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| Africa: West |
| UN’s Liberia ’honeymoon’ to end |
| 2004-01-23 |
| EFL from BBC ... There are also far fewer weapons on the streets. I didn’t see a single one in Monrovia not belonging to a UN soldier. But the weapons are still at large, some no doubt hidden in the thick jungle, and will remain at large until a massive disarmament campaign gets under way. Waiting for a the UN to announce it’s rebate program for crewfired weapons. When the militiamen didn’t get what they wanted - cash payments in return for their weapons - they went on the rampage and several people were killed. However, according to several senior UN military officers who requested anonymity, the UN then compounded its mistakes by agreeing, under pressure of the unrest, to pay $75 "up-front" to fighters who give in their guns, when the disarmament resumes. The UN shall never cave under pressure, unless the opposition has guns. The $75 would be a "down payment" on a total of $300 that demobilised fighters get after taking part in a re-integration and re-education programme that should last several months. The problem with this, the officers I spoke to in confidence said, was that a second-hand AK47 automatic rifle "the favoured killing-tool in Liberia" costs much less than $75. A Rantburger pointed this out as soon as the upfront money was announced. There is a real danger, they said, that the tactic of paying $75 "up-front" could actually attract arms into Liberia from the surrounding region, creating a profitable arms trade with potentially deadly spin-offs if guns get into the wrong hands... The UN says it is patrolling the borders to prevent this happening, but anyone who has seen Liberia’s frontiers with Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast, as I have, will know that this is a completely unrealistic claim. Most of the border is jungle that is, frankly, beyond the control of anyone. However, having put this figure of $75 into the equation, there is no way the UN can withdraw it without risking the anger of thousands of young, impatient, armed men... A local health administrator and a handful of hardworking nurses have kept the place going but there is no running water, no electricity, no food and hardly any medicine there. Everything has been looted by armed men, including the wheels off a pair of wheelchairs that sit in an abandoned, empty ward. Those bastard wheelbarrow guys looted everything that could roll. And then there were the fighters lounging on wooden benches in Zwedru marketplace, bragging about their exploits during the war. These fighters joined the Model (Movement for Democracy in Liberia) rebels after they chased out fighters loyal to the former President Charles Taylor in Zwedru in March 2003. Swaggering in front of their tiny girlfriends, these teenage boys called themselves war-names like "Viper" or "Bread and Butter" as they told me how they killed Charles Taylor’s militiamen in retaliation for his men killing their relatives in earlier rounds of fighting. When you plug Mr. Bread and Butter, it goes without saying which side lands down - and that goes for his buddy PB&J as well. These boys were full of bravado, but after telling their stories they all frankly, and without embarrassment, said that they wanted to go back to school. I want to renegotiate my last few report cards with Mrs. Smith, and I’ve got to get back to my lunch money shakedown business. If the disarmament is successful, perhaps they’ll do just that. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #1 Bully boys. Peter Pans of Africa. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-1-23 11:42:06 PM |