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Two years after the end of the 1989-1997 war in Liberia, there is still no electricity service in Monrovia and residents of the Liberian capital say the absence of power is affecting the city in many ways.
"Power helps to prevent crime, boost economic development and attract foreign investment," a media source told IRIN. A human rights advocate noted: "We need power to pipe water around the city."
Residents of Bushrod Island, an industrial area east of Monrovia, receive pipe-borne water twice a week, but elsewhere in the capital, people either buy water from reservoirs filled by EU-sponsored trucks or pump it by hand from poorly treated wells.
The Liberian city has been without power since 1992 when faction fighters destroyed the hydro-electric plant which used to provide power to Monrovia. Those who can afford it have generators. The others do without electricity.
[See separate item titled 'LIBERIA: IRIN special report on electricity']
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions