AFRICAN PANORAMA
REMEMBERING THE 1984 INVASION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA...
November 10, 2011
By Tartay Pekin
The day was August 22, 1984. Acting on the orders of then president Samuel Doe, defense minister Gray Dio Allison issued the orders in those horrifying and unforgettable words: "Move, or be removed"!
Students of the University of Liberia had converged on the main campus, singing and chanting slogans against the brutal regime of Samuel Doe. The regime had arrested Dr. Amos Sawyer, a professor of political science at the University, and George Klay Kieh, a teaching assistant in the political science department. Of course, they were "trouble makers" and with the charge of treason hanging over the two men, their fates were destined to end like many others before them. They would die!
The students gathered and demanded that their instructors be released. The government responded by issuing a shoot and brutalization order, unleashing armed soldiers on the unarmed students. Hundreds of students were brutalized, many ended with broken jaws, broken limbs, severe gashes, cracked skulls and bloodied bodies! There were reports of several deaths as well.
The government did not just stop at "removing" the students from campus; it chased the wounded at hospitals and clinics, making certain that even the bleeding students were not to be spared. Some unlucky wounded students were hauled into the back of army trucks and taken to destinations unknown. Up to today, some of those missing students have never been found!
The fallout between the government of Samuel Doe on one hand, and the US government and the rest of the international community on the other, was irreparable! There was a nation-wide and international condemnation of Samuel Doe and his government by Liberians and the US government and sundry, respectively. Doe was now a full fledged tyrant! He was a despot who ordered the murder/brutalization of unarmed students who had gathered on their campus to demonstrate against a perceived wrong.
The government's order to break up the demonstration was, "move, or be removed". The crime committed by the students?? They were demonstrating on their campus against the arrest of their instructors, an act they deemed unfair and wrong.
Twenty-seven years later, history is being repeated, albeit in a different form. This time, the victims were not students barricaded on their campus, but rather, opposition supporters (Liberians), holed up at the headquarters of their party, protesting an alleged fraudulent election. Government forces opened fire on them, killing scores and brutalizing many others. The police orders were the same: Remove the "trouble makers" from their place of comfort. The mode of operation was the same: Brutality! The crime committed by the victims? The same as the one committed by the students against Samuel Doe: The partisans of the CDC had assembled at their party headquarters to protest against a perceived wrong.
The only difference between these two historical events is that, unlike Samuel Doe who was called a murderer, a despot, a tyrant after the LU campus blood-shed, Ellen Sirleaf and her government are being cheered on for brutalizing and killing Liberians. The same international community, including the US government, who rightly condemned Samuel Doe, are today turning a blind eye to the same type of brutality and murder... Death is death; murder is murder; a Liberian life is a Liberian life! If it was wrong to shoot and brutalized unarmed students on August 22, 1984, it is criminal to brutalize and kill unarmed opposition protesters on November 7, 2011.
I publicly call on Cllr. Winston Tubman, Amb. George Weah and other leaders of the CDC to now step up, show guts, and condemn this cowardly act of brutality! The blood of those Liberians spilled at the CDC headquarters must not be in vain. The lives of those savagely and cruelly taken away by state police must not be in vain. The leadership of the CDC must LEGALLY and PEACEFULLY take on this uncaring and corrupt UP government for this criminal act. Anything short of that will be considered an act of betrayal of the trust of the hundred of thousands of Liberians who look to the CDC with hope. Indeed, it will be a betrayal that will never be forgotten!
Culled from the Coalition of Concerned Liberians, Mon Nov 7th, 2011 09:08 pm by Tartay Pekin
