Liberia's election closes chapter of history – but for voters, past is present
It was the biggest party in town, in more ways than one.
On a recent afternoon in the run-up to Liberia’s Oct. 10 presidential election, supporters of the country’s ruling Unity Party spilled out onto the streets outside its low-slung green headquarters, their fists full of party handouts. Somewhere deep in the crowd, someone had strapped a giant speaker to the back of a pickup truck, and cranked the volume up to full.
“You nah bring Taylor here uh,” the crowd sang in Liberian English, hoisting drinks and banners skyward. “You nah bring Taylor back here.”
The “Taylor” in question was Charles Taylor, the one-time warlord and president of Liberia now serving 50 years in a British prison for crimes against humanity. And the message of the song was clear – voters wanted nothing to do with him.
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