Parents of the eight year old Liberian rape victim charged...............................

The parents of the 8-year-old Liberian girl who was allegedly gang-raped at her apartment complex in Phoenix Arizona earlier this year, have now been arrested for child abuse.
Authorities said the couple used sticks, wires and their fists to abuse their 8-year-old daughter,

Arrest warrants were issued for 59-year-old Hemis Dio and his wife, 47-year-old Wedeh Dio. Each of them are facing 8 counts of child abuse related to an investigation conducted by police and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office over the past several months.
Witnesses also told police that the parents left their daughter wandering their apartment complex alone at night, begging for food.



The child abuse investigation was based on documented incidents from the Phoenix Police Department and numerous referrals to Arizona Child Protective Services dating to 2005.

Earlier this year the eight year old was allegedly lured to a storage shed, pinned down and gang-raped by four Liberian boys, none of them older than 14.
At the time of the incident Child Protective Services removed the victim from the custody of her parents, who, according to police, blamed her for being victimized and bringing shame to their family.

Details of the girl's assault and her parents reactions so shocked the country, that Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf sent Liberia's deputy Ambassador to the United States Edwin Sele to Phoenix for a weeklong fact-finding mission and to help dispel notions that rape is condoned in the West African country.

Renowned Liberian Human rights activist Kimmie Weeks on CNN African voices............

This week CNN African voices had an interesting one on one interview with one of Liberia's most renowned human rights activist Kimmie Weeks.....

Kimmie Weeks has worked to alleviate poverty and human suffering in Africa and around the world since he was fourteen years old. Kimmie was born in Liberia 1981. When he was nine, Kimmie came face to face with civil war, human suffering, and death.

Over the years, Kimmie has formed partnerships and led organizations that have provided education to thousands of students in West Africa, lobbied the disarmament of over 20,000 child soldiers, and provided health care and recreation supplies to children.

In 1998, Kimmie Weeks investigated and released a groundbreaking report on the Liberian government’s involvement in the training children as soldiers. As a result, former Liberian President Charles Taylor made several attempts to assassinate him until he fled Liberia and was granted political asylum in the United States.

Once he came to the United States, Kimmie Weeks established an International organization called Youth Action International to support the needs of families living in post war countries. In 2008, Youth Action International’s programs benefited close to 150,000 people in six post war African countries.

Here is a potion of the program on CNN.................

In this part of the Interview Kimmie talks about his experienced during Liberia's bloody civil wars



In This part he talks about why he fled the the country and the potential that the country now has, after coming out of devastating civil wars.



After suffering as a child, human rights activist Kimmie Weeks is mobilizing Liberia's youth to heal the country.



He is truly one of our greatest Liberian role model.

Nigeria's first lady visits Liberia...............

The First Lady of Nigeria is visiting Liberia as guest of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Dr. Hajiya Turai Umaru Yar’Adua, arrived in the country Wednesday morning.

An Executive Mansion release says the Nigerian first lady was met on arrival by the Vice President and Mrs. Katumu Boakai, as well Nigerian Ambassador to Liberia, Ebenezer Adigun, at the Roberts International Airport.

Vice President Boakai welcome the Nigerian First Lady

President Sirleaf also welcome her guest at the foreign Ministry.

While in Liberia, Mrs. Yar'Adua will hold discussions with the Liberian leader and representatives of women groups on ways of strengthening collaboration between women of Nigeria and Liberia. The First Lady will also meet with a Nigerian peace keeping contingent serving under UNMIL (the United Nations Military Mission in Liberia.

The Nigerian First Lady joined President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Wednesday afternoon at the dedication of the dormitory building of the Tubman National Institute for Medical Arts (TNIMA). The building was renovated with funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Liberian leader and Mrs. Yar'Adua later toured facilities of the John F. Kennedy Medical hospital to inspect progress and challenges at the Hospital.

Liberians are happy to have the Nigerian first lady in the country, we remember all too well the huge role Nigeria play in ending the civil war in Liberia, when everyone else just stood and did noting.

We welcome you madame first lady to our beloved and humble home, and we hope you enjoy your stay in our country.

Enough is Enough..............

Military ruler Captain Moussa Dadis Camara

Some opposition and rights groups in Guinea our neighbor to the north are reporting that Foreign gunmen, including some speaking English with Liberian accents, took part in the mass killings of anti-government protesters in Guinea this week.
Mouctar Diallo who claim to be an opposition leader, said that "Among those who shot on people were some odd individuals who were not wearing the regular army uniform properly. They were speaking with Liberian accent in a language I do not understand'' "They were drunk and clearly on drugs," he added.

Police clash with the opposition in Conakry, Guinea's capital.

Seriously this crap about Liberians being addicted to war and always in the Frey of trying to destabilize other countries in the region bullshit is enough, every time there is civil unrest in west Africa, Liberians are always accuse of being involved. it has got to stop. how can fermenting chaos in a sister country be of any benefit to Liberia? can you imagine what will happen if there were ever civil unrest in Guinea? just coming out of our own civil war and still struggling to find our own footing, How would Liberia ever deal with the influx of thousands of refugee that would inevitably cross the border trying to seek refuge? any instability in Guinea will spell serious trouble for our country too, so it is not in our national interest to get involve in their crisis.

And regarding the claim that some in the army were speaking with Liberian accent......... i say its ridiculous, there are thousands of Guinea nationals living in Liberia, some were even born there, i am sure some people in their military know how to speak English.

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called for "an emergency meeting" of the Economic Community of West African States on the crisis in neighboring Guinea.

"The president has sent a letter to the ECOWAS for this sub-regional body to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Guinea," Information Minister Laurence Bropleh told the press on Friday in Monrovia.
"The president believes that we need as a regional body to get involved in Guinea because instability in Guinea means instability in the Mano River Union, and by extension in the ECOWAS region. Her approach is that ECOWAS and the International Contact Group on Guinea need to take the lead," Bropleh said.

Liberia Ranked high in recent doing business survey................

Liberia still struggling to recover from war-induced economic crisis have emerged along with Rwanda among the top 10 countries in Doing Business 2010 ranking.
It is good news for Liberia. This year’s latest ranking of the World Bank ‘Doing Business Survey’ has showed that the country has done tremendously well than it did last year, even far more than expected.According to the latest ranking, the country has dived upward to 10th place, making it the second in the African region next to Rwanda and meaning that it has made huge improvement in the reform process.

it is now easier more then ever before in Liberia to start businesses, register property, protect investors, trade across borders, and even get access credit.

My opinion about the proposed bill aimed at relocating the capital from Monrovia, and the changing of the Liberian Flag...

Monrovia, Liberia

Lately there have been a lot of talks among our lawmakers on capital hill in Monrovia about changing the Liberian Flag so as to quote on quote reflect the entire country...........These so called law makers just came up also with a brilliant idea about relocating the nation's capital from Monrovia to God knows where in central Liberia, i mean what the hell.... our people don't have even enough food to feed their families, the government is so broke it cannot even provide the most basic services such as running water, electricity, or even garbage services, how the hell are we suppose to come out with the money to move the capital? these uneducated fools in the senate and the house of representatives don't have a clue about what they are doing or are suppose to be doing and are coming up with radical and crazy ideas about how they want Liberia to be like.

I am all for relocating the capital, i think its a fantastic idea, God knows Monrovia is way overcrowded, and it makes sense to move the capital inland for security and economic reasons, but frankly now is not the time. we are a post conflict country, and just staying afloat is a struggle, we have to prioritize what we want for our people and try to achieve it. it is absolutely outrageous to have children die in Liberia from malaria, and other preventable diseases, and it makes no sense what so ever to me to take money that would otherwise be going to build schools and hospitals for our children to relocating the capital.

As regards the changing of the Liberian flag, i am absolutely oppose to it, our flag and our history is unique in Africa, we should not be ashamed of who we are, or of our history......we should embrace it.
over 162 years of history as a sovereign nation, how are we suppose to change that all of a sudden, if we cannot appreciate our achievement and be proud of who we are, who will do it for us? we have evolve as a people, and we all know Liberia have seen better days, but in order to see better days again we must all do our part as patriotic sons and daughters of our great country, we must all remember that before glory there is suffering, we may be of many tribes but we are one people, with one common destiny, and one place that will always be home to all of us............................ namely LIBERIA.

Six Pakistanis Held in Monrovia on suspicion Terrorism ...............

Liberia's defense minister says police have arrested six Pakistani men who tried to enter Liberia on fake U.S. passports with possible intent to carry out terrorism.

Defense Minister Brownie Samukai says the men were arrested earlier this week at the international airport. In a radio statement late Wednesday he said one of the suspects removed his phone's SIM card and swallowed it as he was being arrested. Samukai did not give further details on what Liberian authorities believe the men were trying to do, where the men are being held or what charges they may face.

Officials say they believe the men's U.S. passports were fakes.