Narrator: As the convoy crosses the border, rebel leaders are signing up to
yet another stage of the peace process. This is the day all arms
should have been handed in.
Jacques Klein: This is a historic day for Liberia. The joint declaration about to be
signed reaffirms the warring factions as well as the Liberian people
desire for peace.
Narrator: The politicians might have been signing up to peace but on the
streets; violence reemerges for the first time in a year, clear
evidence that tension is never far from the surface. UN
peacekeepers impose a strict curfew.
Dr. Moses Jarbo: We are at a critical junction. There is still potential for an
explosion in this country if we do not have the resources to make
sure that the combatants are engaged in a positive way. For 20
years, the only means of survival for the combatant have been the
force of arms. These combatants, a hundred thousand plus those
that are also affected by the war must also be taken into
consideration. We need money to help the combatants. We need to
create access to opportunities that many of them have never had.
There is a shortfall.
Abass Kanneh: A hungry man is an angry man. You don’t keep men hungry for a
long time. You are standing amongst thousands of angry
combatants here now, no jobs. What job will we have? We beg and
a beggar is not a normal man. So, beyond begging, confusion can
break out. So, it is true if there are no jobs, there will be problems.
Narrator: Lessons at an interim care centre, where children caught up in the
fighting stay before being returned to their parents. So far,
according to UNICEF, 85% have returned home but Moses is in
limbo, still waiting to go back to his family.
Viola Richards: Since he left his parents when he very small, he joined in the
fighting force. He doesn’t stay in one place. He wants to move
around. He wants to get around off the fence because the
commanders of these guys are still around. Definitely we get
problem with them. They respect their commander more than you
and me because they take command structure from their
commander.
Narrator: Because they have been separated from their parents for so long,
these commanders are often the only family they have ever known.
Moses: This is Nasty, Nasty Plasty. This is Watanga, commanding general.
Watanga: I’m the former commanding general, commonly called Watanga.
We’ve got so many kids that are not going to school and they are
living all over in the town and if they causing problems, we are the
ones that have to answer for it and we are getting tired of it.
Scorpion: There was an orphan crisis during this war and there were so many
of them. I became like a father figure. They loved me and I loved
them, so they started to hang out with me. I was a commander and
they were very small and they decided to follow me on the front
line and that’s how I got to know him.
Narrator: For Moses, and all the boys, these are complex relationships;
power, control but also perhaps some genuine affection.
Abass Kanneh: Come here. See this? These are children born in the war. He’s not
at the age of fourteen yet but he was born in the war. These
children lost their parents. Who can we take this man to? We are
the commander responsible for them. At the end of the day, he also
comes to my house to find food to eat. I cannot eat rice and then
leave him out. That is the situation on the ground here.
Narrator: But Moses does have other friends. Peter handed in his weapons at
the same time but unlike Moses, he’s now back with his family.
Moses: Can your mother take good care of you?
Peter: Yes, my mother takes good care of me. When you’re with your
mother, they would be able to take good care of you.
Moses: I hope so. I really want to be with my mother now.
Narrator: Peter’s mother explains how hard it was.
Maggie: Some people were running away from the bullet and even left their
children behind and the children got lost from them. They couldn’t
go back to look for the child, somebody might pick the child up
and they wouldn’t know the right person to take the child. Some
child would live and some would not live. If you’re not lucky, you
lose that child which is very painful in the war. As a mother, it’s
painful.
Peter: Because of the war, the war was coming; there was nobody here to
teach because everyone was running away. I want to learn. I want
to be someone in the future to help my family, that’s what I want
to go to school for.
George M. Wolo: One student here will obey to learn then tomorrow, what will you
be? You will become president. You’ll be good. You help other
people to live a good life, understand?
If you look at the percentage of illiterate, it is higher than the
literate. So, this is very important for us to understand each other.
We’ve got to develop Liberia. If we are not educated, we will
always be fooled by a few people and people will mislead us and
every time we’ll run against each other. If children are educated
they will know that they have a value, they will understand their
value.
Narrator: After missing out on over a decade of education, getting all the
children back into the classroom is critical to rebuilding Liberia.
As well as schools, there are also centers where children who have
been demobilized can learn practical skills.
Kardi Julia Juma: One thing in Africa generally is lack of employment opportunities
because we don’t have loads and loads of industrial factories and
organizations coming up and opening companies here. So, you
have to learn a trade. Something has to be done to make a living
and if not so, they will still end up in the streets and ending up in
the streets is not a better future for us.
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