L.I.B. Free Talk

'LIB Free Talk' is a paradox of the day to day affairs in post war Liberia. It is a drama about three friends, Che-che-poley, Dropping-figuel, and Too-open who meets regularly at the Altai (Chinese gunpowder tea) center to argue and analyze the latest gossip around town, which, according to Liberians, has some truth behind it.


Che-che-poley: My man whettin' dis I hereing so? so dat true lay say lay papay na comin' back again?

Too- open: Dat woo you assing, you can go ass lay O'ma, ehn dat her bring dey Papay here? Becusor powor bisness na she gay lay papay to lay peepo, but allor dem way go, jeas witt!

Che-che-poley: Go where? Dat Uncool Sam own sef put dey o'ma here you na no, pekin you junkay enh?

Dropping-figuel: Aaa my man, your pa your like noise business oh.

Too- open: You pa you no plentay bolk.

Dropping-figuel: My man shet lup let me talk! You na know lay papay tone? Weh carray him in lay peepo kontray?

Too- open: For lay diemon bisness na? But, hi but Amerika dat go in Irik for lay peepo oil bisness? Who hummor dem?

Dropping-figuel: You pa Open, you say you open, but you close. We and Amerika dat the same? You na know we poor country, and we jest from fightin' war?

Che-che-poley: I swear oh. We and Uncool Sam dat lay same? Talk na, you jekin'.

Too- open: Jekin' for wat, Amerika dat whettin'? Oooh, dat yor can respet dem oh, but lay na nantin'! Dat wat lay papay wanneh to dirlay dem for. You na no dat lay papay open our eyeball?

Che-che-poley: Oh, so we was blind firs?

Too- open: Yea, you na no? Normal day yor papay dem wuz using cellfone.


Dropping-figuel: My man Open, you neel to go back to school before a get late for you oh, eversince you say lay papay will come, now you nan see he'ain't coming jest now, so go lant something aah my man before it get too late a.

Che-che-poley: And you see lay people say lay pikin na no book, so he go lant, and na he na feney wit scool.

Too- open: Lay one yor lant, whet lay job yor doing for it na? Na me and yor here drinking atai?

Dropping-figuel: Okay oh my man, sorry ya. My own pa any time compny start operating I sure of myself,  I way get work, but you pa, you still waiting for lay papay to come so yor can start operating like before, and na jest na oh. Me I see yor ya, one of my boy jest dropd from the cold, I won go drop him outta some kinda quick mal.

Che-che-poley: Okay oh doctor, you pa dropping figuel that yor araw.

Too- open: Hi but you, wheyor owna araw? A look let lay o'ma paying you to talk plentay ehn?


Che-che-poley: Me pa I won no oh, i husoler, any govman come dat it. And Mary Broh will gave vacation job to lay stulen dem wen Chrismas come, i will go there again for my tear five.

                                                             To be continue...

On Israel Plan to Attack Iran

As I sat listening to the purported plan of Israel to attack Iran being reviewed on BBC, I was quite thrilled with the dramatic details that rendered me totally speechless, as if i was watching a Hollywood Thriller of  Tom Clancy's wildest imagination.

What have this world come to? I asked myself. And pondered, haven't people realized that this is the twenty first century, the age of wisdom, and not the old days of religious hypocrisy that divides us as a people?

For the Free World to sit and watch Israel attack Iran, or even plan to attack Iran is something I find hard to comprehend. Such plan is a ghastly recipe for international catastrophe and has the propensity to drag the rest of the Free World into a nonsensical religious war, believe me, where Christians would be bond to help Israel, and Muslims, Iran.

Somebody tell me if this is not Armageddon!!!!

This plan is a doom's day conspiracy that needs to be condemn by the Free world.

As UNHCR Repatriates Liberian Refugees From Ghana, Buduburam Refugee Camp Becomes Gangster Paradise

As the ongoing UNHCR's repatriation exercise for Liberian refugees living in Ghana draws to an end, there is a growing threat of insecurity amongst thousands of Liberians still living on the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana without UNHCR's identification cards, and those who have not yet made up their minds to be repatriated. Over the past months, there have been incessant acts of violence in the refugee settlement as UNHCR rounds up its operation to  repatriate thousands of Liberian refugees, many of whom have sold their homes to Ghanians and other foreigners in search of cheap dwellings. But as it's turned out, most of these cheap homes' buyers are local and foreign gang members wanted by the Ghanian National Police. And with the mass repatriation exercise finally coming to an end, the camp has now become a gangster paradise ruled by motorbike riding thugs who attack people at broad day light for money or phones, and break into houses at night. 

previously, a gang war sparked out between two rival gangs, the infamous Ghanian/Nigerian thugs that now control the camp and a handful of Liberian thugs, over the flogging of one of its members. The precarious situation which saw several young men severely wounded and more than a million Cedis worth of properties destroyed hardly arouse the police interest. And about a week ago another violent clash erupted between two local armed gangs, and led to the shooting to death of one of the gangs' members who pulled out a pistol at the police officers who had come in to intervene after the episode had lasted about an hour.

With several thousands families now repatriated, the once bustling camp now looks like a ghost town at night. More than a thousand Liberian Refugees without UNHCR's identification cards, who are unqualified for any of the two programs, and still residing on the camp, are now living in constant fear, as the UNHCR's repatriation program draws to a close. Already, UN has warned that it will not be responsible for the well being of any Liberian refugee who had not made the choice to repatriate or  locally integrate. And even those who opted for the local integration package are worried about the slow process their option is being looked at.

 

All Hail, Liberia, Hail

All Hail, Liberia, Hail!

National anthem of  Liberia
Lyrics	Daniel Bashiel Warner
Music	Olmstead Luca
Adopted	1847
Music sample
Instrumental

"All Hail, Liberia, Hail!" is the national anthem of Liberia, lyrics written by President Daniel Bashiel Warner (1815-1880, 3rd president of Liberia) in English, and music by Olmstead Luca (1826-1869). It became the official national anthem in 1847.

Lyrics

All hail, Liberia, hail! (All hail!)
All hail, Liberia, hail! (All hail!)
This glorious land of liberty,
Shall long be ours.
Though new her name,
Green be her fame,
And mighty be her powers,
And mighty be her powers.
In joy and gladness,
With our hearts united,
We'll shout the freedom,
Of a race benighted.
Long live Liberia, happy land!
A home of glorious liberty,
By God's command!
A home of glorious liberty,
By God's command!

All hail, Liberia, hail! (All hail!)
All hail, Liberia, hail! (All hail!)
In union strong success is sure.
We cannot fail!
With God above,
Our rights to prove,
We will o'er all prevail,
We will o'er all prevail!
With heart and hand our country's cause defending,
We'll meet the foe with valour unpretending.
Long live Liberia, happy land!
A home of glorious liberty,
By God's command!
A home of glorious liberty,
By God's command!

L.I.B. Star and Stripes

L.I.B. Star & Stripes magazine portraits the exemplary lifestyles of patriotic young Liberians in business (L.I.B); this means potential young leaders in government, private entities, celebrities, and other young talents who are the star and stripes, the crown jewelries of Mama Liberia. Our goal is to promote meritocracy and discourage mediocrity amongst the young people in post war Liberia through inspiring articles, educative columns, and entertaining features. As we prepare to launch our trial edition in October, we welcome articles, stories, poems, and interesting photographs about Liberia from young Liberian writers, or anyone who is interested in making their contribution for free. The theme for the October trial edition is, ‘Liberia at 165: A A Time When the Future Meet the past.’ If you are interested in submitting articles, photos or short stories on Liberia you can contact me at metoopage@yahoo.fr, or metoopage@gmail.com to plan your topic or get an assignment. You may contact me from now until August 30. Join me let’s have fun, because the future for the young people is NOW!

For the Destabilization of Ivory Coast, Ex-Child Soldiers Recruited

Hundreds of ex-child soldiers and dissidents from several Liberian disbanded factions are being recruited from the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana to help stage a rebellion in the Ivory Coast in favor of the indicted ex-president Laurent Gbargbo.

 Early in June of this year a team of Ivorian Scots were seen on the Liberian Refugee Camp trying to recruit ex child soldiers and former generals for a possible rebellion in the Ivory Coast. According to information gathered from some reluctant ex-rebel generals who were approached by the strange men from Ivory Coast, they are recruiting Liberian ex-fighters to stage a rebellion to unseat the current Ivorian government, and that their action is endorsed by the current president of France who has had a personal relationship with the imprisoned ex-president, Gbargbo.

 It can be recalled that the Ivorian madness, which began immediately after the 2000 disputed elections that brought Gbagbo to power, sparked up a coup in 2002 that escalated into a bloody crisis that saw more than twenty thousand dead and displaced. And as early as the onset of the crisis, it was reported that Liberia ex-president, Charles Taylor had a mercenary troop led by his Sierra Leonean’s RUF commander, General Mosquito. However, Mosquito was later executed on order of Charles Taylor for aborting the mission and returning to Liberia by Taylor’s SSS Boss, General Benjamin Yeatan, who himself was reported to have gotten involved in the latter part of the crisis.

 Last July, when Gbargbo’s refused to concede power to Mr Ouattara, after a December 2010 presidential election which UN said he lost to Alansan Outatra, another waves of violence erupted in the country. And In 2011 Mr Gbagbo was eventually captured by UN peacekeepers and forces loyal to Alasan Ouattara, and handed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be tried on charges of crimes against humanity.

 However, earlier this week, campaign group Human Rights Watch published a report saying militants loyal to Mr Gbagbo based in Liberia had killed at least 40 people in cross-border raids since last July. According to the New York-based human rights watch group, militants are recruiting children as young as 14 to attack Ivorians who are aligned to President Alassane Ouattara and live close to the border. The report is based on HRW’s field work in Liberian towns bordering Ivory Coast where interviews with 21 Ivorian and Liberian former mercenaries were conducted. It is no hidden secret that hundreds of Liberian ex-combatants have been involved in the Ivory Coast from the onset of the madness.

According to a research conducted by IDEFOCS earlier this year on the Buduburam Refugee Camp, hundreds of Liberian mercenaries have fought both on behalf of the deposed former Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, and current president Alansan Ouattara in last year's political unrest. And many of these mercenaries who fled Ivory Coast following the arrest of the former president Laurent Gbagbo last year are now living in exile, awaiting fresh conflict to spark up in West Africa.

 About two weeks ago, UN reinforcements were sent to a bordering region between Liberia and Ivory Coast following rumors of a planned attack by militias loyal to Mr. Gbargbo. The BBC's John James in Abidjan reported last week that the volatile border region has seen a number of cross-border attacks over recent months, blamed on Liberian mercenaries and Ivorian militia fighters.

 However, this mass recruitment of ex-combatants living in Liberia and exile for the destabilization of the sub region can actually be attributed to the failure of the UN DDRR program intended to rehabilitate and reintegrate thousands of Liberian ex-fighters with special emphasis on child combatants. In my previous work, ‘Hot Boys: the search for Africa lost children’, it was predicted that, ‘with several thousand of such people (ex-child soldiers) unaccounted for around West Africa, there yet remain a more serious impediment to sustainable peace and security in the region.’

 Unfortunately, the warning was ignored as governments in West Africa failed to establish relevant programs to address the plight of former child soldiers left unaffected by the UN DDRR programs.

 The UN Security Council resolution 1509(c) (2003) mandates UNMIL to: “develop an action plan for the overall implementation of a disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, and repatriation (DDRR) program for all armed parties, with particular attention to the special needs of child combatants...in the DDRR process”.

 Sadly, with about 80 million United States Dollars exhausted by the DDRR program it had failed tremendously to meet the needs of its targeted beneficiaries, many of whom are now full grown mercenaries, awaiting fresh trouble to spark up in the region.

Charles Taylor’s verdict: A Moment of Justice for Former Child Soldiers

April 26, 2012 marked a great triumph in the history of the Sierra Leonean people whether they accept it or not. It was the day that ended the bloody chapter of the country’s civil war, which saw half a million people killed and maim. And for many victimized Sierra Leoneans, it would be remembered as: ‘the day the final verdict came down.’

To the world in general it was the day when former Liberian president, Charles G. Taylor, after five years of trial in the international court on Sierra Leone, in The Hague, Netherland, was finally charged with aiding and abetting the worst atrocities in West Africa, Sierra Leone!

I was not quite surprise when BBC announced the mixed feelings in Liberia on this eventful day in the history of Africa and the world.  For this is a megalomaniac who held the country spellbound for fourteen years with his doctrine of violence, affecting thousands of young people and even some adults with his notorious lifestyle. Incidentally, I happened to be in Ghana, on the Liberian Refugee Camp in Buduburam conducting a research on former child soldiers when the final verdict came. While several Liberian Refugees jubilated over the news, some listening along with me as the verdict was announced thought it as a mockery to justice. And according to them the court had no solid evidence to convict the ex-Liberian president, and that the final verdict is an insult to the Liberian nation.

“I don’t care what they do, our Papay will stay come back!” one angry supporter of the warlord presumed.

What a mockery to thousands of Liberians killed, and the more than half of million made homeless for more than two decades as a result of this men’s selfish ambition, I thought sadly. A man who had consistently lied in court about recruiting children into his army after all physical evidence proved otherwise. And a man for whom most of our young men/women had taken up arms, and had committed the worst atrocities under the influence of drugs for fourteen years, only to be left abandoned without proper rehabilitation programs. 

 

And then I noticed that some of the people who spoke favorably of Charles Taylor’s return were mostly young people between the ages of 25-35, most of whom fit the criteria of our targeted group of former child soldiers- a generation misled by the Charles Taylor’s Philosophy!

I couldn’t help it but inquired of my young Liberian brother, who seemed lost, what he meant of the ‘Papay coming back’.

“What would it benefit you as a Liberian if he (Charles Taylor) ever comes back?” I asked, interestingly.

But it seemed, after his endless wry, my young Liberian brother could not supply any genuine reason, except to confirm my worst fear:  that Charles Taylor is coming back soon to restore them to their lost positions as soldiers and generals. And like my young friend, there are thousands of young people out there who think the same.

But the sad truth is: ‘The Papay is guilty!’

And according to his recent sentence, he wouldn’t be seeing freedom until after 50 years. Though many would have opted for life imprisonment or death by what-ever-means, many peace-loving West Africans are glad that the warlord who terrorized West Africa wouldn’t be around any sooner as he himself has predicted.

Charles Taylor became the first head of state on April 26, 2012, to be convicted for war crimes since the Nuremberg trials.  He was charged by the prosecution with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a serious bridge of international humanitarian law committed in Sierra Leone between 1999 and 2000.

According to Morris Y. Matadi, a former child soldier, and executive director for IDEFOCS, a civil society group that focuses on the rehabilitation of former child soldiers for the restoration of peace and security in West Africa, the final verdict of Charles Taylor is not just a triumph for Sierra Leoneans, but for all peace loving people of West Africa.

“For the thousands of African children, like myself, that were abducted by warlords, turned into mercenaries, used under the influence of dangerous drugs, and at last abandoned, this day mark the day of Justice for us!” said the former-child-soldier-turned-entrepreneur, exuberantly.

Morris will arrive in Boulder, Colorado, America in June 2012 to honor an invitation from the Unreasonable Institute, an organization that mentor young social venture, as an alumni, and partake in several fund raising programs to raise the sum of $132,000.00 USD for the construction of the first former child soldiers’ reintegration center in Liberia that will cater to thousands of former child soldiers conscripted by the convicted war lord.