At the conference, donors pledged over $522million in relief and reconstruction assistance for Liberia; $200 million of this amount was pledgedby the United States. The NTGL, inauguratedon October 14, 2003, was formed in accordance with a peace agreement signed in Accra, Ghana,which formally ended the Liberian conflict. Peace Accord. The signing of the CPA on August 18, 2003 followed two and a half months of negotiations mediated by the Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS) and the International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL). (5) Other keyprovisions of the accord include 
The stipulated establishment of various political processes, legal authorities, mandates, and bodies, including an Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) and a NationalCommission for Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (NCDDRR) toimplement the peace accord, and a timetable for this purpose;
Military and police restructuring; 
Release of political prisoners and prisoners of war; 
The apportionment of key government leadership positions among accordsignatories; 
"Consideration" of "a recommendation for general amnesty to all persons andparties engaged or involved in military activities during the Liberian civil conflict";
Naming of a new supreme court; and 
The creation of a Contracts and Monopolies Commission (CMC), aGovernance Reform Commission (GRC), an Independent National Commission on Human Rights(INCHR), a National Electoral Commission (NEC), a National Transitional Legislative Assembly(NTLA), and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Humanitarian Conditions. During and after the first Liberian civil war, many factional opponents of Taylor and civilians --many from ethnic groups, notably the Mandingo, who feared mistreatment by the Taylor government-- sought refuge in Guinea. In doing so, it cited concerns that the cease-fire and CPA were "not yetbeing universally implemented throughout Liberia"; that much of its territory remained outside theauthority of the NTGL, particularly where UNMIL had yet to deploy; that there continued to belinkages between the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources like diamonds and timber,leading to a the proliferation and trafficking of illegal arms, and the fueling and exacerbation ofconflicts in Liberia and other areas of West Africa; and that the situation in Liberia, the proliferationof arms and armed non-state actors and mercenaries in the subregion continued to constitute a threatto international peace and security in Liberia and the region. It authorized an MNF and labeled as "critical" President Taylor's departure from power, tobe followed by the installation of a transitional government in Liberia and the subsequentdeployment of a U.N. stabilization successor force to the country by October 1, 2003. U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). Other current peace and security-related operational issues that face the NTGL, UNMIL, and Liberia's international donors include continued implementation of the CPA, particularly with regardto maintenance of security; completion of DDRR; progress in preparing for elections; and resolutionof the status of Charles Taylor, both as an exile in Nigeria and as a war crimes indictee. As of mid-October 2004, $354 million of $520 million in donorpledges made in February 2004 had been received. Despite suchchallenges, the NTGL has taken a number of steps to re-establish basic government processes. NTGL Posts. Over 95,000 combatants, more than double the initial UNMIL projection of 38,000, have beendemobilized to date. Disarmament has occurred in most areas of the country, including some remote borderzones. This has led to two criticisms of theDDRR process. Status of Charles Taylor

Taylor Indictment. Nigeria. Several U.S. legislative provisions pertain to Taylor's asylum. A second U.S. military team was dispatched to ECOWAS member states to assess the force readiness andmilitary logistical and equipment needs of these countries prior to their anticipated deployment ofa joint intervention force to Liberia, and to assess a possible U.S. role in supporting such a force (63) . Current U.S. Assistance Programs

In addition to supporting the operation of UNMIL, current U.S. Liberia-related assistance funds a variety of programs meant to consolidate Liberia's transition to peace. Representative Ron Paul, for instance, introduced H.Con.Res. H.R. Other Liberia-related bills that passed into law during the 108th Congress include:
H.J.Res. H.R. 2673 (Bonilla). H.Con.Res. H.Con.Res. 255 (Paul). H.R. S. 656 (Reed). H.R. H.R. H.R. 4511 (Waters). H.R. 4793 (Waters). Appropriations bills introduced in the 108th Congress that contain Liberia-specific provisions include:
S. 1426 (McConnell). H.R. H.R. H.R. 4818 (Kolbe).
This report, which is updated periodically, covers recent events in Liberia and related U.S. policy. In 2003, Liberia began a post-conflict transition process to achieve enduring peace,socio-economic reconstruction and democratic governance. This process resulted from the signingof a peace accord and the resignation of then-president Charles Taylor in August 2003, after monthsof international mediation. The accord ended a civil war that burgeoned in 2000 which pitted theforces of Taylor against two armed anti-Taylor rebel groups. The war led to an extreme deteriorationin political, economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in Liberia. It also affectedneighboring states, from which anti-Taylor forces operated; against which the Taylor regimesponsored acts of armed aggression; and in which large numbers of Liberians sought refuge.
Liberia's security situation, though periodically volatile, has improved steadily since August 2003. A disarmament and demobilization program, which encountered repeated initial difficulties,has inducted over 95,000 ex-combatants to date. This process is jointly supervised by the UnitedNations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL),which received over $522 million in aid pledges at a February 2004 donor conference. UNMILbegan operations on October 1, 2003. The NTGL, formed under the August accord and installed onOctober 14, 2003, is mandated with re-establishing government authority and preparing for electionsin late 2005. The transition faces many challenges, most related to the socio-economic effects ofwar; the dominant role within the NTGL of former armed factions, which are prone to internaldissension; and limited state capacities. UNMIL has reached full force strength, and has deployedpeacekeepers to most areas of the country, but insecurity remains a challenge in many rural areas.Implementation of the peace accord and of the NTGL's mandate have been beset by disagreementsover the allocation of positions, accusations of corruption, and leadership rivalries within the NTGL. The legal status of Taylor, who is living in exile in Nigeria and is under indictment by the SpecialCourt for Sierra Leone for war crimes related to his alleged involvement in war crimes in SierraLeone, remains unresolved. U.S. legislation urges Nigeria to hand Taylor over to the court.
Considerable public and congressional debate over possible U.S. intervention in Liberia occurred in mid-2003. The United States did not intervene militarily, but it did: deploy limitedmilitary forces to Liberia to bolster U.S. security interests; assist an the Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS) military force to deploy to Liberia prior to UNMIL; help mediatethe August accord; and provide International Disaster and Famine Assistance (IDFA) ($200 million)and support for UNMIL ($250 million). In addition to H.R. 4818 , the ForeignOperations FY2005 Appropriations bill, current Liberia-related bills pertain to proposals to changethe immigration status of certain Liberian nationals and to cancel certain Liberian national debts.Liberia-related bills introduced in the 108th Congress include H.Con.Res. 240 ; H.Con.Res. 233 ; H.Con.Res. 255 ; H.J.Res. 2 ; H.R. 2673 ; H.R. 1930 ; H.R. 3918 ; H.R. 3289 ; H.R. 2800 ; H.R. 4511 ; H.R. 4793 ; H.R. 4818 ; H.R. 4885 ; S. 2812 ; S. 1426 ; and S. 656 .