| |||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Barclayville | ||||||
| Other cities | Fish Town, Harper, Greenville | ||||||
| Language | English | ||||||
| Religion | Christian (85%), Islam (12%), other (3%) | ||||||
| Government | Single Party Socialist State. | ||||||
| President | Saturday Johnstone | ||||||
| Area | 6060 km² | ||||||
| Population | 154,000 (Approx) | ||||||
| Established | 1992 (collapsed 2012) | ||||||
| Currency | West African Franc | ||||||
The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia was an autocratic, one-party communist state in West Africa formed in 1992 and defeated and reconstructed in 2012 as the Republic of Maryland.
History of the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia[]
More information see: Liberia
After Liberian Civil War[]
The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia (RRL) developed during the early 1990s in the south of the former nation of Liberia near the border with Ivory Coast.
It started as the city state of Barclayville in 1988, it was run by a small time dictator Saturday Johnstone.
Barclayville is found on the Na River over the following two years it was quickly joined by other towns along the river and along the coast either side of the mouth of the Na River.
In particular the towns of Grand Cess, Henriesville and Wutuken became strongholds of Johnstone's troops.
By 1991, the Johnstone regime controlled all of Grand Kru county as well as sections of neighbouring River Gee County and Maryland county.
By the first General Election in 2000 the RRL controlled all of Maryland and River Gee Counties.
In 2002, the RRL made inroads in Sinoe County and currently (as of early 2012) controls roughly half of the County.
In 2012 the country suffers complete defeat at the hands of a joint WAU/Federation of Liberia invasion force, attacking due to the RRL attacks on the surrounding nations.
Foundation of the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia[]
In 1992 Saturday Johnstone calls a meeting in Barclayville, he declares the foundation of Revolutionary Republic of Liberia with Barclayville as its capital city, he also makes himself President and his brother Abraham head of the army.
His policies were originally Socialist, however after close links with the People's Republic fo Benin has led his policies to change slowly from Socialist to Beninist.
Government of the RRL[]
On the 30th September 2000 President Johnstone calls for a general election across the RRL, the election is held on the 1st December 2000, 22 new representatives of the Supreme Council, with Saturday Johnstone as President, took their seats in a newly built Council Building in Barclayville on the 20th December 2000.
The vote was declared totally fixed and unfair by WAU officials undercover in the RRL at the time, many towns had a choice of one candidate.
The second General Election in 2007 was also declared as seriously fixed as the first by undercover WAU officials. The total numbers of representatives was increased from 22 to 28, as nearly half of Sinoe County had come under the control of the RRL since the last election.
President Johnstone applied to become a member of the Confederation of Socialist West African Nations in early 2012. CSWAN officials arrived in March 2012 to assess the RRL.
President Johnstone has declared that if accepted into the Confederation, the nation will be renamed The Free Republic of Liberia.
President of the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia[]
President Saturday Johnstone (born 1958)
- President (self announced) 1992-2000.
- President (elected) 2000- Present.
President Johnstone was born in Barclayville in early 1958, the precise date is unknown, however he celebrates his birthday on the 22nd of April.
Married in 1978 to Janjay Mary Teamah, they have three children.
- A son - Dwe Saturday Johnstone (Born 1979)
- A daughter - Anika Mary Johnstone (Born 1982)
- A son - Tamba Kwame Johnstone (Born 1987)
In the past five years some of the decisions of President Johnstone have raised eyebrows in surrounding nations.
- The building of a new airport on the outskirts of Barclayville, despite there being no functioning aircraft within the RRL.
- The building of a new twenty bedroomed Presidential Palace in the centre of Barclayville, including the demolition of forty houses of local residents, with only four hours warning.
Trade and Industry[]
RRL has trade relations with other Liberian states as well as West African Union nations.
It has close trade links with The People's Republic of Benin and ships frequently dock offshore to deliver goods to the RRL.
In 2011 the RRL started buying weapons from the People's Republic of Benin, mainly hand and machine guns, hand grenades and rocket propelled grenades.
The main industry of the RRL is agriculture.
Military of the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia[]
There are two branches of the Military of the RRL.
Army[]
There are approximately 10,000 men in the RRL army. They are split into five divisions of 200 men.
Conscription[]
In the RRL it is possible to have conscription into the army, in the event of war or invasion, every able bodied man from the age of 16 to the age of 40 can be called into army service.
[]
The navy of the RRL is mostly made of fishing vessels that carry armed soldiers, there have been reports of official RRL vessels undertaking piracy or officially endorsed privateering on merchant vessels passing along the coast.
International Relations[]
It has trade links with other survivor nations in former Liberia.
The RRL shares borders with Ivory Coast and from March 2012 with the Democratic Republic of Liberia.
On its north western border the RRL has unclaimed territory, there is a possibility that the RRL may expand, however the the unclaimed area has bands of armed militants so this expansion is unlikely.
Relationship with the CSWAN[]
In early 2012 the RRL applied to join the Confederation of Socialist West African Nations, on the 18th of March 2012 representatives of the Confederation arrived in the RRL to assess the nation for membership.
On the 10th May 2012, the CSWAN leadership has declined the application of the RRL to join the CSWAN in the following statement.
The application for the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia to join the Confederation of Socialist West African Nations has been declined due to the following reasons:'
- Inability to prove education facilities for children up to 12 years old
- Inability to prove total governmental control over the military of the nation
- Inability to prove that any profits from business or trade have not been co-opted by leadership of the RRL.
- Lack of total governmental control over full area claimed by RRL
- Aggressive military stance towards the WAU
The Revolutionary Republic of Liberia is welcome to re-apply once these problems have been resolved.
There has been no official response from the President and government of the RRL to the statement, however reports have emerged from the Presidential Palace that President Saturday was furious and that he attacked several high ranking government ministers with his bare hands.
Relationship with the Ivory Coast[]
It has a difficult relationship with the WAU, in particular the neighbouring WAU nation of Ivory Coast with which the RRL shares a border. They see the WAU as "interfering" in former Liberia.
The RRL denounced the March invasion of the former nation of Liberia by the WAU, and they believe the setting up of border posts by the Ivory Coast troops, in particular, amounts to an unofficial declaration of war on the RRL by the Ivory Coast.
NEWS - Attack on Ivorian troops[]
During the early hours of the 17th May 2012 several hundred RRL troops move across the border into Democratic Republic of Liberia controlled Grand Gedah County. Around dawn they start attacking the ten border crossing points set up by Federation/WAU troops, manning these posts are 270 troops from the Ivory Coast.
By nightfall three border crossing points have been burned with a dead toll of 22 Ivorian and 37 RRL troops with many injured on both sides, Ivorian troops have abandoned another two border crossing points and are regrouping with Grand Gedah County, they have contacted both the Ivorian government as well as the WAU Defence Council.
RRL troops have withdrawn from the area as it appears they planned a 'hit and run' strategy.
300 Ivorian troops involved in the invasion of uncontrolled Bong county have been rerouted to assist in the defence of the border, the WAU have announced that the attack was totally unacceptable and amounted to an act of war not only on the WAU but also on the Democratic Republic of Liberia. Democratic Republic of Liberia has declared that it will defend itself however possible and has asked the WAU and the Republic of Nimba for military assistance.
By the 19th May, 2000 WAU troops had massed along the east RRL border with Ivory Coast, with a further 1500 Federation/Lofan troops along the DRL border to the north.
Many troops that had been in Bong county are expected to arrive on the DRL/RRL border by the 21st May after passing through uncontrolled Sinoe County.
Three WAU warships (one from the Ivory coast and two from the Gambia) arrived off the coast of the RRL on the 20th May 2012.
On the 21st May a delegation of WAU and Federation officials cross into the RRL to meet with President Johnstone to discuss the attacks of the Ivorian troops on the Federation border. President Johnstone refuses to meet them instead his younger brother Miki meets with them and less than politely asks them to leave the RRL within 24 hours or they will be killed.
He was also told by his brother the President, to tell the delegation that the RRL no longer recognises the Federation, or any of its constituent nations, as legitimate successors to the former nation of Liberia and demands their surrender and total withdrawal from within the the borders of the former nation of Liberia as it belongs totally to the RRL, members of the delegation from the Federation of Liberia try to reason with Miki Johnstone, but he becomes angry and strikes the head of the delegation breaking the official's nose.
The delegation of officials, seeing that he will not be reasoned with and decide to leave the RRL, they do however tell Miki Johnstone to expect a quick resolution to the situation, due to military intervention by the WAU/Federation troops. As such the WAU and Federation jointly declared war on the RRL due to their military attacks on both land and sea forces of the WAU and Federation.
War with the WAU and Federation[]
On the 3rd June the Revolutionary Republic of Liberia is defeated by the joint WAU/Federation task force. Small scale attacks continue for several days but with the help of the head of the RRL military the death toll is kept to a minimum.
After the total defeat of the RRL the leadership of the invading armies of the WAU and Federation meet to decide the future of the RRL.
It is decided that the area will be jointly managed by both the Federation of Liberia and the WAU nation of Ivory Coast with a transitional government until a new elected democratic government can be established.
All of Sinoe County will be put under Federation control and will be fully transferred to the Federation of Liberia on the 1st January 2014 (the same day Lofa joins the Federation)
The capital city will be moved to Harper in Maryland County. It will be rebuilt with help from the WAU nation of Ivory Coast.
Discussions about the future name of the area are still ongoing.