Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Monday, 29 August 2011
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Scramble to flee Ivory Coast's unrest
It is early in the morning and the sun has only just risen above the the river which divides Liberia from Ivory Coast.Fighters from Ivory Coast's former rebel group stand along the river bank watching, as hundreds of people packed on to rafts cross the river to reach the safety of Liberia. Just 50m (165ft) of water separates the two countries at this crossing point.
Throughout the night, gunfire echoed across the divide. Liberians woke to a rush of refugees scrambling over the river to escape what they fear most - a return to civil war.
One of the men wearing army fatigues and a red beret talks on the phone as he shouts orders to people around him. He looks like he is the one in charge. Another with an AK-47 clasped in his hands stands nearby. They both head towards a motorbike by the edge of the river bank where a fellow fighter, with a rocket-propelled grenade draped over his shoulder, waits to drive them.They both head towards a motorbike by the edge of the river bank where a fellow fighter, with a rocket-propelled grenade draped over his shoulder, waits to drive them
These men belong to the New Forces - the former rebel group from the north of Ivory Coast which is giving its backing to Alassane Ouattara, the man the UN says won November's presidential elections.
But incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to step down - splitting the country along the same north-south divide that the election was intended to heal. In 2002, the civil war left the rebels in charge of the north and the government army in control of the south.
To read the full BBC article, click here
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Liberians Struggle to Cope With Fleeing Ivorians
Albertine Yahwah sits on a hard wooden bench, cradling her little baby in her arms. The 20 year-old walked from the Ivory Coast with her two children and her husband to reach this small town across the border in Northern Liberia.
Avoiding the main roads, she trekked in her slippers through forests and over broken bridges. It took her three days. Exhausted and hungry, the young mother explains why she fled her home and the country she loves.
“In my village, while we were voting, Gbagbo people came to force us to vote for them and then Outtara people would come and force you to vote for them. That’s why I got scared and I came,” she says. Albertine comes from Danane, the heartland of Allassane Ouattara’s rebel- held north. The former Prime Minister was declared the new President in the November elections before the courts overturned the result.
The Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who has support in the Christian south, issued a rival claim to victory but then the UN Security Council passed a resolution to formally recognise Ouattara as the President. It has left the country split down the middle, with two Presidents trying to claim power. The army and security forces back Gbagbo while Ouattara has support from former rebels, the UN, African leaders and the West.
To read the full article, click here
Monday, 13 December 2010
Up Jumps a Girl into the Book
Recess is over at a small church school on the edge of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Children wearing bright blue, yellow and white uniforms stream back into the classrooms. Seated behind brown wooden desks, with sweat just drying off of their little bodies, only a few children have pens and copy books. They are learning how to read. “Everybody pay attention on the board,” says the teacher.
“Because,” she says.
“Because,” the class says in unison.
“Monrovia, Monrovia,” they say again.
Together, the pupils repeat every word their teacher says from a list of twenty scratched on the blackboard with white chalk.
Most of these children were born in the middle of Liberia’s 14 year civil war. With fighting breaking out across the country, it was too dangerous for many children to go to school. Some parents were afraid if they let their child out of their sight, they would be snatched and forced into the life of a child soldier.
Education for everyone suffered, but it was the women and girls who were affected the most. The latest UNESCO figures show just five out of ten Liberian women over the age of 15 can read or write. For men it is six out of ten. The West African country now has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, ranked in the bottom fifteen according to UNESCO.
To read this report - click on the link below
http://www.ips.org/africa/2010/12/liberia-up-jumps-a-girl-into-the-book/
Indian Female Peacekeepers Inspire Liberian Girls
It is break time at the Victory Chapel School in Congo Town. Children dressed in their royal blue uniforms with bright yellow and white trim fight to get under the shade of the only mango tree in the yard. It is the start of the dry season and the scorching sun will soon be almost unbearable to stand in.This small school, on the outskirts of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, is much like any other in the city until you see what stands beside it. More than a hundred female peacekeepers patrol the grounds of a big white fenced compound, the first all-female unit of UN police in history.
The women are an arresting sight: dressed in their blue army combat uniform, black boots, the signature United Nations blue cap and each carrying an AK-47. But the school children are so used to their presence they barely give them a second glance.
"It surprised me at the beginning because it is my first time to see different people come around me," says Wokie Sarchie, a fifth grade student at the school.
The Indian peacekeepers arrived in Liberia in 2007. Their main role is guarding the president’s office on Capitol Hill on the other side of the city. When they are not protecting the president, they are often here helping the teachers at the school.
To read this report - click on the link below
Liberia: Leading the way on 1325...but Still Some Way to Go
Assistant Commissioner Bennetta Holder Warner sits behind her small brown desk covered with books and paper-filled manila folders papers. Her crisp black uniform shines as if it was just made. The Liberian lady is the head of the Women and children Protection Section, a position and unit that did not exist five years ago.
“In the past there was no such place where women or a child could go and carry a complaint and get redress,” says the Commissioner. “After the war, women and children being the most vulnerable group, it was decided that this section be established specifically for their complaints.”
Fourteen years of civil war in the West African state of Liberia saw some of the worst atrocities women and children have ever experienced on the African continent. More than 60 percent of women say they were raped, according to the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Many were used as sex slaves. Some were taken to war zones to have sex with children for ritualistic purposes, while others were forced to have sex with their own children and brothers. This special police department now operating in every one of Liberia’s fifteen counties was set up to deal with crimes of this nature, partly in response to the United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 1325.
To read this report - click on the link below
http://www.visionews.net/liberia-leading-the-way-on-1325-but-still-some-way-to-go/
President launches Liberia's first radio station for women
"Voice for the voiceless" is the slogan adorning the walls of Liberia’s first and Africa’s second radio station for women.Situated down a bumpy, dirt track on the edge of the capital, Monrovia, the Liberia Women Democracy Radio (LWDR), claims it wants to advance women and promote change. In a country trying to rebuild itself after 14 years of civil war in which women bore the brunt of the violence, they remain the most vulnerable group in society.
"Before the radio station, we couldn’t get our voices heard. The big people wouldn’t take our problems seriously," says Deborah Reeves, a mother of four in Monrovia. "Now they hear them over and over."
The 30 year old lives on Pagos Island, a stretch of land surrounded by swamps completely cut off from the rest of the city. On an island without electricity, public schools, a police station and not one health centre, the four thousand inhabitants struggle to even make a living.
"I’ve seen things on this island that aren’t right in a civilised world," exclaims Reeves as she shelters in the community church with around forty other women.
"We’re a forgotten community, just fending for ourselves.No one sees us. It’s like we’re not even here."
To read my report - click on the link below
Monday, 12 July 2010
Liberian woman in the centre circle
There's a perception - especially from the international community - that in a country led by Africa's first elected female President, women in Liberia are taking the lead in all walks of life. It’s true there are more female ministers than there have ever been, new legislation has been passed to protect and promote women’s rights and some women are being given chances in life that they had never experienced.
However, women still firmly remain on the bottom rung of society. They're the most vulnerable members of the community in terms of access to education, access to health and access to justice.
Vivian Howard is one woman stepping out of that mould. She’s a single mum, who cooks and cleans just like any other woman in Liberia – but in her work life she’s in charge of 22 strong, athletic men. The first and only centre female referee in Liberia with a FIFA badge, Vivian is standing shoulder to shoulder with the men of Liberia.
To listen to my report - click on the link below
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)