BEYOND INSANITY

Death's Ugly Hands

Chapter 4

JAMES ZONN had known all along that neither his mother nor his father was coming back home. It had been three days since the mother was physically carried away by some members of the national army. Until then James Zonn had always loved the army and had dreamed of becoming a member in the future. But events, since the late Thomas Q tried and failed to remove the goverment of his friend, Sam Doe, had indicated to him that the army was, to some extent, the most dangerous occupation to sacrifice his life for.

His feelings towards the army had changed dramatically from the on.
Why, he asked himself, would soldiers who were supposed to defend and protect the Liberian people taking sides in a war that many and countless Liberians had no idea why it was being fought. True, he had heard the self-styled defense spokesman of the rebels, Thomas Woewiyue, declaring over the BBC that the only good Doe was a dead Doe.

But why?

From his resident in Monrovia, there had been the talk of Gios and Manos coming from the bush and having joined the army of Charles Taylor. He had heard the name of that man before, and had never seen him. Was he a Gio or Mano? The news, as far he could gather indicated that he was not a Gio or Mano. He also learned that he was once a best friend of the president of Liberia.

Well, then, what happened? From the events of November 12, 1985, he was aware that there had been bad blood between Doe and Thomas Q. So what?

Though he was not old enough to understand the current situation, he remembered that when the announcement was made that Sam Doe had been removed, many of his Gio and Mano ethnic groups and other Liberiands had trooped to the streets of Monrovia and had even danced to the traditional victory song.

And lately, the newspapers, in particularly, the Daily Observer and the Footprints Today, had all been calling on the president to resign.

It came to James Zonn's attention that the president had failed to live up to the expectation of the Liberian people to maintain peace and order. That his failure and the current presence of "rebels" coming from the bush were an indication that his days were numbered.

So why the president had declared he would fight till the last soldier, Gios and Manos living in the environs of Monrovia were facing the daily grind of danger to their persons.

So, he somehow but reluctantly agreed that the terror against his ethnic people was simply because Thomas Q had attempted to remove Sam Doe and that the new army in the bush composed mainly of the Gios and Manos, who had suffered enormously since Thomas Q unsuccessful attempt to remove Sam Doe. He felt there was no justification in the current attacks on his people, the truth was that it was the gospel truth.

A DAY after his self-examination, there were reports of bodies lying about in the street, near their resident. James Zonn, by all accounts, was a man who could not stand trouble when he saw one. It was no wonder then that when he heard the news about bodies lying in the streets, he decided to investigate.

And whether he wanted to believe it or not, one of the bodies resembled that of his mother. As he stood over the remains of what seemed to be that of his mother, tears flooded his eyes, and he began to breath in short bursts.

At one point he wanted to vomit. His stomach rumbled on for sometime and like he was passing gas, his legs danced under him. The bodies, as he inspected them, were in the state of decaying, and flies hovered over them.

And the stench...

"So it's true," he said, tears streaming down his face.

He would now return home and inform his sibblings of the tragedy that had befallen them. It was the ugly hands of death, claiming his mother, while his father had been missing, since he was taken away by some soldiers. Now he was living in fear, and considered that if his parents had been destined to pay the price of his tribe's sin, then it would not be too long before he followed them.

With tears pouring down his face, Zonn gathered his legs, and sauntered away from the bodies. It was clear that Liberia had become a land of the dead. What was plentiful was misery. Another was disappointment. And yet another was sorrow.

"This day," he said, "I may die."

Death would relief him from the horrors of war, and destruction. He wondered if his father was still alive somewhere. He would wait and if he failed to return, he would decide what the next course of action would be.

James Zonn must either live or die.