AFRICAN PANORAMA
WATCHING THROUGH THE BIRDS' EYES
He is now a globetrotter – virtually jet hopping from country to country. With high profile Liberian diplomatic and official passports, he masquerades as an ambassador, a minister, and a businessman and even a bishop. This apparent mask naturally affords him favorable treatment at immigration checkpoints around the world.
On refugee camps in Africa, he exudes a rather glamorous posture that bespeaks Americana: a bulky gold necklace, baggy pants, and a droopy brand name T-shirt, silver earrings and sometimes a platted hairstyle. He even speaks Ebonics with a strong Liberian accent.
This is the young Liberian refugee, the former child rebel, the pathological killer and vandal who, under the tutelage of Charles Taylor, lay waste thousands of Liberian lives and millions of dollars worth of property in a 14-year long war.
During the internecine war and the subsequent murderous reign of Taylor, the former fighter was taught the horrendous acts of plunder, terror, and murder. Groomed to think big, he was given a gun to help himself. He effectively used this unsavory tool to pillage his own country.
Yet, he won enormous sympathy of the developed world. Thus, in the early 1990’s he did not have to go through the hassle of acquiring asylum status in Western Europe, where he is now living in safe haven in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels among others. Thanks to Uncle Sam’s resettlement scheme, a somewhat goodwill immigration arrangement which brought Liberian refugees to America in droves, the former rebel arrived in the United States with almost the much coveted American green card. Evermore secure, he is now basking in the American affluence – driving posh jeeps and sipping Heineken at Liberian parties.
The trouble is, amidst the comfort and safety of the developed world, the young Liberian refugee has been a menace in his host country. Invariably, he has been perpetrating heinous crimes: carjacking, robbery, burglary, drug and “black money” peddling rape and murder.
In American cities, he has been depicted in screaming headlines as convicted murderer, armed robber, rapist and so on. In metropolitan centers in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, he is the most wanted con artist who dupes gullible, greedy businessmen and makes away with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Indeed, the hope - that the young Liberian refugee would be rehabilitated and thereby tap into the vast learning opportunities here in the developed world - may have been unfounded. For, he hasn't been able to shed off the image of crime and lawlessness that have dogged our country ever since 1989. Much to the utter despair of parents and guardians, the young Liberian refugee is very much at home with the underworld of crime.
BM BOY
The trademark of the young Liberian refugee in the international market of crime is what has been coined as “black money”, a sort of hoax he uses to lure local businessmen into fake financial transactions. A mastermind of the Liberian equivalent of the infamous Nigerian “419”, the former child soldier has now been dubbed “BM boy”.
As a BM boy, he trots the globe at the expense of his preys: mainly gullible businessmen whom he hunts down in every corner of the world, except North America. Thus, he is often seen at international airports carrying a silver briefcase the contents of which is a stack of black sheets of paper neatly cut to the size of a dollar bill.
This is supposedly a stack of dollar bills that needs to be laundered. The chemicals supposedly used to wash such bills can be purchased with thousands of dollars – purportedly at the nearest American embassy. Businessmen, whom he cajoles at trendy restaurants and hotels in metropolitan centers, usually fall into the hoax offering thousands of dollars. The BM boy is always disappearing into the cloister walls of American embassies with such money - leaving these somewhat foolhardy men in the cold.
MURDER IN AMERICAN CITIES
Here in Liberian communities in the United States, there has been a rather shocking phenomenon of Liberian- on-Liberian killings. The perpetrator of this increasing wave of murders is the former child soldier turned Liberian refugee. These killings have turned out to be gang-related.
After a day’s hustle, 39-year old Victor Nimely is having a meal at Kendeja, a trendy Liberian restaurant in down town Washington, D.C. He suddenly receives a phone call from Momolu Sirleaf Jr. The young Sirleaf is inviting Nimely over to a home owned by the son of Cllr. Carlos Smith in Gettysburg. Nimely quickly drives to the young Smith’s house, where he meets a group of his Liberian friends. Following what turns out to be a feud over money, Nimely is stabbed to death. As police in Virginia investigates the crime, which has been caught on amateur videotape by a white neighbor, Sirleaf and fellow prime suspects are being detained. The young Sirleaf, whose father is a former Taylor henchman, is said to have been a killer companion of Chuckie Taylor.
In Philadelphia, another young Liberian is jesting with his Liberian friends. He tells his friends how he has just completed his studies and how lucky he has been to find a pretty Liberian girl, who has a college degree from an American university. In the middle of this apparent bravado, one of the friends suddenly pierces a kitchen knife into his heart. The rest of his friends look on in glee as he profusely bleeds to death. The culprit, who is now behind bars, is said to be a former Taylor rebel.
So are scores of other young Liberian convicts in Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York and Trenton among other US cities. In Minnesota, especially, they form gangs and perpetrate crimes ranging from armed robbery, drug peddling, and car theft to burglary and cold blood murders.
Indeed, the contemporary Liberian youth is seriously at risk, still carrying the badge of Charles Taylor’s criminal gang. The former child soldier has now become the embodiment of our nation’s battered image.
THE TROUBLE WITH THE YOUNG LIBERIAN REFUGEE...
By Ray Martin Toe
