Liberia History & Information

By Swenju Juah

WASHINGTON, DC, September 15, 2001 –– In the mid-90s when New York City-based Palava Hut magazine described the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA) as an “incubator of Atillas,” most Liberians hardly took heed. In the Hut article, Liberians were warned about the organization being used as “a breeding ground for future tyrannies in Liberia.”

True to form, after Mrs. Mydea Reeves Karpeh, president of ULAA, eloquently testified against the NPP-led Government of Liberia at a special session, “Confronting Liberia,” before the United States Congressional Subcommittee on Africa March 14, 2001, ULAA Board Chair Augustus E. Major allegedly said Karpeh would “never be able to go to Liberia again” for having called President Charles MacArthurTaylor a “subregional terrorist.”

That the Taylor administration has conceded to losing “a propaganda war” in North America and seeks those sympathetic to the Monrovia-based government is telling. Augustus E. Major and other conformist ULAA board members seem to go for the bait.

The board’s calculated attempt to remove Karpeh as ULAA president speaks volumes about the “whims and caprices of internal and external forces against the best interest of the Union and Liberia.”

In her response to board, President Karpeh indicated, in part, “I will ensure that the will and pleasure of the ULAA member-organizations prevail that there be no constructive engagement with the undemocratic Liberian government until at such time the fundamental rights of the Liberian people are respected and protected. Your personal preference and the Board decision to have the Union do business with President Taylor is out the door.”

There is more than meets the eye. The board comprises elements on GOL’s payroll. By making public speeches against the ills of the Taylor regime, Mydea Reeves Karpeh poses a serious threat to lifestyles of those who receive money from Monrovia.

The word is out about those in the Union that are servants of Liberia’s oppressors, on one hand; and the Mydea Reeves Karpehs who represent the interests of the Liberian Majority.

Consequently, Liberians and their organizations are planning to assemble in Columbus, Ohio, this November to defeat tomorrow’s dictators that support one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. After November 2001, the Union will never be the same.

Justice will be delivered for the Liberian majority sooner than later.