Violence erupted Saturday afternoon in Liberia's second city, Buchanan, about 120 kilometers southeast of the capital, Monrovia. According to reports from Buchanan, fighters from the rebel Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) ran amok, looting properties and harassing civilians. One civilian was later confirmed dead.
| "Yaaaaa-hoo! We're big tough guys! We got guns and you don't!" |
Witnesses who fled the area and later contacted IRIN talked of MODEL fighters letting off weapons at random intervals, causing civilian casualties. A civilian who talked with IRIN via phone from Buchanan said he had seen wounded civilians being taken to the nearest health centres. There was no clear account of why or how the violence started. One witness said simply: "we just decided to pack up and leave because they were hoorawing the town the area was tense and the fighting was too heavy".
| "I think they musta found a really big stash of bad weed, y'know?" |
Reacting to the situation, the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Lieutenant-General Daniel Opande, confirmed the violence in Buchanan in a radio address on Sunday. Opande said the problems had started when a MODEL combatant had tried to wrest food away from a civilian and had then beaten the civilian after he resisted.
"Gimme that wiener!"
"Hey! That's my wiener!"
[Thump!] |
"The civilian population gathered around and of course they decided to retaliate", Opande said.
| "Hey! Knock it off, ya big bully!" |
"In between the civilian who was first attacked was beaten badly and within a very short time our troops were on the scene. They rescued the civilian who was badly beaten and they took him to the hospital." Opande said the situation had subsequently developed into a free-for-all, "with various MODEL fighters attacking civilians".
Opande said three civilians had been injured and shops had been looted. But he stressed UNMIL troops had regained control of the situation, with UNMIL sending in more soldiers and deploying gun-ships from Monrovia.
"Although the city is calm, it is still tense", Opande acknowledged. "But our forces are in full control, so I don't foresee any major escalation of violence".
| "All of yez! Move along! Don't lemme see yez around here again!... Mmmmm! That's a tasty-lookin' wiener!" |
Model spokesman Boi Blajue Boi regretted the incidents and promised his movement was with UNMIL to calm the situation. Recent reports from Buchanan have highlighted civilian concerns about the number of ex-combatants, particularly MODEL fighters, still holding arms and their use of bullying tactics against civilians. |