Resident Fellow Mauro De Lorenzo

Liberia's remote Maryland County is a microcosm of the country's challenges. These centre on the challenges of peacebuilding in a war-torn society--creating economic opportunities, healing social trauma and creating a stake in stability. Nestling on the border with Côte d'Ivoire, there is little way of getting to Maryland quickly apart from a two-hour helicopter ride from Liberia's capital Monrovia. Fine for the U.N., perhaps, but not for Liberia's 3.5 million people. A boat trip down the 500 km coast would be quicker than going by road, testament to the twenty years of civil war and chronic decay.

Its principal difficulties relate to a lack of jobs. With paltry educations and negligible capital, the citizens of Maryland County cannot take advantage of practical possibilities in agriculture, fishing and rubber. And the state, which was essentially broken by the time of Charles Taylor's exit from power half a decade ago, cannot at this stage be much help either. . . .

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Mauro De Lorenzo is a resident fellow at AEI, Greg Mills is director of the Brenthouse Foundation, and Stephan Malherbe is the founder and chief executive officer of Genesis Analytics. Anna McCord is a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute in London.