The Whale

I am staying with my sister and her family in White Rock when we get the immediate news that there is a humpback whale that has washed up on the local beach.

 We arrive at the beach and there are crowds of people heading down to see the whale.

 There are field trips of kids, families, business people, reporters, First Nations, and the police.

 We get closer and see a huge crowd of people, but can't see the whale over their heads.

 It is a small young whale.

 The police describe how they are waiting for a hover craft to drag it back out to sea to decompose.

 CBC News is there reporting the event.

 Flowers have been laid on the whale. The Semiahmoo First Nations group were there much earlier. These are their traditional lands and they have held a ceremony for the whale earlier in the morning. There is a woman circling around the crowd burning sage.

 The eye of the whale is closed.

 I circle the whale again and learn that this young whale was caught in the nylon cord that was discarded in the ocean.

 I hear people saying it is amazing and all I can think of is how sad it is.

 There are cuts where the rope has dug into the skin of the whale.

 People are saying it got caught in the rope, couldn't swim free and starved to death.

We leave the scene behind.

Sweden: Wedding ring 'found on carrot' after 16 years

A Swedish woman has discovered her wedding ring on a carrot growing in her garden, 16 years after she lost it, says a newspaper.

Lena Paahlsson had long ago lost hope of finding the ring, which she designed herself, reports Dagens Nyheter.

The white-gold band, set with seven small diamonds, went missing in her kitchen in 1995, she told the paper.

Although the ring no longer fits, she hopes to have it enlarged so she can wear it again.

Mrs Paahlsson and her family live on a farm near Mora in central Sweden.

She took the ring off to do some Christmas baking with her daughters, but it disappeared from the work surface where it had been left, she explained to Dagens Nyheter.

The family searched everywhere and years later took up the tiling on the floor during renovations, in the hope of finding the ring.

It was not until 16 years later when Mrs Paahlsson was pulling up carrots in her garden that she noticed one with the gold band fastened tightly around it.

"The carrot was sprouting in the middle of the ring. It is quite incredible," her husband Ola said to the newspaper.

The couple believe the ring fell into a sink back in 1995 and was lost in vegetable peelings that were turned into compost or fed to their sheep.

"I had given up hope," Mrs Paahlsson told Dagens Nyheter, adding that she wanted to have the ring adjusted to fit her.

"Now that I have found the ring again I want to be able to use it," she said.

-Story from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16374283

Will London be as British as Vancouver is Canadian?

There has been a lot of negative press about the Vancouver Olympics here in London, UK. I have been surprised by it, but concluded that the roots are an underlying worry and some fear mongering about the upcoming London Summer Olympics in 2012. It was nice to read a more positive spin in this article on BBC entitled "Will London be as British as Vancouver is Canadian?" by Ollie Williams (printed below). Will London be as British as Vancouver is Canadian? It is hard to convey just how Canadian these Winter Games have been. Multi-Olympic veterans to whom I've spoken are in awe of it. Even Canadians seem occasionally taken aback. Vancouver is a city painted red and white, partying long and loud into every night on the crest of a wave of national fervour. Each gold medal is a new excuse for Canada to celebrate the fact of its existence. I have sat and watched as floods of fans transformed empty venues into a seething mass of maple leaves - nowhere more so than the Olympic ice hockey arena, Canada Hockey Place, for the women's gold medal game on Thursday. Enclosed arenas amplify noise at the best of times, and the crescendo as the Canadian team took to the ice must have made the home team feel 100ft tall. It is hard to recall one fan who did not turn up in national colours. That has been replicated at every venue, in every event, and out on the streets no matter the day of the week. Is that simply what happens to Olympic host cities, or has this been a peculiarly Canadian phenomenon? Will London 2012 feel like this? Canadian supporters raise the roof for their women's hockey team. Photo: Getty Images Any public place in Canada is operating beyond fever pitch as these Games slowly reach a close. On one occasion, we were treated to impromptu renditions of the Canadian national anthem three times in one cacophonously patriotic half-hour. Queues of Canadian fans waiting to get into venues exhibit similar characteristics. Anywhere a crowd of more than four or five gathers, it is not long before chants of "Go! Canada! Go!" are struck up, to the ringing of cowbells and honking of passing horns. "The most important thing is the enthusiasm of the people," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge earlier in the week. "I have never seen a city embrace the Games in this way." Team GB chef de mission Andy Hunt added: "All of us have been totally amazed by the way the Canadian nation has been absolutely entwined with these Games. The challenge for us now is to make sure the home team is really at the centre of the London 2012." And therein lies a critical difference. The Canadian national sport is ice hockey, and there was never any doubt that the home hockey teams would be front and centre of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Every second Canadian on the streets is wearing a hockey jersey - the other is wearing the Canadian flag as a cape. The women's team have already made themselves heroes and the entire nation will stop what it is doing, don the national colours and watch, impatiently, when the men take to the ice in Sunday's final. Canadians will wait for the chance, the right, to celebrate their status as the finest hockey nation in the world. This is a country so secure in its patriotism, so comfortable with its international reputation for "nice", that when the American women appeared close to tears collecting their silver medals, Canadian fans thundered "U-S-A! U-S-A!" in sympathy. (Would English football fans do that for players from a rival team?) Whether it's as easy to be secure in feeling British is a different question - one you could write books on, let alone an Olympic blog. But Britain as a sports team has always felt like a tricky concept for much of its population to grasp. Britain's constituent nations play the sports about which they are most passionate as separate entities - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Football would be the British equivalent to ice hockey in Canada, but how many people are fans of British football? Type "Team GB" into a search engine and on the first page of results you will find a website dedicated to opposing a British football team at London 2012. Fans of football, cricket and rugby, which many British people would list first if asked to name sports they follow, are English, Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh. They are unlikely to identify themselves, first and foremost, as British when it comes to sport. Among British sports fans you find some of the most passionate supporters in the world. Think of the Scottish football team's Tartan Army, or the English cricket team's Barmy Army. And British fans will go nuts for any successful GB athlete and back them all the way to the podium. But the way that manifests itself may look very different to the enthusiasm for the act of being Canadian which home supporters here exhibit. You might argue it will be success in the events themselves which inspires the public, but that hasn't seemed the case here. On the first night of the Games, drenched at the foot of Cypress Mountain in the wake of moguls skier Jenn Heil's failure to secure gold for Canada, her legions of supporters were as vocal and boisterously Canadian as those victorious fans at the women's hockey. For Canada, it feels as though the entire Games has been an outlet for a national consciousness in existence for many, many decades. The raw, patriotic energy was there, and the Winter Olympics simply channelled it to spectacular ends. Does the challenge for London 2012 organisers lie in channelling the patriotism of individual nations into that British team, or in generating that patriotism in the first place? Will Trafalgar Square become a living, breathing carpet of red, white, and blue, or will the London Games be an entirely different affair? Will being British at London 2012 feel like being Canadian at Vancouver 2010? And is it necessarily bad if it doesn't? I'm looking forward to finding out.

Metal Heads Unite

With my MetalHead exhibition showing in Vancouver, Canada it was coincidental to find another "metalhead" on the BBC Web News today entitled: Man Grows New Skull After Decades. The severely damaged skull of a Northumberland (UK) man involved in a car crash 50 years ago has regenerated itself, a process thought to be rare. Mr Moore said the plate had never bothered him, but he was relieved he would no longer "set the alarms off at the airport". If you have not yet seen the MetalHead exhibition, it is on until October 29 at the Lookout Gallery at Regent College (UBC campus). For more details go to the gallery website. I have put the exhibition up on my website now too although you can't enlarge them yet. But soon! www.michal.ca

Michael Jackson Wake

Late Friday night I wandered down to Trafalgar Square in London, UK, and found crowds of young people gathered in a wake for Michael Jackson. Throngs of people came and went while the crowd would start singing one of his songs only to have it die off a few lines later. Up against the gate of the National Gallery a candlelight shrine had begun as people came and read the messages and lit candles. I love the way that dog is lit up in the picture above. Another shot of the square. I noticed the police quietly milling around just to make sure that nothing went wrong. What a nightmare job for them.

Man Found Dead Mouse in Malt Loaf

Click here for the BBC story.

Embracing the Challenge of Good Data Collection in Post-Conflict Liberia

The Lofa County Survey

(Photo: left) Survey team member Priya Marwah mapping out logistics with Dr. Geetor Saydee and Dr. Basia Tomczyk, Photo: UNFPA, 18 July 2008

LOFA, Liberia — Dr. Geetor Saydee’s legs were tired, his brow drenched in sweat. He’d been walking for several hours through the dusty streets of Lofa, a county in Liberia’s northern region, to assess the status of the public healthcare system in the wake of the country’s 14-year civil war. But he trudged on, knowing how much was at stake.

Lofa was a focal point during the war, a place where ritual murder, systematic rape and torture were commonplace. Though the war ended in 2003, clean water and sanitation are still scarce and nearly all basic services, including health facilities, were destroyed and remain in shambles. The country’s Human Development Report recently concluded that as a result of the conflict, only 5 per cent of the country’s health facilities are still standing. In 2003, fewer than 20 government doctors (out of 400 who were trained before the war) remained in the country.

Difficult conditions

(Photo: left) Difficult conditions, Driving on rugged roads into Lofa County, Photo: UNFPA

“The biggest challenges were bad roads and inaccessible areas. We spent a lot of time walking. If the villages were too far to reach by foot, we’d have to turn around and find another option. After this survey was conducted, I realized that in order to gather good and genuine data, one has to surpass many challenges,” Priya Marwah of UNFPA’s Humanitarian Response Unit recalls.

Shocking results

The results of the survey were shocking: 96 per cent had lost shelter due to the war, 90.8 per cent had lost their livelihoods, and 72.8 per cent had lost a family member. More than half of all women in Lofa County were victims of at least one incident of sexual violence during the 1999-2003 conflict.

While 90 per cent of these women were physically abused at least once, almost half of the women reported more than four instances in which they were required to have sex for favours. The data also revealed that 61.5 per cent of women experienced violence at the hands of an intimate partner at some point in their lives.

A community effort

"Local NGOs know the culture, which helps them address sensitive reproductive health issues." --Meriwether Beatty

At the beginning of the survey process, the 14-member survey team travelled across rutted roads and thick forests to reach the Lofa districts of Voinjama, Foya, Zorzor and Salayea to explain to village leaders the purpose and procedures of the survey, and to obtain their permission to conduct it. Making sure the communities knew what was going on and trusted the process was critical to the survey’s success.

“The local population was very helpful and cooperative throughout the entire process. They provided accommodation for the survey team and directions to the next selected towns and villages. The local population also assisted in the education and sensitization of the survey,” said Basia Tomczyk, a CDC epidemiologist.

Forgotten and vulnerable

Ironically, access to reproductive health care often declines after a ceasefire because, once peace is forged, humanitarian agencies often stop providing emergency assistance. Yet in post-conflict settings, broken-down infrastructures and a lack of resources often mean that displaced populations are left to try to reconstruct their communities without the necessary supplies and equipment.

Conclusion

It had been nearly ten years since a population-based survey had been produced in Liberia. The lack of information meant that calculating sample frames was difficult since some of the villages and roads listed no longer existed. These obstacles are not uncommon when collecting important data in countries transitioning from the emergency phase of a conflict.

The participants of the survey included some 907 women of reproductive age living in 36 locales, which included both urban and rural areas. They were interviewed by women, many of them locally recruited, who had been trained by the CDC on the survey methodologies and who also spoke the local dialect. Survey team members filled out a questionnaire form for each participant, since many of them did not know how to write. Participants were asked about maternal health practices, knowledge and use of contraception, experiences with sexual violence during and after the recent conflict, and knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to HIV.

“It was important to evaluate the reproductive health situations of the women here. What we found was that they have a very low social and economic status, which makes them vulnerable to a variety of things,” said Dr. Saydee, a national consultant for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Early pregnancy, sexual violence and HIV transmission are among the issues he cited.

In fact, the data he and others collected suggested that “the single most important intervention needed is improved access to and availability of reproductive health services.”

Liberian Law Sanctions Armed Robbery as Capital Offence

In 2006, The Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) helped draft recent legislation increasing the penalties for rape, including gang rape and assaults of children under the age of 18. With violence on the increase again the following has just made the news:

Monrovia, Liberia (Afrique en ligne), Monrovia - 25/07/2008- President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed into law an act making armed robbery, terrorism and hijacking capital offences.

The bicameral national legislature passed the controversial act a fortnight ago as daring armed gangs, including persons dressed in police uniforms and using as sault rifles, pistols, cutlasses, knives and other sharp weapons, suddenly escalated night attacks on community after community in Monrovia and its environs.

The act specifies that "following an armed robbery, the penalty for the convict, if death occurs, shall be death by hanging".

Meanwhile, human rights activists have expressed pessimism that the act making armed robbery a capital offence could face stiff challenges in terms of calling for the death penalty.

Liberians welcome UN Peacekeepers in 2003.
Okay, not that related to the story, but I didn't have
any pictures of armed robbery in Liberia(!).

But a statement from President Johnson-Sirleaf's office announcing the signing of the Act, said: "The President is fully cognizant that Liberia as a State Party is a signatory to the UN's Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of death penalty commonly known as the signing of the 'Second Optional protocol'.

"However she shares the view and responded to the appeal of the majority of the people for a robust response to the increasing level of crime involving robberie s that include physical assault, rape and murder by robbers who attack innocent c itizens, thereby creating panic and a confidence crisis in the society."

Nevertheless, the statement said, "the president is committed to revisiting the (armed robbery) Act for possible amendment as soon as the situation is brought fully under control and sustainable peace is assured".

World Bank Ranks Liberia High In Controlling Corruption

As the Government of Liberia continues its fight against corruption, the World Bank has revealed that the war-wrecked nation has shown the largest improvement than any country globally in controlling corruption over the last two years.

According to Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio, the statistics was recently released by the World Bank Institute.

Quoting the World Bank Institute’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, Badio said Liberia was ranked 185 out of 206 countries on control of corruption in 2005.

The Presidential Press Secretary made the disclosure Monday at his regular press briefing held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia.

According to the data, in 2007, Liberia moved up an additional 32 places to 113 in the world which means that in just two years, the country moved 72 places in the world rankings.

Click here for link

Photo: Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio

Sunday’s Downpour Renders Liberians Homeless

MONROVIA, 21 July 2008 (IRIN) - Intense and heavy rainfall in the Liberian capital Monrovia on 20 July caused the worst floods on record in Monrovia and forced nearly 1,000 people out of their houses, Liberian authorities told IRIN.

All day Sunday, residents in eastern areas of the city including in Paynesville, Townhalk, King Gray, Fish Market and other communities were seen removing personal belongings like mattresses, clothes and pots from their homes. By the end of the day, flood water had blocked roads to the area, and government rescue workers were using canoes to evacuate the remaining people from the flood areas.

For more pictures click here.

Fear On the Rise as Crime Wave Hits Liberian Capital

5 days ago
MONROVIA (AFP) — In the past week the capital of Liberia has been hit by a crime wave that has left inhabitants fearing for their lives while the government admits the security situation is deteriorating.

The West African nation has been struggling to rebuild itself after decades of internal conflict left the country in ruins. Since the government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf came to power in 2006 it has been credited with restoring stability and security to the country but in recent months crime has been on the rise.

Photo by Pamela

In the past eight days at least 160 homes in Monrovia were attacked by armed robbers, according to figures collected by AFP, demanding money or valuables and raping.

President Johnson-Sirleaf admitted that the security situation in the capital had deteriorated. She even said that some of the crimes were carried out by police officers assigned to protect the population.

Observers say most of the robbers are former fighters who fought in the civil war. Many have kept their weapons and find it hard to find and keep regular jobs in a country plagued by over 80 percent unemployement.

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe is Not Liberia

An interesting response to Mandy Rossouw's article The New Liberia which I posted earlier. It seems to have been sparked by Liberian president's Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson's visit with Nelson Mandela in South Africa where she denounces Zimbabwe's vote.

Here we hear from a keen Mugabe supporter...

Excerpts:
The Herald (Harare) / OPINION, 18 July 2008, by Nomagugu M'simang, Harare

I write as a Zimbabwean woman and mother of four who has lived in Zimbabwe all her life.
I also write as a woman and mother who has been a victim of the devastating effects of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States, Britain and their European Union allies.

I also write as a Zimbabwean who wonders at the moral decency of why her country is being punished for repossessing its land and reasserting its national independence and sovereignty.
I am also writing as a Zimbabwean who is witnessing through leaps and bounds, the growth and development of our democratic systems since 1980 when Zimbabwe attained political independence.

am also writing as a Zimbabwean sick of outside interference in our internal affairs, aware that Zimbabweans can bridge their differences and come to a common understanding about their vision, and adequately plan for the realisation of that vision.

Last week, on the eve of the United Nations Security Council vote on the US-sponsored draft resolution for sanctions against Zimbabwe, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson became one of the few lone voices outside of the UNSC membership to vocally support the imposition of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

There are interesting comments as well. Here is one reader's first few lines:

Even Hitler had his supporters; Idi Amin too had his State Research goons ready to defend him to the last day. So this kind of support of Mugabe at this time of the game is not unprecedented.

Click here for the rest of the article and comments.

The U.S. Military's Growing Role in Africa

July 17, 2008 by Jason Beaubien on NPR
All Things Considered, October 11, 2004

The United States is stepping up its military activity in Africa in an effort to combat terrorism and protect vital oil reserves off Africa's west coast.

The U.S. military has been leery of the continent ever since the debacle a decade ago in Somalia, when 18 American peacekeepers were killed in Mogadishu. Officials say they are now trying to train African armies to keep the peace and promote stability on the continent so U.S. troops won't have to.
NPR's Jason Beaubien has a two-part report produced in conjunction with Jane's Defence Weekly.

As Beaubien reports, this is the new face of the American military in Africa: U.S. Marines, Special Forces and Navy Seals fly in, train local troops for several weeks, and then fly out again.
This program, the Pan Sahel Initiative, has trained troops in four West African countries: Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Soon it could be expanded to eight nations around the Sahara Desert.
"Our interest is to help Africans help themselves, [to] help train their militaries better," says Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of the U.S. military's European Command, which oversees most of Africa.
U.S. officials worry that the predominantly Muslim area, known as the Sahel, could become a base for Islamic terrorists. The most prominent terrorist group operating there has been the radical Islamic Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French initials GSPC.
In an example of the U.S. cooperation envisioned under the program, dozens of the Algerian-based GSPC were killed in a joint operation in March. With the assistance of U.S. Navy P-3 surveillance planes, troops from Chad cornered the terrorists in a remote part of the Sahel.

Photos
Machine Gun Training: U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Jonathan Sparkman instructs troops in Niger on use of a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the back of a pickup. The U.S. military is training troops in Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania as part of an initiative to try to keep terrorist groups from setting up base camps in or near the Sahara Desert. The program could be expanded in the near future to reach eight countries.(Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Fire Maneuver: U.S. Marines instruct troops from Niger in a "fire maneuver" drill using AK-47s.
(Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Across the Range: Trainees from Niger race across the firing range. (Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Firing Instructions: Troops from Niger practice with German-made MG-3 machine guns. The Marines repeatedly tell the trainees to make sure the machine gun fire stays down because the kick from the gun tends to force the barrel tip up. (Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Sunrise: The Marines' training schedule for the African troops is grueling. On this day, the troops are up before dawn observing how visible even a flashlight can be at night across the desert terrain. Just as the sun comes up they launch a training exercise involving machine guns on a hill providing cover for a platoon that's attacking a target down below. (Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Truth-seeking: Historic Liberia Hearings in St. Paul Reveal Horrors

Vereata Giddings, one of around 30,000 Liberians living in Minnesota. “Going back to that memory is tough, like it’s happening all over again.” Photo: Paul Schmelzer

BY ANNA PRATT, MINNESOTA INDEPENDENT
June 21, 2008
Describing the events that unfolded in July 1990 still brings tears to the eyes of Liberian native Jane Allison Samukai. After civil war broke out in her homeland, rebel soldiers attacked her home. Those who didn’t heed the soldiers’ demands were shot. “I witnessed my neighbor’s killing and torture,” Samukai said, wiping her eyes. “People were taken away in the night… I knew they were going to kill me.”

Confronting a difficult past: the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in St. Paul By Emily K. Bright, TC Daily Planet Witnesses at the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation hearing in St. Paul June 9-14 varied widely in their experiences and perspectives. The daughter of the Vice President under Samuel Doe in the 1980s wanted her murdered father to be remembered as a public servant willing to give his life for his country. The economic advisor under three presidents flew in from Philadelphia to give his inside perspective on what would be best for his country. A young nurse tearfully recounted finding the soldier who kidnapped and raped her during Taylor’s rebellion later promoted to a government security position.

Historic meeting of the Liberian Truth & Reconcilation concludes
by Staff, African News Journal Over the weekend, Saturday, June 13, marked the conclusion of the six-day meeting of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceedings held both live at Sundlin Music Hall on the Hamline University campus in St. Paul or via the live web-cast at www.trcofliberia.org. A full days of proceedings was planned most of those days with witnesses testimony and other events throughout.
After she’d been tied up and raped at gunpoint, another soldier told her attacker that he had done enough. She lay helplessly on the ground. “I could no longer fight,” she told an audience that had gathered for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings at St. Paul’s Hamline University last week.

Eventually, Samukai, who was covered with cuts and bruises, made her way back to the schoolhouse where her family and others had sought shelter. For days, she lived in fear. “I thought about suicide…I couldn’t face anyone,” she said with a pained expression on her face. In spite of everything, Samukai, who now lives in New Jersey and works with troubled youth, pressed on. Now, she says she wants to pay tribute to those who endured what she did by “being a voice for the voiceless.”

For the rest of the article click here.

The New Liberia

MANDY ROSSOUW | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 21 2008 06:00 THE SMART NEWS SOURCE

Torture and mutilation in Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election campaign are reaching the levels of Liberia's horrific civil war, Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube said this week after returning from a visit to his home country.

"Limbs are being cut off and victims are given a choice: 'long-sleeved' or 'short-sleeved', meaning you can choose whether to lose your hand or your forearm.

"I think the numbers of people who are killed is understated. I know of at least three people who've been burned alive."

Ncube said the tactics used by "war veterans" and youth militia recalled those used by Zanu-PF during the country's liberation war. The ability to move freely around the country, even the capital city, has become a thing of the past.

"Rural Zimbabwe is inaccessible for anyone not from those areas. If you want to visit anyone there you have to report to the chief or headman," he said.

"My mother wanted to visit her sister in Bikita whose husband had fallen seriously ill. She was advised not to bother. 'You will be killed if you come here,' they told her."

Ncube said that in the rural areas mock elections are held in which people are told to line up behind the headman. As the ZanuPF militia oversees the voting, people are told where to place their cross. They are threatened that those who vote wrongly on June 27 will be dealt with severely.

Ncube said that although Zanu-PF started the violence to intimidate the opposition, the party is now struggling to keep it under control.

"It has got out of hand -- the party doesn't know which button to push any more. But they aren't complaining because all the violence works in their favour."

Young People from Liberia Raise their Voices Against Violence

Interview from the RAISE Conference, 19 June 2008
Reported from New York by Shannon Egan

KAMPALA, Uganda --- Woloquoi Davis was just seven years old when the conflict in Liberia broke out. Rebels slaughtered his uncle and grand uncle before his very eyes. Forced to flee for his life, along with his few remaining family members, Woloquoi ran as fast as his young legs would carry him. Throughout his search for safety and freedom, he witnessed rebels killing innocent civilians and looting and burning the houses and property of his community members.

The Liberian conflict, which began in 1989, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and devastated the country’s economy. In 2003, the conflict came to an end and communities have had the opportunity to focus on the rebuilding of homes, neighbourhoods and basic infrastructures. But in a country where ritual murder, systematic rape, and torture were commonplace for more than a decade, some have found it hard to leave behind the habit of violence. After so many years, the thread of violence has become intertwined with the culture.

Woloquoi, now 25 years old, is trying to change his world by advocating for Liberia’s young people in the fight to stop all forms of the violence that he says “is destroying the social and moral shape of Liberia”. In his self-appointed role, Woloquoi volunteers for the United Youth Movement against Violence, an organization based in Paynesville City in the outskirts of the country’s capital, Monrovia. The Youth Movement, which teaches young people living in impoverished communities about issues such as gender-based violence through sports, art and other recreational activities, is supported by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

In an interview during the Reproductive Health in Emergencies Conference, Woloquoi talks about how participating in the recreational activities helped him heal from the painful experiences of his past and empowered him to change the course of his life for the better. He also addresses some of the key issues affecting young people in Liberia today, such as the lack of education and the problem of prostitution and he explains why it is beneficial for communities and organizations to invest in young people early on.

Click here to read the short interview. It is well worth the read.

Related Links:
Helping Young People Affected by Crisis
Will You Listen? Young Voices from Conflict Zones

Senator charged over deadly Liberian land dispute

Monrovia, Liberia, 18 June 2008 04:02 Fourteen people, including a senator, have been charged with murder following a deadly land dispute that left at least 14 people dead in Liberia, the Solicitor General of Liberia said on Wednesday. "Senator Roland Kahn and 13 others were charged last night," Tiawon Gongloe said via telephone. The charges follow the brutal killing of at least 14 farmers in Margibi county, about 120km north of Monrovia, nearly two weeks ago. The suspects are currently held in custody while they await trial, expected to be set in a month's time, according to Gongloe. The land dispute between Charles Bennie, a former spokesperson for the Lurd rebels, and the senator is the most deadly in recent years, with 14 people dead and another 19 still missing, according to police. The farmers, who were working for Bennie as contractors on his land, were attacked by armed men who opened fire on them. Bennie said he had been involved in a dispute over the land for some time with Kahn, who represents Margibi county. A court had already ruled the farmland belongs to him but the senator continued to claim it as his ancestral land, he added. Bennie accused Kahn's security men of leading the attackers, but the senator has denied the allegations. The Senate suspended Kahn last week, lifting his immunity from prosecution. Last week, Bennie, Kahn and 13 others were arrested in connection with the case. Kahn and the 13 men will be charged. The investigation into Bennie continues. "The police have nothing against Charles Bennie yet, so he has been asked to be reporting to the police headquarters daily as the investigation continues," the Solicitor General said. -- Sapa-AFP Related Headlines: Liberia: Senator, 13 Others Charged With Murder Liberia: Sen. Kaine, 14 Others Given One Week Liberia: Death Penalty Awaits Margibi Massacre Perpetrators Liberia: 'They Massacred With Machetes, Ak-47s' Liberia: Peace-Time Bloodbath Under Fire Liberia: Farm Workers Killed in Clash

Liberia: 'No Conflict of Interest,' President Sirleaf Says

The Analyst (Monrovia)
11 June 2008, Posted to the web 11 June 2008
Edwood Dennis, Monrovia

China's President Hu Jintao (L) meets Liberia's President
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia's capital Monrovia February 1, 2007. [Reuters]

Liberia is painstakingly emerging from the depths it was thrown by 14 years of civil infamy and there is no question that it will use all available assistance.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf seems to have no problem with this approach to recovery and said so this week.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has disclosed that there is no conflict of interest in Liberia's relationship with both the U.S. and China.

She said what rather seems to exist is a confusion of interest amongst some of Liberia's international partners on how rapidly and to what level to help spur Liberia's post-war security and economic recoveries...

The President Sirleaf said while neither the U.S. nor the PRC at any time expressed disquiet about the nation's partnership with the other, some Liberians and non-Liberians at one time or the other expressed fear that the direction the administration has taken may, at some point, fuel diplomatic conflict.

She did not say why the Liberians and non-Liberians thought that was a possibility, but observers recalled that the Tolbert administration paid dearly for such relation with China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War years.

Then, the U.S. regarded the two communist nations as threat to the democratization of Third World nations, including Liberia which many say the U.S. guided jealously as a satellite or pilot state.

Today with the U.S. and China cooperating at several fronts including the levels of trade, global terrorism, finance, and banking, analysts say, that Liberia will fall into trouble for courting China is far unlikely.

She said Liberia needed all of its friends, traditional and new, so that the widespread desperation being felt across the country can be taken care of as rapidly as necessary to protect the nation's stability obtained through the sacrifice of UNMIL.

According to her, both the U.S. and China were genuine friends of Liberia who, in their own ways, were concerned about the plight of the nation following years of bad economic policies and a devastating civil war and doing what best they could to help the nation out of its current dilemma.

She said both governments were equally concerned about Liberia's quick recovery as indicated by their past contributions and present efforts to contribute to the improvement and expansion of the nation's only public institution of higher learning and to education in general.

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A Joint Ticket?

I couldn't resist posting this one. Hillary Clinton has conceded and rumour has it she may run as his vice.Barrily Obinton

Liberia: Soccer Fans Die at World Cup Match

Several crew from the ship were at this football match and described an insanely overcrowded scene in which the UN and Police were having a hard time controlling the crowds that were so dense it was hard to breathe with all the pressure from bodies. An estimated 50,000-60,000 people crammed the 35,000 capacity stadium.

allAfrica.com / Posted to the web 2 June 2008 / Written by Boakai Fofana

Monrovia - At least eight people died of suffocation caused by overcrowding at the stadium where Liberia faced the Gambia in a soccer match Sunday, according to published news reports in Monrovia today.

The Lone Stars of Liberia were playing their counterparts from the Gambia at the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) Sport Complex in Monrovia. The game was an African Nations Cup/World Cup qualifying match

The SKD stadium has the capacity to hold only 33, 000 spectators.

The stadium seating capacity is about 35,000 but security guards could not contain thousands more who flooded the stadium. The match was Liberia's first game in the qualifying series and expectations for what many regard as a new team – especially with the hiring of the German coach, Antoine Hey – have been building for weeks.

Authorities at the Liberia Football Association are blaming “criminal elements” who produced duplicate tickets for the overcrowding of the stadium. Football lovers started arriving hours before the game started and it became apparent long before kick-off that there would be problems in controlling the crowd.

Some of the victims in front of the stadium shortly after Sunday's incident.

Local radio stations were told before the match to ask those en route to the stadium to turn back. It is not clear whether this call was heeded – there were already thousands of people outside the stadium, waiting to enter.

In the stadium itself, the crowd became rowdy, pushing and shoving. There were many cries for “water” when the heat from the midday sun set in. The showers of rain that fell did not alleviate the problem and fire trucks had to be called upon to help

The game itself ended in a 1-1 draw.

With another game scheduled for the stadium, many are calling on the authorities to treat Sunday's tragedy as a wake-up call to plan better.