Now here is a rebellion we should pray succeeds. It is hard to imagine worse than the existing Taylor regime.
Dirty diamonds
By Michael Barone
What do Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, and al Qaeda have in common?
The answer is: They all have been associated with the bloody Liberian dictator Charles Taylor.
USNEWS.COM 11/12/01 Wasn't Liberia a place created for freed blacks to get away from white oppression?
Given the accusation of Guinea involvement, is it safe to assume this is, at least in part, yet another Muslim insurgency?
I notice that Liberia has a 20% Muslim population, and Guinea has 80%+.
1847 Liberia became Black Africa's first independent state. The dominance of the Liberians of American origin (who founded the state officially) ended in the bloody coup of 1980 and the military gov't. became increasingly unstable. Massive corruption and repression of the Mano and Gio proples provoked the 1980 bloody coup revolution led by Charles Taylor. (The last 2 "presidents" have come in by murdering thier predecessor horribly). An orgy of inter- tribal killings ensued as the war engulfed the country in the 90's. Things have settled down a bit since '97 and Taylor is still in power. 250,000 Liberians were killed and 1 million became refugees abroad and 500,000 still remain in surrounding areas. The nation is devastated infrastructurally, emotionally, economically & every other way.
Liberia was founded as a Christian state. There is freedom of religion in theory but there is lots of cultural pressure to conform to occult secret societies. Religion breakdown, rounded off is, traditional/tribal (animism/voodoo/witchcraft) 48%, Christian 38%, Muslim 13%
A major tragedy. I lived there myself in 1988 just before the war began, and I saw it beginning. Recovery from this civil war will take decades, even with an upright government, which this is not.
