These, the fleeing refugees, must be at the centre of sustaible  peace

 
Is Impunity Ending for Charles Taylor’s Children? 

Charles Taylor's child soldiers: Now men,
the challenge aheadis depriving them the
impunityto kill

28 May 04

The brutal stabbing to death of an American in his Monrovia hotel room, allegedly by a 23-year-old rebel recruited by and loyal to indicted war criminal Charles Taylor, points to a tough environment ahead in dealing with what Taylor and his entourage have bequeathed for Liberia: callous and insane young men who have been trained to live by killing.  The alleged murderer was perhaps 10-years old when Taylor discovered for a partnership of crime spanning over a decade.   Emmanuel Mulbah, the main suspects on the run, must have convinced himself that this is business as usual, for under the man he served, no one would have questioned him, just as was the case with one of his rebel comrades who shot and killed his (the rebels’) mother and was given a hero’s welcome in the Anti-Terrorist Unit, Charles Taylor’s so-called elite personal protection force. Slowly, it seems, and hopefully so, the curtain is closing on such insane killers with their protector out of the country. But this will require a regime with a focus on security, something impossible where corruption, greed and graft amongst politicians and their rebel partners are rampant.

John Auffrey, 44, was killed with a bayonet. US officials say the motive was robbery.  "This has put us all into that nightmare place of reality," said the man’s sister, Auffrey’s Lenore Behm. . "His death is just such a waste. He did so much good for so many people." Auffrey worked for the Department of Defense helping clear land mines as part of a U.S. aid effort."He was generous, bright, nonjudgmental, a guy who worked for peace and had his life ended in violence," another sister, Mary Auffrey of Golden is quoted as saying. .

He joins, sadly, others, such innocent victims as the five American nuns who were raped and brutally executed for the same apparent motive—robbery. Yet, the world watches as the man who recruited and trained such mad killers roam lives in Nigeria and well protected.

But the American’s murder, in such cold blood for dollars, is the kind of protected terror under which the rural population live, with many now forced into squalid urban enclosures. It is creeping into the capital with no one safe if an American in Liberia is not.  Charles Taylor promised when he wanted US troopsto land and save him from fellow rebels  that not a single American would be harmed. Now, one of his child soldiers, his creation,  has proved him wrong. Without security as the priority, and trained and committed Police as the instrument against Charles Taylor’s and other warlords’ children, hell sits in the waiting.

In years past when Charles Taylor was lord over Liberia (he still is with his disciples at the hem) investigating homicide was inconceivable. Responding to persistent cries about spreading murders, he declared, “Every chicken the gets lost they (human rights groups) make noise.” When pressed further on some murders, he would issue the standard answer, “We will investigate.”  That was the end of the matter. It meant his stamp of approval in the murder.

So it was the murder of two relief workers, one a European and the other a Liberian, carrying huge sums of money to pay workers in the country. His Defence Minister then and now, Daniel Chea, vowed to investigate after the UN declared it would hold the government responsible. That was the end of the matter. The two men are today remembered perhaps only by their families and friends. Chea remains Defence Minister. Taylor lives in style in Nigeria.

But the seeds of impunity have their roots deep in Liberia, particularly dating from the horrific years of Samuel Doe. Johnny Nah, an engineer, his pregnant wife, for example, were dragged out of their home in 1990 and executed. Fingers were pointed at George Dweh, now a big man. The Catholic Church, it is said, has a full narrative of an eyewitness accounts to the incident. But Mr. Dweh roams around the world as Speaker of the interim assembly, welcomed at the Vatican and featured on the BBC, just as Charles Taylor was for years.. In the case of Samuel Dokie and his wife, along with another woman relative, the alleged killers were arrested. Taylor ruled that the trial should be in the forest of Gbarnga, all because he did not want international media focus on the trial that would expose its Kangaroo nature. In the end, no one was found guilty. In another case of a Nigerian, a deputy minister was implicated after reports the dead man’s body was found in the trunk of his car. After a few months in prison, he was freed.

Impunity was more glaring in other cases, such as the case of the murderous Charles Taylor’s son, Chucky Taylor Jr., as he is called. Witnesses saw him shoot a man to death but he was never arraigned for a minute for questioning. His father ruled that his (Charles Taylor’s) enemies were determined to get him through his son, as if the enemies ordered the son to murder an innocent man of so many children. Another of the indicted war criminal’s family member, a brother-in-law called Cassell, was convicted of executing a taxi driver who committed the crime of overtaking his car. He, too, was released upon the ex-president’s orders.

But the case of the murdered American is different. His killer would not have been arrested and sought after if Taylor were still in charge of Liberia. “We will investigate”, would have been done the job. That the main killer in hiding is a Taylor rebel tells were the perpetrators of the many past murders.  Those who said Charles Taylor was the protector of evil in Liberia must only see how this case is being handled. Arresting and administering justice to such a miserable man will not bring the victim back, just as subjecting Charles Taylor to justice will not bring his hundreds of thousands of victims back. But at least another life could be saved by removing such people from society once for all.