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.
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