Liberia: Malu The Victor

Although General Victor Malu, Force Commander of ECOMOG, passed away in October 2017, the people of Liberia are not allowing his memory to pass away, when they say Thank God for ECOMOG.

While serving in Liberia from 1996 to 1998 as ECOMOG Force Commander, General Malu provided leadership to stop the Civil War in Liberia and prevent its recurrence. The present widespread violence locally and globally motivated me to write this Commentary at this time. 

Let us recall how General Malu held meetings regularly with your Humble Servant at the ECOMOG Base in Monrovia, Liberia at 7:30 AM to better understand the activities of anti-peace forces in Liberia. General Malu's strong adherence to time and details were well recognized. In another October, General Malu ushered the Birth of New Day in Liberia by his being prepared to give up his life to save lives by ensuring the disarmament of rebel forces in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, Liberia by an appointed date. In his preparedness, General Malu became Victor to save lives and Victorious in the process of helping others to help themselves.

The Liberian NGO, Susukuu heard about General Malu's Initiative and immediately indicated its preparedness to work with ECOMOG by providing incentives for combatants to disarm non-violently. Thereupon, at the public space on the United Nations (UN) Drive opposite the Saint Theresa's Convent School, General Malu assembled some ECOMOG soldiers to welcome the combatants who were prepared to disarm non-violently. When the combatants heard about the food and clothing incentives, they came to disarm in their hundreds.

Once again, when the combatants heard about the Susukuu School-for-Guns Program, they came in their thousands to go to academic and vocational/technical schools free of charge. Ask former combatant Sackie of Clara Town, Monrovia, Liberia about the Susukuu School-for-Guns Program. 

A dozen former combatants, led by former combatant Weagar of Kakata, Margibi County, Liberia, were employed by Susukuu to help Susukuu to understand better the ways of combatants, resulting in more non-violent disarmament, like the one across the Farmington River, where sixty Mothers of combatants accompanied ECOMOG and Susukuu to convince over two thousand combatants to disarm non-violently. 

Through the disarmament exercise, including the one in Bomi County, Liberia, from which the leader of the combatants exhibited extraordinary writing skills in communicating to Susukuu their preparedness to disarm non-violently, Susukuu set a World Record for Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration, DDRR, when Susukuu spent USD1 million o to facilitate the DDRR of 82 percent of the officially disarmed combatants (See UN Peace-keeping records when former Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan was Head of UN Peace-keeping). When the UN declared that it had become too dangerous for the UN to accompany ECOMOG during the DDRR, Susukuu took the place of the UN to accompany ECOMOG.

So, General Malu joins other ECOMOG Force Commanders, like Dogunyaro, Inienger, and Olurin into Glory, having set glowing records of stopping wars and preventing their recurrences that their methods can be used in ending wars and preventing coups d'etat and even World War Three, given the dangerous situation related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, not forgetting the violent conflicts in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. 

In all of his path-breaking peace-making activities, General Malu had the support of his loving wife Esther and their four children, one female and three males, one of whom is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Armed Forces of Nigeria. 

As General Malu was a problem solver, a Victor, working Victoriously for Peace, his advice to all of us remains that to attain Peace, knowledge has to be spread in the public space locally and globally to motivate people in ways that encourage them to work together to change the UNFAIR electoral system into the FAIR electoral system. 

This change produces the election of good persons, the only ones who can provide leadership for ending the current poverty generation, the pretext for violence, and establishing poverty alleviation, the condition for sustainable Peace and improvements in living conditions. 

THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA MISS YOU, GENERAL MALU THE VICTOR.