Civilians want ex-fighters out of rubber plantation

Citizens around Liberia’s second largest rubber plantation are calling on the new government in the interest of safety to evacuate once and for all the hundreds of ex-combatants squatting at the site since 2003. Residents near the Guthrie Plantation northwest of the capital Monrovia say they no longer feel secure in the area where they say the ex-rebels rule - illegally tapping rubber and damaging the environment, extorting money from merchants and transporters, and robbing citizens at will. “National stability of Liberia hangs in the balance if any part of the country remains under illegal control of a group of citizens themselves ex-combatants and thereby putting the vulnerable civilian populace under tense security threat,” says a recent letter from citizens of Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The problem of the plantation where ex-fighters of the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) are dwelling is one of countless challenges Sirleaf inherited upon taking office in January in this country still reeling from 14 years of war. Only a year ago, many citizens living nearby said relations with the ex-fighters were generally fine. But the situation has seriously degraded in time and they fear for their own safety as well as for the state of the plantation. Many of the ex-fighters, living at the site along with family members, say they have not received compensation the UN promised after Liberia’s fighting ended in 2003 - a claim being examined by a joint UN-government task force that includes a representative of the national disarmament and reintegration commission. The UN has repeatedly faced shortfalls in its programme to disarm and rehabilitate ex-fighters. UN officials were not available to comment on whether a lack of funds has contributed to the problem at Guthrie. Liberia’s agriculture minister Christopher Toe, who chairs the joint task force, told reporters earlier this month that the government would provide opportunities to the ex-fighters living at Guthrie and other plantations. “We will look into how we can resettle and ensure that employment opportunities are given to any ex-combatants, and to ensure that they get whatever packages that have been given to others in the past.” In a January report on human rights, the UN mission in Liberia UNMIL said citizens at both Guthrie and Sinoe plantations are vulnerable to abuse by ex-fighters, partly due to a lack of state authority. “Workers at Guthrie and Sinoe plantations are being terrorised by LURD and MODEL [another former rebel group] ex-combatants, who are being used by politicians and other influential actors. State authority on these plantations is extremely limited.” It is unclear exactly how many ex-combatants are still squatting at Guthrie; the ex-fighters say up to 1,000, but UN officials put the number at 529. Sirleaf, speaking recently to a UN delegation in the capital Monrovia, acknowledged the burden Guthrie poses. “There are reports of disturbing activities in certain parts of the country especially the Guthrie Plantation which is one of the most problematic areas and poses a serious challenge for this government.” Citizens hope the government will tackle the challenge, which for them represents a daily hardship and threat to their livelihoods. Boima Sambolah, 45, is a cassava farmer in the plantation town of Klay. His eyes welling with tears, Sambolah said ex-fighters recently robbed him of 5,000 Liberian dollars (US $102) - all his earnings from the last harvest. “They first came to me [saying] they wanted to buy some cassava,” he said. Sambolah did not have enough with him and went with the men to his home where he had more in stock. “After we got home, they entered my bedroom, pointed a knife at my throat and demanded I give them all my money.” Sambolah had just returned to Klay in 2005 after living for years in one of Liberia’s camps for war-displaced. Meima Coleman, who trades in palm oil in villages around Guthrie plantation, said the ex-rebels are extorting money from merchants in the area. “Anytime we are passing around the plantation in search of palm oil, ex-combatants herein Guthrie forced us to pay 200 Liberian dollars as a passing fee.” Even local commercial drivers who travel the road along the plantation near the Liberia-Sierra Leone border are being intimidated by the former rebels. “Now there is a government on the ground, the war is over and the fighters are still harassing [us] the innocent civilians,” said Abraham Keita, a commercial truck driver. “Ex-combatants here have become law unto themselves collecting fees from the drivers for operating transport around the plantation.” Residents want action. “We the citizens of Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties are calling on the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf government and the international community for the unconditional removal of all illegal ex-combatants from the Guthrie Rubber Plantation, and further request that both UNMIL and the national security apparatus put an immediate halt to the movement and sale of all rubber products from the plantation,” the letter to Sirleaf said. The ex-fighters “in total disregard to normal practice in the rubber industry and in adherence to environmental procedures are continuously slaughtering, toppling and destroying the plantation,” the citizens added. But for many of the ex-combatants at Guthrie, only compensation from the government would make them budge. Former LURD artillery fighter Samuel Morgan said, “The only thing that would make us to leave this plantation is for the government to give us reintegration packages like sending us to schools and learning other vocations.”