ThenAndNow:Liberia

In a chilling twist of fate, the story of Liberia's political upheaval is as absurd as it is tragic. Dennis Cecil was the last man to be shot, staring defiantly at his killers while uttering a prayer before his execution at the hands of Samuel Doe's regime. Ironically, Cecil Dennis had flown back into Liberia just the day before the coup. Strangely enough, after having Dennis executed, Doe later called for him to be brought to the Executive Mansion, apparently forgetting the man he had already condemned to death.

When Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe seized power from President William Tolbert in 1980, he did so through a bloody coup that ended with the public execution of the Cabinet members on a beach. Doe reveled in his newfound power, unaware that a similar, even more violent fate awaited him a decade later. In a grim turn of events, Doe was captured by Prince Johnson, under the command of Charles Taylor. The brutality didn’t end with his death; it is said that Doe’s body was later cooked and eaten by the rebels, a macabre end that highlighted the savagery of the conflict.

As Charles Taylor took over, Liberia was plunged into a devastating civil war that claimed the lives of up to 300,000 people by the time the fighting ceased in 2003. The war was marked by the horrific use of child soldiers, many of whom were fed narcotics to drive them to commit unspeakable acts. Gruesome atrocities became commonplace: random amputations, mutilations, and the murder of pregnant women for the barbaric purpose of betting on the gender of their unborn children.

The human cost was staggering, but the war also ravaged Liberia’s infrastructure. Hospitals, power facilities, and buildings were looted, burned, and destroyed. Water and sanitation systems fell into such disrepair that they were rendered useless. By the war’s end, Liberia was left without basic utilities, plunging the nation into a dire humanitarian crisis.

Despite this dark past, Liberia has slowly been rebuilding. Joseph Boakai, the current president, previously served as the 29th vice president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018 under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who herself narrowly escaped assassination during the 1980 coup. Liberia has enjoyed nearly two decades of peace and stability since the end of the second civil war in 2003. During this time, the country has made considerable progress in rebuilding government capacity, reestablishing the rule of law, and ensuring the political rights and civil liberties of its citizens.

Liberia’s journey from the horrors of political upheaval and civil war to a period of relative peace and rebuilding is a testament to the resilience of its people. As the nation continues to heal and grow, we can only wish them the best moving forward, hoping that such dark days are never repeated.