	Overview and Key Developments

Liberia is a small West African country of about 4.7 million people. Its government continues to pursue a transition toward a national policy agenda focused on alleviation of poverty, which is widespread, long-term growth and development, and the reconstruction of infrastructure and public service institutions devastated by two civil wars (1989-1997 and 1999-2003). The country is also continuing to overcome the economic effects of a devastating outbreak of the contagious and often fatal Ebola Virus Disease (2014-2016), which spurred a sharp decrease in economic growth rates and a 1.6% contraction of the economy in 2016. Weah, a former internationally famed professional soccer player, was inaugurated on January 22, 2018, becoming Liberia's 25 th president and its second post-war head of state. He succeeded two-term president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was term-limited. Also at issue was the preservation of gains resulting from more than $5 billion dollars in U.S. post-war investments in development, security, and humanitarian welfare, and considerable aid from other donors. U.S. Ties: Background

The United States has had a nearly 200-year bilateral relationship with Liberia and played a formative role in its creation. UNMIL completed its mandate on March 30, 2018. Since 2006, Congress has fostered relations through a House Democracy Partnership (HDP) program with the Liberian legislature. The focus of U.S. development programs, administered primarily by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department, has ranged from the infrastructure sector, with a priority on boosting access to electricity and road maintenance, to health, education, agriculture, and economic growth activities. Political Background

		Sirleaf Administration (2006-2018)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a U.S.-educated former government administrator, banker, and U.N. Development Program official, became president after winning a runoff election against Weah in 2005, in Liberia's first post-war general elections. The extent to which the Weah administration may be able to effectively pursue this agenda remains to be seen. Such prosecutions have been aided in the United States by the Justice Department's Human Rights Special Prosecutions Section. Congress, which Sirleaf addressed in a 2006 joint session, has shown continuing interest in Liberia's post-war development and has held hearings on its development, stability, and democratization trajectories, most recently in September 2017, in advance of the elections. Other Federal Agencies

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) has maintained a presence in Liberia for most of the post-war period with the aim, for instance, of helping the Liberia Revenue Authority to prevent and address employee corruption and misconduct and improve physical and information technology security.
Liberia, a small coastal West African country on the Gulf of Guinea, has made substantial development gains since the end of the second of two civil wars (1989-1997 and 1999-2003). In late 2017, Liberia held its third post-war general election. George Weah, a former soccer star, won the presidential election in a runoff and was inaugurated on January 22, 2018. Weah succeeded two-term president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term, in Liberia's first electoral transfer of state executive power since 1944.
Weah's policy agenda focuses on four broad goals: improved service delivery and support for marginalized groups; economic growth and diversification; the further consolidation of peace and security; and improved governance, transparency, and accountability. Weah inherits significant challenges from the Sirleaf administration, including the continuing aftereffects of a devastating 2014-2016 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease, which undermined the country's weak health system and economy. He will govern without support from a U.N. peacekeeping operation, known as UNMIL, which provided significant post-war security and governance support for 15 years until its mandate ended in late March 2018.The Weah government is likely to remain a recipient of substantial bilateral and multilateral aid, although the extent and focus of this aid is likely to be conditioned, in part, on his leadership and governance records.
The United States has maintained close bilateral ties with Liberia for nearly 200 years, with periodic exceptions. Ties were particularly close during the Sirleaf years. The U.S. State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have administered a wide range of post-war bilateral assistance programs, especially in the areas of health and economic development. Liberia also benefits from programs administered by other U.S. agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, Peace Corps, Defense Department, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Congress has maintained an interest in Liberia, and has held hearings on its post-war development, stability, and democratization trajectories. Congress has appropriated more than $5 billion in post-war aid and assistance to halt the Ebola outbreak, and helped to foster relations through a House Democracy Partnership with the Liberian legislature. Some Members of Congress, often those with politically active Liberian-American constituencies, have also supported the immigration rights of noncitizen Liberians resident in the United States.