Jallah Lone, Liberia's senior traditional chief, is not at all happy living with some 12,000 people crammed into a camp in the world's largest rubber plantation outside the war-devastated capital Monrovia.
Lone, who says he is 89, easily looks his age. He complains that his days at the Harbel Multilateral Displaced Camp in the middle of the Firestone rubber plantation are the worst in his life.
"There have been other wars before but this is the first time I have left home," he said, surrounded by some of the 87 members of his family who fled their homes for the camp, nearly 50km outside Monrovia.
"I'm not supposed to be here," said the wizened patriarch -- conspicuous in a flowing richly embroidered white African caftan and black and gold cap -- amid a sea of rags and soiled clothes.
Lone's pre-eminent position as chairman of the council of "paramount chiefs," affords him some unthinkable luxuries that are unavailable to others who have been living here since last month when rebels besieged the Liberian capital.
"The government give me some rice from time to time but it is not enough," he said.
"I am not well, my head hurts, I have pressure and I feel weak," said Lone, who doubles as the head of the "Zo," traditional healers who practice witchcraft.
The camp is in a school in the sprawling plantation.
James Momoh, the local Red Cross relief officer at the camp, said it opened early last month and originally housed 6,241 people until a couple days back.
"The influx began on Wednesday," he said. "Now we have close to an additional 6,000 people and more are pouring in. We're packed to capacity, we're now sending the others to another camp further ahead."
An estimated 200,000 people -- one out of five in Monrovia -- have been displaced by the fighting between President Charles Taylor's forces and the rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, aid agencies say.
All the inmates have to fend for themselves. Most go to the nearby jungle to pick berries, mushrooms or palmnuts or edible leaves. They crack the palmnuts and eat the soft interior for sustenance.
"We know eating palmnuts causes worms," said Stephen Parker, the chairman of the camp, shivering with malaria.
"Those who are lucky get contracts [part time jobs] with the people in the Firestone factory washing dishes, washing clothes or sweeping. They get small money and buy food," he said.
There is only one toilet. So everybody goes to the surrounding forest.
"The bush around is full of poo poo," said Henry Nyah, who arrived in the camp yesterday after an arduous three-day trek from Monrovia with his wife and children.
The inmates complain they are hungry and that humanitarian organizations are not doing enough.
Parker said the British aid organization Merlin mosquito-proofed the schoolrooms but stressed that malaria was rampant and cholera was rearing its head.
There is only one hand pump in the complex.
"If the fighting does not stop immediately, we will witness one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the region," Marc Destanne de Bernis, the UN top administrator for Liberia has warned.
"Food and water supplies have become scarce, there is widespread malnutrition and tens of thousands of people do not have access to potable water," he said, speaking about the besieged capital city.
Everyone in one voice said they were tired of bearing the brunt of the war, which started four years ago and has turned Liberia into one of the world's poorest nations. Liberia suffered a brutal seven-year conflict earlier.
"The rebels say they are fighting President Taylor. But Mr. Taylor and his family are doing fine. It is we who are suffering," said Elizabeth Francis.
"We can't go on no more," she added.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in