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Interview about the past, present and future in Liberia Simon Tokpohozin, who was born in Benin, started work as chief accountant for SOS Children's Villages Guinea in January 1996, where he also took on other administrative functions on an interim basis. In February 1999 he went with SOS Children's Villages to Liberia where violent conflict between government and rebel groups would reach a new crisis point only a couple of months later. For the people of Liberia this brought back memories of their dreadful experiences of 1989. SOS Children's Village in Monrovia during "normal" times - Photo: A. Gabriel "In the whole region, in Sierra Leone, in Liberia, in Guinea-Bissau, we learn from extreme experiences. Since 1997 there has been a particular crisis plan, an 'Emergency Procedure Handbook', so as to be prepared in every country for a possible emergency and to be able to react quickly. In it the following areas can be checked off "prophylactically": How will the co-workers be organised? How can children and mothers be protected? Ensure communication links; Ensure and supply food, medicines and fuel for the generator. Psychologically we are already properly prepared to deal with the fact that when there is fighting in the north, it will come our way soon. Co-workers, mothers and children have been prepared to know how to act. We have learnt to listen to the news, interpret rumours, make inquiries and prepare. Every two or three months you think: 'the rebels are coming'. You see to it that the children are in range, you take all possible precautions. This year they came to Monrovia. Every time the rebels tried to attack Monrovia, they passed Juah Town which lies in the middle of the bush. And every time the rebels are underway we wonder what's going to happen with the SOS Children's Village in Juah Town. We would meet every two weeks and discuss how to deal with the situation and prepare for it. The strongest rebel group, the LURD, comes from the north and west, MODEL, the smaller band is active mainly in the east and therefore also in the area around Juah Town. On the BBC we heard the threat: 'MODEL rebel leaders announce: next time we'll be talking to you from Buchanan.' In April we sent an aid team from Monrovia to Juah Town - among them the Monrovia village director - to support and encourage the mothers and children. The fighting increased in intensity during May, every now and then the rebels came as far as Juah Town. Step by step we evacuated the children's village to avoid setting off panic in the population. Yet surprisingly the attack came to Monrovia. On 5 June it had reached a critical stage. We put the co-workers on alert; 15km from our office there was heavy fighting. The situation was very serious. I went to the bank to get some money, cash. What I saw on the way there I shall never forget. People fleeing with just a rolled up mat under their arm, not much more - children, old people, everything was on the move. I said to myself, God will see to it that no one from the SOS Children's Village gets hurt. In June there were already 5,000 people in the village - everyone was let in. Of course we checked, as far as possible, if weapons were being smuggled in, but were very careful about our neutrality and about treating everyone neutrally. With pressure from the USA it was possible to reach a first cease-fire after a week. But on 23 June there was a new rebel advance. 8,500 internally displaced people (IDP) stayed for many weeks on the grounds of the SOS Children's Village. The village in Juah Town, seriously affected by the civil war - Photo: A. Gabriel We stayed the whole time in the village, since we couldn't go anywhere else anyway. You had to look after 300 children, the mothers, aunts and other personnel and of course the IDP. When we heard about the cease-fire we risked leaving the village and ran outside to buy the necessary things. We had to stock up our supplies four times. We tried to find out how and where the refugees were moving and how we could steer them in a particular direction. The village has two entrances; one gate leads to the school. Initially we opened the entrance to the school grounds and carried out checks for weapons, although we never found any. About 2,000 to 3,000 people streamed into the village in rush in few minutes with the third wave of refugees without our really being able to check whether there were any fighters among them. At this time the rainy season started; in the first phase of the fighting it was still dry. Now it rained non-stop. We had to make plans; disease was breaking out due to the permanent rain. Two small clinics, one in the village and one in the school looked after the people. Eventually, due the enormous pressure, we had to open up the whole SOS Children's Village grounds to the refugees. There were 175 people living in one family house, SOS mothers with their children in one room, displaced families in the others. In the kindergarten, under the mango trees - people, everywhere. I moved out of my own two-bedroom apartment and 65 people moved in my place. At the peak of the crisis, there were around 10,500 people seeking refuge with us. Patients in urgent need at the SOS Emergency Clinic - Photo: SOS Archives People nearby also profited indirectly from the security of the SOS Children's Village, people would park their vehicles inside and around the village fence. Rebels came to the village twice; primarily they were looking for cars. We talked with them and tried to persuade them in a friendly way to withdraw. SOS Children's Villages is greatly trusted by the population and authorities, our work is appreciated and respected; people use us as reference. The community also works closely with us, and the SOS Board of Trustees does great work. Non essential International staff from the UN, Red Cross and other organisation already left Monrovia in April. I preferred to stay, to be there. Whom would we have left the children to? I believe that in an emergency you are safe with SOS Children's Villages. Every large organisation moved out, but SOS Children's Villages stayed. The refugees also helped, they wouldn't have allowed the rebels to come into the village and put everyone's lives in danger. During the fighting and immediately afterwards, SOS Children's Villages was in contact and working with the following organisations: UNHCR; ICRC - Red Cross, which helped with erecting toilet facilities (pit-latrines) and donated plastic tarpaulins, which served as a kind of tent in the open grounds of the school. The International Rescue Committee provided blankets. The WHO donated medicine for the village clinic and chlorine for the preparation of water. 'Merci Corps' also donated medicine and made an ambulance available, in which those who were seriously ill could be taken to hospital; 'Action Contre la Faim (ACF)' helped with food; in October collaboration started with 'Komitee Cap Anamur' (German Emergency Doctors), who likewise helped with an important quantity of food. Children from Liberia - future into nowhere? - Photo: G. Ulutunçok When the UN and other NGOs and the international community establish themselves in a country, it means actually that the worst is already over. The successful disarmament and re-integration of the fighters would require 15,000 troops, since August there have only been 4,500 [8,000 on 20 January, ed.]. Since the UN troops have been stationed in Monrovia, soldiers patrol the streets and I would say that safety is about 90% guaranteed. Everywhere else in the country is ruled, as before, by the rebels. The systematic disarmament should have started on 7 December. But there is no really effective strategy for reintegration into society. Soldiers, many of them still children, need training and have to go to school - most of them, however, want to 'go into business'. So you put 150 US dollars in a boy's hand for handing in their gun and send them home, wherever that might be. In the meantime this has risen to 300 US dollars (trade negotiations in deed). 300 dollars for someone's complete future - this is a joke! The UN should think over its whole plan for reintegrating them into society. Giving money to these fighters is not the appropriate solution. It requires lots of money to settle the fighter?s education, lots of sincere commitment from the International Community to demilitarise the country. Most of the fighters come from Sierra Leone, where their situation is the same as in Liberia. If the international community had been committed earlier and more completely, Liberia would not be where it is today: at zero. There is no infrastructure; everything needs to be built anew. Liberia has enough resources to provide for and cover the needs of its population. There are no prospects for the country's youth and it is also very difficult for the youths in the care of SOS Children's Villages to live independent lives. We rarely see any progress in the process of becoming independent, but how should we make the adolescents feel responsible for something that is determined by outside factors. The public sector (government employees) are two years behind with pay. People often prefer to stay in the camps, there aid organisations take care of their survival. This behaviour is based on years of experience: if you are 'successful' [successful means owning a small hut and a small piece of land, ed.], then they come and take it away again. So you build a hut out of palm leaves, then you haven't got so much to lose. It's quite easy to understand, then, why the people don't want to leave the camps. The road to Juah Town is in a dreadful condition and only passable in convoy. Rebels are still stopping by in this area. We think that they even hide their weapons in the family houses and in the bush. I can't imagine the children and mothers returning to the village before August or September 2004, we would need to be able to discount all risks." Simon Tokpohozin was interviewed on 5 December 2003.