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63-664: Sapo National Park is located in the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem , a biodiversity hotspot that has "the highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world", according to Conservation International , and in the Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion , according to the World Wide Fund for Nature 's ecoregions classification scheme . In 1976, the Liberian Forestry Development Authority

126-562: A Hong Kong -based timber company — the Oriental Timber Company — to conduct logging within the boundaries of the park. The funds were reportedly pocketed by Taylor or used to secure the loyalty of various senior commanders, to arm loyalist forces embroiled in the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), and to acquire mercenary fighters from South Africa . Liberia's Minister of Information, Reginald Goodridge , denied

189-515: A continuous advance, seem to have been the pattern. Through the first half of 2002 LURD mounted raids in Bomi, Bong, and Montserrado counties, hitting, in addition to Klay Junction, Gbarnga and Tubmanburg , each time temporarily seizing control from government fighters. In May, an attack on Arthington , less than 20 kilometres from the capital, apparently prompted panic in Monrovia. The state of emergency

252-629: A major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic. By the beginning of 2002, both of these countries were supporting LURD, while Taylor was supporting various opposition factions in both countries. By supporting — practically creating — the SL rebels, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Taylor also drew

315-839: A means of control. Several warlords felt that cocaine made soldiers more effective in battle. In November 1997, following the completion of the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia UNOMIL on 30 September, the United Nations established the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL), headed by a representative of the Secretary-General. That first United Nations post-conflict peace-building support office

378-751: A number of threatened species , such as the African golden cat , Gola malimbe , Liberian mongoose , white-breasted guineafowl , and white-necked rockfowl . The park is also home to the African civet , African fish eagle , grey parrot , giant forest hog , great blue turaco , speckle-throated otter , water chevrotain , three species of pangolin , seven species of monkey (including the endangered Diana monkey ), crocodiles , leopards , bee-eaters , egrets , hornbills , kingfishers , rollers , and sunbirds . The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of many bird species. Prior to

441-593: A programme to monitor the park's large mammals. There has been very slow progress in the establishment of protected areas in Liberia. Sapo National Park, proclaimed in 1983, was the country's first protected area. The approval of the Sapo National Park Act ( An Act for the extension of the Sapo National Park ) on October 10, 2003, expanded the size of the park to 1,804 km (697 sq mi), constituting an increase of more than 37%. The act recognised

504-542: A promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana. A delegation of women organized nonviolence protests and continued to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace, bringing about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. Their creative non-violent protest allowed them to use the power within women and mothers of Liberia; tactics included

567-432: A reverence for the chimpanzee and, therefore, a taboo against their hunting. Seven species of duiker antelopes are found in Sapo National Park, including the vulnerable Jentink's duiker and zebra duiker . Bay duikers and Maxwell's duikers are reported to be locally abundant. Sapo National Park contains populations of the pygmy hippopotamus , an endangered species which has legal protection in Liberia under

630-431: A sex strike until their men chose to set aside weapons, and threatening to undress during a sit in outside the peace talks in Ghana. Working together, over 3,000 Christian and Muslim women mobilized their efforts, and as a result, the women were able to achieve peace in Liberia after a 14-year civil war and helped bring to power the country's first female president. The story is told in the 2008 documentary film Pray

693-557: A splinter group led by Prince Johnson . The INPFL captured and executed Doe in September 1990 and resisted attempts by the NPFL to take Monrovia, denying Taylor an outright victory and prolonging the war for years. A peace agreement was signed in 1996 between the major factions and resulted in the 1997 Liberian general election . Taylor won a landslide victory with 75% of the vote for the presidency, while his National Patriotic Party dominated

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756-626: A time unless they receive a specific request from Liberia. Vice-President Moses Blah replaced Taylor. On 14 August, rebels lifted their siege of Monrovia and 200 United States Marines landed to support a West African peace force. Thousands of people danced and sang as American troops and ECOMIL , the Nigerian-led West African forces, took over the port and bridges which had split the capital into government and rebel-held zones. An estimated 1,000 people had been killed in Monrovia between 18 July and 14 August. Moses Blah handed over power to

819-469: Is "the only realistic choice" of a "of suitable conservation area" for the Pygmy Hippopotamus. In February 2008, automatic heat- and motion-sensing cameras set up in Sapo National Park captured the first photographs of the pygmy hippopotamus ever taken in Liberia. The photographs confirmed the continued presence of the species inside the boundaries of the park; previously, scientists did not know whether

882-463: Is a tropical seasonal forest region of West Africa . The Upper Guinean forests extend from Guinea and Sierra Leone in the west through Liberia , Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to Togo in the east, and a few hundred kilometers inland from the Atlantic coast. A few enclaves of montane forest lie further inland in the mountains of central Guinea and central Togo and Benin . In the drier interior,

945-567: Is bounded to the north by the Putu Mountains and to the west by the Sinoe River. The park's quite homogeneous, flat and marshy topography supports a large area of uninhabited forest. Its southeastern area has lower elevations of approximately 100 m (328 ft) and gentle hills, while there are elevations of about 400 m (1,312 ft) and steep ridges in the north. There are many small streams and rivers between these ridges. Sinoe River

1008-526: Is covered by natural forest. Its tracts of forest were once continuous, but are now fragmented into blocks that are isolated from each other as a result of logging, road-building, cultivation, and human settlements. Before the civil war, the Forestry Development Authority calculated that about 35% of Liberia's original forest was "undisturbed", 45% was "disturbed but productive", and 20% was "disturbed and unproductive". Sapo National Park's forest

1071-518: Is luxuriant, with trees that can grow to a height of 70 m (230 ft). The forest canopy's height ranges from 12–32 m (39–105 ft), with an average height of 25 m (82 ft). Plant species found in the park include the legumes Tetraberlinia tubmaniana and Gilbertiodendron splendidum , and the tree Brachystegia leonensis . Sapo National Park is a "regional centre of endemism" and biodiversity , at one time hosting around 125 mammal species and 590 types of bird, including

1134-661: Is one of the country's last remaining blocks of tropical lowland rain forest, and one of West Africa's least disturbed lowland rainforests. It is the second-largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa after Taï National Park in Côte d'Ivoire. The park has one of the richest amounts of floral species in the country, with many endemic species. A 1983 survey of the park determined it to be composed of 63% primary and mature secondary forest , 13% swamp forest, 13% seasonally inundated forest, and 11% young secondary forest. The forest

1197-402: Is the largest river in the park. Mount Putu 's 640 m (2,100 ft) summit is the highest elevation in the park. The park has a tropical climate , with temperatures ranging between 22 and 28 ° C (72–82 ° F ). The forest's average relative humidity is 91%. Annual precipitation at Basintown, 4 km (2 mi) south of the park's headquarters, averaged 2,596 mm (100 in) in

1260-654: The Darwin Initiative of the United Kingdom 's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the World Wildlife fund from 2000 to 2002, the objectives of the initiative were to re-establish the park's management, build support for the park among the local community, and to build Liberia's capacity in conservation management and planning. The SCNL also received a grant from the Whitley Foundation to begin

1323-610: The First Liberian Civil War which led to two years of peace. The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), an anti-Taylor rebel group backed by the government of Guinea , invaded northern Liberia in April 1999. LURD made gradual gains against Taylor in the north and began approaching the capital Monrovia by early 2002. The Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), a second anti-Taylor rebel group, invaded southern Liberia in early 2003 and quickly conquered most of

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1386-613: The Nimba flycatcher ( Melaenornis annamarulae ), the Gola malimbe ( Malimbus ballmanni ) and the spot-winged greenbul ( Phyllastrephus leucolepis ) are further restricted in distribution to the western forests only. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) listed the Upper Guinean forests (which it calls the Guinean moist forests) on its Global 200 Critical Regions for Conservation. The WWF divides

1449-933: The People's Redemption Council . At the time, and for twenty years, it covered an area of 1,308 km (505 sq mi) east of the Sinoe River and south of the Putu Mountains . The park's original boundaries were set and its management plan drafted by the Division of Wildlife and National Parks, in cooperation with the World Wildlife Fund , the World Conservation Union , and the Peace Corps . Throughout its history, Sapo National Park has been threatened by illegal farming, hunting, logging, and mining, "all exacerbated by

1512-700: The President of Liberia . Taylor had initiated the war when he and his militia, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), invaded the country from the Ivory Coast to overthrow President Samuel Doe in December 1989. The NPFL rapidly conquered most of Liberia except for the capital Monrovia , which came under the control of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL),

1575-576: The Rally of Democratic Forces of Guinea in the RFDG Insurgency and the Revolutionary United Front in the Sierra Leone Civil War . This brought him into conflict with the governments of Guinea and Sierra Leone who, in retaliation, began supporting the anti-Taylor dissidents that had fled to their countries. The second civil war began in April 1999, when Liberian dissidents under the banner of

1638-737: The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone , and the second came from Nigeria itself. President Taylor resigned on 11 August 2003, ahead of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which formed the negotiated end to the war, and was flown into exile in Nigeria. An arrest warrant for Taylor for war crimes committed by his RUF rebel allies in Sierra Leone was later issued by Interpol but Nigeria refused to deport him for

1701-493: The 1980s. The park's dry season occurs from November to April and the wet season lasts from May to October. January and December are the driest months in the park, and May and August are the wettest months. There is a mid-dry period of decreased rainfall in July, which occasionally extends into August. During the dry season, many of the smaller streams dry up and their sandy and rocky stream beds are exposed. The dry season also causes

1764-507: The Devil Back to Hell . Among the women leaders who helped end the civil war was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , who would become the first modern elected female head of state in Africa when she was elected in 2005 . Her election was inspired by the powerful commitment of women who had seen the war perpetuated by men in their country and were unwilling to put a man back into that powerful role. This

1827-545: The Legislature of Liberia. His success was mainly due to his control over the media, fear that the war would restart if he lost, and a general unfamiliarity with democratic processes among the Liberian public. Taylor quickly established a totalitarian and corrupt regime, with many dissidents fleeing to neighboring countries. Taylor's ambition of establishing Liberia as a regional power led to him supporting rebel groups such as

1890-555: The National Transitional Government of Liberia on 14 October 2003. However, the transitional government exercised no real authority in the country, 80% of which was controlled by the rebel groups. Riots in Monrovia left approximately 16 people dead, with sources claiming that former combatants were behind the violence. Both LURD and Charles Taylor made extensive use of children press ganged into military service as soldiers or ammunition porters. The use of child soldiers

1953-584: The Organization of Displaced Liberians invaded Liberia from Guinea. Guinea became LURD's main source of military and financial support. By July 2000, the various dissident groups had coalesced as the LURD led by Sekou Conneh . The dissidents were thought to be mostly Mandinka and Krahn fighters of the former ULIMO-J and ULIMO-K. Also important in forming LURD was an alliance, brokered by ECOMOG-SL Nigerian chief General Maxwell Khobe , between Liberian dissidents and

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2016-738: The Sierra Leonean Kamajors hunter militia, including chiefs Samuel Hinga Norman and Eddie Massally. Against the dissidents Taylor deployed irregular ex- National Patriotic Front of Liberia fighters with his more privileged units, such as the Anti-Terrorist Unit , positioned to ensure the irregulars did fight. Simultaneous September 2000 counter-attacks on Guinea from Liberia and Sierra Leone by RUF – still loyal to Taylor and Guinean dissidents – achieved initial success. By January 2001, however, Taylor's forces were pushed back inside Sierra Leone and Liberia. The insurgents were posing

2079-521: The Upper Guinean forests into three ecoregions : Second Liberian Civil War Rebel victory [REDACTED] Liberian government [REDACTED] Rebel groups: [REDACTED]   Guinea [REDACTED]   Sierra Leone Supported by : The Second Liberian Civil War was a civil war in the West African nation of Liberia that lasted from 1999 to 2003. President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in

2142-675: The Upper Guinean forests yield to the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic , a belt of dry forests and savannas that lies between the coastal forests and the savannas and grasslands of the Sudan further north. The Dahomey Gap , a region of Togo and Benin where the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic extends to the Atlantic coast, separates the Upper Guinean forests from the Lower Guinean forests to the east, which extend from eastern Benin through Nigeria and south along

2205-719: The West African coast. In July 2003 the United States (US) sent a small number of troops to bolster security around the US embassy in Monrovia, which had come under attack during Operation Shining Express . On 25 July 2003, the Southern Europe Task Force at Vicenza , Italy was designated the lead U.S. Army command for the operation. On 29 July 2003, LURD declared a ceasefire. ECOWAS sent two battalions of Nigerian peacekeepers to Liberia. The first Nigerian battalion detached from

2268-578: The Wildlife and National Park Act of 1988. Unique to West Africa, the wild population of pygmy hippopotamuses is thought to number less than 3,000 individuals. According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), conservation efforts targeted at the species have "historically been most effective in the Sapo National Park ... where protection is good". According to an action plan published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission , Sapo National Park

2331-513: The allegations, noting that no evidence of logging was found during a National Geographic Society team's two-week visit to the park. Fauna and Flora International and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worked with Liberia's Forestry Development Authority and the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL) to prepare a two-year initiative to restart management of the park. Mainly funded by

2394-450: The coast of the Gulf of Guinea . The Upper Guinean forests are a Global 200 ecoregion . The Guinean moist forests are much affected by winds from the hot dry area to the north and the cool Atlantic currents. This gives the region a very seasonal climate with over 80 in (203 cm) of rain falling in some areas in the wet season. Over 2000 species of vascular plant have been recorded in

2457-473: The conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War gave rise to new threats to the park. Groups of fighters and civilians moved into the park during the final months of the conflict — some to escape the conflict and others to harvest timber or prospect for gold . The influx of people into the park continued after the war's end, eventually growing into a full-scale gold rush . Accompanying or following

2520-543: The convening of a conference in Accra by the then Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President John Kufuor of Ghana, on 4 June 2003. By July 2003 Monrovia appeared to be in danger of being occupied and devastated despite ongoing peace talks. The U.S. established Joint Task Force Liberia , built around a U.S. navy amphibious group with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, positioned off

2583-505: The country until the 2005 general election . The Second Liberian Civil War resulted in the deaths of over 50,000 people and the internal displacement of thousands more. The conflict saw the widespread use of child soldiers by both Taylor and LURD. The United Nations Mission in Liberia was deployed in the country until it was officially withdrawn in 2018. The First Liberian Civil War ended in August 1997 when Charles Taylor took power as

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2646-606: The country's grinding poverty" and social and political instability. However, in the early 1990s, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre reported that "[rural development projects around the park and general acceptance of its existence have helped to minimise potential conflicts." Until the 1990s, poaching was limited due to various initiatives, funded by the United States Agency for International Development , that made local villagers stakeholders to

2709-441: The country, with 5,500 projected to be in place by November 2003, and worked to disarm the various factions. However, instability in neighbouring countries, an incomplete disarmament process, and general discontent threatened Liberia's fragile peace. A group of Liberian women headed by Leymah Gbowee formed an organization called "Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace" and forced a meeting with President Charles Taylor, extracting

2772-420: The earth is solid rainforest. Liberia has the largest remaining part of the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, with an estimated 42% of the remaining forest. The rest of the Upper Guinean forest is located in Côte d'Ivoire (28% of the remaining forest), Ghana (16%), Guinea (8%), Sierra Leone (5%), and Togo (1%). Just an estimated 40-45% of Liberia's original forest cover remains, and less than 30% of its area

2835-416: The ecoregion, and mammals found here include the chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ), leopard ( Panthera pardus ), pygmy hippopotamus ( Hexaprotodon liberiensis ), Ogilby's duiker ( Cephalophus ogilbyi ), Nimba otter shrew ( Micropotamogale lamottei ) and the African golden cat ( Profelis aurata ). There are twenty-one endemic/near-endemic and seasonal forest birds in the ecoregion; three avian species,

2898-484: The enmity of the British and Americans. British and U.S. pressure on Taylor increased with rising financial support for Guinea and U.S./U.K.-proposed sanctions, a weaker version of which were imposed by U.N. Security Council May 2001. By mid-February 2002 LURD troops were just 44 kilometres from Monrovia, at Klay Junction, and Taylor was forced to declare a state of emergency. The February 2002 ICG report says that this attack

2961-401: The formal designation of Sapo National Park in 1983 there had been "no systematic study of chimpanzee populations in Liberia". Since then, various surveys have confirmed the existence of the western chimpanzee in Sapo National Park, located primarily in the park's center and western areas, with estimates of the population ranging from 500 to 1,640. The culture of the local Sapo people includes

3024-573: The interim ECOWAS force. UNMIL was made up of over 15,000 personnel, including both military and civilian troops. The bulk of the personnel were armed military troops, but there were also civilian policemen, as well as political advisers and humanitarian aid workers. On 1 October, the first peacekeepers changed their berets and became a UN force, with many more troops earmarked. During three days of riots in Monrovia in October 2004, nearly 400 people were wounded and 15 killed. The UN slowly built up its forces in

3087-435: The larger rivers shrink in size, exposing waterfalls and sandbars . In the rainy season, river levels can rise by more than 4 m (13 ft) in one night, inundating forests near the rivers. From the airplane I stare down upon this forest for the first time. ... Below me is a block of peacock, kelly, and olive green stretching out to the horizon. I search for breaks in the canopy but find none. As far as my eyes can see,

3150-478: The park as being "at the core of an immense forests block of the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem that is important to the conservation of the biodiversity of Liberia and of West Africa as a whole". The 135 km (33,359 acres) East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR), on the border with Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, was created at the same time to become Liberia's second protected area. The peace that followed

3213-407: The park during the period of rebel control is disputed. John Terborgh , a professor of environmental science and biology at Duke University , writes that "[l]ogging was rampant during the war". However, Peal reported that logging was limited, and that farming and hunting pressures were minimised, by population displacement — including the exodus of people out of over two dozen villages surrounding

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3276-560: The park — and the prevailing climate of insecurity, to the extent that species populations actually increased during the war years. William Powers, a Catholic Relief Services official posted to Liberia from 1999 to 2001, noted that the park was a war-time haven for small groups of people, who scavenged for food and hunted bushmeat to survive. Logging and poaching became more common after the war's end in 1996. In 2002, allegations surfaced that President Charles Taylor had sold concessions worth several millions of United States dollars to

3339-453: The park's preservation. During the First Liberian Civil War , Sapo National Park fell into the hands of rebel forces, and much of the park's infrastructure and equipment was damaged or destroyed, including a wildlife rehabilitation and orphanage facility constructed in 1989 and supported by Friends of Animals . Of 33 park employees, at least three were killed and seven became refugees . The extent of illegal resource extraction from inside

3402-661: The participation of conservationists, the Liberian government, and United Nations peacekeeping forces. Due to its remote location and the near-complete absence of tangible amenities , such as visitor housing or recreational facilities, there are few visitors to Sapo National Park. Entry into the park is prohibited without approval from the Forestry Development Authority. No roads lead into the park, so it can be reached only on foot. The park also has no trails. Located in Sinoe County in southwestern Liberia, Sapo National Park covers an area of 1,804 km (697 sq mi). The park

3465-405: The prospectors were hunters, many of them former combatants, who poached the park's animals to sell as meat to the settlers. By March 2005, an estimated 5,000 people lived in the park, according to the United Nations Mission in Liberia . Although efforts were undertaken to remove the illegal squatters , the park was not completely emptied until late August-early September 2005, and then only through

3528-622: The pygmy hippopotamus population in the park had survived the civil wars and subsequent poaching and logging. The endangered African forest elephant is also present in Sapo National park, with population estimates ranging from "as many as 500" for the early 1980s to between 313 and 430 for the end of the decade; however, the IUCN considers the most recent surveys — both of which relied on dung counts — to be of low quality and reliability . Upper Guinean forest The Upper Guinean forests

3591-478: The south. Taylor, reduced to controlling only a third of Liberia and under pressure from the Siege of Monrovia , resigned in August 2003 and fled to Nigeria . The Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed by the warring parties a week later, marking the political end of the conflict and beginning Liberia's transition to democracy. The National Transitional Government led by interim President Gyude Bryant governed

3654-435: Was created to manage and preserve the country's forest resources. A year later, in 1977, the Division of Wildlife and National Parks was formed under the leadership of Alexander Peal , who served as its head until 1990. By 1982, seven protected areas has been proposed in Liberia, including three national parks. Of these, only Sapo National Park — named after the local Sapo (or Sao) tribe — was formally designated, in 1983, by

3717-406: Was lifted in September 2002, after, the government claimed, the township of Bopolu had been retaken. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Ivoirian-backed Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerged in the south, and by the summer of 2003, Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. Despite some setbacks, by mid-2003 LURD controlled the northern third of the country and

3780-431: Was made by pursuing ‘a strategy of infiltration of south-western Liberia through the thick bush of Southern Lofa, looping around government strongholds and disrupting supply lines... while LURD claims between 300 and 500 men were assigned to that mission, ... the number that actually attacked was likely closer to twenty.’ Any image of a large force gradually pushing toward Monrovia is mistaken; ‘hit and run’ raids, rather than

3843-434: Was prolific by both sides, regardless of prohibitions of the practice in the Geneva Convention . Observers from Human Rights Watch described a deadly and chaotic siege of Monrovia, with many very young fighters shooting "shiny toys" they had not been trained to use. Drugs made up an integral part of Liberian wartime culture. Child soldiers and other combatants were routinely addicted to cocaine , khat , and other drugs as

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3906-436: Was tasked primarily with assisting the government in consolidating peace following the July 1997 multiparty elections. On 11 September 2003, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended deployment of the peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), to maintain the peace agreement. The UN Security Council approved the mission on 19 September in Resolution 1509 . Nigeria sent in peacekeepers as part of

3969-456: Was threatening the capital. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group's shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict. A new bout of fighting began in March 2003 after a relative lull and by early May, LURD and MODEL had gained control of nearly two-thirds of the country, and were threatening Monrovia. Regional and wider pressure led to

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