Liberia Marks 200 Years With Mass Rally

Thousands of Liberians marked the 200 years of their country with a mass rally in the capital, Monrovia.

The Africanews reported on Tuesday that in the rally, an activist and descendant of freed slaves in the country, John Henderson, said that "We have made and endured 200 years of freedom and liberty and self-rule and self-government.”

“After 200 years. We're at a crossroads. We have to look at how we are going to lead our African American continent into the next 200 years.”

"We have a lot of work to do. We have fallen behind from a top producing, national gross domestic product country to the lowest producing, lowest income earning country on the continent with the richest resources. We are confident that we will turn this around.”

Between 1980 and 2003 the country was involved in a series of civil conflicts that resulted in more than 250 thousand deaths. The civil conflicts and an Ebola outbreak between 2013 and 2016 led the country's economy to shrink by 90%.

Amidst the celebration, the United States' President Joe Biden also sent a presidential delegation to take part in the celebrations.