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RESOURCES: LIBERIAN CONSTITUTIONS AND PEACE AGREEMENTS
Constitutions

Indiana University's Liberian Collections Project http://www.onliberia.org site not only has the texts of all of the constitutions, but also valuable background originally published in the 2nd edition of the Historical Dictionary of Liberia, edited by D. Elwood Dunn, Amos J. Beyan, and Carl Patrick Burrowes (Scarecrow Press, 2001).

1820 Constitution of the American Commonwealth Society
http://www.onliberia.org/con_1820.htm

1839 Commonwealth Constitution
http://www.africawithin.com/tour/liberia/constitution_of_liberia.htm
http://www.liberianforum.com/articles/constitution1839.htm

1847 Constitution
http://www.onliberia.org/con_1847_orig.htm

1847 Declaration of Independence
http://www.liberianforum.com/declare.htm

1983 Draft Constitution
http://www.onliberia.org/con_1983_1.htm

1984 Constitution
http://www.theperspective.org/liberianconstitution.html
http://www.if.cx/conlib.html
http://www.republicofliberia.com/constitution.htm

ICL 1984 Constitution and historical background
http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/li__indx.html

Dr. Amos Sawyer, former interim president of Liberia and chairman of the National Constitutional Committee which produced the draft culminating in the 1984 Constitution, believes that democratic reform is not possible in Liberia without a new constitution. See Violent Conflicts and Governance.
Challenges in West Africa: the case of the Mano River basin area, 42 Modern African Studies no. 3 P. 1.

Additional Resources

African Repository and Colonial Journal, vol. 19, no. 12 (December 1843), p.379-83

Burrowes, Carl Patrick. Black, Christian Republicans: Delegates to the 1847 Liberian Constitutional Convention, 14 Liberian Studies Journal Number no. 2, p. 64 (1989)

Burrowes, Carl Patrick. Textual Sources of the 1847 Liberian Constitution, Liberian Studies Journal 23 Liberian Studies Journal no. 1 , p. 1 (1998).

Liberian Studies Journal 23 Liberian Studies Journal no. 1 , p. 1 (1998)

Brown, Robert T., Simon Greenleaf and the Liberian Constitution of 1847, 9 Liberian Studies Journal no. 2, p. 51 (1980)

Sawyer, Amos, The Making of the 1984 Liberian Constitution: major issues and dynamic forces, 12 Liberian Studies Journal no. 1, p. 1 (1987)

Peace Agreements

The US Institute for Peace (http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/pa_liberia.html) has compiled a digital collection of Liberian Peace agreements, starting with the Cotonou Agreement in 1993, up to and including the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in August of 2003.

Conciliation Resources (http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/index.php) has the entire issue online of its journal Accord dealing with the peace process and analyzing the agreements of the 90's. Also included are the texts of several of the agreements.
To access the agreements at Conciliation Resources, choose the link "Key Texts and Agreements" at the right side of the page.

The agreements are as follows:

Banjul Communique, ECOWAS plan, August 7, 1990
Summary from Conciliation Resources
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/banjul-communique.php

Bamako Ceasefire, November 28, 1990

Banjul Joint Statement, December 21, 1990

Lomé Agreement, February 13, 1991
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/sierra-leone/lome-summary.php

Yamoussoukro I Accord, June 30, 1991

Yamoussoukro II Accord, July 29, 1991

Yamoussoukro III Accord, September 17, 1991

Yamoussoukro IV Accord, October 30, 1991, UN Document no. S/24815
From Conciliation Resources
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/yamoussoukro-accord.php

Geneva Ceasefire, July 17, 1993

Cotonou Agreement, July 25, 1993 UN Document no. S/26272
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_07251993_toc.html
From Conciliation Resources:
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/cotonou-accord%20.php

Akosombo Agreement, September 12, 1994, UN Document No. S/1994/1174
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_09121994_toc.html
From Conciliation Resources:
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/akosombo-agreement.php

Acceptance and Accession to Akosombo Agreement, December 21, 1994
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_12211994_accept.html

Accra Clarification of Akosombo Agreement, December 21, 1994, UN Document No. S/1995/7
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_12211994_clarifica.html
From Conciliation Resources:
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/accra-clarification.php

Abuja Agreement (I), August 19, 1995, UN Document No. S/1995/742
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_08191995.html
From Conciliation Resources:
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/abuja-accord.php

Supplement to Abuja Agreement (II), August 17, 1996.
From Conciliation Resources:
http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/liberia/abuja-accord-supplement.php

Ceasefire Agreement, June 17, 2003
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_ceasefire_06172003.html

Comprehensive Peace Agreement Between the Government of Liberia and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) and Political Parties, August 18, 2003
From the United States Institute of Peace:
http://www.usip.org/pa/liberia/liberia_08182003_cpa.html