The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Priority Partner Nation

For some time, Berlin has been seeking to expand its influence in West Africa. The region is particularly significant because of its large deposits of mineral resources. Liberia is considered the country with the world's largest untapped iron ore deposits, an indispensable raw material for the steel industry. Liberia had been a "priority partner nation" for German development policy, until the outbreak of the civil war in 1989. German companies also had a strong standing in that country, for example the companies Hoesch and Thyssen and Krupp were among those participating in the exploitation of the Bong Range deposits, 150 kilometers northeast of the capital Monrovia. This project was celebrated in the 1960s as the largest West German investment since World War II. Currently, German influence in Liberia is relatively weak in comparison to its international rivals. The "global players" in mining, such as BHP Billiton or Rio Tinto, as well as large Chinese investment companies, have been investing billions in the country since the civil war ended in 2003.

Resource Governance

In May, the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dirk Niebel, visited Liberia in an effort to strengthen Germany's position again in that country. The German African Business Association (AV) has also intensified its contacts to Liberia. In late June, the AV organized a workshop in collaboration with Leipzig's Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Liberian General Consulate under the motto: "Liberia - A Small Country with Great Potential," with the objective of convincing German companies to invest in Liberia. The state-owned German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ, formerly GTZ) is currently engaged inside the country in diverse projects. One of these is the "Regional Resource Governance in the Extractive Sector in the Fragile States of West Africa," covering Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. The official objective of this project is to prevent corruption at the government level and among business partners in the transaction of natural resource business deals - in accordance with the international standards of resource transparency of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). However, the real objective behind these efforts is to create a political framework for guaranteeing that the government's intake from these business deals are productively reinvested - at best in partnership with German companies. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[1]) The EITI standards were therefore an important topic during the development minister's Liberia visit last May. Their implementation, according to Niebel, is a "step toward strengthening good governance and the enhancement of the climate for investments."[2]

Growth in Germany

All these efforts are aimed not only at direct profits from the exploitation of raw materials and the resulting follow-up investments, but also at insuring national access to important raw materials. In its natural resources strategy, published in 2010, the German government took note of a "heavily increased" global "demand for numerous resources" and proposed that steps be taken to overcome political and economic barriers, that, for the intermediate term, could threaten a "guaranteed supply of raw materials" and thereby "growth and employment in Germany." The "development" policy is ascribed an important function: an "assured access to raw materials requires a vigorous foreign policy and foreign trade political support as well as a flanking development policy."[3] Berlin is turning toward Liberia, an English-speaking country, primarily because the former colonial power, France, still holds a predominating position in the numerous French-speaking West African nations. The consolidation of relations to countries, not belonging to so-called Francophonia, is a foreign policy leverage for Berlin to weaken, in the long run, France's position in West Africa. This explains why Germany, over the past few years, has not only intensified its relations to Liberia but also to Ghana and Nigeria.

West Africa's Margaret Thatcher

Liberia's current president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is considered to have good qualifications for German ambitions. She comes from the Liberian elite, studied at Harvard and held leading functions in various international banks. She also worked for the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Africa. Since taking office in 2005, she has been pursuing a clearly pro-western policy, showing favoritism toward international companies. In the media, she is often referred to as West Africa's Margaret Thatcher. Because she has almost completely turned over Liberia's mineral resources to foreign companies, western creditors have canceled a large portion of the country's debts. Development Minister Niebel paid tribute to this policy during his Liberian visit in May: "President Johnson-Sirleaf deserves our respect for her political and economic reforms and her decisive political will to fight corruption."[4]

Involved in the Civil War

In her own country, Johnson-Sirleaf is much contested. It is rumored that she has close ties to former dictator Charles Taylor and that she had supported him financially for years during the civil war. Even though Johnson-Sirleaf denies this, she admits having passed Taylor US $10,000 in 1989. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was installed in 2009, after the civil war, had a different perception: up into the 1990s, Johnson-Sirleaf is alleged to have served as the international coordinator of Taylor's National Patriotic Party (NPP). This is why the Commission had placed the Liberian President on a list of 90 persons, who, because of their connections to Taylor, should not be allowed to hold political office for the next 30 years. Shortly afterwards, Johnson-Sirleaf announced her candidature for another term. The activist for women's rights, Leymah Roberta Gbowee, who had received the Nobel Prize for her engagement against the civil war, was a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She has now gone into exile in Ghana.

In the first round of the presidential elections on October 11, Johnson-Sirleaf obtained 44 percent of the votes - short of the absolute majority, even though the Nobel Committee had announced only four days earlier, on October 7, that she, together with Leymah Roberta Gbowee and Yemenite journalist Tawakkul Karman, would receive this year's peace prize. In light of the fact that Johnson-Sirleaf is under heavy criticism in Liberia because of her alleged activities during the civil war, awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize can only be interpreted as PR during a difficult election campaign. The opposition is accusing her of ballot rigging. In today's run-off election, she has to face Winston Tubman, of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC). She will need the support of a former rebel chief, notorious for torture, who finished third in the first round. If Tubman would win the elections, it is unclear whether he will pose a problem to the West. After all, before his candidature, he had worked 20 years for the United Nations and has impeccable ties to the West.

[1] see also Rohstoffgovernance
[2] Bundesminister Niebel von Reise aus Liberia zurückgekehrt; www.bmz.de
[3] Rohstoffstrategie der Bundesregierung. Sicherung einer nachhaltigen Rohstoffversorgung mit nicht energetischen mineralischen Rohstoffen; www.bmwi.de
[4] Dirk Niebel nach Liberia aufgebrochen; www.bmz.de