Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Monrovia (Agenzia Fides)- In recent months a gang which has called itself Issakaba Boys, after a Nigerian TV series, has been terrorising the people of Monrovia. Most of the youths are ex combatants dissatisfied with treatment received in the re-integration process.
The men armed with machete, systematically steal and sack often leaving the unfortunate victims mutilated.
At the start of September the Justice Minister encouraged the people to form self defence groups, - community watch teams, watch groups - to ward off attacks. Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Africa’s first woman head of state), has said “I am aware that many citizens are not satisfied with the results obtained in the first eight months of Presidency. However we know much more about the members of this gang than they think and also about their intentions. Our security agencies are keeping close watch on them and will take serious measures when the right moment comes”.
At present Liberian forces are being trained by experts from United States Ghana, Nigeria and China. In June the arms embargo was partly lifted in view of distributing pistols to the police. UNMIL (United Nations Mission Liberia) has reinforced UN police control in Monrovia. In Liberia there are 15,000 UN peacekeepers. Liberia’s 2,500 policemen, for the moment disarmed, are being trained by a few private security societies and a few countries including India which has sent a team of policewomen to train Liberian policewomen. Liberia’s civil war ended in the second half of 2003 leaving about 60,000 armed combatants. Despite a disarmament programme led by the United Nations Organisation, there are still many weapons in circulation. Many former combatants have turned to banditry also because it is not easy for them to reinsert themselves in society.
Human Rights groups are concerned by the fact that the government is encouraging popular justice. They fear these groups will only increase violence in Liberia, rather than solve the problem at the root: unemployment and poverty which push many to criminal activity.
In Nigeria, where self defence groups were instituted by provincial governments in 2001, urban violence has not diminished. On the contrary, the Bakassi Boys gang for example which inspired the gang in Monrovia, has been accused by Amnesty International of carrying out over a thousand summary executions. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 9/10/2006 righe 41 parole 508)
