Editorial: Arms discovery at Freeport is scaring

The discovery of cache of high-caliber automatic military weapons stacked in a container and shipped to Liberia is worrisome and scary. Even of great concern is that a significant quantity of the arms had been offloaded and stored at a private residence in Brewerville outside Monrovia before the discovery was made at the Freeport, heightening suspicion about the quantity of weapons that might already be hidden at various locations across the country.

That the huge cache of arms was packaged, destined for Liberia, and arrived at the Freeport and offloaded before the Joint Security of this country received intelligence, clearly indicates the extent of vulnerability of the state.

The discovery comes barely nine months to the general and presidential elections in October. This speaks volumes, especially since state security forces are already making arrests and identifying suspects. What could be the motive behind the importation of sophisticated military weapons to a country that had suffered 14 years of bloody civil war that left over 200,000 people killed, including women and children. Infrastructure worth millions of dollars were destroyed, thousands of others displaced and subjected to refugee life in other countries. Is someone contemplating on reverting this country to the dark days?

The arms cache followed the shipment of a 40-ft. container of cocaine valued at US$100 million last year that was said to have been in transit via the very Freeport of Monrovia. This container was cleared from the Freeport and taken to TRH warehouse in Topoe Village along the Japanese Freeway before Liberian Joint Security was informed by the United States Embassy near Monrovia.

We demand an open investigation into the arms discovery at the Freeport. Instigators should get to the bottom of what has the potential to destabilize the peace of Liberia. They should remain professional and the entire exercise should be void of political manipulation.

We are vividly reminded of the Samuel Doe era when opposition politicians were falsely implicated in a bid to get them out of the race. These are electioneering period and we hope this would not be the case in the ongoing investigation.

News about military weapons being discovered at our major commercial port is not good for the economy. This information creates insecurity and drives away potential investors. It is not just about the suspects already identified and arrested, but the actual motive for the importation.

All those behind this for whatever intention should be reminded that besides pandemics, the world is conflict-wearied, particularly with the Russia-Ukraine war that is taken a huge toll not only on Europe and the West but Africa. There are military coups in neighboring Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, respectively. These arms takeovers are gradually destabilizing West Africa with serious instability in Nigeria.

More than a decade ago, the United Nations invested millions in Liberia with the largest peacekeeping mission of 15,000 troops that disarmed and demobilized rebel forces leading to holding of democratic elections and return to civilian administration. The least the international community would like to hear is that Liberia is slipping back to chaos. If we were to revert to this route again as the discovery of arms seems to indicate, let us rest assured that we will be on our own! No country would like to send her sons and daughters here again to die for our selfish greed and foolishness.