Glad to be Wrong About the Congo

Contrary to my pessimistic quip at the end of this post about analysis of the Congo, someone has been working very hard to ensure the public understands what is happening there. Nice work.

Nonetheless, imagine my surprise when shown the below graphic analysis about what has been happening there, distinctly similar to the map of Gaza that appeared here.



There is also this map in English.

One Prosecution, 250 000 Deaths

So far, Chuckie Taylor remains the sole person to be punished for his actions in the war. Brutal irony abounds, from a few angles.

One is definitely that not a single Liberian national currently stands charged for any of the numerous atrocities they committed on citizens. No commanders, no generals, no lieutenants, no one.

The other is that a rich kid from Orlando is the only citizen from any country to bear the responsibility and punishment of 14 years of mayhem endured by Liberians.

Not the Libyans who trained Taylor et al before he launched the attack. Not the Nigerians who armed Prince Johnson and/or the AFL. Not the Guineans who trained and backed LURD’s revolt in 2000. Not the host of mercenaries who flocked to the country after smelling the blood (cash) from the war. Just a plump little dude who’s teen angst led him into the fracas of a juju and hate-fueled civil war who got busted by an obscure US law that he likely did not even know about until he showed up in court.

Chuckie, you martyr.

While his dad seems to be plotting a definitive course to the same fate, it is far from a sure deal thus far.

(Local newspaper The New Democrat reports that Charles is saddened by the news of his son's harsh sentence)

But now, the ‘hunt’ seems to be out for a few of the Liberians responsible, as per the recommendations of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And it shouldn’t be hard to find them. Here are a few of the top dogs still in top places around the country.

Prince Johnson

Then: Killed former president Samuel K. Doe, after torturing him and cutting his ears off.

Now: a Senator for Nimba county

Alhaji Kromah

Then: Head of ULIMO-K, a Krahn based faction that reaped havoc on Western Liberia and waged major battles in Monrovia.

Now: A professor of mass communications at University of Liberia

Sekou D. Conneh

Then: Commanding officer of LURD, another faction. (Paradoxically claiming to be Liberians United for Reconcilliation and Democracy, they trained in Guinea before storming into northern Liberia’s Lofa county to engage in the typical hybrid of raping, killing, looting.)

Now: A prominent local business man.

Brokedown Palaces

Burnt and bombed out, crumbling buildings dot Liberia's architectural landscape - a constant reminder of the 14 years of civil war that only officially ended in the summer of 2003.

Squatters rule any structure that can still provide shelter; nature has begun its reclamation of those deemed unfit for residency. Both trying to survive under difficult conditions.

The once regal homes of Harper, Maryland county - in Liberia's rural and impoverished southeast - still show signs of the grandeur they once held. Reminiscent of Cambodia, where competing forces bobmed pristine French architecture into black skeletons, the mix of beauty and destruction paints an intriguing aesthetic over the town.


Asking where these stairs go opens an existential line of questions you may not be prepared to get into.


The Cavalla Rubber Plantation's processing plant. Bags of decades-old discarded rubber create a formidable stench throughout the eerie leftovers of this rusting beast.


A man sat at a desk in the doorway of this slanted structure, filling out applications for funding on behalf of the church next door, that also sits in disrepair. He respectfully asked not to be 'snapped'.


At the gates of the house of ex-president William V.S. Tubman, who held office from 1944 - 1972. More than 20 people now occupy the house, including a man who makes his bed in the marble tub of the master bathroom.


Foiliage, working with it got.

Big News From the Congo

I don't think anyone saw this coming, but numerous outlets are reporting that Tutsi rebel general Laurent Nkunda has been arrested in Rwanda.

Al-Jazeera, always doing the dirty work that other networks seems scared to do, does in fact now have someone on the ground in Congo.

Congo?

About to type up a Liberian story, an email from a friend with the UN in Congo changed my mind. Not being there, i only know so much, mainly that no one is writing on this, and they should be given some attention for doing so. Seriously, why are there seemingly only 4 - 5 people on the ground writing about this?

As mentioned on this blog, the LRA's three Christmas massacres headlined 3 weeks of violence in the Congo. Detailed reports on this are only now getting out. This doesn't count how many people were killed in the attacks on the LRA's, attacks which provoked the retaliation on the citizens.

As this report only mentions up to January 13, it also does not take into account this journalist's account of more killings on Saturday, January 17.

If you are confused about what is happening in Congo - ie why the LRA, a Ugandan-based rebel group led by Joseph Kony is slaughtering people in the Congo and south Sudan, or, why is there talk of the Rwanda army and Hutu militias when we are hearing about Ugandan rebels in the Congo - you are not alone.

The short answer is because there are two confusing conflicts going on simultaneously, with very little coverage. And, according to my friend in UN, "Nobody here is ready for either."

This very informative article may shed some light on the situation.

A more sardonic, though no less informative article from the excellent blog Wronging Rights certainly gives a good run through of what the LRA is all about.

Truly, Congo has had a disastrous year.

Hopefully, Obama fever, and the relax of the conflict in Gaza will compel some major media outlet to actually cover this region. And maybe, just maybe, there will be more of an effort do do something about it.

Speaking of Gaza (which, for the record i also think is very important), another friend pointed me towards this map, which is a great analysis of the war's impact there.

Concluding (Rhetorical) Question: How many thinktanks do you think are currently working around the clock trying to get similar graphics out to the public about Congo?

Obama, Liberia

The world had its eyes on the O-bomb as he took the stage to accept his lofty role as the most powerful person in the world. Almost everyone thinks ample room exists for him to apply his vision of positive change to their particular cause, region or livelihood.

Liberia, though a small West African nation off the radar to all but the most diligent researchers, has some reason for its optimism that some of Barack’s precious time may be bestowed upon them in good time.

Liberia and the US have had ties since the American Colonization Society began sending over former slaves in 1822 to engage in a unique form of black colonialization, and creating the first independent black nation.

The relationship has since been that of an older brother, with American generally trying to help Liberia (ever so slightly) along with business, education, and development. (A bit of a glitch came when – not feeling the same need for allies after the fall of the Soviets - the US decided not to send in the 2000 Marines they had sitting off the coast as Liberia slipped into a 14-year civil war. But no need to get into that.)

Large diaspora populations reside in Atlanta, Minnesota and the DC area. Almost all Liberians have a sibling or cousin who live in the states, and many go off to study there. Even the flag – “the Lone Star” – is a distinct piece of Americana. American clothes, music and slang dominate the streets

Point being, America's a part of the country. Even though the average American would have a tough time finding the correct continent its on, Liberians feel a distinct link to the United States.


Not surprising then the intense focus with which Liberia has watched every move of Obama to his current locus. Local business adorn with his name. Pins, shirts, hats and hand painted slogans and images pop up everywhere.

He’s been on the tip of every tongue today, and an almost universal pulse of optimism beats throughout Monrovia. Signs were up around town throughout the morning, radios tuned into foreign news services. Local video clubs played the speech and people crowded at any location that has power and a TV to join the billions around the world watch his speech.

i watched it packed around the TV in the Daily Observer's newsroom, where joy and excitement followed every moment of this important ceremony.

There’s a lot to wade through before African development reaches the top of the to-do list of the new president. Most Liberians seem aware of that. But for the continent most affected by racial inequality and injustice, seeing a black man take the role of most powerful man in the world has for now captured the imagination for real, postive change in how the world sees West Africa. Let's hope it happens.

STANDING ALONE

One Man’s Fight to Raise Awareness Against Corruption

Tackling corruption remains a hot topic throughout the city. Millions of dollars are pilfered every year through bribes, fraud and laundering, with very few prosecuted for these actions. Millions that were intended to spur development in a country working hard to overcome the stress of 14 years of civil war.

A lot of pressure rests on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to eradicate corrupt practices from her government, and ensure all available funds go into developing and improving the country.

But while citizens routinely make claims that corruption must be dealt with, few do anything to help the situation.

Mr. Boakai Gbearni Cephas marks an exception.

“I am the one man campaigner against corruption in Liberia,” Cephas states emphatically, after stopping to talk on McDonald street. “Corruption has taken over,” he claims, “and this is diverting developmental funds into the pockets of greedy politicians.”

Cephas plods the streets armed with two slogan-bearing placards, speaking to people he meets. He reaches out to regular citizens, empowering them with information about the corruption he believes to be draining Liberian society. He calls on political and business leaders to work harder to curb this problem. The labels ‘Day 31’ on his posters demonstrate his commitment to the cause.

“This is a hundred day protest, a call to national duty to our rights to exercise our national franchise. Our rights to have a society where we can have equitable distribution of wealth and resources.”

Cephas says with concern that he believes the country is at risk of sliding back into a cycle of violence if corruption is not properly dealt with. Seeing insufficient action or support from society at large, Cephas has taken upon himself to do whatever he can to prevent this from happening.

His expressed goal is to reach out to people all over the country, and make them aware of this looming problem.

“[I] am calling on all common people to take up this fight against corruption.”

In an interesting, though unfortunate twist of fate, shortly after the interview with Mr. Cephas, this paper learned that a similarly resolute campaigner had passed away just a day earlier. This past Tuesday, Solomon Bah, a locally famous whistle blower on corruption at the National Port Authority, succumbed to an infection on that had worsened during an anti-corruption hunger strike he was waging outside the Ministry of Justice.

Though the two plied the streets of Monrovia seperately, Bah’s passing somehow makes Cephas’ quest seem all the more solitary.

This will not deter Cephas’ attempt to raise the awareness of citizens around Liberia. With two-thirds of his hundred day campaign still remaining, Cephas hopes to spend this time letting people know the detriment corruption continues to reap on Liberian society.

He says you are welcome to join help him in this mission

GAZA! GAZA! GAZA!

This post is not about the conflict in Gaza.

However, it takes place at the same time.

As of Friday Since Dec 24, more than 500 people have been killed in the DRC and South Sudan. This according to IRIN news site - and corroborated elsewhere (this number has likely gone up, as the last reliable news came from the region on 9 January). Including 45 civilians massacred in a church, almost all of these killings have been hand to hand; machetes, clubs. Most have been killed by members of Joseph Kony’s Uganda-based Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), though the LRA has tried to distance themselves from the killing.

This has gone largely unreported beyond a few small media outlets and isolated articles.

Somewhere between 9 – 15 000 have been displaced, depending on who’s report you read. Rape, violence, burning of crops and homes, looting and fear mongering are widespread. Humanitarian workers are reporting they lack sufficient supplies and that they are having trouble accessing those in need. Refugees and displaced persons are reported to be living in despicable conditions.

If you are like the international media, you are already bored to tears by these two short paragraphs. But before you switch the channel back to the same repeats of the same commentary over the same shots of Gaza, take one second to consider how close the timeframe and casualties in Gaza, listed below, are to the conflict described briefly above.

GAZA! GAZA! GAZA!

(Gaza offensive started - or 'intensified' - on 27 December. Numerous reports point to the lack of basic humanitarian supplies. Homes destroyed, thousands displaced. New York Times, amongst others, reports 900 dead since the conflict began.)

On the topic of the New York Times, the blog Stealth Conflicts reports in this article that they have devoted just 748 words to the DRC - and at that with a single article on a Christmas massacre - compared to the almost 45 000 words it used to describe the first two weeks of the latest Gaza offensive. They are the only culprit on that front: that outpaces most of their rivals.

I'm not saying that Gaza isn't important. But why is it the 'only' conflict that anyone seems to care about?

ps Curious to know what, if any, major media outlets are in this region

Chuckie's Dead (And Charles Awaits)

He’s not dead, actually. But, he’s staring down the barrel of 97 years in a US prison – a tough future, though a fair one, considering.

Who is Chuckie? This feature article about ‘Chucky’ Taylor by Johnny Dwyer at Rolling Stone pieces together the bizarre life as the son of Liberian rebel leader, warlord and eventual president, Charles Taylor.

A brief synopsis of the man. Chuckie left behind a mildly troubled life as an affluent suburban teen to heading his dad’s Ant-Terrorism Unit, which terrorized Liberians for years. It’s a truly unique life history. With no real violent background at all, he left to go over to a small West African country in the middle of a 14-year civil war and indulge in some inner thirst for blood, torture, power and causing the suffering of others. Difficult to fully comprehend, but it’s the life of Chuckie.

Equally unique will be the role that young Chuckie will now hold in US history. His conviction is the first under a progressive US law from the 90’s that makes any US citizen accountable for humanitarian crimes committed anywhere in the world. This seems a bit hypocritical in lieu of America’s patchy record with humanitarian laws. It does set a precedent for making people accountable to crimes that they commit anywhere – yes, that can even include a ‘third world’ country in West Africa.

Unless he can pull a stunt like his dad’s classic "tied bed sheet" escape from a Massachusetts jail in 1985, or the more recent one in Nigeria he will be relatively stationary for the next century.

He is appealing the verdict.

Across the Atlantic, Chucky’s better known father, Charles Ghankay Taylor, returns to his trial at The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Despite his role in precipitating the Liberian conflict, like his son, Taylor Sr.'s trial involves events outside his own country. His charges relate to his role with the RUF in Sierra Leone, and the support he gave to forward their campaign of violence.

It will be some time before Charles knows if his fate will be a similar one to his son, and I will be keeping on top of his trial.

Looming Health Crisis

Flies moving freely from his tarp-walled enclosure to the piles of garbage just outside, John works with his foot stretched out, covered by a blue cloth. Swollen and oozing a thick yellow puss, his foot emits a strong odour when he briefly lifts off the cloth.

“I got it from walking through that,” he explains, offering a mild shoulder shrug to an eclectic pile of garbage sitting on the beach behind him. “Its bad. I can’t do anything about it, ‘cept keep it hidden from the sun.”

“No clinic here, man,” states a woman who stops briefly after overhearing our conversation, a comment met by the nods of the 10 or so people within earshot. So this will be John's health care.

Besides, John has to keep working. Flattening sheets of scrap plastic – containers, buckets, and siding of all colours – he punches out nickel-sized circles of the plastic by banging a hammer into a broken metal pipe with a sharpened end. The end result is small plastic bags full of these pieces, accessories to a gambling game called Ludo that his kids sell on the street.

John’s situation mirrors that of many of his neighbours in West Point, a community of 75 000 tucked behind Monrovia’s bustling Water Street Market on a sandy point. Very few have full-time jobs, toilets are almost non-existent, schools and health facilities are chronically underfunded, when present at all.




Flanked by white sand beaches, and just across a small bay from the regal neighbourhood of Mamba Point, West Point has the potential for being a beautiful area. Instead, characterized by a maze of makeshift shacks, littered with garbage, and lacking almost all social services, West Point functions is a far cry from an idyllic waterfront retreat.

The rights of this community to live in a safe and healthy environment are ignored by the city, and the potential health risks are numerous.

read the full version of this story, with reports from Bill Diggs, a young Liberian reporter

'Mary' Takes Her Bite On The First Week of 2009

News of an outbreak of Ebola in Southern DRC, is a sobering reality check. Still, considering my current predicament I couldn't help but find some humour in, or at least identify with, the last sentence of this post on the Ebola topic from this great blog, Wronging Rights. Read the rest of my post first to better appreciate this point.

Here are the 'hilarious' aspects of what has been an overall rocky start to 2009, and an explanation of why this is not a news post.

Had been trying to ignore numerous afflictions in 2009's early days. This included a nearly constant cold, a (not that) recently sprained ankle and re-aggravated herniated disk, insane fatigue, and the very recent addition of some heavy abdominal pains. An awesome combo for trying to continue plans to cover life as a rubber tapper at Firestone Liberia's rubber plantation, one of the world's biggest. Wanted to avoid a repeat of a major story canceled on me only days earlier, so trying to work with the circumstances.

However, to greatly condense a day's events, eventually, Firestone management catches wind of us. After some rigmarole, their security (PPD) head insists we leave immediately, and contact their press unit another time. I will admit that they were much more cordial in escorting us off the plantation than PPD’s history would have you believe. Mildly intimidating, but we will return soon, with their alleged blessing.

Discouraging, yes, but really this eviction saved me a lot of misery. That night only brought more discomfort, mad abdominal pains, and a host of insane-O fever dreams. Spending the night on a crowded floor in a shack, and the next day following rubber harvesters would have ruined me. The next day brought the surprise news: I have been bit by Typhoid Mary (not to be confused with this hero). Yes, a typhoid fever diagnosis from the pinball-esque medical assessment and the uninspired, morose “Dokter” (that’s what his white coat said, in meticulous permanent marker signage). Amazing.

Also amazing is the purple splotch on my forearm that bears a distinct similarity to the results of a frantic junky digging desperately to find a vein. and just to get a drop of blood?!? c'mon: Paging nurse Duke!

I then craved, and ate, a hamburger.

Hopefully, this has cleared up some hassles from the remaining 51 weeks of 2009!

ps already feeling way better.

Start of A New Year in Liberia

Having a New Years on Thursday makes today the unofficial start to a new year in Liberia. Here are a few of the bigger issues as Liberia begins the 6th new year since the official end to its 14-year civil war.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf faces heavy pressure to make this a year of ousting corruption. Criticisms of her being soft on corruption were frequent towards the end of 2008, and corruption continues to impede development at all levels. As she reaches the halfway point of her term in office, many believe addressing this immediately should serve as the single most important task for Liberia to focus on.

Also high on the 'need-to-improve' list is speeding up the sloth-paced court system. Over 90% of those in Liberia's prison system are still awaiting pretrial, and the backlog of cases remains enormous.

Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) starts up again, still trying to track down a long list of people they have had trouble trying to compel to give testimony.

As of January 1, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has officially reached its phase-out deadline of ozone-depleting activities. "All ozone depleting substances or CFC's and equipment using these substances are banned for consumption and importation in Liberia," EPA said in its official statement. A little later than many countries on this one, but ahead of quite a few too...

Obama. Liberia, like everywhere, has high hopes for his entrance into world politics means for them. Despite the strong historical connections of the countries, people have to face that facts that chances are slim that the tiny West African nation will grab too much attention over Iraq, Israel-Palestine, and DRC, not to mention the behemoths of the global economic crisis, the environment and US unemployment.

Many feel optimistic about making positive progress, while others are weighing the falling prices of iron ore, rubber and timber (main exports) against the rising price of rice, water and fuel and seeing nothing to be positive about.

Liberia has forward momentum though, and a lot of people are working hard for its betterment.

Viva la Revolucion!

Though decidedly not Liberian, Cuba's 50th anniversary deserves a tip of the hat from the Esteyonage.

Love it or hate it, Cuba’s unique role has captivated the attention of a global audience for more than 50 years now. The world over, people are disproportinately familiar - at least in name - with this tiny island nation of just 11 million people.

It has stood up to the US, maintained socialism after the Soviet Union's demise, pioneered universal health care, dealt harshly with its critics, assisted revolutions around the world, provided doctors to countries in need and served as a symbol for resistance. This distinct blend of characteristics have captured the hearts and imaginations of ordinary people from every background, and kept the idealistic dreams of Che, Fidel, Raul and 'La Revolucion' alive.

BBC World Service has an excellent radio piece called 'Brand Cuba' that discusses the interesting notion of Cuba as a marketed brand.

NPR offers an account from Raul's 50 year anniversary speech yesterday, with an attached audio supplement.

As always, Cuba's future seems unclear. However, more so than ever, it seems only a matter of time before Cuba succumbs to the pull of capitalist economies, and the world of nations loses one of its greatest anomalies.