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Liberia’s Legendary 50,000 Rebels & The Village Big Bird 23 April 04 It may be too early to conclude, but the myth around Liberia’s rebel gangs, that they number between 40,000 to 53,000, is slowly resembling the story of the believably huge and menacing bird that hung over a village in a towering tree. The bird made its living by tormenting the villages for decades, vowing to descend upon them if they did not comply with its insatiable wishes and incessant demands . The villagers, weak, gutless and fearing death, gave the bird all it wanted and more. Even if they did not have to meet its multiplying demands, they would scout to other villages begging for sacks of rice, meat, and other items. But the neighbours had enough of their pleading, and one day, when the bird made its demands, the villagers were simply in no position to meet them. Feeble and emaciated, they simply offered themselves to be devoured by the imagined huge and powerful creature. Shamed, and to fulfil its vow, the thing slowly descended on the village as those who could walk fled into the forest. But it was a mirage. Clumsy and unable to move because its skeletal frame could not support the extending and heavy feathers, it was at the mercy of the village children who saw its feebleness and began to play with it, knocking it with sticks until there was no life in a body that once represented fear. The elders came from their hideouts to see the lifeless creature and their kids dancing around it. Their misery was over. If they only knew how weak it was, some though. For years now, Liberia’s rebel leaders have boasted of commanding large armies and therefore making political and economic demands. The people, feeble and without leaders, gave in. The rebel chiefs warned that if they did not, their 50,000 strong armies would descend upon them and teach them more lessons in terror. They complied, since a 10-year old pointing one AK-47 at a group of hundreds of unarmed men was more powerful. Now, if UN figures stand as they are, there may be far less numbers of rebels than that the world had been made to believe. So far, the UN said I disarmed ,1800 rebels of the ethnic-Krahn-owned Movement for Democracy in Liberia and the Mandingo-led Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. Numbers of Charles Taylor’s once mercenary and ethnic Gio-Mano packed militias are now expected to see if they are indeed the 50,000 strong rebel army that made him king for years. If in the first week of disarmament there are a mere 1800 and half of them without weapons to turn in, as the UN says, then where are the 50,000 and more? There are speculations that the weapons have been hidden around the country, or that they have ended up across borders, mainly in Cote d’Ivoire, the new battle ground. The last speculation is likely true, because many of MODEL’s weapons came from Cote d’Ivoire. The weapons, along with Ivorian fighters who used them for MODEL, may have retuned home. UN troops captured a consignment of weapons which LURD fighters were bringing in from Voinjama, once their base. Whatever their intent, it is unlikely they wanted to stage another war against the UN. They have lost many of their fighters, now in despair and rightly feeling cheated. Or it may be that half of the fighters had no weapons at all. In 1996, there were comical scenes of dozens of youths, rebels, walking behind one of their comrades who carried the only weapon, most often worthless. But even a toy gun pointed at one leads to fear without the knowledge it is a toy gun. The big questions lingering is, where are Taylor’s tens of thousands fighters and heavy consignments of weapons he brought in?. During his last days, arriving West African troops seized a he consignment of weapons brought in for the last stand. There are rumours that the catch heavily contributed to Taylor’s exit. If so, it suggests he lost many of his weapons in his Ivorian expedition. But the final numbers of the fighters would be an interesting discovery in mathematics and guess work. MODEL says it has 15,000 rebels all over the southeast With this admission, the UN could now instruct them to bring out out of the Sappo forest and be counted. If not, this is serous violation of the peace agreement, a act that could justify kicking all of them out of the government. The big bird has finally landed and soon, it will be at the mercy of the village kids. --Tom Kumara
Tom Kamara
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