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Militia On Extortion Spree - Nimba Marketers Accused GOL Fighters

The Analyst (Monrovia)
NEWS
September 2, 2004
Posted to the web September 2, 2004

By Mensiegar Karngar

>With disarmament yet to take firm roots in rural Liberia, reports of
harassment of civilians by former militia fighters who are awaiting disarmament
continue unabated. As Mensiegar Karngar reports, marketers in Nimba County are
pointing accusing fingers at militiamen loyal to the former Government of
Liberia for robbing them of their goods and money almost on a daily basis.
According to some marketers who came running into the offices of The Analyst to
alert authorities, the marketers said the former GOL militiamen were in the
habit of forcibly demanding money from them without reason.
The areas affected by the harassment and exhortation which residents said are
causing them psychological torture and trauma, are Mahnplay, Tianplay, Lepula,
Beatour and surrounding places.
One of the victims, Tiagan Paye claiming to be a diamond broker, narrated that
the gunmen who are perpetrating these crimes against humanity also carry knives
and other weapons with which they intimidate people.
Mr. Paye said the fighters were raiding villages and either killing or taking
away livestock and damaging farms.
"They are mainly targeting marketers because they said the marketers are the
wealthy people in the area," he said.
He alleged that the fighters were operating under the command of one "General
Ghankay Son" and his assistant only identified as 'Marcus High Grade' both of
Tianplay and Lapula.
"General Ghankay-Son and his men set up roadblocks on market days and make
unnecessary demands," Mr. Paye said adding, "no one dare refuse or he would
feel the weight." Kou Tate, another victim lamented how the fighters has
extorted from her L$5,000 and even at that slapped in her left eye, thereby
forcing her to take treatment upon her arrival in Ganta.
She blamed the rampant wave of harassment, intimidation and extortion on the
slow pace of the deployment of UNMIL and the corresponding slow pace of
disarmament in the hinterlands.
She said the only UNMIL forces in Nimba are based in Ganta, leaving the rest of
remote areas in the county with militiamen who are subjecting the people to
desperation.
"UNMIL has to hasten its deployment to the hinterland, especially in those
areas of Nimba County that we are living," she noted.
She said further: "We too deserve security just as the people in Monrovia and
Tubmanburg. We will not continue to live in a state of terror while others are
sitting in the haven of UNMIL in Monrovia and its environs." Madam Kou Tate
surrounded by fellow victims, said, "UNMIL should not be Monrovia force, it
must reach out to all the people who need security to and freedom from fear."
Analyst observed that the deployment of UNMIL has not been operating on the
time frame in keeping with the Comprehensive peace Accord therefore prolonging
the suffering of the masses of the people in the hinterland.
It is said the UNMIL forces are deployed in the capital cities of most of the
political sub-division, but analysts said the absence from the rest of the
people in the interior part of the country has not made any difference in the
appalling situation the civil strife has imposed on the people.

   

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