Ruined hotel a symbol of Liberia’s haunted past
Towering above Monrovia, the ramshackle capital of Liberia, in West Africa, is a hotel that once symbolised an African dream yet, today, lies in ruins, a legacy of brutal conflict.
When it opened its doors in 1960, the Ducor Palace Hotel was one of the few five-star properties in Africa, boasting a nightclub and air-conditioned rooms, according to travel guides. It hosted VIPs such as Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie. Guests would lounge by the swimming pool, sipping cocktails and watching the sun set over the Atlantic.
But the Ducor shut in 1989, at the outbreak of back-to-back civil wars, which ran from 1989-to1997 and from 1999-to-2003, and swiftly fell into disrepair.
Today, little of Monrovia bears the visible marks of war, but the Ducor’s decaying hulk stands as a reminder of conflict that killed over 250,000 people. The hotel lies in limbo, and even who owns it seems unclear.
The ruin, atop one of the city’s highest hills, looms over Monrovia’s downtown and the densely populated West Point slum. The rooms have been stripped bare, mildewy walls are pockmarked with bullet and shell holes, and the grounds have become a haunt for drug users.
“It makes everybody sad,” said Ambrose Yebea, a retired tourism ministry official who once offered tours of the hotel.
Liberia’s government planned to restore the hotel to its former glory with the help of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. But there has been no progress since his downfall in 2011, and time is chipping away at the Ducor.
There were few hotels in Monrovia in the 1950s, according to Yebea, prompting the construction of the Ducor to cater to travelling executives and government officials. Designed by Israeli architect Moshe Mayer, in modernist style, it became one of Africa’s most luxurious hotels.
Israeli foreign minister Golda Meir, who later became prime minister, attended its opening ceremony. Photos of the hotel from the era show a gleaming building and guests relaxing.
Several African leaders booked rooms at the Ducor during the 1979 conference of the Organisation of African Unity in
Monrovia, but by then, the hotel was already in decline.
A 1975 World Bank report on Liberia describes the eight-storey hotel as “quite rundown” and mentions government plans to renovate it.
After the second Liberian civil war, squatters occupied the site. But president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who won office in the country’s first post-war election, evicted them in 2007. She then launched renovation plans. In 2011, her government handed the Ducor to the Libyan African
Investment Company (LAICO), a subsidiary of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund.
According to a 2011 government statement, the renovated hotel was due to have 151 rooms, restaurants, a shopping centre, a tennis court and a casino – as well as provide jobs in the impoverished country.
However, the project – which with another scheme to develop a rubber-processing plant was priced at US$65 million – then fell foul of another conflict. Liberia cut ties with Gaddafi’s Libya in 2011, as the latter country descended into civil war. Renovation works stopped.
The project has been at a standstill since, and its future is unclear. Neither Liberia’s presidency nor its tourism ministry, nor LAICO, responded to several requests for information.
The Libyan entity is under European Union sanctions over its alleged close links to the former Gaddafi regime. In 2020, the UN Security Council also said that LAICO was struggling financially, incurring debts for the hotels under its management.
Some still hope to see the Ducor reborn. Yebea said it could lure tourists and generate jobs.
“Every Liberian sees it the same way,” he said. “They want it to be refurbished.”