Sakou Saysay has had enough and wants to leave. The only obstacle now is finding a wagon big enough to take his 3 wives and 18 children. "I'm sick of living like this," said Mr. Saysay, a farmer who has lived in this remote village in northeastern Liberia for nearly 20 years. "A man can't sleep in peace here anymore."
Most of his goats, chickens and sheep have been stolen by marauding gangs of Liberian soldiers, he said. Some of his neighbors have also been held at gunpoint and forced to give money. A few have been killed. "I'm going to Guinea while I still have time, before they get me too," Mr. Saysay said. He will be joining a growing exodus of Liberians who are fleeing the worst outbreak of violence in this West African country in recent years. Diplomats and journalists say that as many as 70,000 people - about a third of Nimba County - have fled Liberia, mostly crossing into Guinea or the Ivory Coast.
The violence erupted in late December, when guerrillas opposed to Liberia's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, invaded this lushly forested area nestled in the Nimba Mountains. The Liberian Government then sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. After a bloody campaign, the Liberian Army is generally believed to have succeeded in securing the eastern half of Nimba County. But scattered fighting is reported to continue between the Liberian forces and the insurgents led by Charles Taylor, a former Cabinet minister who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption. Though the rebels are said to attack civilian as well as military targets, the stories told in towns and villages in this area are almost uniformly ones of bitterness toward the Liberian Army. "The situation is not about the rebels," Mr. Saysay said. "It's about the soldiers."
A Western diplomat said: "Soldiers were supposed to be up there to rid the area of rebels. But ironically, because they were such brutes, they have created a lot of sympathy for the rebels." Most residents of Nimba County are members of the Gio and Mano tribes, which are also the tribes of many of Mr. Taylor's followers. By contrast, most of the senior military officers directing Government forces here are said to be members of the Krahn tribe, as is President Doe. The Krahns, who are about five percent of the population, now dominate much of Liberia's political life.
At the once-bustling trading town of Sanoquelli, dozens of abandoned storefronts and the mostly deserted streets testify to the bloody events of January. Diplomats and international relief workers estimate that at least 500 civilians have been killed. Residents here say the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed by the military has introduced a new element of fear. "If soldiers arrest you for curfew, they ask you for money, and if you don't give it to them, they kill you," said Mamade Kende, a farmer in Gbapa. He said he had to pay a soldier $15 not to rape his daughter. The starting monthly salary for a Liberian soldier is about $50.
Liberian forces have allowed journalists to tour secure areas of Nimba County but have blocked access to an area between Zulowi and Kahnple. Refugees who have fled across the border into the Ivory Coast and Guinea said that it was mostly in that region that soldiers went on a rampage. Asked about reports that Liberian soldiers were abusing unarmed civilians, military officials here insisted that their operations had been confined to pursuing the rebels and that any attacks on civilians were committed by the rebels. Brig. Gen. Moses K. Draig, the commander of Government forces here, said: "Harassment on the part of our troops is out of the question. They've got too much to do."
Source: New York Times
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