Liberia has been described as a hell on earth, and it's easy to see why. This is a country where 10-year-old children have turned into killing machines, where roadkill is sold to a starving population, and where gangsters and thugs have systematically robbed the country blind.

Writer Sebastian Junger and I witnessed the crisis in Liberia in the summer of 2003. We saw the capital, Monrovia, beseiged by rebels who were trying to oust the warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor. Hundreds of people died in the fighting, most of them civilians. A cholera epidemic broke out, spreading quickly through makeshift refugee centers. Dozens of people were killed when mortars rained down on them.

Today, Liberia is experiencing a tenuous peace. Following a deal brokered by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Taylor left the country for Nigeria. So far, Nigeria has refused to extradite Taylor to Sierra Leone, where he was indicted for war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on June 4, 2003.

Currently, some 7,500 peacekeepers—half the number mandated by the U.N. Security Council in September—are trying to maintain a fragile cease-fire in the country. The biggest problem ahead of them is the disarmament of warring factions. Civil war has plagued Liberia for more than a decade. Providing an alternative for ex-combatants who have become habituated to murdering, looting, and raping will be Liberia's biggest challenge.

Teun Voeten, January 2004