Liberian court ruling against former Liberian Defense Minister Brownie Jeffrey Samukai Jr. is a rare recent piece of good news for democracy in West Africa. 
  • Women and Economic Growth
    A Place of Her Own: Women’s Right to Land
    This blog was coauthored with Alexandra Bro, a research associate at the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Last month, Liberian women activists marched to the presidential palace to protest the country’s 2017 Land Rights Act. Concerned for communities dependent on ancestry land for food and income, advocates called for President George Weah to ensure that legislation protects the rights of women and rural Liberians from privatization. From inheritance practices to legal barriers to women owning land at all, Liberian women are not alone in their fight. Governments globally must reform land rights practices that harm women and hinder economic growth. When the law says no to women and property ownership When it comes to property ownership, women are not equal in the eyes of the law. According to the World Bank, close to 40 percent of the world’s economies have at least one legal constraint on women’s rights to property, limiting their ability to own, manage, and inherit land. Thirty-nine countries allow sons to inherit a larger proportion of assets than daughters and thirty-six economies do not have the same inheritance rights for widows as they do for widowers. These legal barriers contribute to a global gender gap in land ownership. An analysis of eight African countries found that women comprise less than one-quarter of landholders. In Latin America, the proportion of female landholders is about 20 percent, and in the Middle East and North Africa region, it is as low as 5 percent. And even when women do control land, it is often smaller in size and of lower quality than that held by men. In countries like Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Pakistan, the average size of land holdings by male-headed households is twice that of households headed by women. Land lifts women and their families out of poverty The right to land is about much more than the pride of ownership or a property title. A growing body of research confirms that women’s lack of access to land not only hampers their economic prospects, but also has a profound effect on their families, communities, and countries. A woman’s income can increase up to 380 percent when she has a right to own and inherit property. In Rwanda, women who own land are 12 percent more likely to take out loans to build businesses, and in India, secure land rights yield an 11 percent increase in women moving from subsistence farming to selling crops from their land. Secure land rights for female farmers are also related to higher agricultural productivity and food security, important drivers of development. This economic stability afforded by land ownership in turn reduces women’s vulnerability to domestic violence, poverty, and the impact of HIV/AIDS. And the benefits to her family are significant, with her children 33 percent less likely to be severely underweight, 10 percent less likely to be unhealthy, and more likely to be educated. Making laws work for women globally and locally International legal and policy frameworks help set the stage for local change. In recent years, multilateral and global institutions have started to recognize the importance of strong property rights for development. Unlike the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals references access to land in its goals on poverty, hunger, and gender equality, and in 2016, the African Union formally pledged to ensure that women make up 30 percent of landowners by 2025. At the national level, many countries have successfully enacted progressive legislation to fight discrimination against women’s land ownership. In 2017, Nepal passed a Finance Act, which offers spouses discounted fees if they register their property jointly or in the woman’s name. Nepal also amended its constitution in 2007, and now grants sons and daughters equal rights to ancestral property without restrictions on marital status or age. Recent studies show that updating national property regime structures can be another tool to benefit women. In Ghana, which has a separate regime where each spouse can own and control their own property, women make up 38 percent of landowners. In Ecuador, which has a community regime where property is considered jointly owned regardless of which spouse bought it, more than half of all landowners are women. Automatic joint titling for spouses takes an opportunity for discrimination against women off the table entirely.  Lastly, at the local level, leaders must recognize that even with changes in legislation, cultural practices may not support women’s land ownership. From work with traditional leaders to local land administration officials, legal reforms must be accompanied by adequate enforcement and community outreach to ensure that women and local communities are aware of the rights and benefits of women’s land ownership. From inheriting land to a right to own her home, governments worldwide must change legal frameworks that discriminate against women. If the pathway to prosperity involves tackling the most entrenched social and economic barriers for women, it is a road worth taking. A nation’s choice to leave land ownership to men alone is a sure plan for economic opportunity lost. 
  • Liberia
    Liberia’s Johnson-Sirleaf Awarded the Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership
    The Mo Ibrahim Foundation awarded its prize for African leadership to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former president of Liberia. The foundation’s prize committee stated that Sirleaf had shown exceptional leadership, and noted that Liberia was the only African country out of fifty-four to improve in every category of its Index of African Governance. While it did acknowledge that Sirleaf has been criticized for tolerating corruption, it noted that her leadership had nevertheless been exceptional under difficult circumstances following a generation of civil war. Mo Ibrahim, a British-Sudanese telecom billionaire, established the prize in 2006 to recognize African leadership. Eligibility is restricted to African democratically elected heads of state or government who served the constitutionally mandated term of office in the past three years and demonstrated outstanding leadership. It is probably the richest international prize in the world. It awards laureates $5 million over ten years, then $200,000 per year for life. In addition, laureates may apply for an additional $200,000 per year for their own philanthropy. The prize appears to have been designed to recognize and encourage African leadership of the highest quality and also to free former heads of state from post-presidential financial burdens.  The selection committee numbers eight and is of outstanding quality: it includes former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, former first lady of both Mozambique and South Africa Graca Machel, and former president of Botswana (and laureate) Festus Mogae. The prize may be awarded annually, but it has been awarded only five times in the ten years since it was established, including this year. The other recipients are Joaquim Chissano (former president of Mozambique), Festus Mogae (former president of Botswana), Pedro Verona Pires (former president of Cape Verde), and Hifikepunye Pohamba (former president of Namibia). Johnson Sirleaf was by no means without controversy during her long career in Liberian politics. She appears to have been much more popular outside of Liberia than at home. Her chosen candidate to succeed her in the most recent elections was defeated, and her political party recently expelled her from membership for reasons that appear to be both local and obscure. That she was the first woman to be elected as a chief of state in Africa and was therefore also probably more important outside of Liberia than at home. Her record is undoubtedly mixed, but her success in guiding the country out of a generation of civil war should not be taken for granted.   
  • Economics
    How Liberia’s New Generation Of Female Entrepreneurs Is Revitalizing The Economy
        As a child, Odelia Acolyte fled her home of Liberia to neighboring Nigeria to escape the bloodshed of civil war. But she returned home frequently to visit family and always felt that what would help people in her country most would be to give them a job. “When I would go home, I would always find people sitting around,” says Acolyte, “I wanted to be part of change in society.”         That dream stayed with her for close to a decade, and following her return to Liberia, she became the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college, earning a sociology degree from United Methodist University in Monrovia in the capital. The idea remained alive even after she found a prized job with a local telecommunications company in Monrovia, one of only a limited number of formal, private sector jobs in a country where the International Labour Organization estimates that nearly 20% of men and 35% of women are unemployed.     Read the full article in Fast Company.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Ebola and Marburg
    Ebola and Marburg are both hemorrhagic fevers and belong to the same family of viruses. The hosts for both are identified as animals, especially fruit bats—both diseases cross over from animals to humans. Incubation periods are around twenty-one days. The two diseases have similar symptoms and similarly high mortality rates. Both diseases spread through contact with bodily fluids, making family members and health care workers especially vulnerable. There is no pharmaceutical that cures either disease, and patients are treated in much the same way. The ill are isolated and medically supported until they recover or die. Efforts must be made to trace all those who came into contact with the ill. Ebola at present is centered in west Africa, but it was first publicized in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Marburg is also found in the Congo, where between 1998 and 2000 it is reported that there were 154 cases and 128 deaths attributed to the disease. In Angola in 2005, there were 374 cases of Marburg, and 329 deaths. In 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2014, in Uganda there were cases of Marburg in the single digits with very high mortality rates, ranging from 50 to 100 percent. When Ebola first appeared in west Africa, it was an unfamiliar disease, one reason among many why the response to it was slow. In east Africa, however, there is greater familiarity with Marburg, and officials move quickly to respond to the threat of an outbreak. Accordingly, officials in Rwanda and Uganda are closely monitoring their common border for a possible outbreak of Marburg after a confirmed case in Kampala, Uganda. As a safety precaution the Ugandan government has isolated ninety-nine people, none of whom have tested positive. The World Health Organization is saying that Ebola is now “entrenched” in Conakry, Monrovia, and Freetown – it has become an “urban” disease. Marburg, however, appears to remain primarily in rural areas. West Africa’s high rate of urbanization has helped facilitate the rapid spread of Ebola, especially in urban slums. Urbanization in east Africa could have a similar impact.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Ebola in the Congo
    The health minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Felix Kabange Numbi, has announced an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the remote Equateur province. Two cases have been confirmed by the ministry. The authorities have moved quickly to isolate the village where the disease was found. The DRC outbreak appears to be unrelated to Ebola in west Africa. The DRC strain of the virus is much less deadly, with a mortality rate of about 20 percent, rather than up to 90 percent in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. The eastern part of the DRC has been the venue of almost constant warfare for nearly a generation. Infrastructure, including hospitals, has largely collapsed. The region would appear to be ripe for a new outbreak of Ebola. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, seventy people have died over the past two weeks from hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. But, that is not Ebola. The DRC has had long experience with responding to Ebola. There have been six outbreaks of the disease since it was first discovered in 1976. As recently as 2012, Ebola killed thirty-six people in the DRC. In west Africa, Ebola was new. Medical personnel initially failed to recognize it, and protocols for responding to it were not in place. In the DRC, experience made a difference. Because the authorities are familiar with the disease, protocols were in place. They have moved quickly to isolate it. They set up a laboratory in the affected village to verify the Ebola cases, and they have banned the hunting of “bush meat,” small animals, including monkeys, that can harbor the disease and transmit it to humans. Unlike in west Africa, the DRC outbreak has occurred in a rural area, making isolation of the disease much less difficult than in, say, the teeming slums of Monrovia.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Ebola “a Complete Disaster”
    This is the conclusion of Dr. Joanne Liu, MD, president of Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres-MSF). Her interview in the New York Times is a compelling must-read for those watching Ebola and West Africa. Far from echoing the cautious optimism that the disease may be coming under control in certain areas, she says, “no one yet has the full measure of the magnitude of this crisis. We don’t have good data collection. We don’t have enough surveillance.” Dr. Liu ought to know. MSF has been on the front lines of the struggle against Ebola in West Africa. In the three countries most effected by Ebola, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, the public health systems had already largely collapsed before the appearance of the disease, the result of civil war. Hence, MSF, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is supported by private contributions and staffed by volunteers, has taken the lead in many places. But, Dr. Liu says, MSF is overwhelmed. In her interview she calls for greater involvement on the ground by public agencies such as the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control, as well as other NGO’s and government agencies. She makes the chilling point that the closing of hospitals due to the fear of Ebola is allowing diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea to kill children who otherwise would have lived. The experience of Ebola in West Africa indicates that devastating pandemic diseases cannot be addressed by weak states with collapsing health systems. It’s time to reconsider the mandate of the World Health Organization, its staffing and its funding, as a possible way to fill the void.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Health Workers Pay the Ultimate Price in the West African Fight against Ebola
    This is a guest post by Mohamed Jallow, grants officer at IntraHealth International, a nonprofit organization that empowers health workers around the world to better serve their communities. A version of this post originally appeared on VITAL, IntraHealth International’s blog. “I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,” said Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, one of the leading doctors fighting the spread of the Ebola virus in eastern Sierra Leone. Last week, Dr. Khan’s fears came true when he was diagnosed with Ebola virus disease. He succumbed to the deadly disease on Tuesday and died at the very same hospital in Kenema where, just a few weeks ago, he was treating patients from the nearby district of Kailahun. Dr. Khan is only one among a growing list of medical workers who have been infected while battling the spread of Ebola across West Africa. In Sierra Leone, over forty nurses and other frontline health workers have died in the line of duty. In neighboring Liberia, two prominent doctors—Samuel Brisbane, a Liberian doctor, and Kent Brantley, an American doctor from North Carolina working for Samaritan’s Purse—have been infected with the disease while treating patients. Losing Dr. Kahn is an unmeasurable loss to Sierra Leone. According to the country’s minister of health, the doctor treated more than one hundred victims since the first reports of the Ebola outbreak back in February. The disease, with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent, has claimed the lives of more than six hundred people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone’s health care system is already underfunded and understaffed, and now the Ebola outbreak is putting a strain on the country’s limited resources. In Liberia and Guinea, the response to the Ebola virus has inundated their respective health systems and disrupted cross-border commercial activities, the main lifeline of border communities. Liberia has announced the closure of its land borders with Guinea and Sierra Leone and has stepped up surveillance at all airports. According to the World Health Organization, Sierra Leone is among eighty-three countries facing a health worker crisis. The mounting death toll of health workers is only going to exacerbate the already perilous situation. The outbreak’s effects will linger long after the epidemic is brought under control. Moreover, the reputation of health workers is suffering. Sierra Leone is rife with rumors of health workers infecting patients, and families have at times violently attacked hospital staff and removed infected relatives from hospitals. This has, of course, contributed to the spread of the disease in other parts of the country. The long-term consequence of all this is that Sierra Leone’s health system will be weakened even further, reversing gains in providing essential life-saving interventions, especially for pregnancy and newborn services, and access to the care, treatment, and prevention of highly prevalent disease such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    "New Deal” Has Potential to Provide New Solutions for Fragile African States
    This is a guest post by Hamish Stewart, a co-founding Director of the Centre for African Development and Security. The world is optimistic about Africa’s future, but to unlock its economic potential concerted efforts must be made to engage with its most fragile states. The New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States is a country-led peace and statebuilding framework agreement aimed at stabilizing and developing the world’s most fragile states. The agreement is sponsored by the g7+ grouping of fragile states and accepted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member states at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan in 2011. It provides a mechanism or approach for fragile states themselves in order to build political support for those countries transitioning from conflict and to maintain stability where regional tension threatens renewed conflict.  The New Deal is a long-term framework. In addition to security, its goals include access to justice at the domestic level, as well as job creation in the continent’s burgeoning private sector. Many fragile states are resource-rich. While they have the potential for growth, transparent resource management is essential if they are to curb corruption and control illicit money flows that retard economic and social development. That, too, is a goal of the New Deal. The return of conflict in Mali and the recent unrest in central Mozambique underline the fragility of even successful transitions to peace. And no low-income or fragile state has yet achieved a single Millennium Development Goal. The New Deal for Fragile States represents a new, long term approach. Its potential is illustrated by the positive developments in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the decade following civil wars. Somalia’s newly elected government has announced that it will conduct all future development cooperation through the New Deal. The New Deal is, among other things, a follow-on to the Millennium Development Goals and involves a new conversation. On April 18, the International Dialogue on Peace Building and State Building convened a stakeholder meeting in Washington, DC to promote The New Deal as a framework for development and peace building.
  • Liberia
    A Conversation with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
    Play
    GEORGE RUPP: I'm very pleased to welcome all of you to this Council on Foreign Relations meeting with the president of the Republic of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. I have the usual housekeeping requests. Please turn off all cellphones, everything electronic, not on vibrate but off. I'm reliably informed it interferes with the -- with the amplification system, so that would be very helpful. I remind all of us that this meeting is on the record. We're very honored that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is visiting us again. This is the third time, at least in my attending these sessions with you, and I'm delighted that you're able to be here. You all have a written biography in the materials that were handed out, so I will -- I will be brief and touch really only very much the highlights. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the 24th president of Liberia. She was first -- began her first term in 2006 and was re-elected and began her second term in 2012. She is the first elected head of state of any African country, in a pattern that others have already followed and will continue to follow. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was educated in Liberia and in the United States. She has a very extended career in the financial sector, beginning in 1965, when she worked in the Treasury Department of her home country, Liberia. She was then also finance minister and president -- and after that, president of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment. She has been a VP in Citigroup's Africa regional office in Nairobi, a senior loan officer in the World Bank and vice president of the Equator Bank. She's participated in international development, in particular through UNDP. President Sirleaf was jailed for a year by former President Samuel Doe and then went into self-imposed exile during the presidency of Charles Taylor. She has a great many honors and awards, and many of those or a subset of those are listed in your written biography that you have in your program. I'll just mention the top-of-the-line ones: Nobel Peace Price in 2011, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, 15 honorary doctorates from distinguished institution (sic). Please join me in welcoming President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. (Applause.) Now, President Sirleaf, I had the occasion and privilege of visiting Liberia a number of times, and the relevant ones are twice before your election, when Charles Taylor was president, and then twice after the election. And so I have a vivid sense of the huge difference that just the occasion of your election made, from the kind of despair that characterized the last of the Taylor years to really a terrific euphoria when you were first elected. And I would say, in my most recent visit, after your re-election, the euphoria has given way to sort of more reasonable awareness of how tough the challenges are but still pride at progress that's being made. So I think we'd all be interested in hearing your own -- well, if we use crude metaphors, we could say scorecard. It might be better, given your financial background, to see your -- what -- how you think the balance sheet comes out in terms of gains and losses, positive achievements and challenges that remain for the now almost seven years that you've been in office. PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF: I welcome the opportunity to do that. We've come a long way. As you know, when we started off in 2006, after 14 years of war that devastated the country, a criminalized economy, dysfunctional institutions, brain drain, most of our people out of the country, infrastructure all destroyed because of lack of maintenance and work over the years of conflict, and so we had to start from scratch, so to speak. Immediately we put into place a poverty reduction strategy around four pillars: peace and security, economic reconstruction, governance and infrastructure and debtor services. We've first of all, knowing that peace and security is vital to anything, put an emphasis on that, and that enabled us to do a complete new army, disband the entire old army because they comprised people from the warring factions. With the support of the U.S., we trained a 2,000-person army. Today they're in place, very professional, well-equipped; tried to do something with the other security sectors, like the national police. But the main thing was to get things functioning again, economic reconstruction. Because Liberia is natural resource-rich, it made it easier for us to go after the private sector because we do believe the private sector is our main engine of growth. And so we went for attracting investment to reactivate operations in our basic natural resources, which are mining, agriculture, forestry. Sanctions that had been imposed were lifted as a result of the policies we put in place. And so as a result of that, we mobilized 16 billion in direct foreign investment across these sectors. We would -- we had -- we had a large debt overhang, external debt of some 4.9 billion that had not been serviced for over 20 years. And so we entered the HIPC program, and under the HIPC program we think in record time we -- in three years we were able to reach the completion point and it was able to wipe out most of that debt, thereby giving us the fiscal space to be able to do more. At the same time, domestic revenue mobilization was important, and so we tackled that, looking at the tax base and seeing what we could do. We -- 80 million dollars -- when we started off in 2006 -- I always compare that to the budgets of one of your high schools. (Laughter.) We just had a new budget that -- RUPP: Or the Council on Foreign Relations. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Or the Council on Foreign Relations. (Chuckles.) That's right. (Laughter.) But you know, we just passed a new budget of $670 million, hardly enough, but a big jump. And building those institutions was tough, trying to get them working. It means we had -- we had to formulate new laws and policies and strategies. And infrastructure also is tough -- no lights in the country. We turned on the first set of streetlights and subsequently begin to provide lights, building the schools and the clinics and the water systems, all of which had gone into a state of disrepair, none functional at all. So at the end of the six years, where we are? Growth -- experienced growth of average annual 6.5 percent. This year we estimate, the IMF, it will be 8.8 percent growth. (Inaudible) -- fiscal space, we can now -- we can now begin to mobilize resources, not only our own, but to access facilities (under ?) very, very tough conditions because we don't want to get debt-distressed again. But at least the soft windows of the World Bank and other institutions provide us the means whereby we can begin to do things. Our institutions are functioning again. We've put in systems that didn't exist. We have a training program. We enforce compulsory education to try and get people back into school. Enrollments have more than quadrupled. And so now comes the hard part. Like you say, you notice the euphoria is gone because success has its pitfalls. One of the things is, because we've done so much, everyone wants more. And so they raise expectations. Every time you turn lights in one community, five of the communities complain, you know, why don't you give me lights? Every time you build a road in one area of the country, you know, 10 other areas say, why not my road? So we have to tackle that. So what we decided -- to a long-term vision -- visioning exercise. So we now have some -- Lift Liberia development agenda 2030. It took us two years to put that in place. (It ?) involved robust consultation around the country to see what the Liberian people want as their future, what do they see. We've got that ready to be commenced early November. We -- we're now -- that strategy is all done. Now, what are some of the challenges that remain? RUPP: Well, you've just -- you've just named a big one, namely, to keep this now solidly grounded process moving forward. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: That is true. But there are some specific areas. Youth development, youth unemployment. We've got thousands and thousands of young people who were bypassed with an education during the years of conflict. They were child soldiers. So they never had that opportunity. Today they're unskilled. How do we respond to that? We're going into a massive vocational technical training, see if we can give them skills. Education is a long-term endeavor. But at least in the short term, if we can give them a skill, at least we can make them employable. And we see them as a pool that will fit into the operations of our mining sector. (So we're ?) just getting started. Integrity. Corruption. Even though we put in place the pillars integrity (issue ?) straight in our General Auditing Commission, establishing a Liberian anti-corruption commission -- we joined the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. I'm pleased that we've done well there, became one of the first to become compliant. Whistle-blowers (act ?) some of those things that we've done. Freedom of Information Act, I think we're the first country to have -- to have to done that. But still, we have to keep fighting corruption because it is ingrained in a society coming from two decades of deprivation. It became a way of life, of survival. So we've tackled it in so many ways. One is to increase compensation, thereby reducing vulnerabilities. Put in systems that did not exist that would minimize discretion. Capacity, training of people so that they understand the laws, our new procurement laws, public financial management laws. We've put all of those in place to do that. One of that areas where, again, there's a challenge, our judicial system. Again, a part of the whole microcosm of the whole ills in the society where judges, jurors can be compromised. And so we -- that's one of our areas to tackle now, judicial reform. Infrastructure. Still a big challenge, but our main concentration now in our new budget is to focus on power, ports and roads because those are essential to meet the new agenda of moving from being a primary commodity exporting country to adding value. And to add value, for example, for our rubber -- as you know, rubber is one of our mainstay traditional -- going back to Firestone in 1926. They're -- they had their replanting. How do we add value? By processing our rubber instead of shipping old rubber out. Our mining -- in the mining sector, we've got iron ore, gold, diamond. We're pleased that -- iron ore has been our tradition. Our first export of iron ore from the company ArcelorMittal was in 2010, so we shipped the first ore out in 20 years. And so those operations are ongoing. We -- are we going to be able to move to produce some elements of, you know, some steel? Can't do it without power. Today we have 21 megawatts of power, 21. Just think about that. What that translate into is a cost of over 50 cents per kilowatt-hour. I mean, compare that with yours -- must be about 9 cents, thereabout. So focusing on the reconstruction of a hydro plant which was destroyed in the war is a focus, is our priority. RUPP: Well, now, let me interrupt -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Please. RUPP: -- not because I -- I know there's a long list of priorities that you still have that you can address. But I think we should pause to really take in and to applaud the progress that's been made. As someone who has been in Monrovia when there was no -- when there were no lights, I can say that getting lights into the capital city is a -- is a substantial achievement. Six and a half to 7 percent, and now with higher rates projected, growth is phenomenal. And it is an example that -- it sets an example for the rest of Africa and for the world. So I think you should feel very good about the progress that's been made. And the list of challenges that you outline is so daunting that I find myself grateful that Liberia is of a scale that your impact can be substantial for the country as a whole. It's now what, 3 1/2 million people, more or less? And that means that you really can have an impact across the whole country in the time that you've got. Let me give you -- ask you to comment a little on one example that you haven't yet mentioned. I know you've made it -- made it a priority to develop basic health care across the country, and the International Rescue Committee has worked with Ministry of Health on that priority. And that's the vantage point that we have, where we can see how the civil servants are rising to the occasion of trying to be responsible and effective and transparent, rather than the standard pattern that was in those ministries before. But maybe you can say a little bit about the priority of expanding basic medicine. And the a second area where it would be interesting to hear you comment a little further is your focus on the challenges faced in particular by adolescent girls and your priority in over -- in countering domestic violence. Maybe those three places, you could comment a little more. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Sure. RUPP: And then we'll open it up for others. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Basic health care -- we've established what is called a basic health care package, trying to open up clinics in the rural areas, immunization programs for the children. And we've done very well. Two areas that continue to challenge us in health care delivery service are child mortality, maternal mortality. This year, the latest report we have, the child mortality rate has dropped, and that's because we have made health service free in the rural areas for five years and below. And so that's beginning to make an impact. We have -- RUPP: An area where the United States might emulate Liberia. (Laughter.) JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We're still fighting with maternal mortality, and that's because we had to reactivate the system of -- what do you call? Those, they -- those who helps mothers in something -- AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Midwife. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Midwife -- the midwifery system. That's what they were -- they were accustomed to, and that has sort of, you know, gone down also too. But we have to train them, because these were volunteer midwives that were performing operations without the tools, without the knowledge. And so the training program (is on ?). But basically, with the -- with the hospitals and clinics that we've built and the free service health care delivery -- and we get a lot of support from nongovernment organizations. The philanthropic organizations here support a lot of -- a lot of that. And I must say that our health ministry is the one that's going today and is going to do the pilot, what you call FARA now. You may know this (through ?) AID intervention: Fixed Account Reimbursement. So we're -- and our health service system is -- has been proven to be so good that we have pool fund with which all the donors contribute, and then they agree on the priorities, and they take care of that. Your second area was -- RUPP: Well, adolescent girls in particular, but then also domestic violence. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Deep problem. When we enforced compulsory education, the enrollment went up, as I say, quadruple. And the majority of those were girls. And we put emphasis on them because the girl child has been elected, you know, because of poverty, where they give preference for the boy. But retention is a problem because once they've passed primary and get into middle class and into high school, then teenage pregnancy becomes a problem. And we are still looking for solutions to that, trying to maybe move them into what we -- what historically we've been a great mission school country, where the churches have these boarding schools. And so we're trying to reactivate that as a means of keeping these girls in a controlled environment until they pass high school. But the population -- our population growth rate is 3.3 percent. You know, that's a big problem. If we're not able to control that, we -- right now you mentioned 3.5. Already we are 3.9 million. Controlling violence -- the only thing we can do is to, as I say, put these young people to work, because the violence comes from the young unemployed. Drug trafficking is a problem in our West Africa region. We continue to try to do that. But getting them unemployed -- I mean -- I mean getting them employed. But they're great entrepreneurs. I mean, I think one of the biggest business among our young unemployed is motorcycling for transport. So they do a lot of the transporting of people around without -- our public transport system is there but still not at the level where it serves a lot of the people. (Inaudible) -- but then there are some of them who are still traumatized and resort to violence and extortion as a means. So we have to just continue to work on them, counseling, schooling, skilling, to be able to that -- address that. RUPP: Well, you've personally endorsed a program that goes by the acronym EPAG, the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls. Maybe say a word about that. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: There's -- it's being supported. There's the Goldman Sachs program 10,000 Girls (sic). And the EPAG actually trains them for specific jobs, mainly for the blue-collar jobs, train them in the catering business, security business, domestic work, farming. And so they have a selection process where the girls apply for it, and based upon the resources for the period -- (inaudible) -- number of girls, take them to training for about nine months or so and then have a follow-up service to have them placed in accordance with their training. So that works. The Goldman Sachs program -- I think we've had 264 girls trained. That one is taking business entities, people that have small restaurants and shops, and teaching them how to -- how to have a better business, teaching them how to keep books, how to -- how to calculate profits and all of that. So those are helping some of these girls who may not be ready or able to go back to school. RUPP: Well, I'm going to turn to -- so that we can have questions from our members, who are, as you can see, eager to ask questions. Let me -- let me close this part of the program off, though, by thanking you for your warm support and endorsement of the recommendations of our commission on -- the IRC Commission on Domestic Violence. We enjoyed meeting with you, and your minister of gender has been very proactive in helping to implement the recommendations, and I just wanted to say thank you very much. So, questions from the floor? Oh, yes, you -- (inaudible). (Applause.) Yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you so much, Madam President. I'm Professor Bernadette Atuahene from Fordham Law School. I wanted to talk briefly about this issue of corruption. One way to fight corruption is to give people increased salaries. But what we see now is in the 2012-2013 budget law -- each lawmaker's entitled to up to US$30,000 in benefits. So at what point do we go too far and at what point is this idea of good governance or legitimacy corroded by these kinds of salaries we're giving the legislators, especially since other -- you know, in order to balance the budget, we're expecting all sectors of societies to take cuts, but legislators, lawmakers are still receiving these very hefty salaries? I just want to get your thoughts and opinions on how that fits into your vision of good governance and perhaps your critique or -- of that particular practice. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We didn't give it to them; they took it. (Laughter.) We're still fighting that battle. QUESTIONER: (Laughs.) JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We have a legislature that's aggressive in terms of their own interest. And there's a public protest against their salary levels because -- particularly in the light of our inability to increase civil servants' pay. But the reason we did not increase civil servants' pay is that we have to do a payroll cleanup exercise. There are too many ghost names on the payroll, too many duplicated names on the payroll, and if we have put in the civil service increase, it would have gone -- much of it was going to the wrong hands. But I have an agreement with the legislature that once we've cleaned up the payroll, the savings that results from that exercise will be used for a civil service pay increase. I have that commitment from them. I'm going to make sure that that commitment is met. As to their own benefits, it was a long -- a long wait. We had run out of continuing resolution because a budget had not passed for a whole month and after that we had to stop -- (sighs) -- tough. RUPP: You know, we have a -- we have a hard time imagining a legislative process -- (laughter) -- that has to have to have continuing resolutions. (Laughter.) Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you, and congratulations, President Sirleaf. Early on in your presidency -- RUPP: Can you tell -- can you tell us who you are? QUESTIONER: Oh, sorry. Cora Weiss from the Hague Appeal for Peace. Early on in your presidency you were considering bringing -- welcoming the strategic command post for Africa to Liberia. Now that you're a Nobel peace laureate, are you still considering bringing a strategic command post to Liberia for Africa? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: You know, I see that strategic command post, the AFRICOM, in quite a different way than perhaps is perceived by others. I don't see it as a forced -- as a force that would incite violence or militarism. I see it as a force that would train our own military personnel, giving them the capacity to do things. Similar type of training is going on in Francophone Africa by the French. And so, you know, AFRICOM is still something that I still endorse because I think it's had good effects of promoting infrastructure development for us and training our people not only in Liberia but in the West Africa subregion. And while there were protests against this before, I think in the light of what's happening now with drug trafficking and child trafficking in our area, I think their presence is much more appreciated today. But they're not there yet. They may not even get there. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you very much, Madam President. I'm Natalie Hahn. I would be delighted if you would tell all of us about the women's market and the transformation that it's making in Liberia. And I ask that for two very specific reasons. First of all, it's going to be applicated in Malawi. You and President Joyce Banda are not only transforming your own countries but really the face of Africa. And secondly, because I think it's a way that we can help you. It's a way that we can make a difference. And as I hear you speak, I think for all of us, with our passion, our hearts for Africa and for your phenomenal leadership, the women's markets and the (fund ?) there may be a way that we can better partner with you. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: No, it's a great, great love fest, the market women -- (laughter) -- with me because they've been my greatest supporters. And I also recognize what they go through to be able to feed their families. They sit in the sun, in the rain, you know, marketing. They go across borders at great risk to be able to get commodities, you know, to the market. And so my commitment to them is to give them better working conditions. And so we've been building markets. You've probably heard of the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund where we mobilize resources, some of it from many of your institutions and yourselves in this room. And we try to go out and build new markets for them. We're moving into an area where now we will add to the markets places where their young kids can go to school. So we have primary schools in the marketplace. If we can move one step further, we should begin to move them into commercial activity by giving them cold storage, whatnot, where they can -- they can keep their produce and thereby manage (that ?). We're even encouraging the banks to put small banking windows in the market so they can begin the savings habit of taking their daily proceeds and depositing it in the bank instead of taking it home where it could be stolen. And so it's a -- it's a great program. But the market needs -- our biggest -- our biggest problem is that there's a strong sense of individualism. You can't get them to going to large megamarkets and sit because each one wants to have a place where there'll be seen by the traffic or the passer-bys. And so the markets spill over with (their good ?) markets, and they still come in, sit on the sidewalk because they want to be seen. We have to sort that problem (in good time ?). RUPP: OK. Let's -- I'm -- let's go to the back of the room there. Yes. No -- QUESTIONER: Good morning, and thank you for being here. I'm Bill Abrams with Trickle Up. We're an NGO that works in the region, in Mali and Burkina Faso. So my question is, if you would look around sort of the region and assess any number of countries that Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, that have had a lot of turbulence and how you see that affecting Liberia and sort of what you see as the risks in the region in the coming years. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: A very vulnerable subregion. And this is why we have a peacekeeping force as yet. Numbers are down to 7,000, then we've got a transition program that's going to take it down continuingly. But still, we're talking about three to five years exactly because of the vulnerability in the region. The Mali situation, particular in the north, is concerning. If it -- if it ends up being an Islamic movement, it could affect many countries, not only Mali. The political situation in the country itself has not yet been resolved because they still have competing political leadership, despite the fact that ECOWAS took a very strong and firm position against not accepting anything that resembles a takeover of power through undemocratic means. In our own region, Cote d'Ivoire, there's border problems between us and them because there's a growing rebellion against the Ouattara government because of people who had allegiance and still have ties to the previous government, President Gbagbo, and we have to manage it. Fortunately, we all -- Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia work very closely to try to manage that problem. Guinea is still unsettled, trying to find its way. And the elections are coming up in Sierra Leone in November. So all of that says that we're all still very vulnerable and must manage it very carefully. The one good thing we have going is that today there are excellent relationship among the leadership of the four countries. And so we have a common purpose of maintaining the peace and making sure that we stay on track with being able to get our development goals going and preserve democracy. So -- RUPP: Yes. You're next. (Laughter.) QUESTIONER: Oh. Lucy Komisar. I'm a journalist. Regarding the problem of teenage pregnancy, what access do teenage girls have to contraception and abortion, and are you doing anything to improve their access? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Our laws do not interfere with their rights to that. All we do is education. We have our minister of gender and development that meets with girls' groups and talk to them. We like to just see them stay in school. And what I say, we're trying to move them into these controlled environment, whereby they can -- they can concentrate on their learning. The abortion issue is not on our radar screen right now. But nobody interferes with the -- with the right of anyone. What we're trying to do is to improve parental concern, parental responsibility for the children, and so strengthening parentage as association, strengthening the community, women leaders, to do much more sensitization of the girls, the approaches that we're using. RUPP: I should add, I think the -- you can state this yourself as easily as I can state it on your behalf. The elevation of the aspiration of girls in Liberia just by virtue of your career is really very substantial. And I don't mean it's protection against -- it doesn't -- in contrast to some people running for office in this country, I don't think that protects against conception, but it nonetheless is a -- (laughter) -- very important fact about Liberia -- (inaudible) -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: You know, and let me say that my compatriot Lima Bowie (ph) has a foundation. And Lima (ph) has been doing a lot of great work with some of the girls, particularly in the rural areas. So I hope that will also be a positive impact. RUPP: You might tell the story that you've -- I've heard you tell before about the boy and the girl in terms of aspirations to be president, or vice president, as the case may be. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: (Chuckles.) Well, I think I told that story with some of the -- (inaudible) -- the other day. It was just a quick story about the UNICEF person who went into one of the rural villages and saw an altercation between a little girl and a little boy. And so the principal came out and admonished the little girl and said, you know, girls don't fight; you're not supposed to do that. So she was a little bit taken aback. And then she went up to him and said, Principal, don't speak to me like that; don't you know a woman is president? (Laughter.) Now, I thought it was a great story until I heard the second story a few months ago, in which those 6-year-olds were in class, the teacher went around the room and asked a little boy, what do you want to be when you grow up? He said, I want to be vice president. (Laughter.) So the teacher was startled. Why do you want to be vice president? Why don't you seek to be president? Oh, do you want my friends to laugh at me? President is women's work. (Laughter, applause.) RUPP: OK, you've been waiting patiently. QUESTIONER: Ronnie Heyman, GAF Industries. Madam President, I think you are truly amazing. It's a privilege to listen to you today. My question is you alluded to the United States government giving you help in certain areas, in -- with the military. I wondered if you would elaborate on some of the other help that the United States has given you in your development process and whether there are other foreign governments who have similarly come to your aid in Liberia. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: The United States is helping us in every area of our endeavor. Security is just one big one. In the health sector, they're there. In the educational sector, they're there. Building infrastructure, institution-building, in all U.S. is too our number one partner, with allocations on the order of 200 million (dollars) a year. So United States is there in every way you can think of. We also have other bilaterals program. The European Commission is supporting us in our infrastructure. We've got an infrastructure fund that they contribute to. Fighting unemployment (for short term ?), the World Bank. They all -- in terms of bilaterals, you don't want to hear this, but China is there too. And they're helping -- China likes the big-footprint items. They're still one of the most modern hospitals in the rural area in terms that they've just built -- helped us to build -- started to rebuild the university, new university campus. These are big things that -- but the U.S. is into everything. They never like these big footprints because -- because of the fear of becoming white elephant. But China is there. And increasingly traditional relationships are coming back. We're getting support from Norway, particularly in our power sector. They're supporting the management of our electricity corporation and they're part of the consortium for the rebuilding of the hydro. Germany is also there. And many of them channel resources not only through -- not only to government programs but a lot of NGO programs, humanitarian aid. So, you know, Australia is in the educational sector, where they're giving us a lot of scholarships. We've gotten many of our young people now training there. And so it's support from so many places. RUPP: World Bank you didn't mention, but that's -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Oh, World Bank is big. I mean, World Bank is helping us mainly with infrastructure. African Development Bank is helping us restore the water systems. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Jacques-Philippe Piverger. I run a company called MpowerD, a renewable energy company. My first question -- well, my questions relates to -- RUPP: You only get one question. (Laughter.) QUESTIONER: I realize that. That's why I stopped myself. I was going to say it's a two-part question, but it's really two. So my one question relates to the energy sector. You mentioned that you currently have 20 megawatts of capacity for the entire country. I'd like to get a better understanding of your overall need and, as part of your plan for 2030, how do you intend to get to the full capacity and the processes that are not in there. Thank you,. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: All right. In three years we should have the hydro back on. That will restore up to 64 megawatts. That was the original capacity. There is the potential for an upstream dam and storage. If we can find the resources to be able to do that, that should give us the potential of a thousand megawatts. Between now and the three years when the hydro comes onstream, we've got to expand power service from 21 megawatts, so we've got to keep going for high diesel thermogeneration units. And we've got three things under way ourselves -- putting in a 10-megawatt from our own resources; the World Bank is working on the 10-megawatt from theirs; and Japan is working on a 10-megawatt. So in those three years, we might be able to bump it up to about 60 megawatts. We welcome IPP arrangements, and we're going to have some EUIs (sp) that will go out in that regard. We're looking at alternative sources of energy, many hydro because Liberia is a great water country. The first one, with USA support, the first model hydro, small in rural areas, will come onstream in December, and we're trying to assess where other potentials are. Solar, solar is also a possibility. In some of our rural schools, there have been some solar installations to pilot them and test them. And the whole thing about alternative source of energy, a study on that is being done, and we hope that will lead us into how else we can meet this need. RUPP: So you can pursue your further questions by going to Liberia -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: There you go. RUPP: -- and developing a business plan for all kinds of micro-projects around the country. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: There you go. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Good morning, Your Excellency. My name is Saran Kaba Jones. I'm the executive director of FACE Africa, working on clean water projects in Liberia. You spoke earlier of a projected growth rate of 8 percent, but I believe that growth is largely driven by natural resources and the extractive industries, which does not lead to real job growth. What programs and plans does the government have in place to encourage and promote small industries, and especially homegrown and indigenous small-to-medium-sized businesses in Liberia, which I think are the best vehicles for job creation and true economic growth? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: You're absolutely right. Liberia has been in the extractive industry business traditionally, and we know it led to growth without development. Our aim is to try to reverse that, and the biggest thing to do is to move from the enclave operations to where you create the linkages with small and medium-sized businesses. We have to develop that entrepreneurship to enable them to be able to take opportunities. We are going to require outsourcing by the major concessionaires so that they do not operate in a situation in which they provide all their services, whether it's transportation, whether it's hospitality, whether it's that, to have -- (inaudible). But we have to develop that entrepreneurship, that middle class that would take advantage of it. There's money in our budget to be able to develop Liberian entrepreneurs starting now, to make sure that they can take advantage of some money. and we're going to have to require it so we do not experience the situation of the past. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Hi, Peggy Hicks with Human Rights Watch. It's a pleasure to be here today, hear about the progress that's been made. But I wanted to ask the extent to which you see building a stable foundation for Liberia's future also being based on providing justice for the horrible abuses that occurred during the conflict and what prospect there is for victims of those crimes to see domestic prosecutions for them. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: The chances are good. Our system allows anyone aggrieved to seek justice to our courts and to get the support from us to be able to seek their justice. We also recognize that while justice is important, reconciliation is also an important part of it. Our nation is very complex, has been from its very beginnings, where cleavage is strong, cleavages exist and the wounds of the war run very, very deep. And so we have to find a right balance between justice -- very important, no doubt -- but reconciliation, because if we went fully with justice and prosecuted everybody, you'd have to prosecute thousands and thousands of people, and that in itself might have an unacceptable response. So that's why we have in this year's budget a huge sum for reconciliation. We have a road map. We've worked with some of our partners on developing an appropriate road map. But like I said, anyone wanting to seek justice, we must give them that right and that support. RUPP: OK, yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you. I'm Mike Howard, and I'm an adjunct fellow here at the council. And we've been doing round-table series on Asian populations, this demographic shift in our 21st century to older societies. And although I know we haven't talked about it today, I'd like to ask your -- you a question about perhaps your global role. We know you will be taking on this review of the Millennium Development Goals. It's an indicator of how the world looks at your great courage and position integrity. And I wonder whether there is a way for these Millennium Development Goals, as we review that, to incorporate this challenge that our 21st century is now addressing of more older people than younger. It requires a sort of look at things over the course of decades, and the World Report will be coming out on Monday from the U.N. Population Fund, Babatunde, on aging and development. And so looking at it not just from the standpoint of United States or Europe or Japan but from the standpoint of the needs in the developing world, I wonder whether you've -- perhaps you could give us some insight as to how we could cover that topic in the Millennium Development Goals. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We'll have to look at all of these studies that have been done, to see the implication for development and for the new world order. The -- I'm part of, as you said, the group, the high-level panel that's going to be looking at post-2015. We don't have any preconceived idea of what the new world development agenda should look like, and we should. We -- you know, we have no monopoly on those kinds of ideas. It must come from a wide range of consultation around the globe, from studies that have been done by various groups that tend to point out, you know, what the trends are, what is the aging trend or demographic trends or -- and be able to see how we can tease out where we find consensus arising around certain themes, whether it's youth employment, you know, or environment or continuation of some of the indicators. And then the MDGs, that's important also. There are three years left for the MDGs, and we shouldn't forget that. We can still accelerate our work. So right now we're all just full of ideas but have to now settle down and see what that agenda should look like that everybody would feel a part of and identify with. RUPP: You've been waiting patiently. QUESTIONER: Madam President, hi. Tim Crowhurst with White Oak. It's fascinated me for a long time that Liberia as a country has a significant number of international ships that are registered in Liberia. And as I heard you talk about -- ports on your agenda for development, I wondered, is there more of an industry that you can create from an asset like that, where you have all these ships registered in Nigeria -- or in Liberia? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: It fascinates me, too. (Laughter.) You know, the Liberia maritime program started here, and it's still run here, from here. It brings in significant revenues for us, we're trying, but fortunately, it's now well managed. The safety record compares. We're the second-largest registered fleet, second to Panama. We want to see if we can promote it and get into some shipbuilding activities and what not. That's part of the -- that's part of the plan. But for now, it's still, for us, a useful program, a contributory program. How we can scale it up so that it's much more than, quote-unquote, "flag of convenience" to something where it really has an important part in our economic growth, as some of the plans that are being looked at now. RUPP: Ma'am. QUESTIONER: Pat Mitchell, president of The Paley Center for Media. Good morning, Madam President. You yourself are a role model for a new kind of leadership, not only on your continent but around the world. And the programs and priorities you've mentioned this morning are certainly examples of your investment in women and girls, a priority you set. What do you see now with the challenges particularly on the continent to the kinds of leadership that are needed? What qualities are you calling on? What values do you put forth that are identifying a new kind of leadership and one that can be effective and change the future in Liberia and other places? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We hope that we can inculcate the value of ownership participation. Too often, because we get support, we tend to get complacent and let our partners or something determine our destiny, dictate our priorities. And that has to change. We have to take responsibility for our own development. We have to determine that our resources first and foremost will be used for our development. And if we can send that kind of message to our younger generation who will be assuming leadership, you know, over the next few years, then I think the sustainability of our effort will be secured. I mean, today globalization is real -- we're not going to reverse it -- the interconnectivity of the world, the communication revolution and the demonstration effect that results from that, all the realities that we all have to face in this world. And until, you know, each one not only takes responsibility to recognize this, that that interrelationship and interconnectivity will not go away, then when you begin to look at the dynamics of your own situation and how they relate to the rest of the world and how you fit yourself, you know, into that moving spectrum, that's going to be the how challenge, and that's the challenge we have to inspire and pass on to the generations that follow. RUPP: Well, that's a terrific note on which to end. (Applause.) JOHNSON SIRLEAF: May I just say one last thing? May I just say one last thing? Let me just end it on the commitment we keep making to ourselves and to our people and our people to us. Liberia in 10 years does not want to have official development assistance. (Applause.) And in 2030 we're determined to become a middle-income country. Thank you. (Applause.) RUPP: On behalf of all of us, I thank you very much. We admire the leadership you're exhibiting, and we look forward to that next 10 and 20 years. Thank you. (C) COPYRIGHT 2012, FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC., 1120 G STREET NW; SUITE 990; WASHINGTON, DC - 20005, USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ANY REPRODUCTION, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION CONSTITUTES A MISAPPROPRIATION UNDER APPLICABLE UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW, AND FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC. RESERVES THE RIGHT TO PURSUE ALL REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO IT IN RESPECT TO SUCH MISAPPROPRIATION. FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC. IS A PRIVATE FIRM AND IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. NO COPYRIGHT IS CLAIMED AS TO ANY PART OF THE ORIGINAL WORK PREPARED BY A UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE AS PART OF THAT PERSON'S OFFICIAL DUTIES. FOR INFORMATION ON SUBSCRIBING TO FNS, PLEASE CALL 202-347-1400 OR EMAIL [email protected]. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. GEORGE RUPP: I'm very pleased to welcome all of you to this Council on Foreign Relations meeting with the president of the Republic of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. I have the usual housekeeping requests. Please turn off all cellphones, everything electronic, not on vibrate but off. I'm reliably informed it interferes with the -- with the amplification system, so that would be very helpful. I remind all of us that this meeting is on the record. We're very honored that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is visiting us again. This is the third time, at least in my attending these sessions with you, and I'm delighted that you're able to be here. You all have a written biography in the materials that were handed out, so I will -- I will be brief and touch really only very much the highlights. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the 24th president of Liberia. She was first -- began her first term in 2006 and was re-elected and began her second term in 2012. She is the first elected head of state of any African country, in a pattern that others have already followed and will continue to follow. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was educated in Liberia and in the United States. She has a very extended career in the financial sector, beginning in 1965, when she worked in the Treasury Department of her home country, Liberia. She was then also finance minister and president -- and after that, president of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment. She has been a VP in Citigroup's Africa regional office in Nairobi, a senior loan officer in the World Bank and vice president of the Equator Bank. She's participated in international development, in particular through UNDP. President Sirleaf was jailed for a year by former President Samuel Doe and then went into self-imposed exile during the presidency of Charles Taylor. She has a great many honors and awards, and many of those or a subset of those are listed in your written biography that you have in your program. I'll just mention the top-of-the-line ones: Nobel Peace Price in 2011, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, 15 honorary doctorates from distinguished institution (sic). Please join me in welcoming President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. (Applause.) Now, President Sirleaf, I had the occasion and privilege of visiting Liberia a number of times, and the relevant ones are twice before your election, when Charles Taylor was president, and then twice after the election. And so I have a vivid sense of the huge difference that just the occasion of your election made, from the kind of despair that characterized the last of the Taylor years to really a terrific euphoria when you were first elected. And I would say, in my most recent visit, after your re-election, the euphoria has given way to sort of more reasonable awareness of how tough the challenges are but still pride at progress that's being made. So I think we'd all be interested in hearing your own -- well, if we use crude metaphors, we could say scorecard. It might be better, given your financial background, to see your -- what -- how you think the balance sheet comes out in terms of gains and losses, positive achievements and challenges that remain for the now almost seven years that you've been in office. PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF: I welcome the opportunity to do that. We've come a long way. As you know, when we started off in 2006, after 14 years of war that devastated the country, a criminalized economy, dysfunctional institutions, brain drain, most of our people out of the country, infrastructure all destroyed because of lack of maintenance and work over the years of conflict, and so we had to start from scratch, so to speak. Immediately we put into place a poverty reduction strategy around four pillars: peace and security, economic reconstruction, governance and infrastructure and debtor services. We've first of all, knowing that peace and security is vital to anything, put an emphasis on that, and that enabled us to do a complete new army, disband the entire old army because they comprised people from the warring factions. With the support of the U.S., we trained a 2,000-person army. Today they're in place, very professional, well-equipped; tried to do something with the other security sectors, like the national police. But the main thing was to get things functioning again, economic reconstruction. Because Liberia is natural resource-rich, it made it easier for us to go after the private sector because we do believe the private sector is our main engine of growth. And so we went for attracting investment to reactivate operations in our basic natural resources, which are mining, agriculture, forestry. Sanctions that had been imposed were lifted as a result of the policies we put in place. And so as a result of that, we mobilized 16 billion in direct foreign investment across these sectors. We would -- we had -- we had a large debt overhang, external debt of some 4.9 billion that had not been serviced for over 20 years. And so we entered the HIPC program, and under the HIPC program we think in record time we -- in three years we were able to reach the completion point and it was able to wipe out most of that debt, thereby giving us the fiscal space to be able to do more. At the same time, domestic revenue mobilization was important, and so we tackled that, looking at the tax base and seeing what we could do. We -- 80 million dollars -- when we started off in 2006 -- I always compare that to the budgets of one of your high schools. (Laughter.) We just had a new budget that -- RUPP: Or the Council on Foreign Relations. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Or the Council on Foreign Relations. (Chuckles.) That's right. (Laughter.) But you know, we just passed a new budget of $670 million, hardly enough, but a big jump. And building those institutions was tough, trying to get them working. It means we had -- we had to formulate new laws and policies and strategies. And infrastructure also is tough -- no lights in the country. We turned on the first set of streetlights and subsequently begin to provide lights, building the schools and the clinics and the water systems, all of which had gone into a state of disrepair, none functional at all. So at the end of the six years, where we are? Growth -- experienced growth of average annual 6.5 percent. This year we estimate, the IMF, it will be 8.8 percent growth. (Inaudible) -- fiscal space, we can now -- we can now begin to mobilize resources, not only our own, but to access facilities (under ?) very, very tough conditions because we don't want to get debt-distressed again. But at least the soft windows of the World Bank and other institutions provide us the means whereby we can begin to do things. Our institutions are functioning again. We've put in systems that didn't exist. We have a training program. We enforce compulsory education to try and get people back into school. Enrollments have more than quadrupled. And so now comes the hard part. Like you say, you notice the euphoria is gone because success has its pitfalls. One of the things is, because we've done so much, everyone wants more. And so they raise expectations. Every time you turn lights in one community, five of the communities complain, you know, why don't you give me lights? Every time you build a road in one area of the country, you know, 10 other areas say, why not my road? So we have to tackle that. So what we decided -- to a long-term vision -- visioning exercise. So we now have some -- Lift Liberia development agenda 2030. It took us two years to put that in place. (It ?) involved robust consultation around the country to see what the Liberian people want as their future, what do they see. We've got that ready to be commenced early November. We -- we're now -- that strategy is all done. Now, what are some of the challenges that remain? RUPP: Well, you've just -- you've just named a big one, namely, to keep this now solidly grounded process moving forward. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: That is true. But there are some specific areas. Youth development, youth unemployment. We've got thousands and thousands of young people who were bypassed with an education during the years of conflict. They were child soldiers. So they never had that opportunity. Today they're unskilled. How do we respond to that? We're going into a massive vocational technical training, see if we can give them skills. Education is a long-term endeavor. But at least in the short term, if we can give them a skill, at least we can make them employable. And we see them as a pool that will fit into the operations of our mining sector. (So we're ?) just getting started. Integrity. Corruption. Even though we put in place the pillars integrity (issue ?) straight in our General Auditing Commission, establishing a Liberian anti-corruption commission -- we joined the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. I'm pleased that we've done well there, became one of the first to become compliant. Whistle-blowers (act ?) some of those things that we've done. Freedom of Information Act, I think we're the first country to have -- to have to done that. But still, we have to keep fighting corruption because it is ingrained in a society coming from two decades of deprivation. It became a way of life, of survival. So we've tackled it in so many ways. One is to increase compensation, thereby reducing vulnerabilities. Put in systems that did not exist that would minimize discretion. Capacity, training of people so that they understand the laws, our new procurement laws, public financial management laws. We've put all of those in place to do that. One of that areas where, again, there's a challenge, our judicial system. Again, a part of the whole microcosm of the whole ills in the society where judges, jurors can be compromised. And so we -- that's one of our areas to tackle now, judicial reform. Infrastructure. Still a big challenge, but our main concentration now in our new budget is to focus on power, ports and roads because those are essential to meet the new agenda of moving from being a primary commodity exporting country to adding value. And to add value, for example, for our rubber -- as you know, rubber is one of our mainstay traditional -- going back to Firestone in 1926. They're -- they had their replanting. How do we add value? By processing our rubber instead of shipping old rubber out. Our mining -- in the mining sector, we've got iron ore, gold, diamond. We're pleased that -- iron ore has been our tradition. Our first export of iron ore from the company ArcelorMittal was in 2010, so we shipped the first ore out in 20 years. And so those operations are ongoing. We -- are we going to be able to move to produce some elements of, you know, some steel? Can't do it without power. Today we have 21 megawatts of power, 21. Just think about that. What that translate into is a cost of over 50 cents per kilowatt-hour. I mean, compare that with yours -- must be about 9 cents, thereabout. So focusing on the reconstruction of a hydro plant which was destroyed in the war is a focus, is our priority. RUPP: Well, now, let me interrupt -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Please. RUPP: -- not because I -- I know there's a long list of priorities that you still have that you can address. But I think we should pause to really take in and to applaud the progress that's been made. As someone who has been in Monrovia when there was no -- when there were no lights, I can say that getting lights into the capital city is a -- is a substantial achievement. Six and a half to 7 percent, and now with higher rates projected, growth is phenomenal. And it is an example that -- it sets an example for the rest of Africa and for the world. So I think you should feel very good about the progress that's been made. And the list of challenges that you outline is so daunting that I find myself grateful that Liberia is of a scale that your impact can be substantial for the country as a whole. It's now what, 3 1/2 million people, more or less? And that means that you really can have an impact across the whole country in the time that you've got. Let me give you -- ask you to comment a little on one example that you haven't yet mentioned. I know you've made it -- made it a priority to develop basic health care across the country, and the International Rescue Committee has worked with Ministry of Health on that priority. And that's the vantage point that we have, where we can see how the civil servants are rising to the occasion of trying to be responsible and effective and transparent, rather than the standard pattern that was in those ministries before. But maybe you can say a little bit about the priority of expanding basic medicine. And the a second area where it would be interesting to hear you comment a little further is your focus on the challenges faced in particular by adolescent girls and your priority in over -- in countering domestic violence. Maybe those three places, you could comment a little more. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Sure. RUPP: And then we'll open it up for others. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Basic health care -- we've established what is called a basic health care package, trying to open up clinics in the rural areas, immunization programs for the children. And we've done very well. Two areas that continue to challenge us in health care delivery service are child mortality, maternal mortality. This year, the latest report we have, the child mortality rate has dropped, and that's because we have made health service free in the rural areas for five years and below. And so that's beginning to make an impact. We have -- RUPP: An area where the United States might emulate Liberia. (Laughter.) JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We're still fighting with maternal mortality, and that's because we had to reactivate the system of -- what do you call? Those, they -- those who helps mothers in something -- AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Midwife. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Midwife -- the midwifery system. That's what they were -- they were accustomed to, and that has sort of, you know, gone down also too. But we have to train them, because these were volunteer midwives that were performing operations without the tools, without the knowledge. And so the training program (is on ?). But basically, with the -- with the hospitals and clinics that we've built and the free service health care delivery -- and we get a lot of support from nongovernment organizations. The philanthropic organizations here support a lot of -- a lot of that. And I must say that our health ministry is the one that's going today and is going to do the pilot, what you call FARA now. You may know this (through ?) AID intervention: Fixed Account Reimbursement. So we're -- and our health service system is -- has been proven to be so good that we have pool fund with which all the donors contribute, and then they agree on the priorities, and they take care of that. Your second area was -- RUPP: Well, adolescent girls in particular, but then also domestic violence. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Deep problem. When we enforced compulsory education, the enrollment went up, as I say, quadruple. And the majority of those were girls. And we put emphasis on them because the girl child has been elected, you know, because of poverty, where they give preference for the boy. But retention is a problem because once they've passed primary and get into middle class and into high school, then teenage pregnancy becomes a problem. And we are still looking for solutions to that, trying to maybe move them into what we -- what historically we've been a great mission school country, where the churches have these boarding schools. And so we're trying to reactivate that as a means of keeping these girls in a controlled environment until they pass high school. But the population -- our population growth rate is 3.3 percent. You know, that's a big problem. If we're not able to control that, we -- right now you mentioned 3.5. Already we are 3.9 million. Controlling violence -- the only thing we can do is to, as I say, put these young people to work, because the violence comes from the young unemployed. Drug trafficking is a problem in our West Africa region. We continue to try to do that. But getting them unemployed -- I mean -- I mean getting them employed. But they're great entrepreneurs. I mean, I think one of the biggest business among our young unemployed is motorcycling for transport. So they do a lot of the transporting of people around without -- our public transport system is there but still not at the level where it serves a lot of the people. (Inaudible) -- but then there are some of them who are still traumatized and resort to violence and extortion as a means. So we have to just continue to work on them, counseling, schooling, skilling, to be able to that -- address that. RUPP: Well, you've personally endorsed a program that goes by the acronym EPAG, the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls. Maybe say a word about that. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: There's -- it's being supported. There's the Goldman Sachs program 10,000 Girls (sic). And the EPAG actually trains them for specific jobs, mainly for the blue-collar jobs, train them in the catering business, security business, domestic work, farming. And so they have a selection process where the girls apply for it, and based upon the resources for the period -- (inaudible) -- number of girls, take them to training for about nine months or so and then have a follow-up service to have them placed in accordance with their training. So that works. The Goldman Sachs program -- I think we've had 264 girls trained. That one is taking business entities, people that have small restaurants and shops, and teaching them how to -- how to have a better business, teaching them how to keep books, how to -- how to calculate profits and all of that. So those are helping some of these girls who may not be ready or able to go back to school. RUPP: Well, I'm going to turn to -- so that we can have questions from our members, who are, as you can see, eager to ask questions. Let me -- let me close this part of the program off, though, by thanking you for your warm support and endorsement of the recommendations of our commission on -- the IRC Commission on Domestic Violence. We enjoyed meeting with you, and your minister of gender has been very proactive in helping to implement the recommendations, and I just wanted to say thank you very much. So, questions from the floor? Oh, yes, you -- (inaudible). (Applause.) Yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you so much, Madam President. I'm Professor Bernadette Atuahene from Fordham Law School. I wanted to talk briefly about this issue of corruption. One way to fight corruption is to give people increased salaries. But what we see now is in the 2012-2013 budget law -- each lawmaker's entitled to up to US$30,000 in benefits. So at what point do we go too far and at what point is this idea of good governance or legitimacy corroded by these kinds of salaries we're giving the legislators, especially since other -- you know, in order to balance the budget, we're expecting all sectors of societies to take cuts, but legislators, lawmakers are still receiving these very hefty salaries? I just want to get your thoughts and opinions on how that fits into your vision of good governance and perhaps your critique or -- of that particular practice. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We didn't give it to them; they took it. (Laughter.) We're still fighting that battle. QUESTIONER: (Laughs.) JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We have a legislature that's aggressive in terms of their own interest. And there's a public protest against their salary levels because -- particularly in the light of our inability to increase civil servants' pay. But the reason we did not increase civil servants' pay is that we have to do a payroll cleanup exercise. There are too many ghost names on the payroll, too many duplicated names on the payroll, and if we have put in the civil service increase, it would have gone -- much of it was going to the wrong hands. But I have an agreement with the legislature that once we've cleaned up the payroll, the savings that results from that exercise will be used for a civil service pay increase. I have that commitment from them. I'm going to make sure that that commitment is met. As to their own benefits, it was a long -- a long wait. We had run out of continuing resolution because a budget had not passed for a whole month and after that we had to stop -- (sighs) -- tough. RUPP: You know, we have a -- we have a hard time imagining a legislative process -- (laughter) -- that has to have to have continuing resolutions. (Laughter.) Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you, and congratulations, President Sirleaf. Early on in your presidency -- RUPP: Can you tell -- can you tell us who you are? QUESTIONER: Oh, sorry. Cora Weiss from the Hague Appeal for Peace. Early on in your presidency you were considering bringing -- welcoming the strategic command post for Africa to Liberia. Now that you're a Nobel peace laureate, are you still considering bringing a strategic command post to Liberia for Africa? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: You know, I see that strategic command post, the AFRICOM, in quite a different way than perhaps is perceived by others. I don't see it as a forced -- as a force that would incite violence or militarism. I see it as a force that would train our own military personnel, giving them the capacity to do things. Similar type of training is going on in Francophone Africa by the French. And so, you know, AFRICOM is still something that I still endorse because I think it's had good effects of promoting infrastructure development for us and training our people not only in Liberia but in the West Africa subregion. And while there were protests against this before, I think in the light of what's happening now with drug trafficking and child trafficking in our area, I think their presence is much more appreciated today. But they're not there yet. They may not even get there. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you very much, Madam President. I'm Natalie Hahn. I would be delighted if you would tell all of us about the women's market and the transformation that it's making in Liberia. And I ask that for two very specific reasons. First of all, it's going to be applicated in Malawi. You and President Joyce Banda are not only transforming your own countries but really the face of Africa. And secondly, because I think it's a way that we can help you. It's a way that we can make a difference. And as I hear you speak, I think for all of us, with our passion, our hearts for Africa and for your phenomenal leadership, the women's markets and the (fund ?) there may be a way that we can better partner with you. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: No, it's a great, great love fest, the market women -- (laughter) -- with me because they've been my greatest supporters. And I also recognize what they go through to be able to feed their families. They sit in the sun, in the rain, you know, marketing. They go across borders at great risk to be able to get commodities, you know, to the market. And so my commitment to them is to give them better working conditions. And so we've been building markets. You've probably heard of the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund where we mobilize resources, some of it from many of your institutions and yourselves in this room. And we try to go out and build new markets for them. We're moving into an area where now we will add to the markets places where their young kids can go to school. So we have primary schools in the marketplace. If we can move one step further, we should begin to move them into commercial activity by giving them cold storage, whatnot, where they can -- they can keep their produce and thereby manage (that ?). We're even encouraging the banks to put small banking windows in the market so they can begin the savings habit of taking their daily proceeds and depositing it in the bank instead of taking it home where it could be stolen. And so it's a -- it's a great program. But the market needs -- our biggest -- our biggest problem is that there's a strong sense of individualism. You can't get them to going to large megamarkets and sit because each one wants to have a place where there'll be seen by the traffic or the passer-bys. And so the markets spill over with (their good ?) markets, and they still come in, sit on the sidewalk because they want to be seen. We have to sort that problem (in good time ?). RUPP: OK. Let's -- I'm -- let's go to the back of the room there. Yes. No -- QUESTIONER: Good morning, and thank you for being here. I'm Bill Abrams with Trickle Up. We're an NGO that works in the region, in Mali and Burkina Faso. So my question is, if you would look around sort of the region and assess any number of countries that Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, that have had a lot of turbulence and how you see that affecting Liberia and sort of what you see as the risks in the region in the coming years. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: A very vulnerable subregion. And this is why we have a peacekeeping force as yet. Numbers are down to 7,000, then we've got a transition program that's going to take it down continuingly. But still, we're talking about three to five years exactly because of the vulnerability in the region. The Mali situation, particular in the north, is concerning. If it -- if it ends up being an Islamic movement, it could affect many countries, not only Mali. The political situation in the country itself has not yet been resolved because they still have competing political leadership, despite the fact that ECOWAS took a very strong and firm position against not accepting anything that resembles a takeover of power through undemocratic means. In our own region, Cote d'Ivoire, there's border problems between us and them because there's a growing rebellion against the Ouattara government because of people who had allegiance and still have ties to the previous government, President Gbagbo, and we have to manage it. Fortunately, we all -- Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia work very closely to try to manage that problem. Guinea is still unsettled, trying to find its way. And the elections are coming up in Sierra Leone in November. So all of that says that we're all still very vulnerable and must manage it very carefully. The one good thing we have going is that today there are excellent relationship among the leadership of the four countries. And so we have a common purpose of maintaining the peace and making sure that we stay on track with being able to get our development goals going and preserve democracy. So -- RUPP: Yes. You're next. (Laughter.) QUESTIONER: Oh. Lucy Komisar. I'm a journalist. Regarding the problem of teenage pregnancy, what access do teenage girls have to contraception and abortion, and are you doing anything to improve their access? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Our laws do not interfere with their rights to that. All we do is education. We have our minister of gender and development that meets with girls' groups and talk to them. We like to just see them stay in school. And what I say, we're trying to move them into these controlled environment, whereby they can -- they can concentrate on their learning. The abortion issue is not on our radar screen right now. But nobody interferes with the -- with the right of anyone. What we're trying to do is to improve parental concern, parental responsibility for the children, and so strengthening parentage as association, strengthening the community, women leaders, to do much more sensitization of the girls, the approaches that we're using. RUPP: I should add, I think the -- you can state this yourself as easily as I can state it on your behalf. The elevation of the aspiration of girls in Liberia just by virtue of your career is really very substantial. And I don't mean it's protection against -- it doesn't -- in contrast to some people running for office in this country, I don't think that protects against conception, but it nonetheless is a -- (laughter) -- very important fact about Liberia -- (inaudible) -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: You know, and let me say that my compatriot Lima Bowie (ph) has a foundation. And Lima (ph) has been doing a lot of great work with some of the girls, particularly in the rural areas. So I hope that will also be a positive impact. RUPP: You might tell the story that you've -- I've heard you tell before about the boy and the girl in terms of aspirations to be president, or vice president, as the case may be. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: (Chuckles.) Well, I think I told that story with some of the -- (inaudible) -- the other day. It was just a quick story about the UNICEF person who went into one of the rural villages and saw an altercation between a little girl and a little boy. And so the principal came out and admonished the little girl and said, you know, girls don't fight; you're not supposed to do that. So she was a little bit taken aback. And then she went up to him and said, Principal, don't speak to me like that; don't you know a woman is president? (Laughter.) Now, I thought it was a great story until I heard the second story a few months ago, in which those 6-year-olds were in class, the teacher went around the room and asked a little boy, what do you want to be when you grow up? He said, I want to be vice president. (Laughter.) So the teacher was startled. Why do you want to be vice president? Why don't you seek to be president? Oh, do you want my friends to laugh at me? President is women's work. (Laughter, applause.) RUPP: OK, you've been waiting patiently. QUESTIONER: Ronnie Heyman, GAF Industries. Madam President, I think you are truly amazing. It's a privilege to listen to you today. My question is you alluded to the United States government giving you help in certain areas, in -- with the military. I wondered if you would elaborate on some of the other help that the United States has given you in your development process and whether there are other foreign governments who have similarly come to your aid in Liberia. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: The United States is helping us in every area of our endeavor. Security is just one big one. In the health sector, they're there. In the educational sector, they're there. Building infrastructure, institution-building, in all U.S. is too our number one partner, with allocations on the order of 200 million (dollars) a year. So United States is there in every way you can think of. We also have other bilaterals program. The European Commission is supporting us in our infrastructure. We've got an infrastructure fund that they contribute to. Fighting unemployment (for short term ?), the World Bank. They all -- in terms of bilaterals, you don't want to hear this, but China is there too. And they're helping -- China likes the big-footprint items. They're still one of the most modern hospitals in the rural area in terms that they've just built -- helped us to build -- started to rebuild the university, new university campus. These are big things that -- but the U.S. is into everything. They never like these big footprints because -- because of the fear of becoming white elephant. But China is there. And increasingly traditional relationships are coming back. We're getting support from Norway, particularly in our power sector. They're supporting the management of our electricity corporation and they're part of the consortium for the rebuilding of the hydro. Germany is also there. And many of them channel resources not only through -- not only to government programs but a lot of NGO programs, humanitarian aid. So, you know, Australia is in the educational sector, where they're giving us a lot of scholarships. We've gotten many of our young people now training there. And so it's support from so many places. RUPP: World Bank you didn't mention, but that's -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Oh, World Bank is big. I mean, World Bank is helping us mainly with infrastructure. African Development Bank is helping us restore the water systems. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Jacques-Philippe Piverger. I run a company called MpowerD, a renewable energy company. My first question -- well, my questions relates to -- RUPP: You only get one question. (Laughter.) QUESTIONER: I realize that. That's why I stopped myself. I was going to say it's a two-part question, but it's really two. So my one question relates to the energy sector. You mentioned that you currently have 20 megawatts of capacity for the entire country. I'd like to get a better understanding of your overall need and, as part of your plan for 2030, how do you intend to get to the full capacity and the processes that are not in there. Thank you,. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: All right. In three years we should have the hydro back on. That will restore up to 64 megawatts. That was the original capacity. There is the potential for an upstream dam and storage. If we can find the resources to be able to do that, that should give us the potential of a thousand megawatts. Between now and the three years when the hydro comes onstream, we've got to expand power service from 21 megawatts, so we've got to keep going for high diesel thermogeneration units. And we've got three things under way ourselves -- putting in a 10-megawatt from our own resources; the World Bank is working on the 10-megawatt from theirs; and Japan is working on a 10-megawatt. So in those three years, we might be able to bump it up to about 60 megawatts. We welcome IPP arrangements, and we're going to have some EUIs (sp) that will go out in that regard. We're looking at alternative sources of energy, many hydro because Liberia is a great water country. The first one, with USA support, the first model hydro, small in rural areas, will come onstream in December, and we're trying to assess where other potentials are. Solar, solar is also a possibility. In some of our rural schools, there have been some solar installations to pilot them and test them. And the whole thing about alternative source of energy, a study on that is being done, and we hope that will lead us into how else we can meet this need. RUPP: So you can pursue your further questions by going to Liberia -- JOHNSON SIRLEAF: There you go. RUPP: -- and developing a business plan for all kinds of micro-projects around the country. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: There you go. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Good morning, Your Excellency. My name is Saran Kaba Jones. I'm the executive director of FACE Africa, working on clean water projects in Liberia. You spoke earlier of a projected growth rate of 8 percent, but I believe that growth is largely driven by natural resources and the extractive industries, which does not lead to real job growth. What programs and plans does the government have in place to encourage and promote small industries, and especially homegrown and indigenous small-to-medium-sized businesses in Liberia, which I think are the best vehicles for job creation and true economic growth? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: You're absolutely right. Liberia has been in the extractive industry business traditionally, and we know it led to growth without development. Our aim is to try to reverse that, and the biggest thing to do is to move from the enclave operations to where you create the linkages with small and medium-sized businesses. We have to develop that entrepreneurship to enable them to be able to take opportunities. We are going to require outsourcing by the major concessionaires so that they do not operate in a situation in which they provide all their services, whether it's transportation, whether it's hospitality, whether it's that, to have -- (inaudible). But we have to develop that entrepreneurship, that middle class that would take advantage of it. There's money in our budget to be able to develop Liberian entrepreneurs starting now, to make sure that they can take advantage of some money. and we're going to have to require it so we do not experience the situation of the past. RUPP: Yes. QUESTIONER: Hi, Peggy Hicks with Human Rights Watch. It's a pleasure to be here today, hear about the progress that's been made. But I wanted to ask the extent to which you see building a stable foundation for Liberia's future also being based on providing justice for the horrible abuses that occurred during the conflict and what prospect there is for victims of those crimes to see domestic prosecutions for them. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: The chances are good. Our system allows anyone aggrieved to seek justice to our courts and to get the support from us to be able to seek their justice. We also recognize that while justice is important, reconciliation is also an important part of it. Our nation is very complex, has been from its very beginnings, where cleavage is strong, cleavages exist and the wounds of the war run very, very deep. And so we have to find a right balance between justice -- very important, no doubt -- but reconciliation, because if we went fully with justice and prosecuted everybody, you'd have to prosecute thousands and thousands of people, and that in itself might have an unacceptable response. So that's why we have in this year's budget a huge sum for reconciliation. We have a road map. We've worked with some of our partners on developing an appropriate road map. But like I said, anyone wanting to seek justice, we must give them that right and that support. RUPP: OK, yes. QUESTIONER: Thank you. I'm Mike Howard, and I'm an adjunct fellow here at the council. And we've been doing round-table series on Asian populations, this demographic shift in our 21st century to older societies. And although I know we haven't talked about it today, I'd like to ask your -- you a question about perhaps your global role. We know you will be taking on this review of the Millennium Development Goals. It's an indicator of how the world looks at your great courage and position integrity. And I wonder whether there is a way for these Millennium Development Goals, as we review that, to incorporate this challenge that our 21st century is now addressing of more older people than younger. It requires a sort of look at things over the course of decades, and the World Report will be coming out on Monday from the U.N. Population Fund, Babatunde, on aging and development. And so looking at it not just from the standpoint of United States or Europe or Japan but from the standpoint of the needs in the developing world, I wonder whether you've -- perhaps you could give us some insight as to how we could cover that topic in the Millennium Development Goals. JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We'll have to look at all of these studies that have been done, to see the implication for development and for the new world order. The -- I'm part of, as you said, the group, the high-level panel that's going to be looking at post-2015. We don't have any preconceived idea of what the new world development agenda should look like, and we should. We -- you know, we have no monopoly on those kinds of ideas. It must come from a wide range of consultation around the globe, from studies that have been done by various groups that tend to point out, you know, what the trends are, what is the aging trend or demographic trends or -- and be able to see how we can tease out where we find consensus arising around certain themes, whether it's youth employment, you know, or environment or continuation of some of the indicators. And then the MDGs, that's important also. There are three years left for the MDGs, and we shouldn't forget that. We can still accelerate our work. So right now we're all just full of ideas but have to now settle down and see what that agenda should look like that everybody would feel a part of and identify with. RUPP: You've been waiting patiently. QUESTIONER: Madam President, hi. Tim Crowhurst with White Oak. It's fascinated me for a long time that Liberia as a country has a significant number of international ships that are registered in Liberia. And as I heard you talk about -- ports on your agenda for development, I wondered, is there more of an industry that you can create from an asset like that, where you have all these ships registered in Nigeria -- or in Liberia? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: It fascinates me, too. (Laughter.) You know, the Liberia maritime program started here, and it's still run here, from here. It brings in significant revenues for us, we're trying, but fortunately, it's now well managed. The safety record compares. We're the second-largest registered fleet, second to Panama. We want to see if we can promote it and get into some shipbuilding activities and what not. That's part of the -- that's part of the plan. But for now, it's still, for us, a useful program, a contributory program. How we can scale it up so that it's much more than, quote-unquote, "flag of convenience" to something where it really has an important part in our economic growth, as some of the plans that are being looked at now. RUPP: Ma'am. QUESTIONER: Pat Mitchell, president of The Paley Center for Media. Good morning, Madam President. You yourself are a role model for a new kind of leadership, not only on your continent but around the world. And the programs and priorities you've mentioned this morning are certainly examples of your investment in women and girls, a priority you set. What do you see now with the challenges particularly on the continent to the kinds of leadership that are needed? What qualities are you calling on? What values do you put forth that are identifying a new kind of leadership and one that can be effective and change the future in Liberia and other places? JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We hope that we can inculcate the value of ownership participation. Too often, because we get support, we tend to get complacent and let our partners or something determine our destiny, dictate our priorities. And that has to change. We have to take responsibility for our own development. We have to determine that our resources first and foremost will be used for our development. And if we can send that kind of message to our younger generation who will be assuming leadership, you know, over the next few years, then I think the sustainability of our effort will be secured. I mean, today globalization is real -- we're not going to reverse it -- the interconnectivity of the world, the communication revolution and the demonstration effect that results from that, all the realities that we all have to face in this world. And until, you know, each one not only takes responsibility to recognize this, that that interrelationship and interconnectivity will not go away, then when you begin to look at the dynamics of your own situation and how they relate to the rest of the world and how you fit yourself, you know, into that moving spectrum, that's going to be the how challenge, and that's the challenge we have to inspire and pass on to the generations that follow. RUPP: Well, that's a terrific note on which to end. (Applause.) JOHNSON SIRLEAF: May I just say one last thing? May I just say one last thing? Let me just end it on the commitment we keep making to ourselves and to our people and our people to us. Liberia in 10 years does not want to have official development assistance. (Applause.) And in 2030 we're determined to become a middle-income country. Thank you. (Applause.) RUPP: On behalf of all of us, I thank you very much. We admire the leadership you're exhibiting, and we look forward to that next 10 and 20 years. Thank you. (C) COPYRIGHT 2012, FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC., 1120 G STREET NW; SUITE 990; WASHINGTON, DC - 20005, USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ANY REPRODUCTION, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, REDISTRIBUTION OR RETRANSMISSION CONSTITUTES A MISAPPROPRIATION UNDER APPLICABLE UNFAIR COMPETITION LAW, AND FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC. RESERVES THE RIGHT TO PURSUE ALL REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO IT IN RESPECT TO SUCH MISAPPROPRIATION. FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE, INC. IS A PRIVATE FIRM AND IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. NO COPYRIGHT IS CLAIMED AS TO ANY PART OF THE ORIGINAL WORK PREPARED BY A UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE AS PART OF THAT PERSON'S OFFICIAL DUTIES. FOR INFORMATION ON SUBSCRIBING TO FNS, PLEASE CALL 202-347-1400 OR EMAIL [email protected]. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Charles Taylor Sentenced - a Step Forward?
    In April, the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague found Charles Taylor guilty of many crimes against humanity related to his involvement with the civil war in Sierra Leone. (Taylor was not tried for his activities in Liberia where he was a major warlord as well as chief of state.) On May 30, three justices sentenced Taylor to prison for fifty years. As he is 64 years of age, he will spend the rest of his life incarcerated. He will serve his sentence in the UK. The Samoan presiding judge was appointed by the government of Sierra Leone. The other two—one from Northern Ireland and one from Uganda—were appointed by the UN Secretary General. The reserve judge, also appointed by the Secretary General, is from Senegal. Taylor’s conviction and sentencing will be widely viewed as a step toward ending the impunity of African "big men." He is the first former chief of state to be tried, convicted, and sentenced by an international court since the post-World War II Nuremberg tribunal, and also the first African. Reflecting what is likely to be a widely held view among human rights activists, Human Rights Watch staffer Annie Gell commented that the verdict "marks a watershed for efforts to hold the highest level leaders accountable for the greatest crimes." Others will have reservations. Taylor’s defense barrister, the Jamaican-born Courtenay Griffiths, is a criminal lawyer, not a specialist in international law. In a media interview, he argues that the process and evidence were flawed, stating: "One of the things that I discovered...is that international criminal law is not about law at all. It’s all about the politics of power.” There are other aspects of the Taylor trial likely to give Africans pause: it took place in The Hague—not in Africa; Taylor was not prosecuted for crimes committed in Liberia, raising the specter of selective prosecution; Taylor will serve his sentence in the UK, not in Sierra Leone; and of the three sentencing judges, only one is from Africa. There was also the curious episode at the sentencing, reported by the press, in which the reserve judge, El Hadji Malick Sow, apparently tried to interrupt the hearing to voice opposition, but his microphone was cut off. More generally, many Africans are concerned that all of the cases at present before the International Criminal Court (which in a sense is the successor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone) involve Africans. The press quotes Justice Sow as saying that the international justice system is "in grave danger of losing all credibility." For most of us, Taylor is a monster and justice has been done. But the criticisms voiced by Griffiths and others highlight the difficulties in creating a system of international jurisprudence—including procedures and evidentiary standards—that is in accordance both with justice and political reality. And at present, Justice Sow’s warning about Africans losing confidence in the international justice system must be a concern.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Gay Rights in Africa
    Unfortunately, much of sub-Saharan Africa is homophobic. Recent legislation, some proposed, some passed, condemns gay marriage and sometimes outlaws gay sexual activity. Nigeria, Uganda, and Liberia all have such legislation pending or passed, often with the provision of draconian penalties. Such legislation appears to be very popular. The exception is South Africa, with a constitution that provides among the most comprehensive protection of individual rights in the world. Last week, a regional court magistrate sentenced four men convicted of murdering a 19-year old lesbian in 2006 to eighteen years in prison, with four years suspended. The sentencing was widely hailed by the human rights community. The trial and sentencing took place in Khayelitsha, a grim township outside of Cape Town and an area of severe social deprivation. Certainly there is homophobia in South Africa. The Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, was quoted in the South African press as saying, "Traditionally, there were no people who engaged in same-sex relationships. There was nothing like that and, if you do it, you must know that you are rotten." But, the acceptability of homophobia in South Africa appears to be low. Following outcry, the Zulu Royal Household issued a public statement saying that the king was a victim of a "reckless translation" of his remarks from Zulu to English. The household spokesman said, "At no stage did His Majesty condemn gay relations or same sex relations." Meanwhile, in Uganda, where a particularly draconian piece of anti-gay legislation is working its way through parliament again, former South African president Thabo Mbeki said publicly that what consenting adults do in private "is really not the matter of law." He also recalled that the apartheid regime in South Africa had prohibited sexual relations across the color line, and that it provided the police with the authorization "to raid peoples’ bedrooms." Outside of South Africa, Western advocacy of gay rights is often seen as a form of cultural imperialism. There was harsh criticism of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s statement at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that the UK might suspend assistance to commonwealth countries that violated gay rights, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s decision to encourage NGOs funded by the U.S. government to promote gay rights. It is an interesting question why South Africa is so different on this issue from the rest of Africa. Some of it has to do with the memories of apartheid, as Mbeki said. Some of it has to do with the wide recognition that gay rights are an aspect of human rights, about which South Africans are very sensitive. But, I think leadership has also played a role. Among those who have spoken out in favor gay rights have been Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Thabo Mbeki. They help create an atmosphere in which public homophobia is unacceptable.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Liberia Moving Forward
    Supporters of Liberia's opposition Congress for Democratic Change party gather under a tree for political discussions as election results are announced in the capital Monrovia, November 10, 2011. (Finbarr O'Reilly/Courtesy Reuters) President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) led by Winston Tubman appear to be engaged in serious negotiations about sharing cabinet positions and other government jobs. In her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo on Saturday, President Johnson-Sirleaf spoke positively about the CDC: “We must build space, respect for the opposition.” The Liberian media is speculating that some officials from her own political party may need to step down to make room for opposition figures. The contest between Johnson-Sirleaf and Winston Tubman was reminiscent of similar runoffs earlier this year in Ivory Coast and Nigeria, and now Congo. Tubman declared that the first round was marked by fraud, and he boycotted the second round, thereby ensuring that Johnson-Sirleaf was re-elected by a substantial margin. With its long history of warlordism and civil war, there was the threat of serious post-election violence in Liberia and that progress toward democracy would unravel. But, there is still the possibility of sidestepping more violent options as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf appears to be reaching out to an opposition that responds positively. So far there has been no return to the pervasive violence of the last two decades. All is not sweetness and light in post-election Liberia. On Saturday a small group of youths, apparently CDC sympathizers, burned the Norwegian flag in front of the European Union diplomatic mission in Monrovia. (Norway has no diplomatic representation in Liberia.) The demonstrators said they were protesting the Nobel committee selection of Johnson-Sirleaf because Winston Tubman had done more for peace than she had. It is telling that the demonstrators did not denounce the November elections or her legitimacy as president. Johnson-Sirleaf’s information minister has called for the CDC to “distance themselves” from a series of threatening pamphlets now in circulation. In yet another sign of Johnson-Sirleaf’s extending of the olive branch, the information minister has stated that the pamphlets circulated in the name of the CDC were not approved by the opposition’s leadership. For now, at least, Liberia’s presidential election is contested through threatening pamphlets or burning flags – not killings. And that is a major political achievement for which both Tubman and Johnson-Sirleaf deserve credit.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
    Liberia’s Electoral Stand-off
    Nigerian United Nations peacekeepers try to disarm a Liberian riot policeman who fired live rounds while storming the compound of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change headquarters in the capital Monrovia, November 7, 2011.(Finbarr O'Reilly/Courtesy Reuters) Neither President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf nor her presidential challenger Winston Tubman are adding to their personal luster following the Liberian elections. Johnson-Sirleaf is defending the Liberia National Police shutdown of three opposition media entities (a radio station and two television networks) that reported on the riot in which three people died the day before the elections. In an address to the nation, President Johnson-Sirleaf said the police moved to "prevent incitement." But, the Press Union of Liberia does not accept that justification and has urged her administration to stop intimidation of the media. For his part, in a positive step, Winston Tubman late last week seemed to accept, albeit grudgingly, the results of the election, even though he and his party had boycotted it. He acknowledged that the Johnson-Sirleaf government had international recognition and therefore he and his party must work with it. However, over the weekend, he seemed to back away from healing gestures. He described President Johnson-Sirleaf and her party as "election hijackers" and called for new protests that he and his running mate, George Weah, would personally lead. He said, according to the press, that the elections were "a political farce of the highest order and must not be allowed to stand," and claimed to be reviewing his legal options. He called for new elections in a month’s time. International election observers praised Liberia’s elections, as they did those in Ivory Coast in 2010 and in Nigeria in 2011. But foreign observers perforce do not see everything, and in Ivory Coast the losers, supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, fought a civil war and ultimately lost. In Nigeria the election results are not widely accepted in the Muslim North. The losing presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, does not accept their validity either and is challenging them, thus far, only in the courts. The truth about the quality of Liberia’s elections is obscure. But, like Gbagbo and Buhari, Tubman and his supporters clearly believe them to have been fraudulent. The question will be whether Tubman continues to push for new elections and mobilizes his supporters in the streets. That would be a setback for Liberia’s fragile recovery from many years of warlordism. On the other hand, President Johnson-Sirleaf does not foster opposition acceptance of her government by shutting down media outlets.