About Liberia and Child SoldiersFast Facts - Up to 20,000 children, some as young as six years old, fought as child soldiers in the Liberian civil war.
- Most of the orphanages in Liberia are run by families who have taken 50-100 children into their own households.
- Up to a quarter million people were killed during the seven-year conflict (1989-96) and subsequent eight-year rule under Charles Taylor.
- Liberia has an 85% unemployment rate.
- More than half of Liberia's population lives on less than 30 cents a day.
- In 2006, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa’s first female elected head of state.
History of Liberia
Liberia is unique among African nations for having been colonized by slaves, rather than slave owners and/or slave sellers. In 1817, the American Colonization Society bought a small piece of coastal West Africa from local tribes in order to “promote and execute a plan for colonizing in Africa, with their own consent, the free people of color residing in the U.S.” Their motives weren’t altogether pure?he abolition of slavery was looming in the U.S., and many whites (especially slave owners) felt that sending blacks to Africa would be better than granting them equal rights at home.
To many of the newly freed slaves, or “freemen,” however, such dubious reasoning was less important than the possibility of a free trip to a new home where they could be their own masters. The first ship of freed slaves left America with 88 volunteers aboard? third of whom promptly died of yellow fever. But more ships soon followed. Ultimately some 13,000 freemen would settle Liberia, which became an independent republic, Africa’s first, with its own constitution in 1847. Indeed, the newcomers quickly discovered that many natives were already living in their new, supposedly empty home.
Freeman-turned-colonistsMuch of the land was controlled by the Malinke tribes, who hadn’t agreed to sell anything and fought the new Liberians on arrival. The freemen-turned-colonists would ultimately create an uneasy relationship with the people they displaced, marrying them in some cases and discriminating against them in others, but always trying to impose the western “civilized” values.
Despite such troubles, Liberia was on the whole peaceful until 1980?n uneasy peace based on inequality and subjugation. The original settlers from America settled largely on the coast (where the capital city, Monrovia, is located), setting up schools and universities while expanding agriculture and trade. They controlled the one-party system by which the True Whig Party held power for 133 years. Meanwhile, the indigenous tribes subsisted in the country’s interior and were treated as second-class citizens. They were recruited into forced labor, which was little better than slavery, and were denied the right to vote until several years after the constitution was signed.
The money Liberia made by exporting agricultural products (primarily rubber, but also coffee, timber, sugarcane and other crops) was far less than what it needed for industrial imports like cars and electricity. Unrest due to poverty and inequality grew throughout the century as one corrupt president after another failed to redress the country’s problems. Finally, in 1989, generations of simmering unrest exploded into one of the worst civil wars in world history.
Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor, diamond control, and civil warThe president at the time was a despotic former army sergeant named Samuel Doe, who had taken power through a bloody coup in 1980. Ten years later, as the country dissolved into violence, Doe was captured, tortured and executed by rebels. Several groups then fought viciously for power. After seven years (1989-96) of indiscriminate slaughter, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia rose to the top. Their leader was Charles Taylor. Known for his ruthless practice of employing child soldiers and using rape and mutilation in war (soldiers would routinely cut the hands and feet off their victims), Taylor became president in 1997.
It’s estimated that up to a quarter million people were killed during the seven-year conflict and subsequent eight-year rule under Taylor. Three times that number of people were forced from their homes into refugee camps.
Once in power, Taylor took his child soldiers abroad and fueled civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. That country and its region’s infamous blood diamonds interested Taylor. Under his rule, Liberia became a major exporter of diamonds. Taylor’s reign was brutal, but brief. Civil war befell the country again just three years into his presidency. By 2003, he was forced to flee the country for Nigeria. He was quickly arrested. In June of 2006, Taylor was taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. He is there today, awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf: Liberia’s first female presidentWith Taylor gone, an interim government was appointed to take charge of Liberia until a successor could be elected. In 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Liberia’s first female president. She is also its most promising leader. A Harvard-educated economist, one of Sirleaf’s top priorities is the rehabilitation of Liberia’s thousands of child soldiers, along with promoting equality and modernizing the economy.
On July 26, 2006 – seven months after she took office – electrical power was returned to the capital of Monrovia, which had gone without electricity since the start of the civil war. That night, the street lights turned on for the first time in fifteen years.
About Child SoldiersThe U.N. estimates that there are 250,000 child soldiers worldwide, with the greatest number in Burma, which has some 70,000 child soldiers. Many child soldiers fought in Liberia throughout its civil war. Experts say child soldiers could make up 25% to 75% of the total fighting forces in Liberia.
With the fighting now finished in Liberia, the question of how to heal these children so that they can lead meaningful lives, is a pressing one. Liberia must rehabilitate an entire generation of traumatized young men and women whose only life experience is war.
Civil war and government mismanagement have destroyed much of Liberia's economy, particularly the infrastructure in and around Monrovia, while continued international sanctions on diamonds and timber exports will limit growth prospects for the foreseeable future.
During the war, many children lost their parents, others were victims of atrocities, and still others were forced to fight alongside rebel and government forces. The loss of parents meant older children were left to care for their siblings and the realities of war prevented many children from going to school.
The conflict also took a heavy toll on children’s mental health. Many children are still struggling to recover from images of seeing their parents killed, raped or maimed as a result of the war. The war ended in 2003 with the support of the international community. However, thousands of children are still suffering from the affects of the war. Those without families are forced to live on the streets. Those who live at home are put to work for long hours by their parents in order to contribute to the livelihood of the family.
What is being done to help children of war in Liberia?Organizations like Youth Action International, or YAI, are working hard to help former child soldiers and other children of war in Liberia, and around the world. YAI was established in 2002 to develop and implement programs that help alleviate the suffering of children affected by war or living in difficult circumstances and to empower them to reach their full potential.
Founded by Kimmie Weeks, who, as a child, experienced violence and human suffering in the Liberian Civil War, YAI now embraces his dream of a world where no child subsists without the basic necessities of life.
Some of Youth Action International's current projects include rebuilding playgrounds destroyed by the Liberian civil war, being involved in partnerships to establish the first center for war-affected women in Sierra Leone, and providing long-term scholarships to encourage girls to stay in school from primary school age through college.
What can I do?
- Support groups like Kimmie Weeks' Youth Action International, which is dedicated to improving the life of child soldiers and other children affected by war, not only in Liberia, but worldwide.
- Read and learn more about Liberia's history.
- Watch and tell others about 4REAL Liberia featuring Kimmie Weeks.
