fter the emancipation of enslaved African Americans according to my grandparents, there was a divide between white and black Americans. After tiresome negotiations the freed African Americans returned to the land of their ancestors. In 1815, Paul Cufee, and African-American, a marine magnate sponsored a small group of African-Americans to set up trade opportunities in Sierra Leone, West Africa. His idea was to let the African-Americans become self supportive and improve their lifestyles because of the knowledge they gained in America. Unfortunately he died two years later in 1817.
Nevertheless, his dreams were short lived but partially realized because some groups, who favoured colonization, launched a movement to send back volunteered freed African American slaves to settle in West Africa. Then again, the liberated African-Americans were of the opinion that returning to their land of origin in West Africa would be a continuation of slavery for the simple reason that the supporters were slave holders. Moreover, the African Americans wanted to stay in America because they felt they had contributed in building up America.
In 1820, the American movement sent the first African Americans to Sierra Leone, West Africa and positioned them on the Island of Sherbro. There was a high death rate amongst its early settlers and the American agents because of illness due to unfavourable and unhygienic surroundings as well as humid and clammy weather situations. Numerous settlers became bodily inactive; they consumed poor and unhealthy diets because of the climate- leading to all kinds of conditions that killed them. They were at increased risk of chronic and acute diseases that ended in high death rates. It was damp, moist and humid with heavy rainfall in all months; humidity was between 77 and 88%. The high surface heat and humidity caused cumulus clouds to form early in the afternoons and almost every day. Mangrove flora occupied the shallow waters; the region was swampy and marshy. The British governor transferred the incomers to a safe and sound quarter. In 1821, they located a suitable place for the settlers at Cape Mesurado. The landowners were unenthusiastic to give their province to the settlers. However, they finally gave up by the way of power. It was a small land area of about 36 miles long and 3 miles wide at the coastline, it was bought only for about USD$ 300.
In 1822 they began building their settlement and more migrants arrived at the region being administered by the American Colonization Society`s envoy and who implemented totalitarian law enforcements thus, a missionary replaced the representative because they could not see eye to eye concerning his hash polices as well as unjust allocation of supplies, generating apprehensions in the county in 1824. The agent was forced out but was asked to return under new charter in Liberia whereby the supreme ruler rested on the agents but Liberia was under regular act. Slavery was brought to an end and Christopolis, and the settlement was renamed Monrovia after the American president, James Monroe. However, the colony was identified as Liberia- the free land. Lots of activities followed free African-Americans and some of the volunteers were set free. After long and tedious negotiations Britain was one of the primary states to recognize the new country. The United States was not on familiar terms with Liberia until the American Civil War. As time passed the British and Liberian governments agreed about the borders of Liberia between 1900-1997 during which William Tubman was elected to the first of seven terms as Liberian president in 1944 but died in office in 1971. William R. Tolbert, Jr. was elected to Liberia's presidency after Tubman's death in 1972. A military coup was led by Samuel K. Doe in 1980. Doe was not one of the freed African-Americans. He gunned down President Tolbert and took over the governance. In 1986, new charter instituted the second republic of Liberia and Samuel K. Doe, kept hold of control as head of state.
However, in 1989, one Charles Taylor, an American-Liberian assembled his devotees and removed President Doe from power. The nation was vulnerable and had many problems. This resulted in a civil war. Diverse tribal factions fought to control Liberia. Every clan was aware that Liberia in Africa was not the common place to practice the African American westernized lifestyle. Liberians emotions and passions run high because of their expensive dressing and their high standard of living in Liberia. People began to speculate if the unevenness was the work of Mother Nature or human beings. People were not receiving education. For instance, a learning institutions might have educated people in a particular discipline and might have improve the way of life characteristic of a particular person, group, or culture, but schools were not built.
In 1990, insurgent forces executed Liberia's former head of state, Samuel K. Doe, who had overthrown the first republic a decade before. In 1995, the 16-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) re-negotiated peace treaty with Liberia's military groups. A temporary State Council instituted a timeline for ballot votes. In 1997, Charles Taylor was elected president of the third Republic.
Hundreds of years ago an ethnic group Dei were the first to inhabit Liberia. They were the vanguard group of Bassa followed by the Gola tribes. There were five major groups: Mel tribes consisted of Gola and Kissi tribes; Kwa groups were the Dei, Bassa, Kru, Krahn, Grebo groups; Mande-Fu groups were, Kpelle, Gio, Mano and Loma tribes; Mande-Tan were the Vai, Mende and Mandingo group; Send home groups, were American- Liberians and Caribbean. Members of Liberia's Gio tribe, the Mande-Fus suspected the president, Samuel Doe, a Krahn, wanted to do away with them for reasons unknown. There was unrest whereby soldiers fired upon the Gio people, looted and burnt their houses. Several hundred died and many Nimba residents fled for their lives into Ivory Coast, Guinea or hid in the forest.
CIVIL CONFLICT- 1989-1996:Election was programmed to be held in 1991. However, getting to the end of 1989, there was relentless public fighting because revolutionary efforts to overthrow Doe by the Gio and Mano ethnic groups, who felt that they had been wronged by Doe, did not succeed. As a consequence, uprising took place in the northeast of the country. On December 24, 1989, Charles G. Taylor led a small band of Libyan-trained rebels invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast. Taylor, Doe's earlier security chief, was an American-Liberian who graduated from Bentley College in Massachusetts with American lifestyle had support from bordering African nations. Taylors National Patriotic Front insurgents were supported by Liberians because they felt themselves suppressed by Samuel Doe and his administration. More than 200,000 Liberia's died and about a million fled into camps in nearest countries. The Mano and Gio Ethnic groups were hard hit by the Government troops of Liberia throughout the opposing uprising movement.
With the involvement of West African ECOMOG in 1996 there was end of war and conventional government consisting of the different tribal leaders was established. Liberian military and safekeeping forces were sent to Nimba County to fight the rebellion but they randomly killed Liberian nationals without distinction between partaker and non-participants.The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) moved ahead in the direction of Monrovia in 1990 to demolish the Krahn and Mandingo tribes because the party had the opinion that these tribes supported President Doe. They slaughtered many town-dwellers. At the look of things it seemed that the ECOMOG troops from West Africa gave support to the President`s Armed Forces hence, extending the public war. There was a total butchery of non Khran's tribes in the kingdom. According to the bystander, the quarrel was not about one tribe hunting for another ethnic group but, the American-Liberians were chasing to set up political control and authority for themselves in the country. The Gios and Manos stuck together with Charles Taylor because he tried to set right the unfairness done to them, they out of the blue saw eye to eye. The mutineers went into their habitat in Nimba County and the Muslim Mandingoes were drawn into the clash. Under Prince Johnson, the Gios ethnic group instituted their own revolutionary army which, resulted in a three-way gruesome national battle.
The young men were drawn into the battle because they were convinced by Taylor to remove the tyrant Doe from power. The commitments of these young men were not long lasting because they ultimately found out Taylor was a fraud. Dokie and many others left Taylor`s National Patriotic Front of Liberia nevertheless, he and his spouse and two others were viciously slaughtered in cold blood.The County leaders rapidly mobilized young men to join the rebel forces believing that Taylor was sincere when he said the sole purpose of his attack was to remove the tyrant, Samuel K. Doe from power. After discovering Taylor's plans for the Liberian people, Dokie and others separated themselves from the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). Dokie along with his wife and two others were brutally murdered by Taylor's NPFL-controlled Security forces. State affairs escalated and there was a split between the Krahn, Doe and the Gios and Manos. Liberia was in absolute disorder. There was a fight between Doe`s troops and both Taylor and Prince Yomie Johnson`s alliances. Johnson took over the leadership and in September 1989 and after passing through a number of hands, Amos Sawyer took over and dealt with comforting various divisions in Liberia. There was scorching heat in Liberia. The region was harsh, merciless and dry. Tribes were falling and Liberia was disappearing due to wars and inconveniences in existence in the physical world; citizens could not adapt to the environment and grow crops. Many Liberians died.
Liberians had severe shortages of food as well as health problems and they felt desperate and irrational. Several young men became uncertain of their future because they had seen enough violent incidents. At last they were insecure in society building. Liberian policy-makers understood the teething problems of the societies in Liberia but did nothing to repair the state of affairs. I knew that by accepting human groups as they are, and helping them to cultivate long-term resources for technological, economical progress, sustainability and self-confidence, Liberia could have improved on their infrastructure and lessen poverty crises and diseases instead of self-interest.
It was on the 4th of July 1989. I am from a Kpelle clan and I was married to a man from the Grebo clan. We had four children, three girls and a boy. Our daily life was simple, pleasant and harmonious. Both of our parents were farmers but they were diseased. I lived with my husband and two children at KIRUKI in a cottage at the outskirts of the Monroe, Liberia. We were law abiding citizens. The other two children were schooling at other towns further away from Monrovia. We were never delimitated because of our open-mindedness but we were not a part of social stratification and had no safety net of protection against unanticipated sudden crisis and diseases because we lacked resources and possessions necessary for subsistence but we managed. We were not provocative and the children did not have infantile super egoism neither were they frustrated teenagers. The children were ready to lend a hand to other teenagers, generous and harmonious with sound minds. Walking to the bushes I saw human beings lying on the grassy, grimy and smudged grounds with their thin clothes on their dilacerated backs. I could see their bones sticking out of their horrifying reddish skins. Those lying out there dying had their eyes scarcely opened. They were dying but trying to examine the passing world and all its pains and restrictions. They lived a life by being bold and daring, brave and adventurous.
Liberians general state and means of existence was characterized by civil wars and suffering. Before the war I tried to deal with many difficulties and made significant progress. My family's ability to function was adequate. It was obvious that shortage of food was not merely a matter of wealth but sustainability. I had access to social gatherings and there was no violence inside or outside my family. I tried to overcome any distressing and terrible vulnerabilities by regulating my situations in response to my minimum needs. There were individuals with skinny and deformed hands but they tried to cover themselves with clothes due to the wetter conditions making, diseases such as malaria more prevalent. Malnutrition was common. It was difficult at times because of lack of clean water but we kept our strength and energy with the little food we had.
I watched Liberians weakening in a measured pace one after the other, like rows of gigantic pins in a bowling club establishment. The rest of the world stared casually at us. The high temperatures, merciless and dehydrated were all over the regions in rising and falling manner. Everything was uninspiring, spiritless, and flat. Observing the unpredictability and changeability in our lives, I questioned if the continent in which I lived was one of the same worlds. For the most part, Liberians disappeared and left their homes because of atrocious killings. Rest of the world was sick and tired of the recurring problems of wars in Liberia thus, every now and then, people gave just a transitory, inquisitive and momentary look at what was going on in the region. Human beings were, passionate; but there were too many inconveniences associated in finding out the real underlying cause of the civil wars and killings. We, the Liberians living outside Monrovia did not have information and understanding of what was happening thus, we did not know how to avoid them. Larger regions in Liberia were along the coastal zone consisting of a low- flying costal belt. It included the continental shelf and coasts. It was composed of a variety of ecosystems including deltas, mountains, mangroves, coral reefs and shelf zones. These ecosystems varied in width. A large population lived in coastal communities because; most of the economic activities that formed the backbone of Liberians national economies were located within the coastal regions. Increased population and increased exploitation of coastal resources, degradation occurred. Human activities caused damages and destruction towards the development of the regions which probably enraged some tribes and contributed to the difficulties between them. Although, the Liberians had minimum standard of living, they were not worried or upset. They lived in cultures with many dialects and tribes. I lived through diverse and variant forms of cultures but I was happy. However, I disliked physical pain and people who thought of my tribe as less human by taking away my individuality, important aspects of my personality, compassion and sensitivity. I lived good-humouredly with other clans and families and I was happy for the little food I had. I had the impression that philosophical theory was physical and psychological states such as emotions, reason, thought and desire were physical functions.
My parents had no ill feelings or resentments. They took care of their farming, survived with less food, lived in cultures, followed instructions, complied with rules and regulations and submitting to their elders. Senior family members that were no longer living remained active in Liberians memories. My parents supported me in matters relating to religious and sacred things, rather than worldly things. I had the belief that my ancestors guided and protected my spiritual needs, customs and traditions. Those, who founded villages in Liberia, did not demand any amount of money, levied by their seniors in the villages on their citizens, but each citizen contributed to run their communities. They were content, harmonious and cared for each other without interruption of other traditions different from theirs. They had a catch phrase," child in a woman's womb cared less about the world it had not seen or lived".
My life was scheduled according to my family needs. Some Liberians worked at marketing tools, art, music, leather woks, and iron. Some sold and exchanged jewels, gold, clothing, cattle, books and others traded in all kinds of commodities. A small number of people were sheltered from diseases. They had adequate amount of food and resources. Their social lives were idea. They had high quality sense of right and wrong; they took care of their children's education and needs. They never had concepts which divided human species into categories of something that had various different kinds and meanings. They respected every human being as Gods creation and that is what the world is meant to be.
Liberia passed through difficulties due to the presence of some freed African-Americans slaves. They occupied the region. These African-American tycoons established trade in the region. Their influence shaped the politics in the country as well as the tribes in Liberia, West Africa, and brought a total collapse in the country.
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