No Condition is Permanent - Liberia May 2003 – May 2004
Tim Hetherington
Network / Rapho
In June 2003, a secretive rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), began their final assault on the city of Monrovia. Their stated aim was to remove President Charles Taylor from power, and in the weeks that followed, many innocent civilians died from the devastating mortar attacks that rained down on the city.
The attacks brought the Liberian civil war into an endgame that ultimately led to Charles Taylor stepping down from power and seeking exile in Nigeria. In his place, an interim government was set up, with a power-sharing arrangement established between the three armed groups (LURD, Movement for Democracy in Liberia-MODEL, and ex-Government of Liberia militias-GOL).
Liberia is currently host to the largest UN peacekeeping operation in the world, and a disarmament program is attempting to rid the country of weapons and reintegrate combatants.
Preview
The UN Security Council designated $520 million for the rebuilding of this nation, and the US administration put out a $2 million reward that would lead to Charles Taylor facing the Special Court for war crimes in Sierra Leone. Incidentally, the bill passing this reward was a rider on the $87 billion ear-marked for Iraq.
Tired from nearly 14 years of war, the people of Liberia are trying to rebuild their lives. An entire generation, who have grown up without the benefit of peace and education, struggle to make sense of the changes that now confront them. The trauma of what has passed seeps out in gestures and glances, harsh words and laughter.
Funded by a US TV channel, I was one of the few photographers to work behind rebel lines during the attacks on Monrovia. It was a surreal world where violence and domesticity co-existed, where familiarity could quickly evaporate into fear. It was also the starting point for this project, which continues to develop in an attempt to locate the war into a wider context, and to link the events of the past to the reality of the present.
