Liberia Africa’s oldest independent republic

Press, 14 April 1980, Page 9

Liberia Africa’s oldest independent republic

NZPA-Reuter- London ' ,-v Liberia, an independent State since 1847, was founded by freed slaves from the United States. It is the only country in Africa to have escaped direct colonisation, and is the continent’s oldest independent republic. It has a population of about 2 million. The country, on the coast of West Africa, is a product of the back-to-Africa movement which, in the early 1800 s, reflected doubts about the ethics of slavery. among Americans. United States citizens opposed to slavery, but concerned about the' number of uncertain legal status of freed slaves, resolved to resettle them in Africa.

In 1822 the first group of settlers landed at a harbour

which was to be named Monrovia in honour of the United States President, James Monroe. With 560 km of coastline extending from Sierra Leone on the west of the Ivory Coast on the east,. Liberia stretches inland to a distance, in some places of about 400 km.

Liberia’s irOn-ore deposits are among the richest in the world, producing more than 20 million tonnes a year. Rubber remains the leading agricultural export. Thei Firestone Plantation Company has rubber plantations employing more than 12,000' men. The Firestone con-[ cession, comprising about) 36,000 ha will expire in 2025.' The country also produces sugar, coffee, cocoa, and palm-kernels.

For more than 100 years [Liberia had been ruled by

the True Whig Party. The last legal opposition was the Reformation People’s Party, banned after the country’s 1955 General Election.

Earlier this year the formation of a new political grouping, the Progressive People’s Party, led by a lawyer, Baccus Matthews, created an unprecedented political fever throughout Liberia.

The country” has always been dominated by what is known as the 300 families, descendants of the original slave settlers. i The late President, Dr [William Richard Tolbert, [who succeeded President | William Tubman on his death in July, 1971, was the [grandson of an American ■negro. He spent half his [adult life apprenticed as Vice-President to the [nation’s highest office.