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               News Detail
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  A Letter to Liberia - 11/15/2005 5:24:59 AM
    By   Essa Bokarr SEY
Contributing Writer

  Dear Liberia,

Liberia My Liberia!

Please Liberia allow me to salute you, as Birago Diop the famous Senegalese poet saluted Africa. Please Liberia allow me to extend my best wishes to you,  the same way Nkruma extended his best wishes to Africa at large during his unforgettable and famous speech just after Ghana gained its independence. Please allow me to ask the spirits of our African ancestors to pray for you during this peaceful period in your history. Please allow me bow before you with humility and special,traditional African greetings. Please allow me to beat the drums of African royalty before your great audience of democrats! Listen to the African drums of peace and courage.Use the silent nights of our brown continent to make peace.Use the sunny days to rejoice!

Liberia My Liberia! 15 years ago dark clouds started hovering over your beautiful country. Death wrecked souls, families, love and faith. The fate of Liberia was no where to be seen because gun powder darkened the streets from Monrovia to the smallest village near Ivory Coast. Oh brothers and sisters peace worths a lot! Those where the days when Liberians befriended the tseste flies and mamba snakes in search of freedom. Abstract drugs like Tribalism, Ethnocentricism, Hunger for power and Control were the propellers of Big Killing Machine.

  These were the days when mercenaries from all corners of the world Including my country The Gambia traversed borders to come and join the so-called Liberation war. Its a shame for Africans to walk into another Fellow African's country only to help wipe out Innocent Souls. We all remember the days that NIMBA COUNTY echoed on the microphones of BBC-British Broadcasting Cooperation.Mercenaries surged towards the peace loving people of Liberia like wild  geese. They helped to bring one of  the most peaceful countries in West Africa down to its knees.

 We can still recall the Images we saw in those sorrowful and terrifying documentaries which were shot by brave Journalists who could have died in that war. All we saw were tears, sorrow, sadness and extreme brutality from Rebels and Mercenaries whose souls were hardened by evil.

  These are bad days that the whole world will never forget. Africans in general and West Africans in particular mourned and groaned with you Dear Liberia. We are still weeping and sobbing because so many of us lost dear friends that we knew in that beautiful country.

  This country is a symbol in Africa. Liberia if not the first is one of the first countries in Africa that tasted the sweet necter of the flowers of freedom,centuries ago freed slaves decended on the shores of Monrovia with high hopes and aspirations.

  Their souls will be weeping now because the same cradle of freedom that they saw after escaping the whips of the slave masters has been destroyed by the bullets of their grandsons and grand daughters. Shame on those blood-hungry fighters!

Liberia today we are reminding you the past decade and a half. Today we are recalling the faces of the refugees we saw in other cities in Africa. Today we are revisiting the speeches of Prince Johnson,Charles Taylor and Koroma during the dark days of the war.Africa my Africa! Liberia our Liberia! Today we reiterate that you have a duty to perform.

  Today we reassure you of our dearest meaning as brothers and sisters. Today we are here to help you wipe your tears. History has already given you a perfumed hand kerchief called DEMOCRACY. Today, we are standing by and ready help you guard this peaceful end with absolute Jealousy. Today Liberia you are on the head lines all over the world with ballot boxes but not bullets. Today you are rejoicing after casting your votes but not angrily kicking a dead body in the streets of Monrovia. Liberia you are special for Africa because you are hub of Freedom in our continent's history.

  We as your family do not want to receive refugees from you.We do not want to receive desperate travelers from you. Liberia we want to recieve happy delegates and smiling envoys from you. We want to Land at The International Airport of Monrovia with hope and soap to wash the dirt that sowed evil seeds between you.We are filled with hope because Liberia's success means a big thing for ECOWAS.

Liberia, please continue nourishing your sons and daughters. We can still remember when your Dear Daughter Sirleaf was traversing the dark episodes as a freedom fighter. She is a symbol that brings honour and respect. She has a brain that helped great Institutions thrive. Sirleaf and sons like Dr Davidson Nichole (deceased) of Sierraleone are a source of pride for Africa.

  Welcome Sirleaf! Welcome back Home! Africa needs you our dearest sister. If Mandela could make,why not Sirleaf? If Wade of Senegal could make it, why not Sirleaf? You have made it because you and George Weah my own soccer star have raised Africa's flag. Hello George! Allow me to recall the days that crowds were cheering for you in France.

  Those were the days of Nantes, Paris St Germaine, Lyon, Marseille and a lot more. George, I was one of those who sank into their sofas in France watching your performance on TV. Liberians are lucky to have you back.

  Africans who were in Paris knew George as a patriot. Africans were so proud of George Weah because he was in there for Liberia and Africans. We recall one of George's Interviews where he clearly Indicated that he was no meat for another country's citizenship. George was always proud to call himself a Liberian despite being crowned a world star. Liberia you made these people and they have come home to wipe your tears.

George and Sister Sirleaf please remember that where trouble fails peace should flourish. Where guns have been buried ballot boxes should be guarded.Where terror has disappeared tranquility should prevail. Where tears have been wiped,smiles should spread their wings.Where fear has been caged,every household should party to day break. Hello George and Sister Sileaf listen to the world! Listen to those wise leaders who calling your attention towards peace! Listen to peace it talking to you. Do not listen to trouble even if it is whispering in your ears. You have succeeded in making the impossible, possible.

  You have helped Liberia rise above the lowest part of a dark and deep hole. You have succeeded in writing a new chapter on Liberian history. My tears are rolling down my cheeks as I am talking to you in this letter to Liberia. Unite Liberia!
  Unite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About the  Author:  Essa Bokarr SEY is a  Gambian Citizen Based in The USA.





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