It was July 1991, and she and her family were living on the outskirts of Zwedru in eastern Liberia. When they turned the radio to the BBC, they heard the news about the war. They wondered whether they should stay or leave. It was the rainy season, and the rivers were swollen. The Cavalla River, which forms the border between Liberia and Ivory Coast, was impassable. “The war won’t last long,” her mother said, so the family decided to stay.
A group from the Krahn tribe was searching for enemies within the country, which, in a civil war, consisted of any member of another tribe. Her older brother, Daniel, hid a nanny from the Gio tribe who had been working for the family for years. “It’ll be okay,” the mother said. Faith heard the screams outside the huts as the men approached. Suddenly she saw a naked man with only a machete in his hand. “Why is the man naked?” she wondered. Then she saw the other men, about 25 of them carrying guns as she estimates today.
They had heard that there was a Gio woman in the village. Daniel stood in front of the nanny to protect her. “She is a human being, like you and me,” he said to Blahyi. Blahyi responded with an order. One of the boys stepped forward and chopped off her brother’s foot. Then he hacked off his lower leg, followed by his thigh and hip, methodically working his way up the body. Eventually, her brother fell silent.
Blahyi told everyone to lie on the ground. His men raped her mother and her sisters and then killed them. Gwae says: “They didn’t rape me, but they did things to me that I don’t want to talk about. They left me with a blemish that I will always have.” At some point, Blahyi said that things were moving too slowly and that there were other military operations to attend to. That was when he began to participate.
He had done all these and more when he was just 19 years old.
A Changed Person?
In an unexpected turn of events, General Butt Naked is now Blahyi the Evangelist. When Taylor was ousted in 2003, he changed his course and decided to be a pastor. He also provides food and clothing to his former soldiers and has adopted three children, and his wife said he’s now a changed person. He thinks his children are proud of him.
When he isn’t preaching, the now-clothed Blahyi spends his time visiting his victims and asking for “forgiveness that comes from the victim’s heart.” That includes Faith Gwae, who, just like the other 76 families he visited, did not want to do anything with him. Was he doing it in an effort to cover the murders that he did?
Why Is He Not in Prison?
A crime as brutal and heinous as what he did sure deserved a heavy punishment. Even he said that he would willingly accept life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Incredibly, the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission actually praised General Butt Naked for his candor and cooperation with them in confessing his crimes and recommended amnesty for his atrocities. He and the other warlords still walk free with nothing but the burden of their conscience as punishment.
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