04/26/2010 – Ijoma Robert Flemister, irflem@msn.com
The Coup d’état of 1980 was the result of failed negotiations between the United States/NATO and the group of African leaders (Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal and William Richard Tolbert of Liberia) who has sought a trade accommodation/ agreement with the United States for an Executive Chairman of the OAU to manage Africa’s natural resources and commodities via commodity cartels.
Throughout 1978-1979 there were extensive planning and discussions around the then Uruguay Round of GATT, which involved President Tolbert taking the lead in the discussions. In 1979 there was a high level and quiet conference of Africa’s Finance Ministers convened at Ducor Hotel to establish Africa’s position on the intricacies of the commodity cartels. President Tolbert assigned me to observe the deliberations of the conference. Note that the main reason for USA President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Nigera and then subquently to Liberia was to hold face-to-face talks with the leaders of Nigeria and Liberia. I was on the official high level Liberian delegation that sat with President Tolbert during the discussion with President Carter.
The details submitted by President Carter involved a cash allotment to Liberia (President Tolbert??) of 100 million USD, Liberia granting military base rights in Grand Gedeh, and the CIA command and control in Liberia be extended to also monitoring Libya’s and the Arab League’s activities in Africa. By January 1980, President Tolbert specifically said to me, “Ijoma, as long as I am President of Liberia and Chairman of the OAU they can not have a military base in West Africa.” But Presidents Tolbert, Senghor and Toure continued to insist on the implementation of the commodity cartels.
So now, let’s analyze the results.
(1) After the saga of the Arab Oil Embargo against the United States, there evolved a situation where the national security apparatus of the United States saw President Tolbert as a threat to the security of the United States. President Carter initialized security directives against President Tolbert and President Reagan subsequently implemented those directives.
(2) It is clear that Liberians DID NOT carry out the assassination of President Tolbert. Remember what First Lady Victoria Tolbert recounted that there were white skinned men in masks who came into the Executive Mansion.
(3) For the first two days after the Coup, the BTC Post Stockade was under the command of American English accent men. I was there.
(4) Note that President Tolbert was due to visit Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) on Monday, April 14, 1980 to codify the impending independence of that nation. President Tolbert had worked with Dr. Henry Kissinger on the detail of the independence. The USA had to act quickly to interrupt President Tolbert’s trip to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). If President Tolbert had been successful in the independence issues, he would have been untouchable – by British acceptance. Remember who all receive the Nobel Peace Prize regarding the independence of that nation that is still governed by President Mugabe. I sat in on the confidential negotiations held in the Executive Mansion in Monrovia, and also sat in on many of the meetings between President Tolbert and Dr Kissinger.
(5) Note that President Senghor, who was President Tolbert’s Vice Chairman of the OAU, was forced to resign as President of Senegal within a year after the Liberian Coup. President Toure, was slated to be the first Executive Chair of the OAU, never became Chair of the OAU in spite of all the OAU preparations in Guinea. President Toure subsequently died at the Cleveland Heart Clinic in the USA.
(6) Note that United States Secretary of State George Shultz subsequently initialized the CIA command and control operations in Liberia by visiting Liberia several times, confidentially, during the early days of the PRC.
(7) Note that the United States had yet never had a southern Atlantic military base until the advent of AfriComm, which even now is managed from Stuttgart, Germany. I recently met in Columbus, Ohio with the AfriComm Operations Commander.
Mr. Editor, the United States executed a PERFECT “Hidden Hands” operation in staging the background and action of the Liberia Coup d’état of 1980. The rest is history!
Best regards,
Ijoma Robert Flemister,
irflem@msn.com
culled from Front Page Africa 4/27/2010
Liberia is the land or blo we are proud to call home.
As a young man growing up in a remote village in Todee, District-Montserrado County-Liberia-I was always fascinated with politics and south to find out the meaning and true of why things happen the way they do. One major goal was to find out the reason(s) behind the 1980′s Coup. After years of searching for the true and having bits and pieces of stories heard-I am convinced that there was a conspiracy theory that directly led to the assassination of one of our leaders-the late William Tolbert. You have done a remarkable job of analyzing my hypothesis and theory of what may have triggered the incident. When I enrolled in college, I was ambitious about seeking a meaning-then the of course, the Civil War destroyed many records-which hindered me from pursuing my goal. The article highlights many aspects of the conceived triggers that may have contributed to Coup de’ tat of 1980 in Liberia. The more I read the above-mentioned article, the better I’ve begun to gain awareness of how the United States’ leading role in that traumatic event set Liberia back for years. And, what consequently transpired in 1989 was a result of the direct role and as well as indirect role the United States played. The genesis was that Liberians and other African leaders were cast as power hungry. Tolbert, despite his efforts to implement his policies by fostering independence and encouraging farmers to grow their crops in Liberia rather than its’ citizens becoming dependent on foreign goods-became was blamed for the higher price for rice, the country’s chief food. I think little did many folks knew that the real reason was more profound than the “Rice Riot.” After his brutal death-the blood bath intensified. The deep-seated consequence, in my opinion-was the result of the failed foreign politically politics and policies allegedly masterminded by the power that be to spread its control and influences for some pennies by all means necessary and at all cost. The profound impact was felt ten years later when Liberia experienced its first civil crisis-which left the country fighting for her life today: massive killings-thousands of Liberians displaced all over the world-infrastructure left in ruin-scores of social and ethnic problems still not defined and unsolved-poor educational-health problems still visible today. As I continue my journey to find out the true and motivation of our problems-I am constantly being reminded that no matter how strong our convictions are and/or no matter how determined our leaders amplify their stance-there is always that “Superpower” that has all the check-mates– and no matter what moves our leaders make–the power thats is— know whats better for us–don’s they? Lets seek the true!!!!!