ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how interplay of domestic, regional and international factors conspired to keep the wars going but eventually, how an alignment of the same internal, regional, and international factors brought about a lasting resolution to the conflicts. The conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia also serve as models for how insurgencies or civil wars both escalate and diffuse. In the 1970s a combination of the international economic crisis and domestic political agitation against the Americo-Liberian government of William Tolbert culminated in a coup on April 12, 1980, when indigenous Liberian Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe seized power and formed the People's Redemption Council (PRC). Taylor and his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebels, which at first mainly comprised disgruntled Gio soldiers and farmers, rapidly gained support from many Liberians who opposed Doe's despotic, highly corrupt, and ethno-centric rule.
