April 12 1980 a day that will forever remain in infamy..........

In the early morning of April 12 1980, a group of junior officers from the Armed forces of Liberia, led my Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, entered the Executive mansion, seat of the Liberian government, fought their way into the presidential suite and staged a bloody coup. thus starting a chain of events that would forever change the history of our country.
Doe's forces executed President William R. Tolbert, along with dozen officials of the Tolbert's regime, who were mostly of Americo-Liberian descent. This marked the first time since Liberia's establishment as a country that it was governed by people of native African descent instead of the Americo-Liberian elite. Doe became head of state and suspended the constitution, but promised a return to civilian rule by 1985. Many people welcomed Doe's takeover as a shift favoring the majority of the population that had been excluded from power, my mother said market women would dance and sing songs praising the military government with songs like, " native woman born soldiers, soldiers killed Tolbert.

The late Liberian president William Tolbert is welcome to the white house by president Nixon.

Former American president Jimmy Carter waves to cheering crowds during his state visit to Liberia in 1979.

But Doe's government increasingly adopted an ethnic outlook, as members of his Krahn ethnic group soon dominated political and military life in Liberia. This caused a heightened level of ethnic tension leading to frequent hostilities between the politically and militarily dominant Krahns and other ethnic groups in the country.

Members of the people's redemption council led by Doe.

The execution of former government officials. April 12 1980.

President Doe pays a state visit to the U.S 1983.

Liberia in later years would be shaken to the very core, as a brutal civil war, which will last for almost two decade , pits tribe against tribe and leads to the death of more than 200,000 Liberians, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of others, and the destruction of the country's infrastructure.

On September 9, 1990, Prince Johnson head of the independent national Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) captured Doe and tortured and killed him. The end of the Doe regime only continued the ethnic warfare in Liberia.

Liberian Refugees are national security threat, says Interior minister Bartels.....

Ghana's Interior Minister Kwamena Bartels, told the Ghanaian press today that the seemingly innocent demonstration by Liberian refugees in the country was part of a wider plot by a number of persons to cause mayhem at the Gomoa Buduburam settlement and threaten the security of Ghana.
According to him, Government is aware of the presence of a number of ex-combatants at the settlement and will, therefore, not sit down unconcerned for the country’s security to be jeopardized. Bertels also told the press the Ghanaian Government is considering closing down the Buduburam refugee camp in the Central Region after it has repatriated the last batch of the Liberian refugees this year.
This is due to the closeness of the resettlement site to the country's capital, Accra, which officials fear could pose a threat to the nation's security.

Ghana continue to maintained its hard line in the standoff with Liberian refugees which culminated in the deportation of 16 of them and removal of more than 600 others from their camp just west of the capital, Accra, and said a "firm decision" had been taken that all of them must return home.

Ghanaians love to think of themselves as the most hospitable people in all Africa, but by treating helpless women and refugees like they were the scum of the earth, they have dug a hole they can never get out of, is this their idea of hospitality? Our late president Samuel Doe once said the town trap is not for rat alone, today Ghana may be stable but who knows what will happen in the future, we will forever remember what they did to our people, in our time of need you give us a place to lay our head but at the same time insulted and abuse us, what could we have done? after all a beggar has no choice, he must accept what is given him.
The xenophobia cause by the Ghanaian interior minister's hatred and his disgust of Liberian refugees in his country is shameful but it’s yet another reason why our government must do all it can to bring our people home, they are not stray dogs for Ghanaians to do or say what ever they feel like to them, enough is enough, after all no man is an island, thank you for your hospitality, but our people will take their chances at home.

Outrageous....

I came across this video on the Internet and i was mad like hell with the so called reporter one sided reporting.



i lived in Monrovia when that war criminal Charles Taylor, and his savages attacked the city, we were at the mercy of these criminals, and if it was not for the west African peace force, we would not have made it out alive, i am glad they bomb the shit out of those fools, i am glad their leader is sitting in a UN jail. i hope he rot in hell, those asshole destroy our nation and forever traumatize a who generation of Liberian children, they will pay for what they did.

More arrest of Liberian refugees in Ghana.......

Ghanaian Police on Saturday made their second swoop on the Liberia refugee camp just west of Accra in one week as the government carries out its resolve to ensure that the refugees obey Ghana's laws.This time they arrested dozens of men who they say have been fomenting trouble at the camp, as the standoff between the refugees and the government continues.Eyewitnesses said police went to the Gomoa Buduburam refugee camp just west of Accra at dawn on Saturday moving from house-to-house seeking the alleged male troublemakers. Many men fled into the bush while other locked themselves up in their rooms.

Liberian refugees were only protesting for their rights.

Main while Thirty Liberian refugees were expelled from Ghana and are expected home on Sunday amid disagreement between the two countries about the best way to deal with thousands of refugees.
Liberia's Information Minister Laurence Bropleh said in a radio broadcast Saturday that the "first batch" of nine women and 21 men would be met off the plane by senior officials and given temporary housing.

I am really starting to get angry about some of the reporting by the Ghanaian press and some insensitive statements made by some government officials, for example, Kwamena Bartels the Ghanaian interior minister after ordering the arrest and detention of helpless women and children told the news media “Ghana was good enough for them when their country was at war and they needed a place where they can have peace and protection and Ghana is not good for them when the war in their country was over…this shows their crass ingratitude to a country has protected them, fed them and given their children a free education.”

Kwamena Bartel Ghana's interior Minister.

what the hell is this guy problem? if he wants Liberians to leave Ghana, they should just say it and not come up with crazy excuses for beating, and harassing our people because they are protesting for their rights. Let them call us ungrateful and whatever the hell they want to call us, but the truth of the matter is they have no reason what so ever, of treating our people like crap.

Life in Ghana is hard for any foreigner, let alone refugees, they are not allowed to operate and own businesses unless Ghanaian citizens are not operating the same businesses, were as in Liberia, Ghanaian nationals can do whatever they want, as a matter of fact they practically own and operate all the business in the new Kru town, fanti town, and westpoint area of Monrovia.

All over the blogger sphere today Ghanaian bloggers have being insulting and calling our people names, and saying shit like God bless Ghana, throw out these ugly Liberians ingrates. and How dare these ugly Liberians, these savages try to bite the hand that feeds them?” i am so sick of this shit, not only are these people helpless, but must you make them feel like shit too? this has got to be the last straw, our government must do everything to bring our people home, i would rather they suffer in poverty home, then be beggers and insulted by people who are suppose to be our African brothers.



Bring our people home now!

The Plight of Liberian refugees in Ghana.....

Hundreds of Liberian women refugees arrested Monday by Ghanaian police remain in custody, and there are reports the Ghanaian government is considering deporting them back to Liberia as soon as possible. The BBC said a group of Liberian refugees most of whom are women were accused by a minister of being naked while protesting by the roadside, the refugees were protesting plans to send them back home with only US$100.

Some of the refugees told the BBC that they were beaten by the Ghanaian police at Buduburam camp.

While most of us Liberians are very grateful to the Ghanaian Government and the people of Ghana for their hospitality and generosity in our time of great needs, we also respectfully ask that they be patient with our people, and not resort to acts that would abuse the rights of our people, and further add insult to injury to women and children who not only lost everything during our country's civil war, but must also live as beggars in another country. i live in Ghana for several years before coming to the states and i can tell you from experience that it is not easy for Liberians or any foreigner for that matter to just integrate into Ghanaian society, it is hard to start a business because the government don't want you taking business from, or competing their citizens, leaving many of our people to depend on aid from relatives abroad, or in some cases, our young women resorting to prostitution just to feed their family.

Meanwhile, The Coalition of Ghanian Human Rights Organizations says it will sue the government of Ghana if it fails to resort to the courts in dealing with the arrested Liberian Refugees. The coalition slammed the government of Ghana for what it calls an “over reaction” to the protests of the refugees. The coalition has formed an investigative team to look into the stand off between the refugees and the government.The team comprises of people from the Legal Resources Centre and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. A fact finding team was dispatched to both the Buduburam camp and holding area for the over 600 arrested refugees in Kordeabe in the Eastern Region. The team claimed its initial findings revealled that the rights of the refugees had been grossly violated by the Ghanaian government. The Head of the Legal Resources Centre, Mr. Edward Amuzu who was part of the team told the press that the public was generally misinformed on the crisis.He said the women had not striped themselves naked as had been reported in the media and that there were no road-blocks at the Buduburam camp.Mr. Amuzu said the government’s handling of the crisis was embarrassing to the country.According to him only a court of competent jurisdiction could determine whether the refugees should be repatriated.The Country Representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Ms Hida Harley Mariam told the BBC that the UNHCR was concerned about the manner in which the crisis was being handled.She said the Commission supported the government’s decision to ensure that the refugees respected the country’s laws.It was however worried about any disproportionate action by the government.The Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Mr. John Mahama said although the demands by the refugees could be unreasonable, it was important to protect their human rights.He said the anger of the Interior Minster should not be allowed to damage the reputation of the country. The Liberian government is said to be sending a delegation led by the Liberian Foreign Minister to Ghana to plead with the government to rescind its decision to repatriate the protesting refugees.

Former NPFL fighter alleges Taylor ordered atrocities in both Sierra Leone and Liberia.....

A former rebel from Liberia described the atrocities that he and and other fighters carried out under the command of Charles Taylor, at the Liberian ex-president's war crimes trial Wednesday in the Hague.

Joseph Marzah told judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone how he personally had killed more than a hundred people during his time with Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) -- including babies.
"It's not hard," said Marzah. "You hit them against the wall, throw them in a pit, or in the river, and they are dead. And then you give the report to Charles Taylor."
Marzah said he had been part of a special unit that Taylor had set up called "No Baby on Target", adding: "He said we should execute any baby we saw. After we did that, he gave us money."
Fighters had also used knives to cut open pregnant women, he added.

Victims Of the Liberian and Sierra Leone civil war.

A father whos hands were chop of by the RUF in Sierra Leone trys to hold his daughter without any hands.

A rebel loyal to the warlord Charles Taylor poses next to a painted skull at his checkpoint, in Liberia .

Abu, 7, buttons the collar of his father's shirt at a camp for amputees outside Freetown, Sierra Leone. Abu Bakarr Kargbo, 31, is one of the thousands of victims of forced amputations performed by the Revolutionary United Front during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war.

How can anybody do something like this to another person, is truly beyond words.

This asshole has to pay for what he did.

During the war in Liberia they would mount ambushes on civilians, said Marzah.
"At the checkpoint we used human intestines and sometimes put heads on sticks to scare people," he said. And the same thing went on in Sierra Leone, he added.
Both Sierra Leone's RUF rebels and the Liberian fighters of the NPFL operated under Taylor's command, he said.
There was no RUF as such, he said. "From Freetown to Liberia there was one organisation, all answering to Taylor."
Taylor was in constant touch with the RUF leaders by satellite telephone and radio links, said Marzah.
Some of those leaders frequently visited the Liberian capital Monrovia to deliver diamonds, receive their orders and pick up weapons.
Prosecutors accused Taylor of having amassed a 600-million-dollar (385-million-euro) fortune.
Marzah told the court Taylor ordered him to take arms to Sierra Leone rebels and exchange them for diamonds.
In the early 1990s he went to Sierra Leone some 40 times with transports carrying AK-47 assault rifles and rockets.
"Sometimes, we got ammunition from White Flower (Taylor's presidential residence) or a Russian plane," said Marzah, 49.
"By Charles Taylor's directive, I sometimes would take some straight to Sierra Leone," he added.
Asked by prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian if he ever saw diamonds, Marzah replied: "Many times. I escorted diamonds to Charles Taylor. He himself can tell you that if he tells the truth," he said.
He told the court he had personally brought some 10 to 15 consignments of diamonds to Taylor.
He recalled one diamond in particular that was around five centimetres (two inches) in diameter.
"At that time, we called (it) father'. When he took it along, Charles Taylor was impressed," Marzah said.

Here is a video of some of these savages atrocities in Liberia....

Taylor, 59, is accused of arming, training and controlling the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for still-unknown amounts of diamonds.
Around 120,000 people were killed in the conflict, and thousands more were raped and mutilated with rebels cutting off arms, legs, ears or noses.

Superstar Akon to perform in Liberia....

Senegalese born American superstar Akon is expected to visit Liberia on April 15, 2008, Cellcom Public Relations Managers, T-Max Jlateh has disclosed.He said Cellcom was sponsoring the visit of Akon so as to entertain its many subscribers.
Speaking at a news conference Monday at Cellcom's offices in Monrovia, Mr. Jlateh said the Senegalese born American musician would arrive in Liberia with a 14-man delegation to perform at a musical concert which would be held at the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville on the same day.

Akon rose to fame in 2004 following the release of his single "Locked Up" from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination for the single "Smack That". He is the founder of Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is well known for singing hooks and has over 130 guest appearances and 21 Billboard Hot 100 songs to his credit. He is the only artist to ever accomplish the feat of holding both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.