One cannot travel across Liberia today without confronting the scars and legacy of the country's two civil wars (1989-96 and 1999-2003). By the time the wars ended, nearly 6 percent of the population had been killed and 25 percent had been forced to flee their homes.
The savagery of the conflict, with its dependence on child soldiers and fueled by trafficking in gems and precious stones, captured the world's attention, but only briefly. Far more enduring have been the conflicts's effects on Liberia's long-suffering people.