Liberia: UNGA @ 77

Former Prime Minister of Portugal, António Guterres,  the next Secretary-General of the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last month assembled for the 77th time. Although there has been no World War since the founding of the United Nations (UN), more people have died from conflicts since the founding of the UN. Witness the post-World War Two deaths.

Millions of people have died because of injustice. Millions of people have died because of hunger, poor health, irrelevant education, lack of participation in State governance and bad infrastructure. Millions of people have died because of racism. Millions of people have died because of slavery. Millions of people have died because of child labor. Waterborne diseases are the biggest killers of the children of the world. Most children of the developing world who should be in school are out of school.

In Rwanda, where thousands of UN Peace-keeping Troops were stationed, through the drives of colonialism, the UN pulled out and left nearly one million Rwandans to be massacred. In Liberia, where thousands of UN Peace-keeping Troops were also stationed, at least 300,000 people were massacred during the Liberian Civil War

As the UN considers Peace to be the absence of war, nearly all of the UN Troops in Liberia have pulled out, only to leave behind an autocracy where the electoral system operates in violation of the Constitution of Liberia that calls for democracy. Liberia received the Guinness World Record for Unfair Elections in the mid-1920s. Unfair elections prevail in Liberia.

Today, members of the UN Security Council are condemning the corruption in Liberia but they remain supportive of corruption and the flawed electoral system in Liberia through the regular flows of grants, loans and budgetary support. The government boasts of boosting revenue to almost a billion United States dollars. But in the absence of any systemic drive to end corruption, any boost in government revenue necessarily means a boost in corruption.

In effect, the speeches at the 77th UNGA remain a charade because they are in the mode indicating that Peace is the absence of war, rather than the presence of Justice. There are UNGA concerns about the Ukraine/Russia War; the Israel/Palestine Conflict; other Conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, but members of the UN continue to import products from Ukraine, Russia, and countries of Asia and Africa. 

What astounding irony! But like all ironies, this irony provides the opportunity for peace-loving people to work together locally and globally to change the system of injustice and bring in the system of Justice through the Rule of Law. This democratic work is making progress through the raising of awareness among people everywhere.  It is this progress that motivates people in Liberia to say Gweh Feh Kpei, in Kpelle, the most widely spoken Liberian language, meaning, “The Struggle Continues”. Reference here is to the Struggle for Justice to prevail everywhere.