The ethnic factor is very vital in understanding the Liberian crisis; it is infact the legacy of Doe. As a Krahn tribal man, the greatest opposition to him came from the Gio and Muno-dominated North-east Nimba county. They were the greatest victims of his rule. The killing of a Nimba man General Thomas Quiwonkpa, after allegedly plotting a coup against Doe in 1985 and the placement of his body to public display at a Monrovia hospital was not forgiven by the Nimba people who also.They also did the same with Doe’s mutilated body in September 1990, after an agonizing death. Several other factions were to emerge from the initial three of AFL-the so-called Armed forces of Liberia(the remnants of the Doe Army) under General Ezekiel Bohen, the NPFL- the National Patriotic Front of Liberia under Charles Taylor and its splinter group, the Independent National patriotic front of Liberia then led by Prince Yomie Johnson.The other groups which joined the Liberian “killing fields” included the inappropriately named United Movement for the liberation of Liberia(ULIMO).It was made up largely of pro-Doe (mainly ethnic Krahn) elements-the very people against whom the original uprising was launched in 1989.It was no surprising that the patchy nature of ULIMO soon came to the fore; the mainly Muslim Mandingos broke away under General Kromah (ULIMO-K), while Roosevelt Johnson led the Krahn faction(ULIMO-J).At a stage in the heat of the Liberian crisis, Nigeria under the late General Sani Abacha, managed to get the hitherto recalcitrant Taylor on board the peace process under the Abuja Accord while the Krahn factions were making last ditch desperate attempts to bounce back to political and military relevance or limelight; these factions including another inappropriately named Liberian peace council or LPC, was then confronting the then interim government- a sort of collective presidency under Wilton Sankowule. When Roosevelt Johnson was expelled as minister of Rural development after been recalcitrant to the interim government and also replaced as ULIMO-J leader by a faction based in the town of Touhmanbourg. Sometimes in 1995, Johnson’s men briefly held the Central Bank of Liberia following an administrative dispute and the sacking of his nominee from the Governorship of the Bank. It was also Johnson’s militia which engaged ECOMOG forces in bloody clashes in Touhmanbourg in 1995 in a first major challenge to the sub regional force since the signing of the Abuja accord. In 1994, Krahn elements of the AFL attempted a coup, which was crushed by the ECOMOG forces. The attempted arrest of Johnson by his former colleagues in the interim government on murder charges failed because it was poorly handled- it was wrong to treat Johnson as any common criminal. In a nutshell though, Johnson joined forces with the AFL Krahn elements who then controlled the Barclay Military training center in down-town Monrovia under General Ezikiel Bohen and George Boleh’s LPC to resist arrest by the NPLF and ULIMO-K Interim “Government forces”.

The transfer of Taylor from his former Banga headquarters to Monrovia was a monumental achievement of the Abuja Accord. This writer had cause to warn as far back in 1992, that it was suicidal to side track Taylor who then controlled much of the fire power and territory if a genuine peace was to be achieved for Liberia. It was also opined then that despite his often-heavy handedness, the NPFL leader laboured more than any other to get rid of the decade- old repressive, dictatorship regime of Samuel Doe. A number of pro-Doe sub regional rulers led by President Babangida of Nigeria, were opposed to and contemptuous of Charles Taylor.Nigeria’s alleged role in opposing Taylor was the “politics” that claimed the lives of two “Nigerian Guardian” newspaper journalists said to have been killed by NPFL fighters. It is instructive that Taylor apologized over the unfortunate incident while on a visit to Nigeria some years after coming on Board the peace process facilitated by the Abuja Accord and reportedly made a compensation offer to the slained journalists’ families. The ECOMOG alleged partiality on the side of Doe, also partly explained the reasons for the apparent romance between ECOMOG forces and the Krahn factional elements and Taylor’s reluctance to trust the sub regional force. Although the main theater of the Liberian crisis was the tiny West African nation, the current Amercan outburst is about the alleged role of the former rebel leader turned president, in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Mentioned has been made that because of preponderance of pro-American rulers in ECOMOG states, the former Sierra Leone leader, Joseph Momoh who belonged to that category was seen as allowing his territory to be used as the launching pad for anti-Taylor activities or attacks. And so in a way the formation or apparent support of Taylor’s NPFL to the RUF rebels under the late Foday Sanko, in Sierra Leone, was a “repay” to President Joseph Momoh .Because of Taylor’s alleged Libyan support, former president Momoh on a visit to Nigeria sometimes in 1996 or so had cause to visibly embarrass his Nigerian Television Authority(NTA) interviewer when Momoh referred to the Taylor-led uprising against Doe as “part of the process of Islamisation”. The NTA man, himself a Christian as was president Momoh, quickly pointed out that Charles Taylor himself was a Christian. The “Islamic” linkage is again desperately hoisted at the unsuspecting International Community of Taylor’s “Al-Qaida connection” to partly justify his expulsion from Nigeria to a “War Crime” court which America itself, does not believe in. But president Obasanjo who spent greater parts of his tenuous hold on power in apparent subservience to America both militarily, politically and economically, is now coming face to face with that county’s double standards and the policy of use and dump. Whatever remained of Nigeria’s national pride and dynamic foreign policies are now on “Trial” over the current diplomatic row over the Taylor asylum. And much as Nigeria’s bid for a permanent seat of the UN Security Council is long overdue courtesy of its past global, continental and sub regional peace and liberation records, the fact is America have other apparent “fundamental scores” to settle against the “Giant of Africa” to block its permanent seat bid even if it were to cave in to pressure to hand over Charles Taylor who was brought to Nigeria in 2003 on behalf of the International Community to save Liberia from catastrophic blood bath. Should Liberia return to its “killing fields” those falling over one another to isolate and disgrace Taylor to the so-called Tribunal in Sierra Leone, should bear the full responsibility.

Whenever the US government particularly under president Bush is strategically opposed to you, the “Goal Post” will keep “shifting” and then you need God The Most High on your side as He is the only “Super Power” over and above all transient powers. In the final analysis therefore, there is no way we can isolate the issue of Charles Taylor from the wider Liberian crisis which intricately “spilled” over into neighbouring Sierra Leone. It is suicidal to treat Taylor the former warlord and later President of Liberia who was persuaded by Nigeria to voluntarily resign as the President of his country, as a “common criminal”. For lasting peace and stability in both Liberia, Sierra Leone and indeed the West Africa sub region, National reconciliations and collective forgiveness are likely to do the” magic” than insistence on a moribund War Tribunal which may end up reigniting the” Drums of war” which had basically gone silent while a permanent peace is being worked out for the war ravage nations.