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 France |  Liberia |
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France-Liberia relations are the bilateral relations between France and Liberia.
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France | Liberia |
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France-Liberia relations are the bilateral relations between France and Liberia.
France was early to recognize the independence of Liberia. After the Republic of Liberia declared independence on 26 July 1847, France was the second, after the United Kingdom, to recognize it as a sovereign nation in 1852. [1] Joseph Jenkins Roberts spent much of his early terms as Liberian president making state visits to garner recognition for his republic. He held multiple visits with French President Louis Napoleon III, who ultimately gifted Liberia military equipment and uniforms. [2]
Until the 1880s, Liberia and France shared a mostly positive relationship, though rumors of French desires for Liberian land existed in Liberia and the United States since the late 1870s. This positive relationship changed with the Scramble for Africa, and French imperialistic ambitions in West Africa muddied their relations. Previous to the 1880s, France had praised Liberia as a civilizing force in Africa, though after the Berlin Conference, it changed this view, seeing only Europeans as capable of "civilizing" Africans. [3] France had two major colonies bordering Liberia: Guinea to the north and Côte d'Ivoire to the east. In the 1880s, France started to lay claim to territory claimed by Maryland County between the San Pedro and Cavalla Rivers. [4] In 1892, France seized the land. On 8 December 1892, the Liberian government signed an agreement ceding the territory to France. [5] The territory became part of the Côte d'Ivoire colony. [4]
On 18 September 1907, Liberia signed another territorial treaty with France. [6] This time, Liberia ceded much of its claimed northeastern territory. [7] The treaty also specified that if Liberia did not make a military force to protect its borders, then France had the right to implement one in Liberia. This was one of the factors which lead to the creation of the Liberian Frontier Force. [8] On 13 January 1911, France and Liberia signed another territorial agreement, which worked out problems which arouse from the 1907 treaty. [9] [7]
A major loan between France, along with other Western powers including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, was negotiated in 1911, under Liberian President Arthur Barclay, and ratified in 1912, under Liberian President Daniel E. Howard. [10] This was the third, in a series of two other major, uneven loans taken out by the Liberian government. [11] The loan borrowed $1,700,000 for Liberia, with the conditions including that the four countries would be able to each appoint General Receivers of Customs, which limited the powers of the Liberian Secretary of the Treasury. [10] The 1912 loan was paid off in 1926, with a loan from the Finance Corporation of America. [12]
In 2004, Tim Geysbeek of the journal History in Africa explained that France "exerts tremendous economic and political influence" over Liberia. [7] During the Liberian civil wars, France was a major importer of Liberian timber. [13] French firms were dependent on timber from the Liberian conflict zone, with France accounting for 18% of Liberia's timber export. [14] The timber export helped to sustain the Charles Taylor regime. France sanctioned Liberian timber exports in July 2003, after Taylor's exile to Nigeria. [15] In 2019, France was found to be in violation of European Union laws to prevent illegal timber imports, as French firms had been importing large amounts of illegal timber, acquired through bribery and illegal deforestation, from a number of African countries, including Liberia. [16]
In February 2018, Liberian President George Weah made his first state visit outside of Africa to France, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron. [17] [18] The current Liberian ambassador to France is Geraldine Bass-Golokeh, who presented her credentials to President Macron on 12 April 2019. [19] The current French ambassador to Liberia Michaël Roux has served since 2020. [20]
Liberian foreign relations were traditionally stable and cordial throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. During the 1990s, Charles Taylor's presidency and the First and Second Liberian Civil Wars underscored Liberian relations with the Western world, the People's Republic of China, and its neighboring countries in Western Africa.
Edward James Roye served as the fifth president of Liberia from 1870 to his overthrow in 1871 and subsequent death. He had previously served as the fourth Chief Justice of Liberia from 1865 until 1868. He was the first member of Liberia's True Whig Party to serve as president.
Edwin James Barclay was a Liberian politician, poet, and musician who served as the 18th president of Liberia from 1930 until 1944. He was a member of the True Whig political party, which dominated the political governance of the country for decades. Under Barclay's leadership, Liberia was an ally of the United States during World War II.
Daniel Edward Howard was the 16th president of Liberia, serving from 1912 to 1920.
Arthur Barclay was the 15th president of Liberia from 1904 to 1912.
Anthony William Gardiner served as the ninth president of Liberia from 1878 until 1883. He was the first of a series of True Whig presidents who held power uninterruptedly until 1980.
The Ministry of National Defense (MOD) is the government ministry responsible for the maintenance of the national defense and the governance of the military of Liberia, the Armed Forces of Liberia.
Antoinette Louise Padmore Tubman was the wife of the Liberian politician William S. Tubman and the First Lady of Liberia from 1948 to 1971.
The Ministry of Finance is a government ministry of the Republic of Liberia. As of 2018, the Liberian Finance Minister is Samuel D. Tweah, who was appointed in January 2018. The minister is appointed by the President of Liberia, with the consent of Senate of Liberia.
Nathaniel Varney Massaquoi (1905–1962) was a Liberian educator and politician, from the Vai community.
Liberia–Soviet relations were the bilateral relations between Liberia and Soviet Union. Contacts between the two countries were sporadic during the 1950s and 1960s, improved during the 1970s but became frosty in the 1980s.
Events in the year 2021 in Liberia.
Edith Mai Padmore, nee Wiles was a Liberian politician. She became Liberia's first female cabinet minister when she was appointed Minister of Health and Welfare in 1972.
Events in the year 2022 in Liberia.
Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga was a Liberian historian, educator, politician, counselor at law, and statesman who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia. Born at the settlement of Tallah in the northwestern section of Liberia in Grand Cape Mount County, Karnga began a long career in government service to include Postmaster General and General Secretary of the True Whig Party, the Liberian political party that was in power from 1869 to 1980.
Liberia–United Kingdom relations refer to the bilateral relations between Liberia and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom was the first country to recognize Liberian independence. Liberia has a history of border disputes with the British Colony of Sierra Leone, as well as cumbersome British loans which have at times compromised Liberian sovereignty.
Israel-Liberia relations refer to the bilateral relations between the State of Israel and the Republic of Liberia. Liberia was one of the United Nations member states to vote in favor of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine in 1947. Israel and Liberia established relations in the late 1950s. The administration of William Tolbert severed ties with the Israeli government in 1973 in response to the Yom Kippur War, but they were re-established in 1983 by Samuel Doe, who succeeded Tolbert via coup.
After Liberian independence, Germany and Liberia become connected economically. The economic ties were broken during the World Wars. The two countries re-established connections following the World Wars.
Events in the year 1980 in Liberia.
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