A decade after the worst fighting of its long conflict, which killed an estimated 200,000 of a pre-war population of 2.8 million and forcibly displaced a majority – as many as 1.8 million people – Liberia has addressed much of the worst devastation. But enormous challenges remain.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says that her first six-year term accomplished stabilization and her second is devoted to transformation, with tackling poverty as goal one. Although progress has been slower in several key sectors than projected, she still hopes Liberia can achieve a middle-income economy by 2030 – a message she brought to high-level discussions in Washington, DC, earlier this month and shared in her latest AllAfrica interview.