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Africa Subsaharan

Liberian ex-rebel says he killed 20,000

2008-01-21

One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as General Butt Naked, has returned to the nation his troops terrorised to confess, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths.

Joshua Milton Blahyi, who now lives in Ghana, returned this week to face his homeland's truth and reconciliation commission, this time wearing a suit and tie. His nom de guerre is derived from his platoon's practice of charging naked into battle, a technique meant to terrify the enemy.

Other warlords, though, have refused to ask forgiveness, dismissing a commission many in Liberia see as toothless. Blahyi is urging other former killers to come forward as the country founded by freed American slaves in 1847 struggles to recover from past horrors. "I could be electrocuted. I could be hanged. I could be given any other punishment," the 37-year-old Blahyi said in a weekend interview following his truth commission appearance last week. "But I think forgiveness and reconciliation is the right way to go. I have been looking for an opportunity to tell the true story about my life - and every time I tell people my story, I feel relieved."

The civil war, which killed an estimated 250,000 people in this nation of 3 million, was characterised by the eating of human hearts and soccer matches played with human skulls. Drugged fighters waltzing into battle wearing women's wigs, flowing gowns and carrying dainty purses stolen from civilians.

Before he led his fighters into battle, wearing only a pair of lace-up boots, Blahyi said he made a human sacrifice to the devil.

Before he led his fighters into battle, wearing only a pair of lace-up boots, Blahyi said he made a human sacrifice to the devil. The sacrifice was typically "the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart which was divided into pieces for us to eat," he told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday. He appeared before the commission on January 15.

Between the time he made a pact with the devil circa 1980 and began his rampage and the time he stopped fighting in 1996, he said "more than 20,000 people fell victim (to me and my men). They were killed."

Posted by:Fred

#9 Repenting is the first step. But without working to make amends for what was done, repentance is a hollow self-indulgence, in my opinion.

Posted by: trailing wife 2008-01-21 21:21

#8 Besoeker, I'd be interested to know more about the military matters you described.

After Doe killed Tolbert, as soon as he'd installed himself in the Executive Mansion, he sent for the US ambassador and the Soviet Ambassador. They arrived at about the same time. Doe wanted to find out which of the two big powers would cut him the best deal. Apparently the US did.

Posted by: mom 2008-01-21 15:22

#7 Bad news: based on the results of the Rape of Nanking and other incidents a society can not really ever be totally healthy until the generation of the perpetrators dies off.

Good news: it's Africa, that shouldn't take more than 15 years.

Posted by: Super Hose 2008-01-21 15:21

#6 What "mom" didn't tell you was Doe and his group were trained by a US Army mobile training team (MTT) sent by US policy and decision makers back in Washington. Nobody expected an army sergeant to overthrow the entire gummit and march them all to the beach to be shot. But he did.

Posted by: Besoeker 2008-01-21 15:16

#5 I can't say whether the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will succeed on a large scale; too many politicians have a vested interest in keeping hate going. But truth and reconciliation do work on a small scale.

True story (source known to our family):

When Doe killed Tolbert in 1980, the Americo-Liberian leadership were either killed or forced to flee. Doe was Krahn, and he promoted the Krahn and their allies the Mandinka in the military. These men organized fellow tribesmen into attack units against their traditional enemies the Mano and Gio, and began a nasty round of ethnic cleansing, carried out in the deep bush where whole villages would just disappear.

Taylor came over the border in 1989, into Mano and Gio country, rallying supporters from the Mano and Gio tribes. The Mano and Gio who joined Taylor began by attacking Krahn and Mandinka villages.

In Monrovia, a Krahn man learned that his family had been killed by Gio upcountry. His next door neighbor was Gio, and so the Krahn man attacked the man with a machete, killing him and his 9 month old son. The wife happened to be out in the back, and she hid; so the killer missed her.

The Krahn man joined a militia, and killed a lot of people over a few months, feeling more and more like hell. He dropped his weapons one day and made his way into the Ivory Coast, to a refugee camp. In the tent city, he found himself across the road from the Gio woman whose family he had killed in Monrovia.

The woman went to her pastor in the tent city, because she could not bear the sight of the man who had killed her husband and son. She and the church did some serious praying. One day the Krahn man walked into a church service and said, "I killed my neighbor's husband and child. I killed a lot of other people. I cannot give my neighbor her husband and son back. What do I do?"

The woman said, "Before God and Christ, I forgive you."

Slowly, slowly, slowly, as the man came to the pastor for counsel and as the woman encouraged and prayed for him, this man found peace and forgiveness.

Posted by: mom 2008-01-21 15:10

#4 The only problem with the well intended Liberian experiment was that it was designed by naive western Christians and involved dreadfully uneducated people in a dark, tribal domain. Not much has changed in nearly 150 years. Not much will change in the next I'd venture. We'd probably do quite well to stay upwind of Africa, and leave them all to dip their own privy.

Posted by: Besoeker 2008-01-21 15:03

#3 The South African TRC worked in an environment where the government was firmly in control and pretty much everybody agreed on a clear narrative of good guys and bad guys. As long as UN troops are there Ellen is probably safe enough, but the Liberian legislature is dominated by various warlord partisans, and its a safe bet there are weapons still stored in safe locations. A lot of resident Liberians think that a TRC is a very bad idea, and I suspect they're in a better position to know than do-gooders from abroad.

If they absolutely must have a TRC, Blahyi is probably a good fellow to start with. Well known, long list of crimes (probably embellished a bit), repentant ...

Posted by: James 2008-01-21 14:20

#2 What is urban legend in America is reality in Africa. I don't know that reconciliation and forgiveness for that type of crap would be possible. We have had trouble enough with reconciliation after our civil war without the sacrifice of innocent babies, canabalism, pacts with the devil and the using of skulls for sporting. The naked charges and transvestite regalia ought not to be a real problem. Maybe forgiveness of the unforgivable is possible in Africa. If so that would be the first advantage of Africa over America of which I have ever heard.

Posted by: Super Hose 2008-01-21 12:57

#1 The Liberians should have stayed in the US.

The timeline suggests this guy started fighting at ten years old!

Maybe the rest of the warlords will come forward if this guy retires above ground.

Posted by: gorb 2008-01-21 02:40

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