Free Republic

LIBERIA'S former president Charles Taylor denied that he had ever eaten human flesh or ordered his fighters to do so as he answered allegations of cannibalism at his war crimes trial. "It is sickening. You must be sick to believe it,'' the one-time warlord testified in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, sitting in The Hague. "It makes you feel like throwing up.'' Mr Taylor, 61, said he could not dispute that there were cannibals in certain parts of Liberia, but claims that he was among them were "total nonsense''. A witness had testified at the trial that he ate...

Offers for help are pouring in for an eight-year-old Liberian girl disowned by her own family in Phoenix, Arizona, after being raped by four boys. The girl is under the care of the Arizona Child Protective Service (CPS) because her parents said she had shamed them, and they did not want her back. Phoenix police said calls had come in from all over the US offering money, or even to adopt the young girl. The boys, Liberian immigrants aged nine to 14, have been charged with rape.

Family shuns girl, 8, after rape sparks outcry PHOENIX - Lured by promises of chewing gum then allegedly raped in a shed by four boys barely older than her, an 8-year-old Liberian girl is now in foster care and living with strangers after being shunned by her family. The alleged sexual assault in Phoenix and reaction by her family have sparked an international outcry, reaching all the way to the president of Liberia, the home country of the girl's family and the four young suspects. "I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatized...

"PHOENIX - The President of Liberia is voicing her opinion on an Arizona story creating outrage around the world. After an 8-year-old Phoenix girl was sexually assaulted by four boys last week, police said her parents blamed their daughter for the attack. The parents also apparently said their daughter had brought shame on the family. Those four boys are now under arrest, and the young victim is in Child Protective Services, away from her mom and dad. The President of Liberia called into CNN on Friday morning, saying rape is a problem in Liberia as well as the United States....

Prosecutors filed sexual assault charges against four boys ages 9 to 14, officials said Thursday, alleging they brutally attacked an 8-year-old girl after luring her to a shed with chewing gum. Police said the girl's parents criticized her after the violence, blaming her for bringing shame on the family. All five children are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia......"The father told the case worker and an officer in her presence that he didn't want her back. He said 'Take her, I don't want her,"' Hill said. Hill cited the family's background as the reason the family shunned the...

Copyright at site. Follow link for story

BANGKOK, Thailand - A Russian dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to Africa's bloody conflicts over power and diamonds was arrested Thursday in Thailand on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle guns to Colombia's leftist rebels. Viktor Bout, 41, whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, was arrested at U.S. request in his hotel room in Bangkok, said police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan. Bout had eluded arrest for years and was finally seized after a four-month sting organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In New York, federal authorities unsealed a criminal complaint...

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. Arrest of Kenyan Exposes Massive Global Arms Trade The East African Africa News February 25, 2002 Monday Kenya L AST WEEKEND'S arrest of Kenyan-born Sanjivan Ruprah, who is alleged to be a part of a major arms smuggling operation to Africa, has brought into the open the extent of the multi-million dollar illegal business. The whereabouts of Bout remain unknown. Some media reports say he is in Moscow, while others say he is in the Congo or the United Arab Emirates. An international ...

The Russian parliament and media refer to him merely as a “Russian businessman.” But to much of the rest of the world, Viktor Bout is known as the “Merchant of Death,” the most notorious member of the dark fraternity of global weapons traffickers who arm terrorist organizations, as well as the tyrannical regimes and brutal warlords and militias responsible for horrendous genocidal slaughters over the past two decades. Since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok, Thailand, in an elaborate U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting, Viktor Bout has been in Bangkok’s Klong Prem Special Prison awaiting trial. The U.S. Department of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed an executive order allowing roughly 3,600 Liberians living in the United States to stay in the country for an additional 12 months. The White House told members of Congress of the decision on Friday.

Liberia has declared a state of emergency over a plague of caterpillars that has destroyed plants and crops and contaminated water supplies, threatening an already fragile food situation. Tens of millions of marching caterpillars have invaded at least 80 towns and villages in central and northern Liberia, preventing some farmers from reaching their fields and causing others to flee their homes. The inch-long pests – the caterpillar life stage of the noctuid moth – have spread to neighbouring Guinea and are threatening Sierra Leone, which has set up monitoring teams along its border. ... "This is becoming a no-go area,"...

"Chuckie" Taylor, the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been sentenced by a US court to 97 years in prison for torture.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/January/09-crm-021.html Roy Belfast Jr., A/K/A Chuckie Taylor, Sentenced on Torture Charges WASHINGTON – Roy M. Belfast Jr. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga today to 97 years in prison for crimes related to the torture of people in Liberia between April 1999 and July 2003, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta for the Southern District of Florida. Belfast, a/k/a Chuckie Taylor, Charles Taylor Jr., Charles Taylor II and Charles McArther Emmanuel, was convicted on October 30, 2008, by...

<p>A judge in New York has ruled against a Liberian woman who cited religious reasons for smuggling meat from an endangered species of monkey into the United States.</p> <p>Raymond J Dearie, a federal US district judge, said that Mamie Manneh was wrong when she claimed that her faith - a sect of Christianity - meant that she did not need to apply for permits to import exotic food stuffs.</p>

WASHINGTON - A Lebanese-American businessman who acted as a conduit for a last-ditch peace offer from Iraq to the United States faces federal charges of attempting to bring weapons on a commercial aircraft. The charges were filed Nov. 6 against Imad Hage, months after he was stopped at Dulles International Airport outside Washington when a .45-caliber handgun, five ammunition magazines and four stun guns were detected in his checked luggage. Hage said by telephone Thursday from Beirut that he intends to return to the United States in a few weeks to fight the charges, which he suggested were only brought...

President Bush welcomed President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia to the Oval Office this morning. She is in the US for a five-day official visit. (Transcript) The President, along with Attorney General Michael Mukasey, welcomed the 2006 and 2007 recipients of the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor in the Oval Office this afternoon. Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, along with her running mate, John McCain, campaigned heavily in Ohio today, speaking to overflowing crowds at the University of Findlay and at Green High School Memorial Stadium and tonight the Governor is speaking to a rally in Cincinatti. Enjoy...

Russian Mogul's Planes Took al-Qaida, Taliban Gold To Sudan9-3-2 Planes owned by Russian businessman Viktor Bout have been used to fly al-Qaida and Taliban gold to Sudan in recent weeks, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Several shipments of gold were delivered by boat from Karachi, Pakistan, to either Iran or the United Arab Emirates, the newspaper said, citing unidentified European intelligence officials. From there, the gold was flown on charted planes to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, where al-Qaida has broad business contacts, the paper said. European officials believe the gold was transported by Air Bas, an airline set up...

Taylor 'had billions' in US banks Liberia's ex-President Charles Taylor had transactions of about $5bn in two US bank accounts during his presidency, his prosecutor has told the BBC. Mr Taylor is being tried by a UN-backed war crimes court for backing rebels in Sierra Leone while in office. He denies trading arms for diamonds and challenged the international community when he stood down in 2003 to trace and seize any monies they alleged he had. If any was found he would "turn them over to the Liberian people". During Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, which officially ended in...

- Ahmed Khalifan Ghailani, a/k/a "Foopie," is a diminutive Tanzanian with an Uzbeki wife, six children and a deep hatred of America and Western culture in general. A devout Muslim who plays a mean game of soccer but never learned to drive a car, Ghailani is also believed to be a key al Qaeda player who U.S. agents think is involved in a percolating terror plot aimed at disrupting America's upcoming elections. He had a $25 million price on his head as the FBI's No. 7 most-wanted terrorist - the same amount as the bounty for the capture of Osama...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- Grim tales of cannibalism highlighting the brutality of West Africa's civil wars emerged in testimony Thursday at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah, who described himself as Taylor's chief of operations and head of the death squad before Taylor became president, said African peacekeepers and even United Nations personnel were killed and eaten on the battlefield by Taylor's militiamen. Prosecutors described Marzah as a key witness with inside knowledge of the former Liberian president's operations in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone, where he is accused of responsibility for the...

President Bush dances alongside President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf while visiting Liberia.

MONROVIA, Liberia — It has been 30 years since a sitting president of the United States has visited this West African nation, and in the decades since, rebel generals with nicknames like Butt Naked laid waste to this seaside country, raping and plundering, and a brutal warlord named Charles G. Taylor campaigned for the presidency under the slogan, “He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him anyway.” Now Mr. Taylor is gone, pushed out in 2003 after more than a decade of civil war, and Liberia is taking tender steps toward recovery under Ellen...

The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, helped President Bush break it down before his return home to the U.S.

MONROVIA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush arrived on Thursday in Liberia, the United States' staunchest ally in Africa, on the fifth and final stop of his visit to the world's poorest continent. Air Force One, carrying Bush and his wife Laura, landed at Monrovia's Spriggs Payne airport. It was the first visit in 30 years by a U.S. president to Liberia, Africa's first republic founded by freed slaves from America in 1847.

President and Mrs. Bush are traveling in Africa. They left on February 15 and will return on February 21. They have already visited Benin and are in Tanzania today. Later, they will visit Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Almost everyone who's been exposed to Western pop culture over the last half-century is familiar with the great iconic image that closes Planet of the Apes: a loinclothed Charlton Heston falling to his knees as he comes face to face with a shattered Statue of Liberty poking out of the sand and realizes that the "planet of the apes" is, in fact, his own — or it was. On the Culture Monkey website the other day, Gerry Canavan used it as a convenient illustration for some musings on the appeal of "apocalyptic fantasy," and immediately found himself struck by how...

Africa's first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, came to power in Liberia a year ago, promising to tackle the problem of rape, which had become increasingly common during the previous 14 years of conflict in the country. Will Ross has been travelling around Liberia to assess whether that war on rape is being won. "I like to turn lemon into lemonade - make a bad situation into a good one," declared the smartly dressed woman as she entered the room. Annie Demen is Liberia's deputy minister of gender, a post set up to empower women. She also heads the taskforce charged...

MONROVIA, Liberia - One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as Gen. Butt Naked, has returned to the nation his troops terrorized to confess, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths. The civil war, which killed an estimated 250,000 people in this nation of 3 million, was characterized by the eating of human hearts and soccer matches played with human skulls. Drugged fighters waltzed into battle wearing women's wigs, flowing gowns and carrying dainty purses stolen from civilians. Before he led his fighters into battle, wearing only a pair of lace-up boots, Blahyi said he made a human sacrifice...

MONROVIA, Liberia - One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as Gen. Butt Naked for charging into battle wearing only boots, has returned to confess his role in terrorizing the nation, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths. Joshua Milton Blahyi, who now lives in Ghana, returned last week to face his homeland's truth and reconciliation commission, this time wearing a suit and tie. His nom de guerre is derived from his platoon's practice of charging naked into battle, a technique meant to terrify the enemy. Other former warlords, though, have refused to ask forgiveness, dismissing a commission many...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- One of Liberia's most notorious rebel commanders, known as Gen. Butt Naked, has returned to the nation his troops terrorized to confess, saying he is responsible for 20,000 deaths. Joshua Milton Blahyi, who now lives in Ghana, returned this week to face his homeland's truth and reconciliation commission, this time wearing a suit and tie. His nom de guerre is derived from his platoon's practice of charging naked into battle, a technique meant to terrify the enemy. Other warlords, though, have refused to ask forgiveness, dismissing a commission many in Liberia see as toothless. Blahyi is...

It is an unfamiliar feeling for the woman they call Black Diamond. There is no gunfire. No armed teenagers are awaiting her command. She seems slightly bewildered. “I look around and I cannot see any guns.” She peers over each shoulder, and sweeps a strong, sleek arm cross 360 degrees of potholed roads and banana trees. Not a Kalashnikov in sight. “I cannot hear gunshots. I see change.” It has been four years since Black Diamond fired a rifle. Without her red beret, or a trigger resting underneath the long, bronze fingernails, there are few signs of the power –...

Monrovia - An evangelical pastor described the atrocities he and his men committed during the Liberian civil war, including magical rituals that involved slaughtering children and eating their hearts. Joshua Milton Blahyi spared no details on Tuesday as he told Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of his years with one of the most feared militias of the war. Dressed in an immaculate suit, Blahyi, 37, said it was for the TRC to decide whether he should be given an amnesty or prosecuted. "I am willing to go to court if necessary," he said. "And I will repeat just what...

Video footage of mutilated victims of Sierra Leone rebels has been shown at the war crimes trial of Liberia's former President Charles Taylor. Mr Taylor - who is accused of trading weapons for diamonds - showed no emotion as the first witness, an expert on "blood diamonds", gave evidence. The delayed trial has resumed at The Hague after a six-month delay. Mr Taylor is the first African former head of state to face an international war crimes court and faces 11 charges. He denies responsibility for atrocities committed by rebels during the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Video of...

Dearest One Greetings to you and Please permit me to introduce myself. My name is Williams Jonnas with my younger sister; The only Son and Daughter of (Late Chief D. Jonnas) Who lost his life in my country Liberia During the war. My father willed in cash, the sum of $3.5 Million US Dollars which he deposited in one of the Bank here in Dakar Senegal, west Africa, with enabling conditions for the release of the fund which are as follows: (1) That we must be 22 years or above. (2) That upon request for the release of the fund,...

MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities seized more than 11 tons of cocaine in the western port city of Manzanillo, and said it was one of the nation's biggest drug busts ever. During a routine inspection, federal police and marines discovered a cargo container filled with packets of the drug aboard the Hong Kong-flagged ship Esmeralda, which departed from Buenaventura, Colombia, the federal attorney general's office said in a statement Wednesday. Authorities were still weighing the drugs but the statement said their weight had already surpassed 11 tons, making Tuesday's seizure "one of the greatest quantities of cocaine that has been decommissioned...

FORT LEE, Va., Oct. 19, 2007 – U.S. Army Spc. Momo S. Larmena Jr. has made a life out of giving back to his country, first to his native Liberia and now to the United States, his adopted country. Larmena, 42, joined the U.S. Army Reserves six months ago as a way to repay the debt he feels he owes to the American soldier who saved his life in Liberia.The former chemist had his first brush with tragedy in 1990 in his native Liberia, a small West African country settled by free American blacks in 1821. More than 200,000...

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Many of the estimated 4,000 to 10,000 Liberians living in the United States on temporary protected status may be forced to return home as early as Oct. 1. Thousands of Liberians who could not qualify for refugee status or permanent green cards in the United States were granted six to 18 month stays in the country under a program designed to offer temporary sanctuary to foreign citizens fleeing wars or natural disasters. However, the long-running Liberian civil war, which claimed 250,000 lives, ended in 2003, and now the U.S. government is moving to force some...

One of the biggest names of the conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military intelligence operative who recently went public with a controversial claim that a year before September 11, his top-secret task force "Able Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be the lead hijacker as being connected to al Qaeda. Shaffer is a veteran of top-secret operations against terrorists, including some in Afghanistan, and several of his DIA colleagues have come out publicly to confirm that they remember Mohamed Atta being identified in 2000 as part of...

It seems sometimes that there is violence between Christians and Muslims in almost every corner of the world. Sadly, Civil Wars, tribal feuding and other strife creates migrations and refugees seeking safety and freedom. In Israel, ninety refugees from war torn Liberia that have been living in safety there for seventeen years are being told by the United nations that they must return to their African home. These people truly stand out in Israel: they are Muslims, refugees, Liberians and Black Africans of the Mandingo tribe. War torn Liberia has suffered through more than 15 years of Civil War since...

MONROVIA, Liberia - The United Nation's first women-only peacekeeping contingent — made up about 100 Indian policewomen — arrived in Liberia Tuesday, officials said. Ben Malor, spokesman for the U.N.'s 15,000-strong peacekeeping force in the West African country, said the force will be stationed in the capital. Women have served in many U.N. peacekeeping forces, but this is the first women-only group. Members of the group have said they hope their unit will be seen as more approachable by women and children in conflict zones. Last year relief groups in Liberia accused U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers of trading food...

(The ultimate irony of the academic left’s disdain for the World Bank is that the multilateral government agency’s prescription for third world woes does not usually differ radically from that which is favored by campus activists, namely, foreign aid, as the following story shows.—ed.)World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz discussed various foreign-aid challenges and opportunities, especially those concerning Africa, at the Heritage Foundation on Monday, July 31. Wolfowitz, who has served 24 years of public service under seven different presidents, declared two current, main goals of the World Bank: development in Africa and fighting corruption. Emphasizing the countless problems that afflict...

Excerpt - THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday for a war crimes trial on charges accusing him in the death, rape or mutilation of hundreds of thousands of people in West Africa. An airport official said Taylor's U.N.-chartered plane landed after a direct flight from Sierra Leone, where he had been in detention since March 29. Two police vans and five motorcycle outriders were waiting on the tarmac at a small commercial airport south of The Hague. ~ snip ~

Taylor 'looked like whipped dog' as justice caught up By Hans Nichols in Freetown, Sierra Leone (Filed: 02/04/2006) Slumped and sombre, Charles Taylor uttered not a single word as he sat in the United Nations helicopter that spirited him from Liberia, where he once ruled, to neighbouring Sierra Leone, where he is accused of committing war crimes. "He looked like a whipped dog. A look of total defeat," said a UN official, one of 16 passengers on the flight that brought Taylor to the tribunal he has eluded for three years. Charles Taylor in Freetown "You look at someone that...

Tyrant of Liberia is captured in border raid By Katharine Houreld in Monrovia and Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 30/03/2006) Charles Taylor, once one of Africa's most murderous dictators, was arrested last night after two days on the run and handed over to United Nations officials to face trial for war crimes. The capture of the former Liberian president on the Cameroon/Nigeria border was greeted with delight in his homeland. Charles Taylor: Arrested Taylor was flown there briefly before being taken to a jail in neighbouring Sierra Leone where he faces multiple charges for crimes against humanity. His arrest followed...

ALARM - Charles Taylor arrived to Monrovia and transferred in a helicopter MONROVIA - former bast president Charles Taylor, expelled Wednesday of Nigeria, arrived at the Roberts airport of Monrovia on board an apparatus of the Nigerian presidency and was immediately led in a helicopter of the United Nations, noted a correspondent of AFP.

Taylor Taken to Liberia to Face Charges By BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press Writer Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who vanished in Nigeria after authorities reluctantly agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal, was arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon, Nigerian police said Wednesday. He then was flown back to Liberia. Taylor was captured Tuesday night by security forces in the far northeastern border town of Gamboru, in Borno State, nearly 600 miles from the villa in southern Calabar from which he reportedly disappeared Monday night, Information Minister Frank Nweke said in a statement. President Olusegun Obasanjo,...

AP News Alert ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigerian police say they have arrested Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.

Wanted tyrant of Liberia vanishes from Nigerian haven By David Blair, Africa Correspondent and Katharine Houreld in Lagos (Filed: 29/03/2006) The Nigerian government was accused of allowing Charles Taylor, Africa's most notorious fallen tyrant, to escape justice after he vanished from his grace-and-favour residence yesterday. Taylor, 58, the former Liberian dictator, had been living in the city of Calabar despite being the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and an indictment on 17 counts of war crimes. Charles Taylor took refuge in Nigeria when he was deposed The Baptist lay preacher, who devastated Liberia and led a brutal rebel army...