Liberia: How ‘Poe River’ gained infamy during two civil wars

A TESTIMONY FROM A FORMER WAR JOURNALIST

Psalm 23:4 (NIV) Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher

Journalist Massa Amelia Washington became a senior editor for Liberia’s 1st post-war independent newspaper, The Inquirer, during the nation’s dark chapter, before later becoming a commissioner for the country’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC). But why Ms. Washington chose “poeriver” as her AOL email screen name, should be anyone’s guess!

I shall tell readers why, so they get a clue as to why this former war-journalist may have meticulously picked “poeriver” or “poriver” as a screenname, for well over two decades now: her choice may possibly have link to the significant role this stream, its surrounding, played in two bloody civil wars (Dec. 1989-Aug. 2003). This narrow strip of land separates the one-time prestigious Ricks Institute from Combat Camp, a battle-prone throughout the wars.   

The name “Poe,” or “Po River,” derived from the Dei Language. Though the meaning may not be clear to people of different ethnic backgrounds, the Dei of Liberia refer to “eggplant” as “Kpor,” according to renowned Photojournalist Folley Siryon. “Kporr,” says Siryon, a Dei who hails from the settlement, is named after nearby village where he says, early U.S. Black American settlers had first re-settled among Native Dei, Vai and Gola, when they arrived here more than a century ago.  

Perhaps more than anyone else, I consider myself a true witness to this popular river’s significance. For me, it dates far back to August 24, 1992, the very day which former BBC/AP stringer, Nyenati Allison and I approached the Po River Bridge, then warmly greeted members of the Mandingoe-Krahn dominated ULIMO rebel movement, upon their capture of the Poe River Bridge. 

It must be noted that we were the first two journalists from Monrovia to encounter those fearful-looking fighters, having camped near the Buffer Zone for hours that morning and waited for this historic moment. Consisted of mostly refugees and ex-military soldiers from Samuel Doe’s disintegrated army, they had come from as far as Sierra Leone, but not without some help from the ECOMOG Peacekeeping Troops.

Their looks seemed quite frightening for most wore women’s apparels such as false hair, purses and sandals. Others carried fetishes round their necks and wrists and their waists and carried haircuts such as those that look like US Marine-style haircut quite popular among the Pem-Pem-Boys today. The rebel fighters we saw at Poe River carried offensive odors too, after days of fighting tense battles trying to make their way through to River Peo. 

This ULIMO “Tay-Go” haircut-style of 1992 has been corrupted into something else; it now comes in all kinds of dreadlock form that people see among young bike riders today throughout Liberia.

Crossing Po River Bridge Sunday, on the way to Cape Mount, it suddenly dawned on me that I was once in this spot and witnessed some of the toughest battles fought along this river that stretches to the Atlantic Coast, battles in which our local and foreign news agencies took deep interest. Taking the risks and providing a coverage made us too a part of national history in a sense, i.e., the ULIMO arrival to Poe River August 24th, a National Flag Day, when rival rebel fighters finally set foot to the bridge and seized it.

So dangerous was it that as one ECOMOG soldier slowly escorted me and Nyenati toward the edge of the Buffer Zone, he frequently stopped to show us either foxholes or spots their own soldiers had been killed from gunfire! In one instance, I managed to capture one such foxhole where they had pulled out a dead soldier moment before we arrived while another threw in sandbags to jump in.  

Looking back now, some 32 years ago, I can’t help but imagine how Nyenati and I had first approached the Buffer Zone in such a defiant manner amid fresh fighting in the distance between rival ULOMO and NPFL, and pleaded they let us meet the other side. The Buffer Zone in this area at the time separated about four armed groups: the dreaded NPFL, ULIMO, ECOMOG, and the INPFL of Gen. Prince Y. Johnson which remained inactive but heavily armed at the time.

They peacekeepers on guide had warned us of the danger of the area and trying to reach the NPFL guard post and its commander, since these from Taylor Land weren’t at all as friendly as the ‘STRANGERS’ we awaited at the bridge. Moving over to NPFL guard post was something we did at the perils of our lives, and this happened moments before the rebel NPFL army brigade there collapsed before our eyes.

As it happened, we managed to pass ECOMOG so we could get the LAST WORD from the lone-NPFL rebel soldier who stood guard near the bridge while his men lied in ambush, waiting for ULIMO arrival.

For fear of being surrounded and overpowered by the marching belligerent ULIMO militias, NPFL rebels soon rose from their hideouts, disappearing perhaps forever.

But before their near-surrender-episode, their commander’s reaction to Nyenati’s question was no different from that of any renegade soldier, running for his life. He spewed out some nasty words too! It was like the last kick from a dying horse!

Nyenati had put quite a provocative BBC’s styled question before him, asking along this line, ‘Are you going to still put up a fight, or still hold onto your position, even though ULIMO fighters appear unstoppable?’

By sheer coincidence, the LURD rebel group, predominantly of Mandingoe, similarly hit the Liberian capital in 2003, using the same Po River route, in their final assaults to seize Monrovia and unseat Charles Taylor’s government-and they succeeded, unlike the two ULIMOs of Alhaji Kromah and Roosevelt Johnson. Taylor was forced to fly out of the country and resettled in Nigeria as a result of fighting.

Interestingly, as our vehicle approached Poe River Bridge Sunday, long after the first and second wars ended, I couldn’t help but stop and slowly began to marvel at the Poe River and the bridge over the river, a bridge which once stood firmly at the center of history and became the deciding point or factor in most gun battles fought there-thus increasing the overall death toll to 300,000 of our own countrymen and women, plus foreign nationals from across the nation.

Unlike in August 1992, and onward, when the entire area was partly covered by rubber farms and a forest of beautiful baboon reels, almost making it difficult for anyone to catch a glimpse of the sky, today, one can see the open sky upon approaching the area from any direction. In fact, a new company or factory now sits next to the bridge, adding life to this once NO MAN’S LAND.

Since the first war ended 1996, followed by national disarmament, and my departure to the USA, 1999, I have traveled to Liberia at least four times (2011-2024), and for almost every visit, went to western Liberia: one, with Mr. Folly Siryon, then a commissioner in what has been cited multiple times in late Bai T. Moore’s acclaimed novel as the ‘Deiwon Country.’

However, for each time I had to pass through or cross Poe River Bridge, it didn’t ever slightly occur to my mind what exactly happened there before my very eyes, on the 24th of August 1992, barely two months before the collapse of Gen. Prince Johnson’s brave and strong rebel army.  

Oddly enough, it was on Sunday, as we passed through, headed near Senji that Jehovah God (The Great I Am That I Am) reminded me of that August 1992 episode, making me feel more humbled, to the extent I started to praise Him for protecting Bro. Nyenati Allison and myself especially throughout our numerous journeys into rebel-controlled areas. 

JESES CHRIST IS COMING SOON! ARE YOU READY?