After Liberia's war: 'Sometimes you wonder if peace is worthwhile'

When Liberia's 14-year civil conflict came to an end, its people looked forward to a better life. But the fragile peace means the aid organisations are packing up, leaving those who are sick without treatment.

By Kate Thomas
Published: 24 May 2007

Leaning back in a chair in his office, Dr Walter T Gwenigale looks tired. Liberia's Health Minister was out late on Saturday. "The theatre," he explains. He doesn't mean that he had front-row seats at a kora concert or tickets to see something by the West African playwright Wole Soyinka, however. There are no playhouses in Liberia. Instead he spent Saturday evening on duty in the operating theatre of Phebe Hospital, some 130km away in rural Bong county. continue...