The Reformed Warlords of Liberia : Joshua Blahyi and Prince Y. Johnson | African Biographics

The country of Liberia, went through a turbulent period of 13 years of civil war. Some of the militias that took part in the war had dozens of rebel commanders, many of whom adopted outlandish names such as Chuck Norris, One-Foot Devil, General Mosquito, and his nemesis, General Mosquito Spray. Besides Charles Taylor however, arguably two of the most famous former warlords are Prince Yormie Johnson and Joshua Blahyi, also known as General Butt Naked. The two, Blahyi and Johnson conducted actions and crimes that were extreme in nature during Liberia’s civil war. For instance, Joshua Blahyi confessed that he and his men killed 20,000 during the war, while Prince Yormie Johnson led the forces who tortured and killed then President Samuel Doe in 1990, with the gruesome footage captured, and circulated around the world for all to see. Yet after the war, Joshua Blahyi and Prince Yormie Johnson managed to cultivate images of themselves as repentant community leaders who were qualified to take part in and even lead Liberia's reconstruction. In this episode of African Biographics, we profile Joshua Milton Blahyi aka General Butt Naked and Prince Yormie Johnson, the reformed warlords of Liberia. ***************************************************************************** Sources: https://issafrica.org/iss-today/liber... https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/ksjppl/2020/0... The ‘Rebel’ Wars of Africa: From Political Contest to Criminal Violence? Gberie, Lansana , The Journal of Modern African Studies From lords of war to leaders in society: How former Liberian warlords have used ‘old’ and ‘new’ media to self-reframe, Geraldine O’Mahony, Jo Ellen Fair, Media, War & Conflict https://foothilldragonpress.org/3376/... https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20... https://historyofyesterday.com/genera... https://www.wearethemighty.com/articl... https://www.businessinsider.com/liber... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/720... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/fb... **************************************************************************** Music: Lamentation Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Heartbreaking Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Kumasi Groove by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/ YouTube Studio Audio Library *************************************************************************** Feel free to reach out to us at africanbiographics@gmail.com #Liberia #PrinceYormieJohnson #JoshuaBlahyi