New Democrat News :: Monrovia, Liberia

The Forests Of EVIL
Friday, 3rd March 2006
Tom Kamara 

  Here is a story of EVIL in all its manifestation, proclaimed in the name of the 
dollar and protected by crude and violent political power. It is a story, (as 
told by the Liberian conservationist group Save My Future Foundation in their 
September report) of the silent but sure destruction of one of the last 
remaining rainforests in Africa.

  But it is more than that. It is an epic of the accelerated destruction of life 
itself, the livelihood of the rural people. If the process continues, and it 
will under the current conditions, the imprints left of the inhabitants by the 
wanton destruction of the Liberian rainforest will be catastrophic in an already 
collapsed state. It is scary.  

  The report paints a vivid and frightening picture of misery in the forest, of 
sprawling workers' bush camps, all out of limits for none members. In them, 
teenage prostitution with rising sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, 
gangsterism, are the norms upheld. In these bus camps, there are no sanitary 
facilities. So tropical rivers, now named after the Malaysians, once the source 
of life for rural inhabitants, are infested with human faeces, causing several 
deaths. The Malaysians, under the command of the Dutchman Gus Kouwenhoven, have 
become lords of the Liberian forest, kidnapping rural people, and protected by 
Charles Taylor's armed militias.  
 
  This silent onslaught on the rural population, concealed from the public, has 
led even some of the most callous agents of the destruction to cry foul. John T. 
Richardson, the father the 1992 Operation Octopus in which five American nuns 
amongst thousands were killed, is quoted in the report as asking: 
"Who are these people… that they will kidnap Liberians and go with impunity and 
continue to disregard the authority of our government…it frightens me so much 
that these foreigners will operate a private army… this is unacceptable. This is 
a matter of grave concern to the nation and to the state". 

  But to appreciate Richardson's "magnanimity", one must listen to the man in 
1996 when Charles Taylor again attempted another violent takeover of the city: 
"What the journalists have failed to point out is that this time, unlike 
previous fighting in Monrovia, the civilians have not really suffered. . . . In 
the past, fighters would rip out people's intestines and use them to string up 
roadblocks, or cut off people's heads. This time there has been none of that".
To attempt to conceal truth, the Malaysians and the Dutch hired at one time 
virulent opposition figure, Gabriel Baccus Matthews, as their PR man to sell 
their case and whitewash the misery of the rural people in whose name Matthews, 
in the 1970s,  coined the slogan, ""In the name of the people, the struggle 
continues.". 

The report says: 
  "As more and more people became vocal and critical about the OTC's operations 
and the conduct of its militia, OTC hired former Liberian Foreign Minister and 
presidential aspirant, G. Baccus Matthews to conduct their Public Relations", 
the report said. 

We have opted to highlight this report in parts. But  the story is by fare 
better told by the researchers: 

 THE IMPACTS OF LOGGING OPERATIONS ON RURAL PEOPLE
The livelihood of rural people, the overwhelming percentage of Liberians, is 
inextricably linked to the forest. They depend on the land and the forest for 
food, clean water, medicine and other forest products for survival. Their 
relationship with the forest is the cornerstone for their cultural and spiritual 
practices. For instance, in the Poro and Sande societies, traditional bush 
schools can only be conducted in very isolated highly-forested areas, where 
hunting and survival skills are taught. Traditional legal institutions, 
especially those involving elders and Zoes (elders who make up the supreme 
decision making body in rural communities) usually sit in the deep forest to 
hear cases of grave significance to the people. Because the forest is so central 
to their lives, the destruction of the forest will ultimately have severe 
consequences for future generations; a situation not lost on rural people 
themselves.

  "The OTC is extracting the natural resources (log) leaving behind nothing but 
sickness, hunger, poverty and poor welfare." Gerald Flomo, A participant at a 
communal workshop discussing forest conservation in Liberia, Buchanan.
    
  SOCIAL IMPACTS
  The most noticeable social impact on local communities where logging companies 
have set up bush-camps is the introduction of prostitution, drugs and 
gangsterism.

  Brothels, referred to as Zoe Bush (out of bounds for non-members) have sprung up 
nearby most of the OTC bush-camps. As more and more hardcore prostitutes arrived 
in the Zoe Bush and began mixing with local girls in nearby villages, they 
gradually began encouraging girls from the nearby villages to move to the Zoe 
Bushes. Some of the local girls have abandoned school, leaving the security and 
warmth of their homes and families to live with these older girls from the 
cities, who eventually trade them off to OTC expatriates, including Malaysians 
and other nationals, as well as Liberian workers. The Malaysians especially 
prefer teenage girls between the ages of 12 to 15 years old who they actively 
exploit as prostitutes. Alcoholism and other forms of drug abuse also flourish 
in the Zoe Bush, making it an unhealthy influence on youths in the communities. 
Most of these teenage girls only return to their homes when they realize that 
they are pregnant.

  Two health workers operating clinics in Nizwein and Zammie towns expressed 
serious concerns about the increase in the cases of sexually transmitted 
diseases, including gonorrhea and syphilis. The fact that sexually transmitted 
diseases are being reported is a cause for alarm as the introduction of HIV/AIDS 
would obviously spread rapidly in these areas.

  As the once remote forest regions used by local people to host their traditional 
bush schools (Sande and Poro) disappear, the schools themselves have begun to 
die away. In some areas, especially in Grand Bassa County, those wishing to hang 
onto the practice have been forced to move to areas not conducive for its 
purpose and intent. Additionally, as teenage girls leave home for the Zoe Bush, 
they are usually unable to attend their Bush School if and when they convene. 
This is taking a serious toll on the authority of traditional institutions and 
the social fibers of the rural communities.

 EFFECTS ON FOOD SECURITY
  As the forest diminishes competition for farmlands intensifies and with this, 
conflicts and animosities increase. Although traditional farming methods such as 
shifting cultivation have had impacts on the forest, present day logging 
operations pose the gravest threat to future food security.
Already, there is a tremendous increase in the bushmeat trade, which has now 
taken on an international dimension. As logging companies open up once 
inaccessible forest regions, commercial hunters move in to set up hunting 
settlements. In addition to hunters being granted access to remote forest 
regions by these logging companies, hunting is being made easier because 
fragmented forest blocks now serve as virtual death traps for the wildlife. 
Although some of the companies profess that they discourage hunting in their 
concessions, OTC employees have been found to be actively involved in the trade. 
Their logging trailers and trucks also provide vital transportation without 
which the bushmeat traders would not be able to travel the distances they cover 
to reach these remote regions.

  Commercial hunting is also posing serious problems for Liberia's protected 
wildlife, which is now under attack from commercial hunters. This is manifested 
by the increase in live-animal trade mostly involving young protected animals 
that are constantly captured and used as pets or sold alive.

  Additionally, as more and more bushmeat traders from Monrovia and the Ivory 
Coast compete for local meat, prices have increased. As prices increase, rural 
people become less able to afford the meat. This has led most rural people to 
rely heavily on imported and/or frozen meat and chicken thus drastically 
reducing their protein intake.

  EFFECTS ON HEALTH
 Logging companies set up bush camps without sanitation facilities, near creeks 
and streams—this poses very serious threats to the health of rural people. In 
all the logging camps visited, especially in the OTC concessions, toilet 
facilities were either inadequate or non-existent. For this reason, most of 
their personnel use nearby creeks and streams as latrines. As local people use 
the same creeks for washing, bathing and drinking, diarrhea and other sicknesses 
are now commonplace.

 In Nizwein the site of the largest OTC bush camp, locals reported that OTC 
expatriate and Liberian employees use the creek/stream they drink from as 
latrines. In fact, they now refer to the creek as the "Malaysian water" instead 
of its original name. Also, because OTC employees are not allowed to bring their 
families into the camps where they stay, Liberian employees whose salaries are 
barely adequate to maintain their families at a distance relocate their families 
to makeshift camps outside their bush-camps. There are no toilet facilities in 
these camps and so the number of people using the local creeks/streams and 
nearby bushes for latrines increases as a camp stays longer in any one area. A 
health worker at the Nizwein clinic reported cases of diarrhea and said that he 
expects the cases to increase as the rainy season intensifies.

 Likewise, in early July 2002, an outbreak of cholera in a logging area in River 
Gbeh (the area where the Maryland Wood Processing Industry has its bush camp and 
sawmill), rapidly spread to Harper city and by July 11, more than twenty people 
were already reported dead by local health authorities.

 Along with these effects of deforestation, rural Liberia has also come to 
witness the loss of medicinal plants used by traditional herbalists for the 
treatment of various sicknesses. This situation is likely to get worse.
Village boy filtering polluted water for drinking, through sand. Pollution of 
water courses is a common by-product of the logging industry. Yasla, Rivercess 
County, 2002.

  DENIAL: POVERTY IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY
  The Liberian logging industry is one of the highest foreign exchange earners 
for the Government of Liberia. However, rural people who are the traditional 
custodians of the forest have not benefited from revenue generated by the 
industry. After almost five years since the current government took office, rural 
people continue to live in abject poverty, destitution and appalling conditions. 
Safe drinking water in rural Liberia is a luxury and health services are near 
collapse. In Rivercess Reported timber revenue in Liberia County, the only 
government high school stands virtually unused, as a majority of the teachers 
have simply refused to render any further volunteer services.

 The government of Liberia has blamed all of these problems on the international 
community's refusal to provide aid for reconstruction and development. What the 
government has failed to explain is where the millions of dollars earned by the 
logging industry each year have been allocated.

 In the five years from 1997 to 2001 that the present government has managed the 
logging industry, timber production has increased annually, such that by 2001 
production increased by a staggering 1,300% over 1997 production. As production 
has increased, so has the assessed revenue. According to FDA reports, production 
for the last five years has totaled 2,502,068.603 cubic meters bringing in a 
total of US$49,451,586.85 in revenue. This revenue is a combined total of 
reforestation, conservation, forest research, severance fees, and land rental. 
Other fees included are Industrialization Incentive and Forest Product Fees…"
  By Tom Kamara