Former Liberian rebel leader George Boley is to be deported from the US over his role in the West African country's civil war in the 1990s. A US judge said evidence that the ex-Liberian Peace Council leader had been involved in killings and recruited children was grounds for his removal. Mr Boley, who has been in custody for two years, denies the accusations.

Moriba Kamara was one of 22 deportees expelled from the United States to Liberia in December 2008 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Some had served time in US jails for minor offenses. Others, like Kamara, had committed no crime. But for reasons that were unclear to them, all were labeled a security threat upon arriving in Liberia’s capital city. Bedraggled and weak after spending months in immigration detention followed by a long flight to Monrovia during which they were shackled, the deportees were forced onto a bus headed for Zwedru National Corrections Palace, an imposing, isolated structure that is home to convicted murderers, rapists and, occasionally, US deportees.

The international dimension of Liberia’s civil war is rarely given the attention it deserves, writes Boima Tucker on the blog Africa is a Country. 'The fact that Charles Taylor stands on trial for war crimes in Sierra Leone points to it partially, but often not realized are the roles that countries like Libya, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria played in initiating a truly multinational war. Recent revelations by the CIA - which have always been suspected - put the United States’ role in the war at center stage, adding fuel to claims of outside intervention in Liberian politics, since its founding as a Western style nation-state, up until today.'

President Sirleaf won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize and should know that the oppression and exclusion of any group is anathema to Alfred Nobel’s vision of an equal society.

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has opted to come clean over her role in the country’s civil war. Over the years innuendoes have circulated about her sponsoring the National Patriotic Front of Liberia of former warlord Charles Taylor, who is facing possible conviction before the UN-backed Sierra Leone Specia Court sitting at The Hague. Mrs Sirleaf is now promising to appear before the Leymah Gbowee committee set up last year to address pre-election abuses. The president she was ready to 'challenge the untruths' about her civil war role.

The imprisoned former Liberian president Charles Taylor has categorically denied working as a United States spy and vows to sue the Boston Globe newspaper that made the revelation. Reacting to the publication through his Jamaican-born lawyer Courtenay Griffiths, Taylor said he has never worked or played any role on behalf of any US government intelligence agency in his 'personal capacity'.

A startling revelation made by a US newspaper indicates that former Liberian President Charles Taylor was aided by American intelligence agents to escape from a Boston prison where he was awaiting extradition back to his country. The Boston Globe newspaper this week carried the report which also indicated Taylor worked as a spy for the Americans for many years. He had fled Liberia where he was wanted for embezzling millions of dollars from the government and was awaiting extradition from the US when he escaped from the Massachusetts jail in 1985.

All three private radio and television stations shut down by the Liberian Government have been reopened. Love FM/TV, Power FM/TV and Kings FM/TV were ordered closed by the Justice ministry on the eve of the presidential runoff election for broadcasting messages mainly by the opposition Congress for Democratic Change, which eventually boycotted the polls.

Liberia’s main opposition leader has rescinded his decision to work with the newly-elected government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and called for a rerun of the runoff. Mr. Winton Tubman told a press conference in Monrovia on Saturday evening that his party refuses to recognise the results of the second round polls which he described as a 'political masquerade'. The surprise declaration comes barely two days after he pledged to work with the newly-elected government of President Sirleaf 'in the interest of national unity'.

One of Africa’s oldest radio stations, the Monrovia-based Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) has been burnt by unknown arsonists, sources said. ELWA is an American-owned Christian station that was not among the four that were ordered closed by the government. Information about the burning of the station was still scanty, but its neighbours explained that it was set ablaze early Wednesday by unknown arsonists, who had not claimed responsibility for the act.

Liberian opposition radio and TV stations were shut down by the authorities on 8 November 2011 on the orders of a criminal court in Monrovia. The stations are being accused of spreading messages that the authorities said could incite violence. The stations, Kings FM belonging to the Congress for Democratic Change’s (CDC) Vice Presidential Candidate, George Weah; Love FM and TV owned by Benoni Urey, a known sympathiser of the National Patriotic Party (NPP) which has entered into an alliance with the CDC and Power FM and TV. The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that the affected stations would remain closed until their representatives appeared before the court on 10 November.

The West African economic and political grouping Ecowas has described as 'unfortunate' the decision by Liberia’s main opposition to boycott the 8 November presidential runoff and urged Liberians to go to the polls. In a statement, the Economic Community of West Africa States cautioned the country's political leaders against inciting their supporters to violence and vowed to endorse any result that would emanate from a poll that would be certified by international observers.

Liberia's main opposition party says it is boycotting the November presidential election run-off unless a set of demands are addressed. George Solo, deputy campaign manager for the Congress for Democratic Change, said that the party is demanding that the head of the electoral body be changed. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the incumbent president, will face Winston Tubman in the 8 November run-off.

Winston Tubman, Liberia's main opposition candidate, has withdrawn a demand for a recount of the presidential poll and said he will take part in a runoff. Latest results announced on Sunday showed that newly named Nobel Peace laureate Johnson Sirleaf was leading with 44 per cent of the votes, ahead of Tubman of the CDC party, on 32.2 per cent with 1,162,729 valid votes and 96 per cent of votes counted.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has won a share of one of the western world’s most prestigious awards, yet the residents of the capital Monrovia have not had running water for the full six years of her term in office, writes Thomas C. Mountain.

The Liberian authorities on 26 September 2011 suspended indefinitely Ambrose Nmah, the director general of the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) over the broadcast of a press conference in which George Oppong Weah, the running mate of the main opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), was alleged to have verbally assaulted President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that the opposition leader in a press conference on 24 September repeatedly told the media which was broadcast on LBS that 'Ellen, that lady, she brought war, she is known for bringing war not us'. Weah’s comments, the correspondent said, angered President Sirleaf and her supporters.

The newly trained Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) seems to be gradually reverting to behavior and practices of the past. There are repeated reports of soldiers’ brutality here and there against civilians and sometimes paramilitary personnel in the country.

UNHCR has opened a sixth camp for up to 27,000 refugees from Côte d'Ivoire who have been living with host communities in eastern Liberia since fleeing their homeland.

Africa Today speaks with Emira Woods on the upcoming Liberia elections, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and West African regional developments. Emira Woods is the Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Liberian voters rejected plans to move the presidential election to November. The the poll will thus take place on its original date of October 11. Liberian lawmakers had proposed changing the date so that the vote missed the rainy season.