MONROVIA, Aug. 19 -- On Thursday, August 20, the arrival of 20 people at Roberts International Airport will represent far more than another international flight touching down on Liberian soil. It will mark the beginning of an arrangement that could see as many as 1,200 third-country nationals transferred from the United States to Liberia within a year.

By J.H. Webster Clayeh & Selma Lomax, selma.lomax@frontpageafricaonline.com

The Liberian government says the people coming are not being sent to Liberia as criminals. Officials describe them as third-country nationals, some of whom may seek asylum or other protection in Liberia, and insist that they are being received as guests rather than prisoners.

Yet outside government circles, the l...