Massive show of support for President Sirleaf reelection bid....

As elections fever continue to rock Liberia, News coming out of Monrovia say

A group of former fighters have pledged to support President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s bid for re-election in October.

“She has done well,” Austen Clarke, who was deputy defense minister under ex-President Taylor told reporters in Monrovia, the capital, yesterday. He cited developments in living standards and freedom of expression in the Country.

Clarke who is also the chairman of the group Nimba Citizens United for Progress said his group comprises about 80 percent of the country’s so-called Special Forces generals who led various factions during the years of conflict. The leaders have influence over as many as 100,000 former fighters.

In related developments there have been a massive show of support for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as she seeks reelection for a second term.

Addressing thousands of residents of the Communities of Barnesville and Garnersville on Sarturday, the President said the election was not about her, “It was about the country.”

Here is a Video of the President making her case for why she should be reelected to thousands of supporters in Monrovia.

The Liberian leader says she remains committed to ensuring that the gains made by her government over the past five years are sustained. She said a strong foundation for growth and prosperity has been laid, cautioning that the nation stands to lose unless Liberians excise the right decision in the forthcoming referendum and presidential and general elections.

Large amont of arms and ammunition seized in Liberia.....

The Government of Liberia has seized a "worrisome" amount of arms and ammunition in the south of the country near the border with Ivory Coast, an official told a press conference Wednesday.

"The Bureau of Immigration with maximum support from the Ministry of Justice was successful in retrieving a cache of arms and ammunition through the cooperation of some ex-combatants," Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization commissioner Chris Massaquoi told journalists.

He did not give details about the former combatants who he said collaborated with state security authorities to find the weapons.

But he added: "This discovery of weapons is worrisome".

The weapons were found in the counties of River Gee, Maryland, Grand Gedeh and Nimba.

Some of the weapons were displayed during the press conference.

They included rockets, machine guns and assault rifles and a large amount of ammunition.

"The arms and ammunition were collected by Immigration Special Border Patrol Officers following intensive intelligence gathering in certain towns along the Liberian-Ivorian border," the immigration commissioner said.

He noted that the bureau in collaboration with other security officials would make sure that there were no internal and external security threats as the country is to hold general and presidential elections on October 11.

The Bureau of Immigration appealed to all Liberians, "especially those living near or around the borders of Liberia to report to national security the presence of any and all strange movements within or near the borders as well as the presence of arms and ammunition of all sorts, and any threat to national security".

Liberia charged 36 people in late June in connection with the discovery of a large arms cache near the border with Ivory Coast two weeks earlier.

The weapons stash included war weapons and ammunition, including Kalachnikovs and rocket launchers.

They were believed to have been sent to Liberia after a lengthy post-electoral crisis in neighbouring Ivory Coast which turned violent as former strongman Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in November polls to arch-rival Alassane Ouattara, who was sworn in as president in May.

Gbagbo was arrested on April 11 in Abidjan, after some 3,000 people died in the violence in which Liberian mercenaries were alleged to have taken part.

Meet Shadow, Liberia's new musical sensation ......

Samuel Morgan AKA the Shadow.

Samuel Morgan aka the shadow is a Liberian musician, singer, composer, producer, and audio engineer who also happens to be, i am proud to say my own biological brother. Shadow and other Liberian refugee live and work in the Buduburam Liberian refugee camp near Accra, Ghana. He has spent most of his adult life in the run down refugee camp and Like most Liberian refugees, he wants to return home to Liberia but fears there is nothing there for him. Meanwhile, he makes music, partly to earn a living,and partly to inspire other Liberians with hope for the future. Last year, he and other musicians in the camps cut their first CD, with songs that tell the tale of horrors and flight from war and the desire to return home.
Despite the deplorable situation in the refugee camp. Samuel and other Liberian refugees try to stay positive and represent Liberia the best way they know how, through their wonderful music.

Here is one of my favorite song call super lady from my superstar brother.



Keep it up little brother, keep representing Mama Liberia, we are all proud of you.

Charles Taylor trial comes to an end, world awaits verdict..............

The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, once among West Africa's most powerful and by far the most brutal figures, ended Friday with judges expected to take months to reach a verdict on whether he can be linked to murders and amputations during Sierra Leone's civil war.

The three judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone must weigh tens of thousands of pages of evidence, more than 1,000 documents and exhibits, and the testimony from more than 120 victims, former rebels - and from Taylor himself, who was on the stand for seven months.

Taylor has pleaded innocent to 11 counts of murder, rape, pillaging and deploying child soldiers in Sierra Leone.

His defense team has argued that the prosecution provided only unconvincing circumstantial evidence connecting Taylor directly with the rebels, who were notorious for slicing off limbs, ears and lips of civilians to impose a reign of fear during the 1991-2002 war. It portrayed him as a man of peace who tried to mediate an end to the conflict in the neighboring country, and said the testimony for the prosecution by former rebels was often tainted by payments from the prosecutors. can you believe that? Taylor a man of peace? we who saw first hand that brute handiwork in Liberia find it laughable that Charles Taylor can ever be associated with peace. The man hands are literally dripping with the bloods of thousands of innocent people in both Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

The people who committed acts of violence against innocent women and children must pay for their crimes.

We must never forget what these monsters did to our country....... These barbaric people should pay for their crimes.

While we await the final verdict, it is my hope that the judges will weigh all the thousands of evidence against this monster and put him behind bars for good, This man was the cause of terrible sufferings not only in my own Country Liberia, but across all west Africa, he must pay for his crimes, only then can we give justice to the thousands of innocent people who perish for nothing, in this asshole senseless wars.

One by one they will pay!!!!...........................

Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore are responsible for the death of thousands of innocent Liberians.

An old African proverb says he who dines with the dogs will eat feces, That is exactly what Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi i bet, is feeling these days. As we watched events unfold in Libya and their lunatic dictator Gaddafi loses his grip on power, one cannot help but to be happy for the Libyan people who for so long have had to live under the brutal rule of this man and his family.

Charles Taylor with the help of Libya, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, killed almost 200,000 of our countrymen in a senseless war.

Many of us Liberians have serious beef with this fool who was one of the main player in all of the instabilities across Africa. It was Gaddafi who trained, armed and dispatched thugs like Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh to take power in West African countries, initiating the brutal slaughter of innocent people in both Liberia and Sierra Leone. One by one all of these people and countries who hands are stained with the blood of our countrymen, Ivory coast, now Libya and one day Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore will pay in blood too.

Tragedy at the Buduburan refugee camp again........

Reports coming out of Ghana this morning speaks of at least 5 Liberians reportedly been shot dead by Ghanaian police at the Buduburan Refugee Camp outside Accra during a riot over leadership.

According to report still coming in, the incident occurred Sunday at a Church when a group of Liberian refugees attempted installing a new leadership despite call from the refugee board to halt the process.

Reports say there has been opposition against the current leadership at the Buduburan Camp headed by Varney Sambola. Mr. Sambola has been accused of tribalism and being in cohort with both the UNHCR and the Ghanaian authorities to relegate the interest of the Liberian refugees.

According to one eyewitness, the police surrounded the hall where the ceremony was set to take place and arrested two, including the leader who was about to be sworn in.

"As the police drove off with the two, some residents pelted the convoy and the police responded with gun shots and tear gas," the eyewitness said.

Police in Ghana have arrested a Liberian, Tyrone Marshall, said to be ringleader of the campaign to replace the current leadership on the camp. Other sources said the police are moving from house to house rounding up Liberians.




A resident of the camp told journalist by phone that reinforcement of the Ghanaian police in their hundreds has surrendered the refugee camp to the total amazement of the camp dwellers!

Another said that police are rounding up every male refugee as night falls going from door to door asking every occupants to come outside with their identification cards and as the result of that every male Liberian refugees has taken to their heels to safety in the surrounding villages within the Gomoa district and parts of Accra!

while we do not question the Ghanaian authorities right to maintain law and order in their country,they also have a duty to protect every one that resides within their borders. Did they really have to to use live bullets against unarmed people?

The Buduburam Refugee Camp has been home to refugees who fled the civil war in Liberia more than two decades ago. The camp currently hosts 15,000 to 18,000 refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone as well as nationals from other West African countries, many of whom have settled into what has now become a town.

Couple of Interesting videos about Liberia on the Web.....

The international reporting project just did a couple of interesting pieces on Liberia....
In the first video Etweda Cooper, mayor of Edina, Liberia, discusses her vision for the small town's future in the wake of 14 years of civil war.

In the second video, Firestone the largest foreign corporation in Liberia, which has come under scrutiny in recent years has made concerted efforts to improve its facility and the condition of its workforce, but have they done enough?