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American Morning

Liberia in Crisis

Aired September 08, 2003 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It has been nearly a month since President Charles Taylor left Liberia and Nigerian peacekeepers moved in, but the West African country is still in chaos after years of civil war.
Sebastian Junger got a firsthand look at conditions there. He writes about Liberia's "Savage Harvest" in the current issue of "Vanity Fair."

Contributing editor Sebastian Junger now live with us here in New York on AMERICAN MORNING.

Nice to see you in person.

One of the things that struck us as we went throughout this entire story was the age of the fighter in Liberia, 14-year-olds and under dominating the army, really on both sides. How is it that a country can recruit such young soldiers in its campaign of violence and death?

SEBASTIAN JUNGER, "VANITY FAIR": Well, I think that's what you see in a country that's been at war for so long. There's now a full generation that has passed that has gone by since the war started in 1990. And when you have a country in chaos like that, you have children who are very easy to exploit, because they've never gone to school, they can't really make their own decisions.

HEMMER: Part of your article goes exactly to that point. Liberia's been wracked by civil war for the past 14 years, longer than many of them have been alive, these young children. You also reported from a small town outside the capital city, a town you say inhabited almost entirely by armed children. Was it that intense?

JUNGER: Yes. We were up in this town of Gunta, and on the frontline, and it was all kids. The commander was in his 40s, but it was all 14, 15-year-olds, boys and girls, fighting. I mean, a whole generation of Liberians has grown up under war and so they're very, very easy to recruit. It's a tragic situation.

HEMMER: What gets better now with Charles Taylor out? Or is it better?

JUNGER: It is better in my opinion. When I was there, he was leader of the country, and the rebels, the LURD rebels, who were attacking Monrovia, their primary demand was that he leave the country. He's finally done that, so the fighting has eased off. But I should add that in a country that's been that destroyed by war, it's very easy for a rogue commander to start up the conflict again. There really needs to be peacekeepers, as in Bosnia and Kosovo, that really worked. That number of peacekeepers really worked. There are some Nigerians in Liberia right now, but really not enough to keep the war from recurring in my opinion.

HEMMER: I think one of the things you pointed out quite well in your piece was about the amount of fear by which Charles Taylor ruled. You wrote, one Liberian reporter so nervous about the government militias that he threw up out the window of a jeep as soon as the first truckload of them appeared. Was it that real, that feeling of fear?

JUNGER: Yes, it was very interesting that the people did not fear the rebels who were attacking them as much as the government troops who were supposedly defending them. And government ministers, government aides, all were terrified of these teenage fighters that they themselves had created basically. It was a very strange situation to see.

HEMMER: Do you think it is possible to break this cycle of violence in Liberia, without more peacekeepers on the ground, be it from Nigeria, other African countries? Or is there a European/U.S. role that has to be assumed to get that country on the right track?

JUNGER: I think if you look at the history of West Africa, you've got a very successful peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone, another one in Ivory Coast, almost no casualties on the part of the British and French forces that went there to promote the peace. I think we could do it very, very easily in Liberia.

HEMMER: Sebastian Junger, "Vanity Fair," thanks for sharing your story with us. Very well done. We'll talk again.

JUNGER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 8, 2003 - 08:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It has been nearly a month since President Charles Taylor left Liberia and Nigerian peacekeepers moved in, but the West African country is still in chaos after years of civil war.
Sebastian Junger got a firsthand look at conditions there. He writes about Liberia's "Savage Harvest" in the current issue of "Vanity Fair."

Contributing editor Sebastian Junger now live with us here in New York on AMERICAN MORNING.

Nice to see you in person.

One of the things that struck us as we went throughout this entire story was the age of the fighter in Liberia, 14-year-olds and under dominating the army, really on both sides. How is it that a country can recruit such young soldiers in its campaign of violence and death?

SEBASTIAN JUNGER, "VANITY FAIR": Well, I think that's what you see in a country that's been at war for so long. There's now a full generation that has passed that has gone by since the war started in 1990. And when you have a country in chaos like that, you have children who are very easy to exploit, because they've never gone to school, they can't really make their own decisions.

HEMMER: Part of your article goes exactly to that point. Liberia's been wracked by civil war for the past 14 years, longer than many of them have been alive, these young children. You also reported from a small town outside the capital city, a town you say inhabited almost entirely by armed children. Was it that intense?

JUNGER: Yes. We were up in this town of Gunta, and on the frontline, and it was all kids. The commander was in his 40s, but it was all 14, 15-year-olds, boys and girls, fighting. I mean, a whole generation of Liberians has grown up under war and so they're very, very easy to recruit. It's a tragic situation.

HEMMER: What gets better now with Charles Taylor out? Or is it better?

JUNGER: It is better in my opinion. When I was there, he was leader of the country, and the rebels, the LURD rebels, who were attacking Monrovia, their primary demand was that he leave the country. He's finally done that, so the fighting has eased off. But I should add that in a country that's been that destroyed by war, it's very easy for a rogue commander to start up the conflict again. There really needs to be peacekeepers, as in Bosnia and Kosovo, that really worked. That number of peacekeepers really worked. There are some Nigerians in Liberia right now, but really not enough to keep the war from recurring in my opinion.

HEMMER: I think one of the things you pointed out quite well in your piece was about the amount of fear by which Charles Taylor ruled. You wrote, one Liberian reporter so nervous about the government militias that he threw up out the window of a jeep as soon as the first truckload of them appeared. Was it that real, that feeling of fear?

JUNGER: Yes, it was very interesting that the people did not fear the rebels who were attacking them as much as the government troops who were supposedly defending them. And government ministers, government aides, all were terrified of these teenage fighters that they themselves had created basically. It was a very strange situation to see.

HEMMER: Do you think it is possible to break this cycle of violence in Liberia, without more peacekeepers on the ground, be it from Nigeria, other African countries? Or is there a European/U.S. role that has to be assumed to get that country on the right track?

JUNGER: I think if you look at the history of West Africa, you've got a very successful peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone, another one in Ivory Coast, almost no casualties on the part of the British and French forces that went there to promote the peace. I think we could do it very, very easily in Liberia.

HEMMER: Sebastian Junger, "Vanity Fair," thanks for sharing your story with us. Very well done. We'll talk again.

JUNGER: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com