Last month, Liberia held its first free and fair election. Richard S. Williamson hopes that just one step on the journey From Barbarity to Hope:
Liberia was founded by freed American slaves in 1847. Liberia continues to be divided by the Americo-Liberian minority comprising only 5% of the people and the overwhelming majority of indigenous Liberians that come from 16 different ethnic groups. For over a century, Liberia was dominated by the Americo-Liberian True Whig Party that directed Liberian politics from 1871 to 1980.
In April, 1980, indigenous Liberian Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe seized power in a coup d’etat in which President Talbert was butchered in cold blood and 13 ministers were stripped to their underwear, staked to posts on the beach and executed.
A civil crisis flared up and the ensuing 25 years of conflict have led to senseless violence, four transitional governments, and a non-functioning state apparatus.
One observer described the past quarter century in Liberia as a period of ‘public executions on the beach, drug crazed young thugs terrorizing citizens at roadblocks, rampant theft of national resources, corruption, nepotism, abuse of human rights, tribalism, blood diamonds and warlords.’
Many indigenous Liberians believe in a spiritual world of unseen forces and the visible world of everyday life. In war, when killing occurred, the victor could take on the power of his enemy by ingesting part of his body, his heart or liver, and thus his spirit. During periods of intense violence in Liberia there were regular reports of ‘ritual killings.’ Witchdoctors were reported to have scrutinized potential victims prior to ripping their living hearts out of their bodies. Then the person who ‘commissioned’ the deed consumed the heart in whole or in part to gain the power of the victim and to intimidate others.
During this past quarter century the quality of life grew more bleak. Competent civil administration and the rule of law disappeared. The infrastructure deteriorated, the economy collapsed and, today, most of Liberia has no electricity, no running water and no public health services.
Liberia’s life expectancy is 47 years. Illiteracy is near 85%. Unemployment in the formal sector is over 70%.