Cestos is a settlement in

Rivercess County Rivercess County is a county in the south-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that compose the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has six districts. Cesstos City serves as the capital ...

in central

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Located along the Cestos River, it lay at the heart of a heavily contested region during the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The Nat ...

: the

National Patriotic Front of Liberia The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) was a Liberian rebel group that initiated and participated in the First Liberian Civil War from 1989 to 1996. Leadership The military aspects of NPFL were led by Charles Taylor, a former governme ...

derived vast amounts of resources from Cestos and other parts of Rivercess County. A small battle was fought between the NPFL and ECOMOG peacekeepers in early May 1993: after peacekeepers captured

Buchanan Buchanan may refer to: People * Buchanan (surname) Places Africa * Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town Antarctica * Buchanan Point, Laurie Island Australia * Buchanan, New South Wales * Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality * Buchanan ...

, NPFL strength in Rivercess County was weakened because its fighters feared going near the county due to its convenient riverine and marine transportation. Therefore, when ECOMOG approached Cestos, it faced little fighting and reported no resistance within the city itself. Since the end of the

Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a conflict in the West African nation of Liberia lasted from 1999 to 2003. It was preceded by the First Liberian Civil War, which ended in 1996. President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in t ...

, transportation in the region has been improved by private concerns: in the early 2010s, reports of possible gold mines prompted a mining company to construct a road from Cestos to the

Central RiverCess District Central RiverCess District is one of 8 districts of Rivercess County, Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its nort ...

town of Zammi.Good Sign of Gold in Rivercess, AMLib Declares as Citizens Make Major Demands
", ''Liberian Observer'', 2012-02-20. Accessed 2012-06-03.

References

Populated places in Liberia Rivercess County {{Coord missing, Liberia