Liberia: Ganta Old Market, the Once Disputed Land That Could Reignite Old Fault Lines

Jan 8, 2026 | Ishmael F. Menkor
Observer
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More than fifteen years after the Liberian government declared the disputed Ganta Old Market ground an Eminent Domain, the once-bustling commercial space remains overgrown with bush, undeveloped, and dangerously symbolic of unresolved land tensions in one of Liberia’s most conflict-sensitive counties.As frustration mounts and criminal activities increase around the abandoned site, residents and local officials are warning that continued government inaction could reopen old wounds between rival ethnic groups—particularly the Mano and Mandingo—with potentially grave consequences.