My Good Friends,
Do not smear Obama's name on liking Raila to
Obama as buddies.........the two are such a big contrast. The two are not anywhere close to each
other, they are on parallel line. One is
terribly corrupt with a passion and the other is a man of the people. I would rather you say, Raila is Clintons
friend, Graca Machel with Jesse Jackson and not Obama.
One
is West and the other is extreme East.
Raila belongs to a camp that works with China and Asianic who are after
taking power from the West to East.
Connect the dots and get your
facts right........Kenya is therefore in jeopardy as it is central in Africa and
it will turn the battle ground of the West and the East; which is why, because
of peace, Raila should go home to retire and rest.
Tyranny
of Numbers made it clear that, although the white population is decreasing in
the world and for them to retain power in order to control the world, they are
forced to create Coalition Camps with those like minded who have population
manpower for labor reserve and that constitutes numbers. With this number, they are able to spread
their wings across the world to have their economic and political deals done for
them. In this case, China with Asian
communities from Asianic Territories, having been Colonized and rose to join
Partnerships and Allys with the Whites from working hard, acquired the technique
and used the same on their target groups.
America therefore is a formation of immigrants, having driven the Red
Indians who were the original natives of America. In other words, New Americans was therefore
formed by the first migrant settlers from Europe, Asia etc., America as a result
is formed by Nationals from all over the world Africa included. It is a Nation of Nationals of the world. The
only difference is that, Africans were
brought to America as Slaves from Africa.
Now over time, the Asianic community became
partners of deal making doing business with the world. Because of this, Chinese economy rose too
quickly to compete with that of the White minority because of their common unity
within Asian Territorial factors.
America's
Corporate Special Business Interest are however divided into two. 1) Those who have decided to team with
Chinese under unscrupulous greedy deals with Asianic labour force to share their wealth
with China through extreme corruption with impunity, prefer to kill the
Constitutional Just Rule of Law with Central Governing system so they are able
to avoid guiding principles of regulations except Grab Land for free, Trade for
Free and evade paying taxes to the Government ……. 2) while those of European
Coalition Community prefer Democracy principles that provide community
organization to share wealth with the world under Mutual Partnership, with Fair
Sharing of resources; where opportunity for common good is available to
all…….and where, those who strive for progressive development to improve
lifestyle gets the a chance to do so without suppression, discrimination,
intimidation or marginalization.
Today,
Africa has what it takes in the New Global Emerging
Market, and the focus being put in Africa by the world does not mean
that Africa will get it easy without meeting challenges or engaging in the
Coalition of Partnership Deals with either the West or the East. In this case, Raila and Uhuru with their
connection chose to go East.
During
Clintons leadership, Clinton mapped out where to connect with his business
network and where to lay his investments; more specifically targeting
Africa. Unfortunately, his engagement
with Africa notably; Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Libya with Ivory Coast
seriously backfired very badly. His
engagement there caused more harm than good.
In other words, Clintons Policy in Africa elevated extreme extra-judicial
killings, poverty, pain and sufferings.
Show-Case:
Having
Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor as their point men in Libya, killings, stealing
and looting from the Liberians, taking their wealth and resources for free, did
not go down well between the people of Liberia with their corrupt leaders where
Charles Taylor perfected the art of embezzlement after joining Samuel Doe's
Government. It resulted in Taylors
conviction and jail by the ICC Hague.
It
is exactly a replica of what you see Raila and Uhuru are engage in ....... they
do not want to allow Democracy to work well for the people, instead, they are
staging Drama to sway their agenda of embezzlement and stealing from the
people. The same is the reason why Congo
was made a puppet of Kagame's boxing bag.
The same is why Museveni is stealing from Kenya taking Migingo
unconstitutionally.
To cut the long story short, I want to let
you know that, Obama is not corrupt, he does not belong to Raila Club; if he was
he would not have bothered to sponsor THE CONSTITUTION of
Kenya. It is because of Obama Kenya has
the Constitution.
Those
who are fighting the Constitution of Kenya, want to sneak in dangerous clauses
to protect their thieving and stolen wealth and natural resources goods from the
people of Kenya with the rest of Africa.
Raila was caught Red-Handed dipping his hands in the Honey Jar, demanding
for Referendum to quench his greedy thirst and realized, he was boxing himself
to a corner.
The
Constitution made America powerful for 237 years, officially by July 4th 2013. The Constitution is the landmark for Peace
and Unity in diversity……which means, leaders are guided with it to deliver
services to their people or the constituency and to deliberate to protect public
interest who voted them to Represent them through enactment of policies that are
of public interest and mandate.
Raila is equal to Taylor, and therefore, a
very big problem Kenya have........if Kenyans do not watch and confront leaders
with the truth, Kenya is headed Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast
style.........
Wake
up people and connect the dots.......signs of the time are here……..Peace and
Liberty in pursuit for happiness is crucial……..No one want war, Unite and shame
the devil………
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
How Rev Jesse Jackson sealed Raila meeting with Uhuru
Larry Madowo's interview with Reverend Jesse Jackson
Published on Apr 12, 2013
Anne Kiguta's interview with Rev. Jesse Jackson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pblzqyJIWnA
Published on Apr 11, 2013
http://www.ntv.co.ke
American civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has met both President Uhuru Kenyatta and CORD leader Raila Odinga and he says they are ready to work together. He says Kenya has made great progress from the conflicts that followed previous elections to the peace witnessed during this one. He was a special envoy for President Bill Clinton in 1998, mediating in the Rift Valley conflict after the 1997 election. Rev Jackson spoke to NTV's Larry Madowo before leaving the country this evening (Thursday).
American civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has met both President Uhuru Kenyatta and CORD leader Raila Odinga and he says they are ready to work together. He says Kenya has made great progress from the conflicts that followed previous elections to the peace witnessed during this one. He was a special envoy for President Bill Clinton in 1998, mediating in the Rift Valley conflict after the 1997 election. Rev Jackson spoke to NTV's Larry Madowo before leaving the country this evening (Thursday).
Anne Kiguta's interview with Rev. Jesse Jackson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pblzqyJIWnA
Published on Apr 11, 2013
Renowned American civil rights leader rev Jesse Jackson has lauded Kenya for the smooth handover of power following the elections last month. Rev Jackson who witnessed the swearing in of president Uhuru Kenyatta also says the world cannot afford to judge Kenya by one set of standards and live by another
The Saturday meeting was the second directly between the two fiercest rivals in the March 4 elections, and also the first to be acknowledged by the two sides, complete with television footage.
But inquiries within the President’s and Raila’s side revealed that the influential force bringing the two hitherto bitter rivals together was America’s civil rights and towering religious figure, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
April 1 was characterized by two key events; it was Easter Monday as well as April Fools Day, when people the World over get half-a-day to pull pranks on each other. In Kenya, it was no different as families got out to enjoy the fun-day together, either in church, friend’s homes or even entertainment joints.
But behind the scenes, something else was taking off, and as it turned out, it wasn’t a prank at all. That Easter Monday ended with Uhuru, whose victory the Supreme Court upheld the previous Saturday (March 30), sharing a dinner table with Raila at the home of a mutual friend.
This first meeting took place at the home of the youthful wealthy businessman in the Muthaiga Estate.
Second meeting
The businessman, whose name we withhold for legal reasons because he usually doesn’t brook any linkage to politics, was close to the late Prof George Saitoti, and when the former Internal Security minister died in a chopper crash, he shifted camp to Uhuru.
Both Uhuru and the businessman had been close and the youthful billionaire’s business and political ties to Saitoti had not strained this relationship.
The second meeting wasn’t Uhuru’s, but was a shared dinner table between Raila and Jackson at the home of Dr Evans Kidero, the new Nairobi Governor, and close ally of the former PM. Again as with the first meeting between the leader of Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) and Uhuru, this too was in Muthaiga where Kidero lives.
It took place the day following Uhuru’s inauguration on April 9, and confidants of the former PM told The Standard that Raila headed straight to Kidero’s home on arrival from South Africa that Wednesday.
Raila had gone to South Africa for ‘holidaying’ with his running mate in the March 4 race — former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka — and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula.
It is believed that Jackson sought out Raila after meeting Uhuru on the day of his inauguration with the message that it was in his (Uhuru’s), Raila’s and Kenya’s interest for them to build a rapport and demonstrate mutual respect for each other.
Civil rights
Jackson, thought not a member of President Barack Obama’s administration, was the most familiar American public figure at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, when Uhuru was sworn-in.
It was not clear if at all he could have had a message from Obama to Uhuru and Raila, even though it is not very much unlike American tradition for a private message of their leader to be delivered by a senior and respected citizen.
But even without Obama’s prodding, Jackson’s role as a civil rights activist has given him immense contacts and good rapport with many African leaders, and he could have put these at play.
Having been close to the presidency, polling 5.3 million against Uhuru’s 6.1 million, the American cleric exhorted Uhuru to appreciate the fact that he needed to send out a message of goodwill and reconciliation to the considerably big constituency that did not vote for him.
Raila’s aides, on condition of confidentiality so as not to be seen to be spilling the beans on secret talks between their boss and the new President, said of the ex-PM’s meeting with Jackson: “He went there (Kidero’s home) alone and expressed his willingness to work with Uhuru for the good of the country.”
The sources explained that after the Supreme Court ruling, the youthful businessman, who is also a son of a former influential minister in retired President Daniel Arap Moi’s Cabinet, tried reaching out to Raila using one of his long-serving personal assistants.
It wasn’t clear at this stage whether he is the one who initiated the meeting, or was acting on Uhuru’s behalf. However, the businessman also happens to be close to Uhuru’s deputy, Mr William Ruto, who would later tell the country after assuming office, that he had had lengthy meetings with Raila.
“This was the first attempt towards arranging for a meeting between Uhuru and Raila. The meeting took place on April 1at the businessman’s residence in Muthaiga,’’ confirmed the PM’s aide. Another of the PM’s advisors also confirmed both meetings that the former PM attended in the two Muthaiga homes.
“Mr Odinga denied the first meeting took place and that is his position. But the truth is that the meeting did take place at the home of the businessman,’’ he said.
In a Facebook posting earlier in the day another of Raila’s advisors had revealed to his string of online friends that Reverend Jackson, who like the late Martin Luther King is a renown black American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, was the key player in the Uhuru-Raila talks.
The advisor played down media reports that the Uhuru-Raila meeting, where both Kalonzo and Ruto featured, discussed the number of security guards the CORD leaders should be left with and the amount the State would pay them as retirement benefits.
Real issues
“…You can safely laugh at reports in sections of our media that Raila went see (sic) Uhuru about security detail and chase cars and retirement benefits,’’ Raila’s advisor who is also former top UN media personality, Mr Salim Lone. Lone then threw in the revelation: “The meeting was actually negotiated by the Rev Jesse Jackson and focused on real issues facing Kenya.” He then referred his friends to the Sunday Standard story yesterday quoting Raila saying he had turned down the offer of a UN envoy role because his “plate was full’’.
Speaking in Khwisero constituency on Saturday after meeting with Uhuru, Raila explained his focus would be to strengthen CORD and urged those still sympathising with him for losing the presidency to stop because it was unnecessary.
Tell me sorry
“Do not tell me sorry for what happened. I do not wish to hear this. When a cooking stick breaks, do you stop preparing your meal? Certainly not! And that is why we want to state that we have enough work to do,” said Raila.
“Raila when invited for dinner by the businessman, sought to know what it was all about. He was assured there was nothing underhand, and all the cards would be on the table.
Because he was also keen to be part of healing the country (after the divisive elections), he accepted the invitation,’’ said another of Odinga’s aides.
When Lone was contacted, he confirmed Jackson did meet Raila at Kidero’s home.
“I can only confirm the meeting took place between Raila and Reverend Jackson at Kidero’s home and that they discussed a possible meeting between him and the President (Uhuru)’’ was Lone’s response to our questions. Source:standardmedia.co.ke
Forme Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s spokesman Sailim Lone has dispelled reports in the section of the press indicating that Raila’s discussions with Uhuru Kenyatta centered around his diminished security detail, chase cars and retirement package.
“Raila’s options now – you can safely laugh at reports in sections of our media that Raila went to see Uhuru about security detail and chase cars and retirement benefits.” Lone said in a post on his Facebook page.
“Raila’s options now – you can safely laugh at reports in sections of our media that Raila went to see Uhuru about security detail and chase cars and retirement benefits.” Lone said in a post on his Facebook page.
Lone seemed to dismiss claims that William Ruto was behind the efforts by Jubilee to reach out to Mr Odinga, he instead revealed that Saturday’s statehouse meeting was negotiated by the American Civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson.
“The meeting was actually negotiated by the Rev Jesse Jackson and focused on real issues facing Kenya” Mr Lone added.
Rev Jackson was a special guest at the inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the 4th president of Kenya.
In an interview with NTV’s Larry Madowo, Rev Jackson termed Raila as super global citizen whose magic is appreciated whenever he sets foot. Here is the interview again.
“The meeting was actually negotiated by the Rev Jesse Jackson and focused on real issues facing Kenya” Mr Lone added.
Rev Jackson was a special guest at the inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta as the 4th president of Kenya.
In an interview with NTV’s Larry Madowo, Rev Jackson termed Raila as super global citizen whose magic is appreciated whenever he sets foot. Here is the interview again.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Saturday’s meeting with Mr Raila Odinga at State House was the culmination of two hush-hush meetings, both in homes of influential personalities close to the two leaders.
The Saturday meeting was the second directly between the two fiercest rivals in the March 4 elections, and also the first to be acknowledged by the two sides, complete with television footage.
But inquiries within the President’s and Raila’s side revealed that the influential force bringing the two hitherto bitter rivals together was America’s civil rights and towering religious figure, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
April 1 was characterized by two key events; it was Easter Monday as well as April Fools Day, when people the World over get half-a-day to pull pranks on each other. In Kenya, it was no different as families got out to enjoy the fun-day together, either in church, friend’s homes or even entertainment joints.
But behind the scenes, something else was taking off, and as it turned out, it wasn’t a prank at all. That Easter Monday ended with Uhuru, whose victory the Supreme Court upheld the previous Saturday (March 30), sharing a dinner table with Raila at the home of a mutual friend.
This first meeting took place at the home of the youthful wealthy businessman in the Muthaiga Estate.
Second meeting
The businessman, whose name we withhold for legal reasons because he usually doesn’t brook any linkage to politics, was close to the late Prof George Saitoti, and when the former Internal Security minister died in a chopper crash, he shifted camp to Uhuru.
Both Uhuru and the businessman had been close and the youthful billionaire’s business and political ties to Saitoti had not strained this relationship.
The second meeting wasn’t Uhuru’s, but was a shared dinner table between Raila and Jackson at the home of Dr Evans Kidero, the new Nairobi Governor, and close ally of the former PM. Again as with the first meeting between the leader of Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) and Uhuru, this too was in Muthaiga where Kidero lives.
It took place the day following Uhuru’s inauguration on April 9, and confidants of the former PM told The Standard that Raila headed straight to Kidero’s home on arrival from South Africa that Wednesday.
Raila had gone to South Africa for ‘holidaying’ with his running mate in the March 4 race — former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka — and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula.
It is believed that Jackson sought out Raila after meeting Uhuru on the day of his inauguration with the message that it was in his (Uhuru’s), Raila’s and Kenya’s interest for them to build a rapport and demonstrate mutual respect for each other.
Civil rights
Jackson, thought not a member of President Barack Obama’s administration, was the most familiar American public figure at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, when Uhuru was sworn-in.
It was not clear if at all he could have had a message from Obama to Uhuru and Raila, even though it is not very much unlike American tradition for a private message of their leader to be delivered by a senior and respected citizen.
But even without Obama’s prodding, Jackson’s role as a civil rights activist has given him immense contacts and good rapport with many African leaders, and he could have put these at play.
Having been close to the presidency, polling 5.3 million against Uhuru’s 6.1 million, the American cleric exhorted Uhuru to appreciate the fact that he needed to send out a message of goodwill and reconciliation to the considerably big constituency that did not vote for him.
Raila’s aides, on condition of confidentiality so as not to be seen to be spilling the beans on secret talks between their boss and the new President, said of the ex-PM’s meeting with Jackson: “He went there (Kidero’s home) alone and expressed his willingness to work with Uhuru for the good of the
country.”
The sources explained that after the Supreme Court ruling, the youthful businessman, who is also a son of a former influential minister in retired President Daniel Arap Moi’s Cabinet, tried reaching out to Raila using one of his long-serving personal assistants.
It wasn’t clear at this stage whether he is the one who initiated the meeting, or was acting on Uhuru’s behalf. However, the businessman also happens to be close to Uhuru’s deputy, Mr William Ruto, who would later tell the country after assuming office, that he had had lengthy meetings with Raila.
“This was the first attempt towards arranging for a meeting between Uhuru and Raila. The meeting took place on April 1at the businessman’s residence in Muthaiga,’’ confirmed the PM’s aide. Another of the PM’s advisors also confirmed both meetings that the former PM attended in the two Muthaiga homes.
“Mr Odinga denied the first meeting took place and that is his position. But the truth is that the meeting did take place at the home of the businessman,’’ he said.
In a Facebook posting earlier in the day another of Raila’s advisors had revealed to his string of online friends that Reverend Jackson, who like the late Martin Luther King is a renown black American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, was the key player in the Uhuru-Raila talks.
The advisor played down media reports that the Uhuru-Raila meeting, where both Kalonzo and Ruto featured, discussed the number of security guards the CORD leaders should be left with and the amount the State would pay them as retirement benefits.
Real issues
“…You can safely laugh at reports in sections of our media that Raila went see (sic) Uhuru about security detail and chase cars and retirement benefits,’’ Raila’s advisor who is also former top UN media personality, Mr Salim Lone. Lone then threw in the revelation: “The meeting was actually negotiated by the Rev Jesse Jackson and focused on real issues facing Kenya.” He then referred his friends to the Sunday Standard story yesterday quoting Raila saying he had turned down the offer of a UN envoy role because his “plate was full’’.
Speaking in Khwisero constituency on Saturday after meeting with Uhuru, Raila explained his focus would be to strengthen CORD and urged those still sympathising with him for losing the presidency to stop because it was unnecessary.
Tell me sorry
“Do not tell me sorry for what happened. I do not wish to hear this. When a cooking stick breaks, do you stop preparing your meal? Certainly not! And that is why we want to state that we have enough work to do,” said Raila.
“Raila when invited for dinner by the businessman, sought to know what it was all about. He was assured there was nothing underhand, and all the cards would be on the table.
Because he was also keen to be part of healing the country (after the divisive elections), he accepted the invitation,’’ said another of Odinga’s aides.
When Lone was contacted, he confirmed Jackson did meet Raila at Kidero’s home.
“I can only confirm the meeting took place between Raila and Reverend Jackson at Kidero’s home and that they discussed a possible meeting between him and the President (Uhuru)’’ was Lone’s response to our questions.
Additional reporting by the STANDARD.
The Saturday meeting was the second directly between the two fiercest rivals in the March 4 elections, and also the first to be acknowledged by the two sides, complete with television footage.
But inquiries within the President’s and Raila’s side revealed that the influential force bringing the two hitherto bitter rivals together was America’s civil rights and towering religious figure, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
April 1 was characterized by two key events; it was Easter Monday as well as April Fools Day, when people the World over get half-a-day to pull pranks on each other. In Kenya, it was no different as families got out to enjoy the fun-day together, either in church, friend’s homes or even entertainment joints.
But behind the scenes, something else was taking off, and as it turned out, it wasn’t a prank at all. That Easter Monday ended with Uhuru, whose victory the Supreme Court upheld the previous Saturday (March 30), sharing a dinner table with Raila at the home of a mutual friend.
This first meeting took place at the home of the youthful wealthy businessman in the Muthaiga Estate.
Second meeting
The businessman, whose name we withhold for legal reasons because he usually doesn’t brook any linkage to politics, was close to the late Prof George Saitoti, and when the former Internal Security minister died in a chopper crash, he shifted camp to Uhuru.
Both Uhuru and the businessman had been close and the youthful billionaire’s business and political ties to Saitoti had not strained this relationship.
The second meeting wasn’t Uhuru’s, but was a shared dinner table between Raila and Jackson at the home of Dr Evans Kidero, the new Nairobi Governor, and close ally of the former PM. Again as with the first meeting between the leader of Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) and Uhuru, this too was in Muthaiga where Kidero lives.
It took place the day following Uhuru’s inauguration on April 9, and confidants of the former PM told The Standard that Raila headed straight to Kidero’s home on arrival from South Africa that Wednesday.
Raila had gone to South Africa for ‘holidaying’ with his running mate in the March 4 race — former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka — and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula.
It is believed that Jackson sought out Raila after meeting Uhuru on the day of his inauguration with the message that it was in his (Uhuru’s), Raila’s and Kenya’s interest for them to build a rapport and demonstrate mutual respect for each other.
Civil rights
Jackson, thought not a member of President Barack Obama’s administration, was the most familiar American public figure at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, when Uhuru was sworn-in.
It was not clear if at all he could have had a message from Obama to Uhuru and Raila, even though it is not very much unlike American tradition for a private message of their leader to be delivered by a senior and respected citizen.
But even without Obama’s prodding, Jackson’s role as a civil rights activist has given him immense contacts and good rapport with many African leaders, and he could have put these at play.
Having been close to the presidency, polling 5.3 million against Uhuru’s 6.1 million, the American cleric exhorted Uhuru to appreciate the fact that he needed to send out a message of goodwill and reconciliation to the considerably big constituency that did not vote for him.
Raila’s aides, on condition of confidentiality so as not to be seen to be spilling the beans on secret talks between their boss and the new President, said of the ex-PM’s meeting with Jackson: “He went there (Kidero’s home) alone and expressed his willingness to work with Uhuru for the good of the
country.”
The sources explained that after the Supreme Court ruling, the youthful businessman, who is also a son of a former influential minister in retired President Daniel Arap Moi’s Cabinet, tried reaching out to Raila using one of his long-serving personal assistants.
It wasn’t clear at this stage whether he is the one who initiated the meeting, or was acting on Uhuru’s behalf. However, the businessman also happens to be close to Uhuru’s deputy, Mr William Ruto, who would later tell the country after assuming office, that he had had lengthy meetings with Raila.
“This was the first attempt towards arranging for a meeting between Uhuru and Raila. The meeting took place on April 1at the businessman’s residence in Muthaiga,’’ confirmed the PM’s aide. Another of the PM’s advisors also confirmed both meetings that the former PM attended in the two Muthaiga homes.
“Mr Odinga denied the first meeting took place and that is his position. But the truth is that the meeting did take place at the home of the businessman,’’ he said.
In a Facebook posting earlier in the day another of Raila’s advisors had revealed to his string of online friends that Reverend Jackson, who like the late Martin Luther King is a renown black American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, was the key player in the Uhuru-Raila talks.
The advisor played down media reports that the Uhuru-Raila meeting, where both Kalonzo and Ruto featured, discussed the number of security guards the CORD leaders should be left with and the amount the State would pay them as retirement benefits.
Real issues
“…You can safely laugh at reports in sections of our media that Raila went see (sic) Uhuru about security detail and chase cars and retirement benefits,’’ Raila’s advisor who is also former top UN media personality, Mr Salim Lone. Lone then threw in the revelation: “The meeting was actually negotiated by the Rev Jesse Jackson and focused on real issues facing Kenya.” He then referred his friends to the Sunday Standard story yesterday quoting Raila saying he had turned down the offer of a UN envoy role because his “plate was full’’.
Speaking in Khwisero constituency on Saturday after meeting with Uhuru, Raila explained his focus would be to strengthen CORD and urged those still sympathising with him for losing the presidency to stop because it was unnecessary.
Tell me sorry
“Do not tell me sorry for what happened. I do not wish to hear this. When a cooking stick breaks, do you stop preparing your meal? Certainly not! And that is why we want to state that we have enough work to do,” said Raila.
“Raila when invited for dinner by the businessman, sought to know what it was all about. He was assured there was nothing underhand, and all the cards would be on the table.
Because he was also keen to be part of healing the country (after the divisive elections), he accepted the invitation,’’ said another of Odinga’s aides.
When Lone was contacted, he confirmed Jackson did meet Raila at Kidero’s home.
“I can only confirm the meeting took place between Raila and Reverend Jackson at Kidero’s home and that they discussed a possible meeting between him and the President (Uhuru)’’ was Lone’s response to our questions.
Additional reporting by the STANDARD.
----- Forwarded Message
-----
From: account146w qt4
To: "wanakenya@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 11:47 AM
Subject: RE: AMERICAN CHOICE FOR RAILA HAVE CONSEQUENCES AS CHINA GIVES SHS 425BN TO KENYA
To: "wanakenya@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 11:47 AM
Subject: RE: AMERICAN CHOICE FOR RAILA HAVE CONSEQUENCES AS CHINA GIVES SHS 425BN TO KENYA
Mr. Mohamed
You have put it
well, choices have consequences. Only that consequences are on both sides. On
earth here nothing is free. Super power like China or USA or UK always win in
the long run. Experience have shown that when a developed country puts 5 billion
in africa they end up collecting 20 to 30 billion from that investment. Time
will tell in the long run. But past events have shown how africa has been
exploited and still being exploited. Foreigners put 1 dollar but collect 10 to
20 dollars in return, leaving africa to linger in constant poverty since freedom
came to african countries .
Date: Mon,
19 Aug 2013 09:36:36 -0700
From: mhmdwarsama@yahoo.com
Subject: AMERICAN CHOICE FOR RAILA HAVE CONSEQUENCES AS CHINA GIVES SHS 425BN TO KENYA
To: uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com; changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com; kenyaonline@yahoogroups.com; progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com; wanakenya@googlegroups.com; thelastwordtokenya@yahoogroups.com; talkhard@yahoogroups.com; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com; YanArewa@yahoogroups.com
From: mhmdwarsama@yahoo.com
Subject: AMERICAN CHOICE FOR RAILA HAVE CONSEQUENCES AS CHINA GIVES SHS 425BN TO KENYA
To: uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com; changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com; kenyaonline@yahoogroups.com; progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com; wanakenya@googlegroups.com; thelastwordtokenya@yahoogroups.com; talkhard@yahoogroups.com; NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com; YanArewa@yahoogroups.com
President Obama's
choice of defeated Cord presidential candidate Raila Odinga have grave long-term
consequences for US position of dominance in Kenya.
State House in
Nairobi has just announced that President Kenyatta, visiting China, and his host
President Xi Jinping have today signed Kshs 425bn deal for economic, wildlife,
energy and railway projects.
Choices have
consequences indeed. Welcome ICC short for International Chinese
Companies.
Mohamed
Warsama
----- Forwarded Message
-----
From: Maurice Oduor
To: "wanakenya@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: DIGGING THE AFRICAN WEALTH BY FORCE
From: Maurice Oduor
To: "wanakenya@googlegroups.com"
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: DIGGING THE AFRICAN WEALTH BY FORCE
Somebody should comment on this;
I won't and I won't say why.
Courage
Courage
On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 12:30 PM,
account146w qt4 <account146w@hotmail.com>
wrote:
Good people;
A quick
scan of things happening in the world today reveals a surprising number of
facts, or perhaps not so surprising, considering the network of sources,
including politicians or african leaders that should develop africa instead of
selling it.
Sources now reveal
that when Obama the son of an african male was in Tanzania for state visit; G.W:
Bush the former USA president was also in the same country. What made a
democratic president and a former republican president come together in
Africa??.
The two leaders
though come from 2 different political parties had the same agenda for USA. That
is USA interest in Africa.
G.W. Bush and Obama
met Tanzanian leaders and made an agreement that USA continues to own the mines
it had in Tanzania despite the present Chinese influence in the continent.
Documents were signed to prolong USA interest in Tanzania.
Now the kenyan
president also so scared of his country´s economy and how to feed his own people
have reached for help from China; Signing a so called help loan worth 5 billion
USA dollars. That is a lot of money for a developing country.
What
remains to be asked is this: How will Tanzanians gain from Mines USA holds?. Or
What has the present Kenyan president promised Chinese to get 5 billion USA
dollar as an aid packet?. Are kenyan mines and oil now finding their routes to
China??
The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia
(Full Length Documentary)
Published on Jun 13, 2012
VICE
travels to West Africa to rummage through the messy remains of a country ravaged
by 14 years of civil war. Despite the United Nation's eventual intervention,
most of Liberia's young people continue to live in abject poverty, surrounded by
filth, drug addiction, and teenage prostitution. The former child soldiers who
were forced into war have been left to fend for themselves, the murderous
warlords who once led them in cannibalistic rampages have taken up as so-called
community leaders, and new militias are lying in wait for the opportunity to
reclaim their country from a government they rightly mistrust.
Hosted by Shane Smith |
Originally released in 2009 at http://vice.com
The Violent Coast: Liberia and Sierra
Leone
Published on Mar 6, 2013
Holidays in the Danger Zone (BBC)
cry
freetown
Uploaded on Oct 19, 2011
No description
available.
Why I killed
So Many Liberians, The Demonic confession of General Butt Naked
Uploaded on Sep 14, 2011
This is
a never before seen confession of one of Liberia most feared warlord and his
time under the control of satan. He talks about how he became introduced into
the satanic realm when he was a boy. This video was recently made and publish in
Liberia. I hope you enjoy it and share the links with others.
Conflict in Sierra Leone - True Story of South African
Mercenaries
Conflict in Sierra Leone - True Story of South African
Mercenaries
Uploaded on Jul 4, 2009
The RUF
were bastards, and Executive Outcomes and the former SADF and others kicked
their asses. The United Nations sucks.
Tone Bez Sierra Leone civil war
Uploaded on Aug 26, 2011
FAN PAGE http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tone-be...
music/211820068869676FOLLOW @tonebez DOWNLOAD LINK!
The
Forgotten War: Sierra Leone Civil War Sorious Samura civilwarcrimes rebel
civlian Africa atrocities brutality summary execution beating history
documentary civil war africa culture.
Produced by Jesse Jagz
Directed by Mex of
PXC
THERE ARE MANY VERSIONS BUT
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL FROM THE CHOCOLATE CITY!
Children of War - Sierra
Leone - January 2000
Published on May 16, 2012
This is
the story of the child soldiers who were drugged with cocaine to make them fight
in a war fuelled by blood diamonds, and the child victims of mutilations. Can a
permanent world court bring justice to a lost generation?
A deeply
moving report on Sierra Leone's children of war.
Sherieff
Koroma is today in a schoolroom learning to read and write. Earlier in the year
he was living a different life, his nickname was Captain Cut-Hand. After his
house was burnt down by the RUF he escaped to the bush only to be found by
rebels. They gave him the choice "do we kill you, or do you join us." He was
then drugged up with cocaine and sent out to fight, mutilations became his
trademark. With a smile on his face he describes how he earned respect as a
brave fighter. "Whenever we attacked we children went first. We were fearless."
With enough drugs, and with no other family apart from the rebels, children like
Sherieff were easily manipulated. It is the child fighters who've been
responsible for the worst atrocities in Sierra Leone. Isattu Kargbo, a girl the
same age as Sherieff, recalls the day four boys came and cut off her hand. RUF
leader Foday Sankoh vehemently denies his 'freedom fighters' are responsible for
such mutilations. In an interview here, he blames the Nigerian led peacekeepers
ECOMOG, "It's all lies" he says. The RUF he leads has no other purpose than to
sustain itself and maintain power in Sierra Leone. It gathers wealth from the
Sierra Leoneon diamond mines it controls. Sankoh believes that "the people were
crying for war, and that was answered by God." Yet the people caught up in the
war are sending out different prayers. "Sometines I get an urge to chop off more
hands," Sherieff tells us, "I pray to God to remove this urge. I pray to God to
help me kill myself."
SABC
The Blood on
Jesse Jackson’s Hands
This is the true story of how Jesse Jackson unleashed a
sadistic warlord on the suffering people of Sierra Leone.
Posted:
Wed Aug 14th, 2013 05:05 am
Part One: The Long Slide Into Hell
Our
former president Jimmy Carter tells us that Liberia’s former “President William
Tolbert enjoyed worldwide acceptance as an enlightened Christian layman, having
been the elected leader of the Baptist World Alliance, representing almost all
organizations of this major Protestant faith.” (New York Times 7/13/03) On April
12th, 1980 a Liberian army sergeant assigned to a beach patrol near the Liberian
president’s home directed his platoon to the presidential palace and surprised
President Tolbert in his bed, where the president was promptly disemboweled.
Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe personally cut out President Tolbert’s liver and
heart and ritually mutilated the organs; he left his teeth marks in the flesh;
he would later nail Tolbert’s liver to a wall of the John F. Kennedy Medical
Center in Monrovia. Within hours of his murder, thirteen of President Tolbert’s
cabinet ministers were bound to telephone poles on a Monrovia beach and shot to
death by drunken soldiers loyal to the illiterate Sergeant Doe. Thus began
Liberia’s descent into ruin and depravity.
As the
new self-appointed ruler of Liberia, Samuel Doe briefly indulged in a flirtation
with Libya and then astutely aligned Liberia with the United States. Despite
mounting evidence of increasing atrocities, Washington increased military aid to
Liberia. Few questions were asked.
In 1985, Samuel
Doe staged an election to legitimize his regime and then rigged the outcome. The
United States assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Chester A.
Crocker, announced that Liberia had enjoyed “the beginning, however imperfect,
of a democratic experience.” It was all a fraud. Washington’s solid support for
Samuel K. Doe sent a clear message to all Liberians that any moderate opposition
to the barbaric President Doe was futile.
After
the coup of April 1980, a Liberian citizen named Charles
Taylor, who was then living in the United States, returned to Liberia and
insinuated himself into Samuel Doe’s inner circle. Charles Taylor had entered
the United States on a student visa in 1972. He had attended Chamberlayne Junior
College in Newton, Mass and later attended Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. He
had graduated in 1977 with a degree in economics. In 1983 Doe’s government
accused Taylor of embezzling nearly a million dollars. Embezzlement was
Doe’s chosen word for Taylor’s failure to make kickbacks. Taylor fled back to
the United States.
Responding to a complaint
from the Liberian government, American authorities arrested Taylor in Boston in
1984 and held him for extradition. Taylor was represented by former U.S.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who would later join Saddam Hussein’s defense
team.
After cooling his heels in
the slammer for more than a year, Taylor teamed up with four petty criminals and
together they escaped from the Plymouth House of Correction by cutting his cell
bars with a hacksaw blade and climbing down a bunch of knotted bed sheets. Later
he would claim that God “opened the prison doors for me.”
After his jailbreak, Taylor
found his way to Ghana where he hooked up with Liberian dissidents. Taylor
befriended revolutionaries from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Libya. In Libya
the government intelligence apparatus put the willing Mr. Taylor through
al-Mathabh al-Thauriya al-Alamiya – in English: World Revolutionary
Headquarters. It was a school for leftist “revolutionary” guerrillas from every
part of Africa. It was at Colonel Qaddafi’s school for thugs that Charles Taylor
befriended a former Sierra Leone army corporal named Foday Sankoh.
The Invasion
Fortified with money and
weapons supplied by Colonel Qaddafi and with the financial and political support
of Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, Charles Taylor made his move on Samuel Doe’s
Liberia.
On
Christmas Eve of 1989, Charles Taylor led a band of 100 guerrillas into
Liberia’s northern Nimba County from neighboring Ivory Coast and sparked a civil
war that would continue for fourteen years. By the time he was forced from power
in 2003 the conflicts he had ignited had swept away the lives of more than
300,000 Africans and uprooted millions of others who scattered into half a dozen
West African nations. Taylor carried about a map that he called the map of
Greater Liberia which included parts of Guinea and the diamond fields of Sierra
Leone. He was a man with a grandiose plan.
Among Charles Taylor’s
“revolutionary” innovations was the formation of his notorious Small Boys Units,
contingents of intensely loyal child soldiers, some as young as five years old.
These boy soldiers revered Charles Taylor as “our father;” he fed them a steady
diet of marijuana and crack cocaine.
As many as 10,000 child
soldiers fought in Liberia’s last three years of civil war – the final swell of
carnage in fourteen years of conflict. Battlefield commanders prized these
little fighters for their unquestioning obedience and their lack of
comprehension of the suffering of others.
Taylor’s officers would
demand that boys kill their parents and family members, thereby breaking the
ultimate African taboo. Taylor’s commanders would recruit heavily from the vast
pool of younger males who were frustrated by the authority of their elders and
who lacked the “bride wealth” to get on with their lives. Rather than waiting
years to inherit dowry wealth from their fathers and uncles, Taylor espoused a
smash-and-grab take-it-now philosophy. Young recruits were plied with
methamphetamines, marijuana and crack cocaine to blunt all qualms and to sharpen
a killer mentality. The little soldiers were given license to rape and
plunder.
All the while he was eroding
the traditional African respect for elders, Charles Taylor was substituting
himself as an enthralling all-powerful elder authority over the young troopers
who maimed and slaughtered in his name.
Taylor’s “boys” ran amok,
indulging in ritual mutilations, impromptu amputations and cannibalism. Women
and children were not spared. Taylor’s boys slaughtered five American
nuns.
According to the New York Times (4/2/06),
“Mr. Taylor also co-opted
the secret societies that dominate life in many West African countries, like the
Poro hunting society in Liberia. This gave him access to a world of unseen power
and allowed him to project an aura of mystery and invincibility. Rumors that he
practiced cannibalism, human sacrifice and blood atonement rituals merely added
to his mystique.”
In September 1990 President
Doe was captured, tortured and dismembered. By 1991 Taylor’s forces held sway
over ninety percent of Liberia and were applying pressure to its weakened
government. Taylor deployed his militias to seize control of the Liberian
economy, of its natural abundance of timber and raw materials. He controlled
hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trade as well as booty from smuggling
and drug trafficking.
Making Matters Worse
In March of 1991, Charles
Taylor began encouraging his fellow gangster, Foday Sankoh, to ignite a war in
neighboring Sierra Leone – a nation Taylor coveted as part of his imaginary
Greater Liberia. With Taylor’s support, Sankoh’s troopers went straight for
Sierra Leone’s diamond mines. They called their greedy gang the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF); they referred to Sierra Leone as their Kuwait because of the
wealth it would provide them. In every meaningful sense, the monstrous Foday
Sankoh was a creature of Charles Taylor. Without Taylor there would not have
been a Revolutionary United Front.
Horrific mayhem laid both
countries to waste during Bill Clinton’s budding presidency. Two hundred
thousand of Liberia’s three million citizens were slaughtered. Taylor agreed to
13 peace treaties, but only did so when he needed time to rearm. He trashed all
thirteen agreements: It was a methodology he had learned from Colonel Qaddafi.
When Taylor felt his grip on Liberia was firm, he pushed for a “free and open”
election for the presidency of Liberia. But every citizen understood that if
Taylor lost the election he would unleash his AK-47-toting, machete-wielding
Small Boys Units on the population.
In short, the 1997 election
was conducted “in an atmosphere of intimidation,” to quote the U.S. State
Department. With armed children running amok in the streets chanting “He killed
my pa. He killed my ma. I’ll vote for him,” Charles Taylor garnered seventy-five
percent of the vote.
As Charles Taylor tightened
his grip on Liberia, Foday Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front was suffering
setbacks in Sierra Leone. The government had contracted the services of a
private South African security firm named Executive Outcomes which arrived in
May of 1995 and began inflicting grief on the RUF. By early 1996 Sankoh’s
guerrillas had been evicted from the diamond fields that had bankrolled his
homicidal ventures. The RUF had been severely weakened by Executive
Outcomes.
In February of 1996 the
United Nations sent election monitors to Sierra Leone and allowed a veteran UN
official named Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to step outside his UN role and run for
president of Sierra Leone. Mr. Kabbah won the election with far more votes than
voters. President Kabbah then asked the well-armed Nigerians to become his
protectors. The Nigerians were only too happy to oblige and promptly established
a heroin trafficking hub at the Freetown airport.
By the end of 1996 the
Revolutionary United Front appeared to be a hollow shell. It was then that
President Kabbah did something nearly fatal: he made “peace” with Foday Sankoh
and agreed to terminate his government’s contract with Executive Outcomes. Soon
thereafter, in May of 1997, disaffected government troops stormed the Freetown
prison, released hundreds of condemned criminals and RUF officers, and then
seized the reins of government. President Kabbah ran off to neighboring Guinea.
Then the coup bossmen invited Foday Sankoh and the RUF to join their junta.
Altogether they tore up the constitution; they festooned the hills surrounding
Freetown with artillery pieces and then they threatened to bombard the city if
anyone complained. They massacred and mutilated civilians; they abducted girls
as sex slaves; they forced villagers to toil in the diamond mines. Order would
not be restored until Britain, Sierra Leone’s former colonial ruler, sent in
troops in 2000.
In short order the RUF took
control of the junta and established goon rule: the political opposition was
punished with rape, amputations or death. Judicial due process was suspended;
civic leaders were locked away.
Sankoh’s troops pounced on
the diamond fields of Kono and Tongo. Soon rough uncut diamonds were being
ferried away to Liberia in Charles Taylor’s military helicopters. Thereafter,
Liberia became a big-time exporter of diamonds even though Liberia itself
produced few diamonds.
Just when it seemed that the
lives of the citizens of Liberia and Sierra Leone couldn’t get any more grim,
Bill Clinton took an interest in these unhappy nations.
Part Two: Clinton’s Disastrous Special Envoy
Bill Clinton was determined
to avoid any African entanglements. He had ignored Rwanda as it slid into savage
chaos in 1994, when the intervention of a single American battalion would have
averted that humanitarian disaster; Clinton was not about to rescue Sierra Leone
in 1998. Clinton punted African affairs to his secretary of state Madeline
Albright who then fobbed African policy off onto the Congressional Black Caucus
– a Democrat power block in Congress. Clinton never offered an opinion about
anything African without first consulting Congressman Donald Payne (D., N.J.) of
the Black Caucus or Clinton’s soul mate, Jesse Jackson. Every gesture of
Clinton’s administration toward Liberia was crafted to legitimize the warlord
Charles Taylor.
President Taylor had
achieved so much personal control of the Liberian economy that folks had taken
to referring to Liberia as Charles Taylor, Inc. The tight circle of friends
around Bill Clinton saw in Charles Taylor a man they could deal with. To
inaugurate their relationship, a private meeting was arranged between President
Taylor and Jesse Jackson whom Bill Clinton had personally designated as his
“special envoy” to Liberia.
In February of 1998 Jesse
Jackson touched down at the Monrovia airport. Waiting to greet him was a
Liberian named Romeo Horton. Mr. Horton had gone to college in the United States
and he had traveled between the two countries for two decades. In the early
1980s Horton was in one of Master Sergeant Samuel Doe’s jail cells when Jackson
and others appealed for his release. Jackson later met Horton in Chicago.
Romeo Horton’s presence at
Jackson’s arrival in Monrovia was stagecrafted by the warlord Charles Taylor.
Taylor had summoned Horton back to Liberia to brief him about Jesse Jackson. The
last thing Taylor wanted was a sermon on human rights from Clinton’s “special
envoy.” His worries were baseless. Because of the helpful Mr. Horton, Jackson’s
audience with the Liberian gangster on February 12th, 1998 was all smiles. These
two hustlers were ready to do business. It was in the Clinton Administration’s
interest to mainstream Charles Taylor. Clinton was keen to avoid any African
entanglements; he saw Charles Taylor as someone with whom he could deal.
Soon after this meeting,
Nigerian troops liberated Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Foday Sankoh’s
troops retreated across the border into Liberia where they were welcomed by
Sankoh’s mentor and partner in mass murder, Charles Taylor.
In early March of 1998
Sierra Leone’s exiled president, Ahmad Kabbah, returned to his homeland. A mere
two weeks later, Bill Clinton and an enormous entourage of “friends of Bill”
entered Liberian airspace on a fun-filled taxpayer-funded African safari.
(Transportation costs alone were $42.8 million.) It was then that Bill Clinton
emboldened Charles Taylor with thirty minutes of encouragement during a
telephone downlink from Air Force One. The airborne entourage included Jackson
and lots of his business pals who were in Africa to make a financial
killing.
Just before Bill Clinton’s
big African adventure, Nigeria’s dictator Sani Abacha had announced his
intention to run as the one-and-only unopposed candidate for president of
Nigeria. People with a preference for democratic civilian rule had scoffed at
the mockery of democracy that a single military candidate represented, but Bill
Clinton was quick to assert that it was enough for Abacha to run for office “as
a civilian.” Jesse Jackson chimed in that “No body should dictate to the
Nigerian people who their leaders are,” by which he meant no one except the
unopposed military-dictator-candidate-for-president Sani Abacha.
Just as the
multi-million-dollar Bill-and-Jesse screw-the-taxpayer African party junket was
winding down, Liberia’s homicidal bossman Charles Taylor ordered Foday Sankoh’s
machete-wielding Revolutionary United Front back into long-suffering Sierra
Leone where they began a slaughterfest called “Operation No Living Thing.” To
hear our State Department describe it, this premeditated attack on Sierra Leone
was an orgy of “brutal killings, severe mutilations, and deliberate
dismemberments, in a widespread campaign of terror.” So Taylor was an
acknowledged terrorist as was his sidekick, Foday Sankoh. Amnesty International
enumerated thousands of murders and mutilations. All the while, Jesse Jackson
was doing feel-good public relations for the terrorist Charles Taylor.
Showcasing a Terrorist
Back in Chicago, Mister
Jackson hosted an extravagant media presentation designed to showcase the
terrorist Charles Taylor as the savior of Liberia.
Though Mr. Jackson
fraudulently billed his Taylor love-fest as a “reconciliation” conference and
falsely claimed that it was an opportunity for opposition Liberians to have a
dialog with Charles Taylor, opposition leaders remember that evening
differently. According to Harry Greaves, who co-founded the Liberian Action
Party, “This was just a PR exercise by Charles Taylor.” Taylor’s wife Jewel
Howard Taylor led the Liberian government delegation and the warlord himself
filled the enormous video screen of Jesse’s Chicago PUSH auditorium and rambled
on at length.
S.J.K. Nyanseor, chairman of
Liberian Democratic Future, would later protest to the Congressional Black
Caucus that Jackson’s shindig was “nothing more than a scheme designed to
promote Taylor and his repressive government.” He was offended that Jackson had
not invited a single opposition leader to his so-called “reconciliation
conference.” Indeed, the invitations that Jackson sent out did not mention any
Liberian speaker or guest other than the warlord Charles Taylor. In fact, Mister
Jackson’s aide, Yuri Tadesse, crudely informed opposition leaders that they
would not be given any opportunity to say anything.
Mr. Bodioh Wisseh Siapoe,
chairmen of the Coalition of Progressive Liberians, was repulsed by the
participation of Jackson’s close associate Romeo Horton, whom he asserted
“helped finance the carnage of our people.”
Jesse Jackson spent the
evening shamelessly shilling for the barbaric Charles Taylor. Jackson demanded
that Liberians stop posting details of Taylor’s atrocities on the Internet. Mr.
Jackson indignantly proclaimed that “The international community frequents the
Internet and takes note of whatever information is disseminated on the
Information Superhighway. So, please stay off the Net,” according to people in
attendance.
Mister Jackson introduced no
fewer than ten of Charles Taylor’s officials who spoke for hours about the
paradise Charles Taylor was creating in Liberia. When some opposition folks
appealed for a tribunal to try Liberian war criminals, PUSH operatives declared
that time was short and drove the dissidents from the stage.
According to Harry Greaves,
“The general perception in the Liberian community was that Jackson was a paid
lobbyist for Charles Taylor.” Liberians fingered Jackson’s pal Romeo Horton as
Taylor’s bagman to Jackson.
Harry Greaves knew for a
fact that Jackson was a money grubber: Liberian human rights advocates had
appealed to Jackson to support their cause by attending a prayer service at the
Washington National Cathedral in 1990. Jackson had agreed. Invitations were sent
announcing Jackson’s coming appearance. Then, at the last minute, Jackson
demanded an up-front payment of $50,000 to appear. The human rights group could
not meet Jackson’s demand for cash, so Jackson ditched the event. Clearly, Jesse
Jackson had both feet firmly planted in Charles Taylor’s camp.
Jesse’s Evil Deeds
African journalist Tom
Kamara has written that “Reverend Jackson is considered a civil rights leader in
America, but in Africa he is a killers’ rights leader.” Why would he say such a
thing? Here’s why . . .
On July 25th, 1998, the
Nigerian government sent the warlord Foday Sankoh home in chains. President
Kabbah announced that Sankoh would stand trial for treason against Sierra Leone.
Days later, a handcuffed Sankoh appeared on television telling his gang of thugs
not to shoot at government soldiers or their Nigerian army allies. At that
moment it seemed that peace was at hand: a sadistic mass murderer was in chains
and his boy-soldier murder machine was about to become a leaderless rabble.
These were positive developments. Any genuine follower of Jesus Christ would
have welcomed this moment.
Sadly, Jesse Jackson was
secretly using all of his influence to spring the homicidal Foday Sankoh from
captivity. After all, Sankoh was a partner-in-genocide with Jackson’s associate
Charles Taylor, and what was good for Taylor promised rewards for Jesse Jackson
. . . so to hell with the people of Liberia. Jackson immediately set to work
pressuring Sierra Leone’s President Ahmad Kabbah to release Foday Sankoh.
On September 18, hundreds of
Taylor’s Special Security Service officers and members of his police Special
Task Force, teamed up with rag-tag contingents of Taylor’s armed factions and
indiscriminately used automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and light
artillery against Liberia’s ethnic Krahns. Hundreds of Liberians, many women and
children, were slaughtered in seventeen hours of mayhem. People were shot on the
spot during house-to-house searches. Taylor was hunting for rival warlord
Roosevelt Johnson, an ethnic Krahn.
The following day, Roosevelt
Johnson sought refuge in the American embassy. As he and his associates were
entering the United States Embassy, Taylor’s goons opened fire, killing two of
Johnson’s friends and wounding two United States Marine Corps embassy guards.
Taylor’s thugs had trashed the Geneva Convention governing diplomatic relations.
So, how did Bill Clinton’s administration respond?
Jesse Jackson called his pal
Charles Taylor and urged him to call off his dogs. After that, Bill Clinton’s
State Department threw a blanket of secrecy over the embassy murders, referring
to the location of the Geneva violations in official reports as “a Western
embassy.”
With the Clinton State
Department and Jesse Jackson hard at work concealing his violations of
international law, Charles Taylor was emboldened to commit even more outrageous
acts of indecency. Taylor and the Revolutionary United Front began a push to
recapture the diamond fields of Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson set
off on another African junket as Clinton’s “special envoy.” While in Guinea,
Jackson cajoled Charles Taylor and Ahmad Kabbah into signing the Mano River
non-aggression pact, which included the stipulation that neither country would
allow its territory to be used as a staging area for attacks on the other. It
was all for show: even as he was signing the Mano River pact Taylor was
subverting its intent by rearming Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front for
guerrilla operations in Sierra Leone.
As Jesse Jackson recalls it,
“Kabbah had just executed some of Sankoh’s guys and was about to execute Sankoh.
So we appealed to Kabbah not to kill Sankoh.” Why would Jackson do that? Sankoh
was a monster who employed drug-addled children to kill and mutilate countless
Africans; Sankoh was an agent of mayhem, chaos and suffering. Why was Jesse
Jackson so keen to win the release of this satanic monstrosity?
Jackson flew to Freetown and
appealed to President Kabbah on Sankoh’s behalf. Jackson repeated his appeal
during a stopover in Ghana. A smiling Jackson proclaimed, “We live in the
morning of a new day.”
In January 1999, Sankoh’s
guerrillas launched an epic attack on the capital city of Sierra Leone, driving
before them a human shield of women and children. Along the way they torched
homes, chopped off arms and legs, raped children and shot bystanders on a whim.
Within three weeks the RUF had slaughtered six thousand citizens, most of them
non-combatants. When a Nigerian army counter offensive drove the RUF from
Freetown, Sankoh’s thugs torched entire city blocks and abducted thousands of
children to exploit as boy soldiers or sex slaves.
Just as Sierra Leone’s
President Kabbah had persuaded the Nigerian peacekeepers to strike a crushing
blow against the barbaric RUF, Jesse Jackson interceded to stop this winning
counter offensive. Clinton’s State Department had invited a RUF spokesman to
Washington where the RUF spokesman chatted with Donald Payne who, in turn, urged
President Kabbah to release Foday Sankoh and to negotiate with Sankoh’s RUF
“without precondition.” Under pressure, with the Nigerian counter offensive
stymied by Jesse Jackson & Company, President Kabbah reluctantly
acquiesced to U.S. State Department meddling. Foday Sankoh was released on April
19th and Sankoh flew away to Lome, the capital city of Togo.
Because of Jesse Jackson and
his meddlesome friends a monster was once again unleashed on the African
civilian population; a golden opportunity to decapitate Sankoh’s rogue murder
machine had been snatched away. After that, Jesse Jackson would personally
guarantee the ruination of Sierra Leone by physically removing President Kabbah
from an African summit meeting in Ghana and spiriting him away to an unannounced
confrontation with the insurgent bossman Foday Sankoh in Lome, Togo.
The abduction of President
Kabbah happened this way: At an African summit meeting in Accra, Ghana, Jesse
Jackson urged President Kabbah to meet with Foday Sankoh. Jackson arranged to
have a helicopter waiting at the Accra airport. Jackson arrived at the airport
surrounded by his ample staff and by people friendly with Charles Taylor. When
President Kabbah attempted to board the helicopter with his information and
finance ministers, Jackson suddenly declared that there was no room for Kabbah’s
aides, both of whom were known to be opposed to making concessions to the
warlord Foday Sankoh. Jackson refused to make room for Kabbah’s aides by leaving
any of his attendents in Accra. So, Jackson spirited President Kabbah away to
Togo without a single supportive aide. It was a one-hundred-mile hop down to
Accra, where Jackson refused to exit the helicopter until his image could be
captured by a late-arriving CNN film crew. The president of Togo was kept
waiting in the hot African sun for most of an hour because of Jackson’s swollen
vanity.
The isolation of the remote
meeting place and Jesse Jackson’s pressure tactics paid off for Jesse and his
homicidal allies: Against his better judgment, President Kabbah agreed to a
ceasefire with Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front. This would allow the
Qaddafi-trained Foday Sankoh an opportunity to replenish his weapons supply.
Kabbah was also pressured to enter into power-sharing negotiations with Sankoh.
Jesse Jackson then convinced the U.S. State Department to supply Sankoh’s
guerrillas with updated communications equipment so that Sankoh could better
coordinate his field operations in the bush.
As a direct consequence of
the Jackson-brokered Lome Accord, former death row prisoner Foday Sankoh was
elevated to the office of vice president of Sierra Leone. Even worse, Foday
Sankoh was granted the chairmanship of Sierra Leone’s Management of Strategic
Mineral Resources – translation: the diamond mines.
This was what the Charles
Taylor/Foday Sankoh partnership had been seeking all along and Jesse Jackson
handed it to them on a silver platter! Within days Sankoh was negotiating with
the diamond gnomes of Antwerp. When the Belgian diamond merchant Michel
Desaedeleer handed Foday Sankoh a bank check the warlord was nonplussed. The
diamond merchant recalled, “He just looked at it and asked me, ‘What’s this?’ It
was the first bank check he had ever seen.”
Foday Sankoh exploited
Sierra Leone’s diamond sales to buy allies and arms. Belgian air force planes
brought in weapons for the Revolutionary United Front insurgents in crates
disguised as farm produce. Rebel diamonds purchased sixty-eight tons of weapons
for the RUF from Ukrainian arms dealer Leonid Minim. Diamonds bought the silence
of United Nations watchdogs in Freetown. Raw uncut diamonds purchased political
influence in the United States.
Looking back on the mayhem
that Jesse Jackson worked so hard to unleash on the people of Sierra Leone,
Jackson allows that “putting Sankoh over the diamonds, that was a bit too
generous.” Jackson pretends that he was not a driving force behind the ruinous
Lome Accord, but what is perfectly clear is the fact that at the historical
moment when the leader of a sadistic boy-soldier insurrectionist army was about
to meet the hangman, it was Jesse Jackson who intruded into the internal affairs
of Sierra Leone, won the release of the genocidal Foday Sankoh, and then
pressured the president of Sierra Leone to negotiate with the rebel
leader.
The hideous development of
Foday Sankoh being elevated to the vice presidency of Sierra Leone and given
control of the diamond mines so that he could finance further slaughter in
Sierra Leone and Liberia is a direct consequence of meddling by Jesse Jackson
acting as Bill Clinton’s “special envoy.” Jackson was “special” indeed; he had a
gift for making life unbearable for the people of Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Without Jackson’s enthusiastic intrusion into Sierra Leone’s internal affairs
the trade in blood diamonds would have stopped. Jackson has the blood of
countless slaughtered Africans on his hands.
The Jackson-brokered
ceasefire fell apart in less than six months; it was just an opportunity for
Sankoh’s sadistic gang to rearm and redeploy. Jackson’s legitimization of Sankoh
and Taylor set the stage for the slaughter of tens of thousands of African
children.
Was Jackson surpassingly
stupid or just his usual self-serving self when he unleashed Foday Sankoh on a
suffering Sierra Leone? Did Jackson get a clue when Sankoh’s machete-wielding
savages began murdering UN peacekeepers and then took 500 peacekeepers hostage
in May of 2000?
By mid-May Jackson was
warned to stay out of Freetown because he had been labeled a “killers’ rights
leader” by Africans. Jackson blundered into Monrovia at the height of the
hostage crisis and then attempted, with no success, to cajole Charles Taylor
into intervening. Jackson had unleashed the dogs of war and Taylor saw no profit
in reining in his buddy Foday Sankoh.
On June 5th, 2000, U.S.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker disavowed any support for Jackson’s
bumbling attempts at diplomacy. The Clinton folks gave their “special envoy” the
boot.
In a revealing article in the New York Post titled “The War That Jesse
Built” (7/10/03), author Kenneth R. Timmerman suggests that
“Among the first questions
prosecutors should ask Taylor is whom he paid off using Foday Sankoh’s diamonds.
U.S. intelligence officers reported these payoffs at the very moment that
Jackson was negotiating a favorable role for Taylor and for Sankoh in Lome,
former CIA officers and other sources have told me over the past two years. As a
result of the payoffs, Taylor continued to enjoy support among the Congressional
Black Caucus and with the Clinton State Department.”
The ever hustling Mr.
Jackson, who has been cutting corners and cutting deals ever since he dropped
out of the Chicago Theological Seminary after a scant six months and began
calling himself “the Reverend Jackson,” definitely has the blood of slaughtered
African innocents on his hands. Because he was acting as America’s “special
envoy” to Africa, it’s high time Mr. Jesse answered a few tough questions about
the horror he wrought in Africa. It’s time to follow the trail of the African
blood diamonds.
Thomas Clough
Copyright 2007
April 16, 2007
EthiopianReview.com | December
2nd, 2010
U.S. diplomatic
dispatched that are leaked and now posted on Wikileaks.org confirms Ethiopian
Review’s report that Ethiopia’s despot Meles Zenawi was hired by U.S. Government
to invade Somalia in 2006. The proxy war was spearheaded by U.S. head for African affairs
Jendayi Frazer who conducted the disastrous invasion
over the objection of her own colleagues in the State Department and the
Pentagon. The 2006 invasion of Somalia succeeded in eliminating the
benign Islamist group UIC, but it also led to the birth the al Queda-affiliated
al Shabab. In short, al Shabab is the creation of Jendayi Frazer and Meles
Zenawi. Al Shabab is now being financed by Saudi sheiks and it is
purchasing its weapons from Woyanne and Uganda officers, as reported here by French
journalist Alain Lallemand for LeMonde newspaper. Over 20,000 Somalis were
slaughtered and over 2 million were made homeless as a result of Jendayi
Frazer’s adventure and Meles Zenawi’s prostitution. —
Elias Kifle
The following is from Wired.com:
WikiLeaked
Cable Confirms U.S.’ Secret Somalia Op
2 December 2010
It was an off-hand
compliment during a January 2007 dinner
meeting between Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed
Al Nahyan, plus staff, and then-U.S. Central Commander boss General John
Abizaid. But Al Nayhan’s jocular praise, as reported in WikiLeaks’ trove of
leaked diplomatic cables, is a rare admission that the United States played a
central role in the disastrous December 2006
Ethiopian
Woyanne [the ruling party in
Ethiopia] invasion of Somalia, a move that ultimately emboldened the very
Islamic extremists the U.S. and
Ethiopia
Woyanne had hoped to
squash.
“The Somalia job was
fantastic,” Al Nahyan interjected between discussions of Iran, Saudi Arabia and
the prince’s desire to buy Reaper drones for his air force. At the time of Al
Nahyan’s comment, the dust was just settling from Ethiopia’s Blitzkrieg-style
assault toward Mogadishu. Some 50,000
Ethiopian
Woyanne troops, supported by
T-55 tanks, Hind helicopters and Su-27 jet fighters, had cut a bloody swath
through the lightly-armed forces of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of
mostly nationalist Islamic fighters that prior to the invasion had controlled
much of Somalia.
The Somali attack had
surprised outside observers.
Ethiopia
Woyanne and Somalia had been
rivals a long time, but no one had expected such brutal fighting, and so
suddenly. It was fairly obvious that Ethiopia had received significant help —
even urging — for its invasion. For one,
Ethiopian
Woyanne air force did not
appear capable of coordinated air strikes in support of on-the-move ground
troops; it seemed likely that the Su-27s were piloted by Russian or Ukrainian
mercenaries — a time-honored
tradition in Africa. What’s more,
Ethiopian
Woyanne’s army didn’t
possess the intelligence or logistical skill for long-range operations. Those,
not coincidentally, are particular American strengths.
Washington certainly had a
motive to get involved in Somalia. There was growing concern in the White House
and the Pentagon that Somalia’s Islamists might ally themselves with Al Qaeda
and turn to international terrorism. Already with two escalating wars on its own
plate, the U.S. was in no position to openly lead its own large-scale attack on
Somalia. It’d have been far simpler to simply sponsor somebody else to do the
dirty work. Enter
Ethiopia
Woyanne. [Ethiopia has nothing to do with the invasion of Somalia.]
In early January following
the invasion, USA Today’s Barbara Slavin reported on Washington’s
extensive behind-the-scenes
support for
Ethiopian
Woyanne troops. “The ties
include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training,” Slavin noted. A couple
days later, The Washington Post’s Pauline Jelinek, citing anonymous
sources, described U.S. Special
Forces accompanying
Ethiopian
Woyanne troops. CBS news
revealed that U.S. Air Force
gunships were active over southern Somalia during the Ethiopian
blitz. Through all the reporting, U.S. officials remained vague or silent on the
subject of Washington’s involvement. All the same, evidence was mounting that
the U.S. had played a leading role in the
Ethiopian
Woyanne invasion.
Journalists only strongly suspected it, but Abu Dhabi prince Al Nayhan
apparently knew it for certain, if his praise of “the Somalia job” was any
indication.
Three years later, it’s
clear the
Ethiopian
Woyanne invasion was a bad
idea. The attack rallied
Somalis of all stripes and politics against the invaders,
ultimately boosting support for fringe Islamic groups that now had a clear enemy
in the
Ethiopians
Woyannes and their suspected
American puppet-masters. Violence mounted as the
Ethiopians
Woyannes settled in for a
bloody, two-year occupation.
When the
Ethiopians
Woyannes withdrew in 2009,
the Islamists rushed to fill the vacuum. A year later, the Al Shabab Islamic
group, successor to the Islamic Courts, conducted its first international terror
attack. Last month, a Somali-born American teen plotted to explode a
bomb in Portland. Today, U.S. Special Forces continue to target
terrorists in Somalia. There are arguably more of them than ever, thanks in part
to the botched
Ethiopian
Woyanne invasion. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and
Ethiopia’s
Woyanne’s entry in 2006 was
not a really good idea,” U.S. diplomat Donald Yamamoto said in
March.
Related posts:
Ethiopia: WikiLeaks
Reveals
Details of U.S. Dialogue
With Meles
6 December
2010
document
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi told top visiting American officials before elections in May this year
that he would “crush… with our full force”opposition leaders who “violated the
laws of Ethiopia,” according to a diplomatic cable published by
WikiLeaks.
The cable, sent to Washington
from the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, reported Meles as telling a U.S.
delegation in January that such leaders would suffer the fate of the jailed
opposition leader, Birtukan Midekssa. They would “vegetate like Birtukan in jail
forever,” he reportedly said.
Birtukan, who was jailed in 2005
following that year’s elections, then jailed again in 2008, was released in
October this year after Meles had been returned to power in an election
criticised by the U.S., European Union and rights groups.
Meles also told the U.S.
delegation, which included Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs
Maria Otero and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson,
that while Ethiopia welcomed foreign funding of charities, it would not allow
donations from abroad for political activity.
The cable said Meles had said
“those Ethiopians who want to engage in political activity should organize and
fund themselves.” Civil society organization leaders who received foreign
funding were accountable to the sources of their funding rather than to their
organizations.
Replying, the delegation told
Meles the May elections “would be closely watched in the U.S.” and urged him “to
exercise wise judgment and leadership, give the opposition more political space,
and consider the release of Birtukan Midekssa.”
The cable said Carson “stressed
the importance of putting Ethiopia’s democracy on an upward and positive
trajectory, and not letting it atrophy or slide backward, using the suffrage and
civil rights movements in the U.S. as an illustration of challenges the U.S. has
faced as it improved its own democratic system.”
The full text of the cable, as
published by WikiLeaks, follows:
CONFIDENTIAL SECTION
01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000163
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958 DECL:
02/01/2020
TAGS PREL, PGOV,
KDEM, MOPS, ECON, KE, ET
SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY OTERO’S
MEETING WITH ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER MELES ZENAWI -JANUARY 31,
2010
Classified By: Under
Secretary Maria Otero for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).
¶1. (SBU) January
31, 2010; 4:15 p.m.; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
¶2. (SBU)
Participants:
U.S. Under Secretary Otero
Assistant Secretary Carson NSC Senior Director for African Affairs Michelle
Gavin PolOff Skye Justice (notetaker)
Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi Special Assistant Gebretensae Gebremichael
Summary
-------
¶3. (C) Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi told Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero his
government placed no restrictions on its citizens’democratic and civil rights,
only the right of foreign entities to fund them. Foreign funding of civil
society organizations (CSOs) is antithetical to democratization, he said, as it
makes civil society leaders accountable to foreign entities rather than their
own members, turning the concept of democratic accountability on its head.
Democracy in Ethiopia must develop organically, and Ethiopians must organize and
fund themselves and defend their own rights. Meles assured U/S Otero that
Ethiopia’s upcoming elections will be free, fair, transparent, and peaceful, and
elaborated steps his government has taken to ensure this. While opposition
groups may resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the election, the GoE
will enforce the recently enacted Electoral Code of Conduct and its existing
election laws without regard to party affiliation. Meles said he has warned
opposition leaders that the international community will not be able to save
them should they violate Ethiopian law, but rather if they do so they will face
the same fate as opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa, who will “vegetate in jail
forever.” The U.S. delegation noted that Ethiopia’s forthcoming elections would
be closely watched in the U.S., and urged Meles to exercise wise judgment and
leadership, give the opposition more political space, and consider the release
of Birtukan Midekssa.
¶4. (C) Meles said the GoE is
not enthusiastic about Kenya’s Jubaland initiative, but is sharing intelligence
with Kenya and hoping for success. In the event the initiative is not
successful, the GoE has plans in place to limit the destabilizing impacts on
Ethiopia. On climate change, Meles said the GoE fully supports the Copenhagen
accord, but is disappointed with signs the U.S. may not support his proposed
panel to monitor international financial contributions under the accord. Meles
made no substantive comment on inquiries regarding the liberalization of banking
and telecommunications in Ethiopia. End summary.
Foreign Funding of CSOs
Antithetical to Democratization
--------------------------------------------- ----------
--------------------------------------------- ----------
¶5. (C) Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi told U/S Otero the development of a strong democracy and civil society is
the only way Ethiopia can ensure peace and unity among an ethnically and
religiously divided population. He noted that the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE)
commitment to democracy is directly related to stability, adding that for
Ethiopia, “democratization is a matter of survival.” Responding to U/S Otero’s
concern that Ethiopia’s recently-enacted CSO law threatened the role of civil
society, Meles said while the GoE welcomes foreign funding of charities, those
Ethiopians who want to engage in political activity should organize and fund
themselves. The leaders of CSOs that receive foreign funding are not accountable
to their organizations, he said, but rather to the sources of their funding,
turning the concept of democratic accountability on its head. Meles asserted
that Ethiopians were not too poor to organize themselves and establish their own
democratic traditions, recalling that within his lifetime illiterate peasants
and poor students had overthrown an ancient imperial dynasty.
¶6. (C) Meles said his
country’s inability to develop a strong democracy was not due to insufficient
understanding of democratic principles, but rather because Ethiopians had
not
ADDIS ABAB 00000163 002 OF
003
internalized those
principles. Ethiopia should follow the example of the U.S. and European
countries, he said, where democracy developed organically and citizens had a
stake in its establishment. When people are committed to democracy and forced to
make sacrifices for it, Meles said, “they won’t let any leader take it away from
them.” But “when they are spoon-fed democracy, they will give it up when their
source of funding and encouragement is removed.” Referencing his own struggle
against the Derg regime, Meles said he and his compatriots received no foreign
funding, but were willing to sacrifice and die for their cause, and Ethiopians
today must take ownership of their democratic development, be willing to
sacrifice for it, and defend their own rights.
¶7. (C) Meles drew a clear
distinction between Ethiopians’ democratic and civil rights on the one hand, and
the right of foreign entities to fund those rights on the other. There is no
restriction on Ethiopians’ rights, he asserted, merely on foreign funding,
adding that the U.S. has similar laws. U/S Otero countered that while the U.S.
does not allow foreign funding of political campaigns, there is no restriction
on foreign funding of NGOs. Ms. Gavin noted the examples of foreign support for
the abolitionist movement in the U.S. and for the anti-apartheid movement in
South Africa as positive examples of foreign engagement of civil society, and
expressed that aside from the issue of foreign funding, the ability of local
organizations to legally register, operate, and contribute to democratic
discourse was of tantamount importance.
GoE Will Hold Free and
Fair Elections, Despite
Opposition
--------------------------------------------- ------------
--------------------------------------------- ------------
¶8. (C) Meles assured U/S
Otero that Ethiopia’s upcoming electoral process will be free, fair,
transparent, and peaceful. The GoE has learned from the violence that followed
the 2005 elections, he said, and taken action to ensure that violence is not
repeated. Meles said the recently signed Electoral Code of Conduct (CoC) was not
done for the benefit of political parties, but for the Ethiopian people. The
people will ultimately judge political actors, he said, and they must have
parameters agreed to by the parties by which they will judge those actors. After
the CoC was passed, Meles noted, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) gathered over 1,300 of its senior leaders to discuss
party strategy and train all leaders on the CoC. The EPRDF knows violations of
the CoC by its members will hurt the party and provide a rallying cry for the
opposition. This message will flow down to all EPRDF members, he said, so that
they know what is expected of them, and know both the courts and the party will
hold them accountable to the CoC.
¶9. (C) Meles told U/S Otero
he feared a repeat of the 2005 violence, and that many opposition members were
not interested in peaceful elections, but would rather discredit the electoral
process. As such, the EPRDF cannot give them any excuse to resort to violence.
Meles noted that in addition to opposition political parties, the GoE had
intelligence that the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogaden National Liberation
Front (ONLF), and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki were all directly or
indirectly involved in plots to discredit the elections. The EPRDF, he said,
would “let them be” to show the population that even though their opponents’
goal is not peace, the EPRDF will abide by the law.
¶10. (C) Meles recalled that
in 2005, he had told opposition leaders in the presence of the diplomatic corps
that they should not believe foreign allies would protect them if they violated
the laws of Ethiopia. Opposition leaders were right to believe the diplomatic
corps would try to protect them, he said, as evidenced by the statement they
issued demanding the release of opposition politicians upon their arrest in
2005. Today, Meles said, foreign embassies are inadvertently conveying the same
message, that they will protest the jailing of opposition leaders and
potentially take action against Ethiopia to secure their release. However, the
GoE has made clear to both opposition and EPRDF leaders that nothing can protect
them except the laws and constitution of Ethiopia, and the GoE will clamp down
on anyone who violates those laws. “We will crush them with our full force,”
Meles said, and “they will vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail
forever.”
ADDIS ABAB 00000163 003 OF
003
¶11. (C) In an extended
discussion in response to Meles’ comments, U/S Otero, A/S Carson, and Ms. Gavin
noted that Ethiopia’s forthcoming elections would be closely watched in the U.S.
and that the GoE’s treatment of the opposition would be subject to public
criticism by the Ethiopian diaspora and U.S. political figures. The U.S.
delegation urged Meles to exercise wise judgment and leadership, give the
opposition more political space, and consider the release of Birtukan Midekssa.
A/S Carson stressed the importance of putting Ethiopia’s democracy on an upward
and positive trajectory, and not letting it atrophy or slide backward, using the
suffrage and civil rights movements in the U.S. as an illustration of challenges
the U.S. has faced as it improved its own democratic system. (Note: Three
quarters of the nearly two-hour meeting focused on democracy. End note.)
Ethiopia Not Enthusiastic
About Jubaland Initiative
--------------------------------------------- ------
--------------------------------------------- ------
¶12. (C) Meles said he had
been briefed extensively regarding Kenya’s Jubaland initiative. Because Ethiopia
had previously intervened in Somalia without seeking Kenyan approval, he said,
the GoE would not presume to analyze the Kenyans’ chances for success in their
own intervention. The GoE is sharing intelligence with Kenya, but Meles
expressed a lack of confidence in Kenya’s capacity to pull off a tactical
success, which he feared could have negative regional impacts. The GoE is
therefore working to minimize the likelihood of a spillover effect in Ethiopia’s
Somali Regional State. Noting that Ethiopia might have underestimated Kenya,
Meles said, “We are not enthusiastic, but we are hoping for success.”
GoE Prepared to Move
Forward from Copenhagen
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
¶13. (C) U/S Otero urged
Meles to sign the Copenhagen accord on climate change and explained that it is a
point of departure for further discussion and movement forward on the topic. She
noted that while the agreement has its limitations, it has the international
community moving in the right direction. Meles responded that the GoE supported
the accord in Copenhagen and would support it at the AU Summit. However, he
expressed his disappointment that despite President Obama’s personal assurance
to him that finances committed in Copenhagen would be made available, he had
received word from contacts at the UN that the U.S. was not supportive of
Ethiopia’s proposal for a panel to monitor financial pledges regarding climate
change. Ms. Gavin assured the Prime Minister that she would look into his
concerns.
No Promises on Liberalizing
Telecoms, Banking
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
¶14. (C) U/S Otero and A/S
Carson encouraged Meles to hasten steps to liberalize the telecommunications and
banking industries in Ethiopia, and highlighted both the micro- and
macroeconomic benefits of liberalization. Meles offered no substantive response
to A/S Carson’s query whether any progress had been made toward liberalizing or
otherwise improving telecommunications, joking that Americans’ concept of time
was much faster than Ethiopians’. In response to U/S Otero’s recognition of the
important role of private banks in microfinance projects that directly benefit
the poor, and assurance that private and state-owned banks could thrive
side-by-side, Meles said he would be happy to discuss the issue in the
future.
YATES
Somalia: Al-Shabaab Resurges (analysis)
African Arguments, 14 August
2013
As the US extends its global
terrorism alert to include embassies and consulates in the Middle East and
Africa, this would seem an appropriate moment to examine of the state of ... read more »
Sabahi, 14 August 2013
According to the March 2013
UN Security Council resolution re-authorising the African Union Mission in
Somalia (AMISOM), the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and other foreign troops ... read more »
New Vision, 6 August 2013
Regional heads of state
still want other African countries to contribute to the stabilization effort in
Somalia under AMISOM. So far, this role has been played by states under the ...
read more »
Sabahi, 7 August 2013
Al-Shabaab has again vowed
to increase attacks in Mogadishu, with plots against bases of the African Union
Mission in Somalia and Somali government forces, Somalia's Radio Dalsan ... read more »
Sabahi, 8 August 2013
After liberating regions of
Somalia from al-Shabaab, the government must now deal with the landmines the
militant group left behind and look to international partners for help, ... read more »
Corruption in Mozambique - Wikileaks
American Embassy,
Mozambique
15 August 2012
2009 US embassy cable
explains how Frelimo elite controls economy in that country
Cable from the American
Embassy Maputo, Mozambique, to the Secretary of State Washington, July 17
2009
SUBJECT: GROWING
CORRUPTION AND WEAK GOVERNANCE IN THE
MOZAMBICAN STATE
REF: MAPUTO 713
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires
Todd Chapman for reasons 1.4(b+d)
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Five years
ago, President Guebuza was elected into office on a platform of promoting human
rights and democracy while fighting poverty, corruption, and crime. In the
run-up to the October 28 national elections, a series of reports on Governance
and Corruption in Mozambique from the United Kingdom (DFID), Dutch Embassy, the
Mozambique-based Center for Public Integrity (CIP), NEPAD, and USAID detail
significant donor and civil society concerns about the transparency of President
Guebuza and his government, the ruling FRELIMO party, and elites within the
Government of Mozambique (GRM).
2. (S) Taking advantage of
the absence of a conflict of interest law in Mozambique, political elite are
involved in influence trafficking leading to involvement in corrupt practices.
In recent months, corruption has become a more frequent topic of discussion
among diplomats, Mozambican intellectuals and a few brave journalists,
specifically in the areas of misuse of public funds, misuse of public influence,
conflicts of interest, and narco-trafficking (reftel).
Consensus descriptions of
Mozambique detail a growing trend in generalized and endemic corruption
perpetrated by the highest levels of Mozambican government, and also broad-based
corruption among employees of the state, particularly members of the police and
customs. This environment of widespread corruption, combined with porous
borders, and poorly governed maritime and land borders provides an excellent
opportunity for increased illicit activity and the harboring of undesirable
elements in Mozambique. END SUMMARY.
INFLUENCE TRAFFICKING, BIG BUSINESS FOR FRELIMO
3. (C) President Guebuza was
elected into office on a platform of promoting human rights and democracy while
fighting poverty, corruption, and crime. In the run-up to the October 28
national elections, a series of reports on Governance and Corruption in
Mozambique from the United Kingdom (DFID), Dutch Embassy, the Mozambique-based
Center for Public Integrity (CIP), NEPAD, and USAID (www.usaid.gov/mz/doc/misc/dg assessment 2009.pdf) detail
significant donor and civil society concerns about the transparency of President
Guebuza and his government, the ruling FRELIMO party, and elites within the
Government of Mozambique (GRM).
These reports on corruption
in Mozambique describe weak accountability and ineffective checks of executive
power, political and administrative corruption, and FRELIMO control over
political competition, all of which allow for growth in corrupt practices.
4. (S) Given FRELIMO's
comfort with exploiting state resources, and the absence of a conflict of
interest law, it has become second nature for Party members, including the
President, a career politician who now ranks as the richest Mozambican, to use
their political influence to dominate business in the country. In June,
Mozambique analyst Joseph Hanlon and CIP Director Marcelo Mosse presented a
paper on corruption in Mozambique's elite to the UNU-WIDER Conference in
Helsinki. (Note: While Hanlon and Mosse provide information about the extent of
the business interests of Guebuza and other senior FRELIMO members, they do not
mention ties to narco-trafficking (reftel) and their conclusion that current
corruption is fostering competition in the business community and therefore
engendering development seems misguided. End Note).
The Hanlon and Moss paper
confirms that FRELIMO has a close relationship with the country's leading
business confederation, CTA, whose President Salimo Abdula, is also the
President of Intelec Holdings Ltd, an investment vehicle for President Guebuza.
Intelec holds shares in a variety of the country's most profitable businesses,
most recently purchasing an undisclosed stake in cellular phone company
Vodacom's Mozambican operations and installing Abdula as the CEO.
5. (C) Guebuza and his
family members also exercise their political influence through other investment
vehicles including Cornelder de Mocambique, Insitec, and Focus 21. A FRELIMO
front company, SPI, holds a minority position in Kudumba Investments Lda, the
company that has a 20-year concession to provide scanning services for all of
Mozambique's land and airports. With mandatory fees charged on all in-bound and
out-bound cargo, the company has become a rent-seeking organization.
Perhaps more importantly,
Customs officers choose which inbound shipments to inspect, and which to allow
to pass through Mozambican ports unchecked, thus allowing control over growing
volumes of illicit trade, especially narcotics (reftel). Businessmen across the
country voice their frustrations over the control that a "FRELIMO inner circle
of oligarchs" holds over investments in Mozambique.
Several reports confirm that
a handful of families linked to FRELIMO elite, including former President
Joaquim Chissano as well as Graca Machel (widow of founder of Mozambique Samora
Machel and current wife of Nelson Mandela), control most major business deals in
the country, resulting in a situation where political and business elites are
synonymous.
CORRUPTION BIG AND
SMALL
6. (C) With FRELIMO
controlling all government entities, including the judicial branch, political
will to combat corruption has been lacking. Last year's arrest of former
Interior Minister Almerinho Manhenje on charges of diverting $8.8 million in
state funds appeared to mark the Guebuza Administration's most serious attempt
at prosecuting a senior official.
However, in early 2009, 48
of the 49 counts against Manhenje were dropped, and the arrest seems to be more
the result of intra-FRELIMO squabbling between the camps of President Guebuza
and former President Joaquim Chissano rather the reflection of growing political
will to prosecute corruption at the highest levels.
Despite Guebuza's statements
about a "zero tolerance" stance on corruption, efforts by the GRM to establish
state mechanisms to monitor corrupt practices have been modest. In June 2007 a
law was passed establishing a Financial Intelligence Unit (GIFim), and in
September 2008 the government nominated a GIFim Director.
As of July 2009, he neither
had a staff nor an office. An Anti-Corruption Unit (GCCC) was established in
2003, but flawed Anti-Corruption laws dating from 2002 limit proactive
investigation tools such as electronic surveillance, and have not been amended,
rendering the GCCC impotent.
7. (C) Pervasive petty
corruption, particularly requests for bribes from public officials, causes
damage to public perceptions of FRELIMO and the state, undermining attempts at
good governance and raising transactional costs. Police roadblocks have simply
become opportunities for revenue generation. As an experiment, Poloff drove a
non-diplomatic plated vehicle and was stopped six times in the course of a
five-mile journey in Maputo and was asked for bribes that totaled in excess of
US$80. Perhaps most troubling is that criminal elements within Mozambique with
international connections have realized that officials, from street cops to
political elites, can be purchased.
COMMENT: GOVERNANCE
AFFECTED BY CORRUPTION
8. (C) It is clear that
FRELIMO has further consolidated its already strong grip on power over the past
five years, led by President Guebuza who has personally enriched himself and
ruling party elite as the Mozambican economy continues to grow. One FRELIMO
insider, however, labeled Guebuza's form or corruption as "not the kind that
hurts people, because he is not taking money directly from government coffers.
Rather, he just wants his share of every deal."
Hanlon and Mosse argue as
well that elite involvement in investment continues the country along a
development track. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of widespread and endemic
corruption could generate comparisons between Mozambique and a Zimbabwean-style
of governance led by exploitative political elites that stay in power through
corruption which funds a patronage system (septel).
While President Guebuza
campaigned five years ago on a platform of fighting poverty, corruption, and
crime, it appears that these were simply campaign promises. Most observers
predict Guebuza's reelection, though the appearance of new opposition party
Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) could change the equation
somewhat.
Should Guebuza win by a
significant margin, the political will to fight corruption by a second-term
president not (currently) able to run for re-election is unlikely to follow the
October elections. Most troublesome is that Mozambique's environment of
widespread corruption, combined with porous borders, and relatively ungoverned
spaces, raises concerns that international organized crime will continue to
build its platform in the country for illicit activity. AMANI
Source: Wikileaks
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Mozambique Newsletter and
Clips, 10 December 2010
Four cables released by
Wikileaks show that Todd Chapman, United States Charge d'Affaires (acting
ambassador) in Maputo (until he was sent to Afghanistan in May), made a wide
range ... read more
»
Agencia de Informacao de
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The longest and most
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Mozambique: Wikileaks - U.S. Embassy Declines Comment
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 9 December 2010
The United States Embassy
in Maputo on Thursday declined to comment on the content of secret cables from
the embassy released by the whistle-blowing organisation, Wikileaks. read more »
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December 2010
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF
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WikiLeaks Cablegate, 10 December
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 000713 read more »
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Mozambique: U.S. Freezes Businessman's Assets Over Drugs
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 2 June 2010
United States President
Barack Obama has named Mozambican businessman Mohamed Bachir Suleman as a drug
trafficker, and the US Treasury Department has frozen any assets that his ... read more »
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 11 June 2010
When, on 1 June, US
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Mozambican businessman
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Mozambique: Interpol to Investigate Drug Trafficking
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Interpol intends to
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Mozambique: Drugs - Banks Shun Bachir
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 22 June 2010
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Mozambique's second largest bank, the BCI (Commercial and Investment Bank) on
Monday shut its branch in the Maputo Shopping Centre, owned by businessman ...
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The
Mozambican government says it is working to clear up the case of businessman
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 2 June 2010
The United States embassy
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... read more »
Convicted war criminal Charles Taylor says he sympathises with victims of the violence in Sierra Leone as he faces 80-year jail sentence
- Former Liberian President Charles Taylor begs for leniency before sentencing at The Hague for war crimes
- Taylor's aid to rebels in decade-long Sierra Leone civil war contributed to horrific violence against civilians
- Court hears of rape, public executions, amputations, decapitations of civilians
- Taylor due to be sentenced on May 30
By Tom Gardner
|
Guilt: Charles Taylor was
convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity
Former Liberian President Charles
Taylor begged for leniency ahead of his sentencing for a catalogue of brutal war
crimes saying he has sympathy for Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Taylor was found guilty of 11
counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and
conscripting child soldiers, during a landmark ruling by judges at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in
April.
He asked judges at The Hague to
render their sentence against him in a spirit of ‘reconciliation, not
retribution’.
However, he stopped short of
admitting any wrongdoing, apologizing for his actions, or expressing remorse.
Prosecutors said there was no
reason for leniency, given the extreme nature of the crimes, Taylor's ‘greed’
and misuse of his position of power.
‘The purposely cruel and savage
crimes committed included public executions and amputations of civilians, the
display of decapitated heads at checkpoints, the killing and public
disembowelment of a civilian whose intestines were then stretched across the
road to make a check point, public rapes of women and girls, and people burned
alive in their homes,’ wrote prosecutor Brenda Hollis in a pre-hearing brief.
The court found his aid was
essential in helping rebels in Sierra Leone continue their bloody rampage during
the West African nation's decade-long civil war, which ended in 2002 with more
than 50,000 dead.
It was the first time a former
head of state had been convicted of war crimes since the aftermath of World War
II.
Attacked: Victims of the
brutal crimes committed during the Sierra Leone civil war nurse their wounds
Attacked: Victims of the brutal crimes committed during the Sierra Leone
civil war nurse their wounds
Crimes: Taylor was found guilty of conscripting child soldiers during the
decade-long Sierra Leone civil war
Child soldier: Youngsters
were forced into the army during Liberia's violent civil war, where women were
held as sex slaves and civilians had limbs hacked off with
machetes
Innocent victim: A young
girl, who has had both of her hands amputated, rests at a camp for amputees and
wounded from Sierra Leone's civil war
Taylor is due to be sentenced on
May 30, with prosecutors demanding an 80-year prison term, and defence lawyers
arguing he should at least be given a sentence that leaves him some hope for
life after release.
‘I express my sadness and deepest
sympathy for the atrocities and crimes that were suffered by individuals and
families in Sierra Leone,’ Taylor said.
He insisted his actions had
actually been done to help stabilize the region and claimed he never knowingly
assisted in the commission of crimes.
‘What I did...was done with honour,’ he
said.
‘I was convinced that unless
there was peace in Sierra Leone, Liberia would not be able to move forward.’
Chaos: The decade-long civil
war saw tens of thousands of people killed and many more horrifically mutilated
during the bloody conflict
Bloody: A soldier loyal to
Taylor keeps watch on the streets of Monrovia during fighting
Judges found Taylor helped the
rebels obtain weapons in full knowledge they would likely be used to commit
terrible crimes, in exchange for payments of ‘blood diamonds’ often obtained by
slave labor.
Defence attorney Courtenay
Griffiths argued for a sentence that reflects Taylor's indirect role: he was
found guilty only of aiding the rebels, not leading them, as prosecutors
originally charged.
He said Taylor's conviction has
been ‘trumpeted...as sending an unequivocal message to world leaders that
holding office confers no immunity’ from war crimes prosecution.
'But the reality is that while
many Western countries have funded militias that have committed atrocities, no
Western leader has ever been indicted by a war crimes tribunal, he said.
Real prize: Miners from Sierra Leone wash gravel in large sieves looking
for rough diamonds
Country's gems: Diamonds from Koidu town in eastern Sierra Leone, which
sparked horrifying civil war that would later inspire the film Blood
Diamond
The lesson is ‘if you are a
small, weak nation, you may be subject to the full force of international law,
whereas if you run a powerful nation you have nothing to fear,’ Griffiths said.
Taylor added that once Britain
and the U.S. decided they wanted him out of power, his conviction was a foregone
conclusion.
‘The conspiracy was born, all
systems put into motion, and here I stand today,’ he said. ‘I never stood a
chance.’
Leaked Wikileaks diplomatic
cables admitted into evidence appeared to show the U.S. government hoped Taylor
would never return to power, but the cables did not prevent his conviction.
Judgement day: Judges Teresa
Doherty, Richard Lussick and Julia Sebutinde, rear row from left to right, will
sentence Charles Taylor on May 30
Griffiths said the 80 year
sentencing demand is ‘manifestly disproportionate and excessive’ for Taylor, who
is 64.
In court, Hollis scoffed at that.
She said Taylor's involvement in
the crimes was ‘more pervasive than that of the most senior leaders’ of the
Sierra Leone rebels who have already been sentenced.
The longest sentence so far, 52
years, was handed down to rebel leader Issa Sesay, who testified on Taylor's
behalf in 2010.
Taylor fled into exile in Nigeria after
being indicted by the court in 2003 and wasn't arrested for three years.
While the Sierra Leone court is
formally based in that country's capital, Taylor's trial is being staged in
Leidschendam, a suburb of The Hague, Netherlands, for fear holding it in West
Africa could destabilize the region.
'Convicted war criminal
Charles Taylor says he sympathises with victims of the violence in Sierra Leone
as he faces 80-year jail sentence' No chance of him staying in jail for 80 years
if he is to serve his sentence in a UK jail. First of all EVERY SINGLE DO GOODER
AND HUMAN RIGHTS MONSTER in the country will be up in arms about his 'inhuman'
treatment at being sentenced for such a long period (and they will be given UK
taxpayer pounds in legal aid grants to fund his appeal against sentence) AND
being in prison in the UK is NOT being in jail, it is being in a luxurious
stress free environment funded by the UK taxpayer.
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Face to face with General Butt Naked - 'the most evil man in the world'
It is 1982 and as day breaks
in Liberia, the Krahn tribe prepares for the initiation of its high priest.
Against the sound of the drumbeat, he is taken to an isolated area, led by
a man in a carved black mask.
The priest stands before an
altar, naked.
War and peace: Former
African warlord Pator Joshua Milton Blahyi chats to Edna
Fernandes
The elders bring a little girl, unclothe her and smear her body with clay.
The priest slays the child.
In a ritual that spans three
days, her heart and other body parts are removed and eaten.
In the course of those days
the priest has a vision: he meets the devil who tells him he will become a great
warrior.
The devil says to increase his power he must continue the rituals of child
sacrifice and cannibalism.
The initiation is complete
and the priest is now one of the most powerful leaders in West Africa. The
priest is 11 years old.
As prophesied, the boy
priest grew up to become one of Liberia's most notorious warlords: General Butt
Naked.
He and his boy soldiers would charge into battle naked apart from boots and
machine guns.
The initiation sacrifice
that he carried out aged 11 was the first life he took out of the 20,000 deaths
for which he now claims responsibility.
His rivals dispute the number of deaths as impossible to prove.
Yet what is indisputable is
that during Liberia's 14 years of civil war, the man became known as one of the
most inhumane and ruthless guerrilla leaders in Africa's history.
After the former General
Butt Naked confessed his past to Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC) in 2008, one internet blogger asked: 'Is this the most evil man who ever
lived?'
His crimes included child
sacrifice, cannibalism, the exploitation of child soldiers and trading blood
diamonds for guns and cocaine, which he fed to boy soldiers as young as nine.
Yet today he says he is a reformed man. In July 1996, the warlord had 'an
epiphany'.
Having spent 14 years
holding nightly conversations with the devil, he had a blinding vision of Christ
who told him to end the killings and convert.
This was a Damascene conversion like no other: the former tribal priest and
warlord is now known as Pastor Joshua Milton Blahyi.
Aged 39, he is married, a
father of three and lives as a Christian preacher.
General Butt Naked: Joshua Milton Blahyi threatens a fellow fighter with a
knife in May 1996
He says if he can change, anyone can. He also calls for the tribal
religious practice of child sacrifice and cannibalism to end, saying it still
goes on in Liberia to this day.
Liberia's TRC, set up to investigate the war's atrocities, reported in 2009
and called for a pardon for Blahyi on the grounds of his candour and remorse.
Now in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Blahyi says he is
willing to go the International Criminal Court at The Hague and be tried for war
crimes.
He lifts the lid on
Liberia's secret societies that conduct child sacrifice and cannibalism, as well
as his role in the war - and his desire to change.
His interview paints a terrifying portrait of one man's descent into Hell
and his quest for redemption.
It is a confession that will
leave many asking whether such crimes can ever be forgiven. It is a question he
asks himself.
Along with Ethiopia, Liberia
is the only African country without roots in European colonisation. It was
founded and colonised by freed American slaves in the early 1820s.
Yet its recent history has been blighted by civil war.
Between 1989 and 2003,
Liberia's inter-tribal war killed 250,000 people, displaced one million and led
to one in five children becoming soldiers.
During the course of the
conflict, this corner of West Africa became a nexus for the trade in blood
diamonds and cocaine, gunrunning and laundering the funds of terrorist groups
such as Al Qaeda.
The instability emanating from this one country posed a danger far beyond
Liberia's border, as far as our shores.
General Butt Naked was one
of the leading warlords, fighting guerilla groups including that of Charles
Taylor, who later become president of Liberia and is now being tried for war
crimes at The Hague.
I meet Blahyi for the first
time in the dusty courtyard of Hotel Zeos, 45 minutes' drive from Monrovia,
Liberia's capital.
He has chosen this deserted
spot because, after his confession to the TRC, he became the subject of
assassination attempts.
He strides towards me, arms spread, smiling widely. 'Welcome to Liberia.'
It had taken months to find
Blahyi because he went underground after the last assassination attempt.
In the end, I obtained his number from a Liberian film director living in
New York.
Lost youth: Child soldiers
on the streets of Monrovia in 1996
I remember calling his mobile for the first time.
The voice that answered was
initially wary. But once satisfied of my identity, he became warm, even friendly
and would ring my mobile in London at random times for a chat.
Interest in the General has
renewed since his evidence to the TRC and, of course, his dramatic conversion to
evangelical Christianity.
He is the subject of an American documentary at the Sundance Festival next
year.
The filmmakers' interest was
the same as mine: could a man who claimed to have done such evil truly change or
is he just a brilliant trickster?
Over the days spent with him
in Liberia, I get to know a man who is many things: genuinely sorry; tortured by
the knowledge of his actions; frighteningly honest about his atrocities; and at
other times vulnerable and desperate to please. Lucid, compelling, charismatic.
But a damaged man, nonetheless.
The first thing you notice
about the General is his bulk.
He left armed combat more than a decade ago, yet his physical presence
remains intimidating.
The second thing is his eyes
- everything he has done is held therein.
We take a seat in the gloomy bar. Against the buzz of traffic we talk, him
sipping a bottle of malt drink.
His shoulders and arm
muscles strain against his khaki T-shirt.
When agitated by a particular subject, he gesticulates wildly, his face
reliving every moment.
At one such moment, he
knocks his bottle off the table.
Without taking his eyes off
me, he catches it a split second before it smashes to the ground. The soldier's
reflexes remain as sharp as ever.
I ask him how his life was as a child.
He describes how he was told
first by his father, then by his tribal elders that he was born to be a warrior.
On the orders of the elders, he was conceived and taken from his mother
minutes after birth.
Aged seven, his father
handed him to the elders who tutored him in the rituals of the priesthood.
When he was initiated, he
became a powerful figure as every tribesman now bowed to him.
In 1982, as the high priest,
aged 11, Blahyi remembers performing black magic rituals at the presidential
palace to protect the then Liberian leader, Samuel Doe, from enemies.
Doe had been a member of the Krahn tribe and came to power in a violent
coup in 1980.
In 1990, Doe was seized in
the presidential palace and murdered by the troops of a rebel leader - an act
that led to an escalation in the conflict which raged for another 13 years.
War crimes: Blahyi (pictured as a young soldier) says he is willing to go
to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to be tried
During the whole time,
Blahyi was a high priest. One of his most important jobs was the performance of
sacrifice rituals and cannibalism.
In Liberia today, 75 per
cent of people are Christian, 20 per cent are Muslim and the rest follow the
tribal religion that performs these sacrifice rituals.
But during the war, experts claim many more practised the tribal faith.
In his book The Mask Of
Anarchy, Professor Stephen Ellis of Free University, Amsterdam, wrote of the
rituals practised by various tribes in Liberia and used during the war.
'Of the countless atrocities
carried out by various factions, perhaps the most appalling was the eating of
human flesh. This was a practice with a long history . . . after 1991 it became
common to encounter traumatised refugees who witnessed such events.'
By 1994 the Catholic Church was so disturbed by such reports it officially
condemned the practice. But Blayhi maintains it still goes on in secret in the
villages.
As a priest, he says, he
would have a vision about a chosen child. He would tell the elders the child's
village, the family name, and certain secrets of that child known only to the
family.
The elders would then lead a
procession to the child's house, known as 'the House of Honour'.
The child would often remain
oblivious until the moment came where he was taken away from the village to the
altar, where he would be stripped and covered in a type of mud.
'As priest, I said the
invocation. The child is killed. His body has different, different parts taken
off.'
Were you alone during this time? 'I was the only one with the body.'
Does this still happen in
Liberia? 'It still happens. If you went to my village now and spoke of this,
they'd kill you. Since my conversion, I know witchcraft is wrong. I know
"eating" is wrong. I must speak out now.'
During his days as a tribal
priest, Blahyi says, the rituals were for the good of the tribe.
But once he became leader of
the Butt Naked Brigade, Blahyi would sacrifice a child before every battle.
In this case, there was no religious significance for the tribe.
Blayhi has an appallingly
clear recollection of how he sacrificed children before battle - and the
cannibalism involved.
The belief was that by killing and eating children, the soldiers would be
strengthened and purified for the battle.
The worst aspect of all was
many of the Butt Naked Brigade were children themselves.
It was not the only
guerrilla group to use child soldiers. Aid workers estimated that as many as
20,000 child soldiers were recruited by rebel and government forces during the
last war.
The Butt Naked Brigade had a
sideline in drug, weapons and diamond dealing. The Liberian coast was used as a
drop-off point by Mexican drug cartels. The General's men would do a trade.
'I was not giving cocaine
for arms, I was giving gold and diamonds for arms and cocaine,' he explains.
What did you do with the cocaine? 'Gave it to the boys. Mashed it into
their food.'
From the age of nine? 'Yeah.'
His voice drops as he bends
his head into his chest.
The diamonds came from territory captured by the Krahn tribe factions.
The guerrilla groups would
use captured civilians to mine the diamonds and then use the gems to finance
their war, just as was depicted in the 2006 Leonardo DiCaprio film Blood
Diamond, set in Sierra Leone.
It was the diamond-funded
drugs - sold to finance conflicts and bankroll warlords and diamond companies
across the world - that helped push many of the younger rebel soldiers across
the boundaries of humanity.
The naked dress code proved
to be a terrifyingly effective military tactic.
'The fear principle was behind it. The first thing you want to impose on
the enemy is that you're an animal, not a guerrilla.'
For years Blayhi was priest
and warrior for his tribe. He coerced his brigade of 80 boys to kill without
pity.
Although his figure of
20,000 deaths has been accepted by Liberia's TRC, others accuse him of wild
exaggeration, saying the total is impossible to verify.
'How can he know?' Liberia's
Information Minister, Norris Tweah, asks me. 'Two hundred and fifty thousand
people were killed in the 14-year war. He is using this to make himself sound
like a great warlord.'
But sitting with Blayhi and
listening to him describe his personal depravity in forensic detail, it seems
clear that he, at least, believes every word.
Yet the turning point came. It was the summer of 1996 and his clansmen were
caught up in a ferocious battle.
It was decided that a
sacrifice was needed. As the rockets rained down, a mother brought her
three-year-old daughter to him.
Something about the child
struck the pitiless General and for the first time in his life he hesitated.
As he relives the moment with me, his face becomes contorted.
'The child was very
unusually beautiful and kind. Most of the children are brought to me by the
elders, they're crying, they're fighting. This child was peaceful,' he recalls.
'I thought, "This child must not die." I struggled.
'Of all of the thousands
that I killed, I wish I did not kill that little girl . . . ' his voice trails
off.
He is close to tears for the
first and only time. 'Right after killing her, I had my epiphany.'
He claims he saw a white
light in the shape of a man. A voice told him, 'repent and live or refuse and
die'. He believes it was Christ.
The impact was immediate.
From that day the killing, the sacrifices and cannibalism ended and Blahyi
entered a period of turmoil that led his men to believe he had gone mad.
Within months he had left the Butt Naked Brigade and by the end of
September 1996 he was baptised in the sea near Monrovia.
By now the sun has set.
Blayhi looks wasted from describing the encounter with the little girl and its
impact. The confession has left him consumed by guilt.
The next day he is due to
preach to a congregation at a church 15 minutes away. We arrange to take him
there.
As we leave, the hotel manager checks that Blahyi is going for good.
In the eyes of others Blahyi
is not just a pastor: he is still seen as the murderous General and cannibal.
His reputation and name still strikes terror into Liberian hearts.
We cannot talk in public
places, we cannot sit in busy hotels, we cannot be seen eating together.
As we drive to the church, Blahyi sits in the front. I sit behind, watching
him.
He's wearing a red suit and
black shirt and his shoulders loom either side of the seat. He is singing hymns.
'Did you sleep well?' he asks. 'Yes,' I lie. 'You?' 'Very well.' 'You
seemed upset at the end of our interview,'
'I was. But I always sleep
well. No matter what.'
He jumps out of the car and
greets the local pastor, who is wearing white winkle-picker shoes.
His battered old, red Mercedes with a numberplate reading 'Be Holy' is
parked outside.
A band is playing and the
300-strong congregation is clapping, singing and dancing.
The church is at the site of a former Liberian army barracks and Blahyi has
been invited to address the 'deliverance service'.
As the drums and synthesiser
grow louder, the crowd chant 'Jesus, Jesus' as if at a rock concert.
When Blayhi takes the
microphone, the place erupts. He is electrifying and sinister at the same time.
His sermon ranges from the dangers of fast food to the devil's ways and to
the inappropriate dress sense of singer Beyonce.
An hour later, sweating in
his red suit, he leaves the building to sit alone in the shade, praying.
Preaching is now his mission and part of that is saving former child
soldiers.
Later in the week, Blayhi
takes us to a rehabilitation centre he runs for ex-combatants in the bush
outside Monrovia.
The photographer and I realise Blahyi is our only guarantor of safety.
As we turn up it is clear
all is not well. There is a split in the camp as half the boys complain of
getting too little to eat - one cup of rice a day.
They live in two or three
brick rooms with no running water or electricity. Blahyi remains the adored
father figure. But the reunion turns sour.
Nana Gbolor is the most angry. He is 26 and had been a soldier since 18.
'When the war ended, I moved
to a ghetto called Solale. I slept in a cemetery among the bodies. Then one day
the pastor came for me, he wore a T-shirt that said "God Bless Liberia". He
didn't give up on me. Now all is want is more than one cup of rice a day and to
learn construction.'
Unless boys like this are saved, many fear the past could return.
Liberia is a country with 80 per cent unemployment.
Eighty-five per cent of its
3.9 million population live on less than 78p per day, according to UN figures.
Inter-tribal warfare brought Liberia to its knees.
The TRC report on Blahyi is just one part of the clean-up.
It also called for 49
individuals to be banned from political office for 30 years, including the
current president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former World Bank economist who has
been dubbed Africa's Iron Lady.
The TRC states she was a
former supporter of Charles Taylor.
But she has been widely credited with helping turn around the troubled
nation - by securing the cancellation of £3.7 billion of debt to the World Bank.
Her government looks in no
hurry to implement the TRC's demands on prosecutions.
Could victims really go back
to living alongside their persecutors? I ask Information Minister Norris Tweah.
'Everyone's a victim here,'
he says. 'Everybody lost somebody. In a country where everyone was complicit,
everyone has blood on their hands, where does the blame end?'
Blahyi is in no doubt that
saying sorry is not enough. Talking to him inside the shade of an empty church,
he says he feels forgiven by God. But forgiveness on Earth is another matter.
'I believe the Bible strongly and it says God has forgiven me.'
Would you be willing to be
tried for war crimes at The Hague?
'Yes. I would say I am
guilty and if the law says I should be jailed for war crimes, then jail me. If
the law says I should be hanged, then hang me.'
Blayhi tells me he still
struggles to cope with the enormity of his savagery. At times it threatens to
break him.
Did you think of suicide?
'Many times.'
Before we leave him, he goes to a second - hand shoe shop and spends £6 on
trainers for his boys and his children.
Carrying them in a black
binliner, he says his goodbyes and for that moment he seems alone.
He heads for the bus that will take him home.
Home is not where his family
is; they live in hiding in Ghana. His greatest fear now is not death, but losing
his own children - an irony not lost on him.
For me, our week together has been like being with a split personality.
Describing his past life is
a painful and violent catharsis, leaving him and those around him drained and
traumatised.
Then there's the other side:
the reformed pastor dispensing a bag of doughnuts to local schoolchildren,
telling the story of Jesus and the loaves and fishes with great warmth and
humour.
We all get caught up in the
laughter, until I suddenly find myself recoiling with the memory of all he has
told me.
This is his fate from now on: for as long as he lives, no matter how much
he reforms, he will never be able to escape the horror of his past.
The story of Joshua Milton
Blahyi is more than a story of Africa's bloodshed and savagery. It is also a
story of a man struggling for redemption and change.
His victims cannot forgive
him. He is more likely to face a bullet in the head than the day in court he
says he wants.
But his story is evocative
of his country as it struggles to leave the demons behind and look to a future
of prosperity and peace.
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Gen Butt Naked confesses to nude killings
The commander earned his nom de guerre for charging
into battle dressed only in his boots
A former warlord known as
General Butt Naked has confessed to Liberia's post-conflict reconciliation
commission that his men killed 20,000 people during the country's civil
war.
The feared rebel commander
earned his nom de guerre for charging into battle dressed only in his boots, at
the head of a gang of fighters known as the Butt Naked Battalion.
The nude gunmen became known
for terrorising villagers and sacrificing children whose hearts they would eat
before going into battle during Liberia's 14-year on-off civil war which ended
in 2003.
"I have been looking for an
opportunity to tell the true story about my life and every time I tell people my
story, I feel relieved," General Butt Naked, whose real name is Milton Blayee,
told The Associated Press.
Mr Blayee returned from exile
in Ghana, where he is now an evangelical Christian preacher, to face Liberia's
truth and reconciliation commission last week.
Modelled on South Africa's
post-apartheid hearings, the commission is airing the worst atrocities of
Liberia's brutal wars, notorious for bands of drugged fighters dressed in
wedding gowns and wigs.
More than 250,000 people are believed to have died during the conflict,
which started in 1989.
Mr Blayee, 37, told the truth commission that he was initiated into the
occult priesthood of the Krahn tribe at the age of 11, when he was first exposed
to killing.
After the brutal videotaped torture and murder by rebels of Liberia's Krahn
president, Samuel K Doe in 1990, Mr Blayee took up arms in revenge on behalf of
his tribe.
"The political
leaders and myself came to a term that if they wanted me to fight they should
allow me make ... human sacrifices," he said.
The sacrifices
included "the killing of an innocent child and plugging out the heart which was
divided into pieces for us to eat. More than 20,000 people fell victim (to me
and my men). They were killed."
Mr Blayee turned his back on war when, naked during a battle on a bridge
outside Monrovia, he says God appeared to him and told him he was a slave to
Satan and should repent.
The truth and reconciliation commission began two years of hearings in
October 2006.
It can recommend prosecutions but its main mandate is to bring details to
light of human rights violations to allow Liberians to heal the wounds of
war.
Liberia's former president Charles Taylor is currently on trial for 11
counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at a separate tribunal at The
Hague
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