With Liberia growing more stable and secure by the day, the United Nations will ask member nations for between $400 and $500 million to help rebuild Liberia at a donor conference in New York next month. 

Meanwhile, China is reestablishing ties with Liberia by reopening its Embassy near Monrovia and the Chinese Resident Ambassador is expected to arrive within a couple of months. China has approved sending in up to 600 peacekeeping troops to join UNMIL, about 100 more than what was previously announced. The Government of China has also provided up to $3 million to augment the operational budget of the Transitional Government. - Adam Geibel

Peacekeepers are now moving into remote rural areas, providing the first security those areas have seen in years. About a thousand Ethiopian troops have established themselves in the jungles of eastern Liberia. Also for the first time in years, the train system is running again (one locomotive and a few cars moving goods from the interior to the capital.)