U.S. Prepared to Deport Liberians Back to Warlords
by Ann Mullen
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by Ann Mullen |
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To
Refugees of War May Be Deported
quiet her crying 9-month-old daughter, Wissedi Sio Njoh regularly dosed her with a syrup that made her sleep. The damage the sedative may have caused her still haunts Njoh 10 years later, but at the time, she had no choice: A weeping baby meant danger. Government troops, known to brutalize citizens, roamed the streets of Liberia's capital enforcing a nightly curfew as the nation began its descent into seven horrendous years of civil war. Noise of any kind -- even a child's sobs -- might have attracted troops and trouble.
A mother of four, a nurse, the wife of a doctor, Njoh watched her relatively affluent life in Monrovia disintegrate. She says an uncle was tortured and killed; she encountered gun-toting children and watched as insurgents threatened to kill her husband; along with the rest of her family, she often went hungry. But Njoh says the most painful part of the war came when she had to leave her four daughters with relatives in Africa while she headed to the United States to forge a better life. Eventually the girls were reunited with their mother in the States, but Njoh's family -- and about 10,000 to 15,000 other Liberians who fled to the United States during the war -- may be forced to return to Liberia in September unless Congress overrules the Clinton administration and grants them permanent residency. Though Liberia's civil war officially ended in 1996, claiming about 200,000 lives, Njoh and others fear that if they return, they may meet a similar fate in a country still plagued with lawlessness, and ruled by the same man who started the civil war.
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After
the civil war broke out in the West African country, the U.S. government granted Liberians a form of asylum, "temporary protected status." Now, with the civil war over and a new government -- with Taylor as president -- in place, the Clinton administration says it is no longer necessary to allow these international refugees to remain in the United States. "Although conditions remain difficult, the overall situation is not sufficiently adverse to prevent most Liberian nationals in the U.S. from returning to Liberia in safety," according to a State Department memorandum supporting the decision. Liberians' "protected" status ended last September. They have been given until this September to leave the country unless they can convince U.S. authorities "their particular circumstances" make returning unsafe.
Nonetheless, the State Department's most recent human rights report on Liberia contains much that is troubling. The rights record is judged to be "poor:" "The security forces committed many extrajudicial killings. ... Security forces tortured, beat, and otherwise abused or humiliated citizens. ... Security forces continues to use arbitrary arrest and detention. ..." The National Liberian Working Group, which represents refugees in the United States, goes further, saying many Liberians may be killed if repatriated because Taylor may view them as siding with the former ruling party. The NLWG is pushing lawmakers, particularly U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, (R-Michigan), to grant Liberians permanent residency by passing Senate Bill 656. As chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Abraham can determine whether the bill moves forward at all and could help guide it through the Senate. (The politics for Abraham, however, may be complicated by the fact that he is already facing attack ads by the well-heeled Federation for American Immigration Reform. Abraham's support for increased immigration for high-tech workers has raised the ire of the anti-immigration work). Last April, NLWG members lobbied Congress about the bill. Though they received some support, Abraham has been silent on the issue, says Saa M'Tow, a NLWG member. "This guy holds the key to heaven, and if we don't get his blessing we will not see what heaven looks like," says M'Tow. He points out that the Clinton administration advises U.S. citizens that Liberia is too dangerous to visit, yet is ordering Liberians to go home. Margaret Murphy, director of communications for Abraham's office, says the senator is still waiting on information about the bill before he decides whether or not to support it. But U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, (D-Rhode Island), who is sponsoring the bill, says he has provided Abraham and his staff all the information requested. Reed says that Congress must act fast. "We have to resolve this issue," says Reed. "We have had Liberians in the U.S. for a decade now and (they) have established themselves in the community, work and have children. It's time to give them permanent residency." If the bill is not enacted, Njoh says she is not sure where she and her children will go, but she will not return to Liberia. She asks: "How can anyone expect me to go back to a country that I ran from for my life, for my life and the lives of my children?"
Albion Monitor
July 3, 2000 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor) All Rights Reserved. Contact rights@monitor.net for permission to use in any format. |
