By Decontee M. Karngar
On December 24, 1989, the people of a little border town woke up to the sounds of heavy gunfire.
Confused, they took to their heels, running helter-skelter in search of safety and refuge.
A faction of insurgents, under the leadership of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), predominantly comprising people from the Gio and Mano tribes of Nimba County, who sought to overthrow President Samuel K. Doe of the Krahn ethnic group, used this town as an entry point.
This uprising resulted in a battle at the Liberian border town of Buutuo on December 24, 1989.
The conflict arose as a result of tribal tensions between two groups; the Gio and Mano tribes, against the Mandingo people, and the Krahn tribe of Grand Gedeh County.
Members of the Mandingo ethnic group were targeted and killed under suspicion of collaborating with the government to report the involvement of the Gio and Mano tribes in the insurgency.
75-year-old Annie Willie, one the pioneers of the town, shares her experience about the war. “I was very young when I came in my marriage home in this town; life was going on well until one night while we were sleeping, we starting hearing gun firing,” she said.
“My family and I managed to run away across the border (to Ivory Coast) as refugees, some of my family members were killed while we were running away. When we came back after the war, we met all our properties destroyed and we had to start live over,” old lady Annie explained.
Prior to the war, Buutuo was a bustling commercial town and a recognized revenue-generating center for the government.
The area had good educational and healthcare system that inhabitants of the town could boast of.
Annie Kwaleh is the women leader in Buu-yao district, including Buutuo.
She was one of the business tycoons in Buutuo prior to the war. Walking with her hands crossed on her back, Annie took a team of reporters on a tour across the plot of land that hosted her business center, which comprised a night club, restaurant, and housing units.
“We had government officials in this town and they were living in my place,” she said.
“When I returned after the war, all my properties were destroyed. I was only able to (re)build this one I am living in,” old lady Annie lamented.
She said access to healthcare is a major challenge for pregnant women, children and elderly people.
“Since the war, we only have clinic, there is no hospital,” she said. “If someone condition is bad, they supposed to take them to Sanniquellie, Tappita or Ganta for treatment. But how?” she asked.
One of the many bridges on the road to Buutuo from Sanniquillie and Karnplay
Currently, the town of over 10,000 inhabitants faces a deplorable road condition.
The town is protected by only two police officers, and the only health facility in the area lacks an ambulance and faces frequent drug shortages.
The availability of qualified teachers at the only high school in the area is another challenge.
“Buutuo is known to be a historical place, not because of the war but because of how easy it was to establish life here,” Town Chief Prince Kpolah.
“We had people coming from all parts of Liberia, Ivory Coast and even Ghana to buy and sell goods, our area had the best learning environment and healthcare system,” Chief Kpolah narrated.
But all of these are only memories of yesterday, since the war that lasted from 1989-1997 and 1999-2003 has ended.
The people of the region complain of being abandoned.
“The war destroyed many infrastructures in this town, over ten to fifteen years ago the war gone but yet we’re still like that,” Town Chief Prince Kpolah said.
“We are not the ones who brought the war, the war caught us unaware. We ourselves lost people; most of our brothers, mothers and other relatives died in the war. Go in some of the nearby towns, they are improving but yet we are still like this, my daughter,” he continued.
According to the World Bank 2023 data, the 14-year civil war claimed the lives of over 300,000 people, destroyed basic infrastructure and public service facilities. Buutuo is not exempted from these losses.
“When I came back to this town after the war, it was totally destroyed; most of the beautiful structures were all gone,” an elder said.
“The war broke some parts of the school down, but with the help of some NGOs, it was built back. But getting qualified staff is one of the major issues we have in this town; our children are not getting the education they should be getting,” he said.
A surplus of agricultural crops is being wasted due to the absence of well-maintained roads connecting farms to markets in the area.
“We don’t have access to cars to transport our coco, yam, cassava, plantains and other crops to the market in Sanniquellie or Ganta to sell,” 54-year-old Peter Gweh.
“Because of that, we end up carrying our goods across to Ivory coast and the Ivorians will give their own price they want the buy the goods for,” he said.
Peter Kerper serves as the development chairperson of Buutuo town. According to Kerper, a contributing factor to the town’s lag in development is the reluctance of individuals who fled during the war and had their homes destroyed to return and participate in the town’s rebuilding efforts, yet they continue to assert ownership of the land. “This is causing problem for us in terms of development in the town,” he said.
“We are over 10,000 people in this town now and we are suffering here; we want the Liberian government remember us,” another official of the town asserted. “Since the death of Tubman (late president), there has been no government to make impact on us. We also find it difficult to get good drinking water during the dry season, all the (hand) pumps we had spoiled, the few that left can only serve us when it’s rainy season,” he narrated.
Samuel Kogar serves as the elected official for district number five, encompassing Buutuo. Kogar has secured victory in three consecutive elections since the initial post-war elections held in 2005, and has continued to win subsequent elections up to 2023. Despite the evident challenges faced by the residents in the area, he refutes their claims as being inaccurate and deceptive.
“Assertions that the situation in the district is deployable is baseless and has no truth,” he said.
“There has been huge progress of development in the district, those who carry their goods in ivory coast to sell, doing it because they want to and not because there is no road connectivity to come to other parts of Liberia to sell,” he concluded.
As the country grapples with confronting its tumultuous history, the inhabitants of this town face an added layer of difficulty as the lingering effects of the war manifest in the challenges they confront on a daily basis.
The funder did not influence the contents of this story.
