Vigilantes defend hometowns

PAYNESVILLE, Liberia

Soon after the sun sets into the calm blue of Liberia’s western coast, Archie Guncarnue rises with 20 other men in a neighborhood militia to guard this suburb of the capital, Monrovia, against gangs of robbers.

“Something you love, you don’t allow another man to take it away from you,” Mr. Guncarnue said.

Mr. Guncarnue, 19, recently joined his community’s vigilante group to defend his family.

His father often is away during the week, driving trucks to make a living. As the eldest man, he is duty-bound to protect the 12 people living in his family’s small, white concrete house.

Vigilante justice has become a way of life in much of Liberia five years after a series of civil wars that killed at least 200,000 and sent hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing.

Since 2003, the nation has enjoyed a measure of stability that culminated with the democratic election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first female president, in 2005.

But it remains desperately poor, and with little available electricity, dark neighborhoods at night provide inviting targets for criminal gangs.

Neighborhood vigilantes armed with machetes and clubs find safety in numbers to fight back against gun-toting gangs, many armed with old weapons from previous wars. If caught, criminals often are beaten to death.

Lewis Norman, deputy chief for press and public affairs for the Liberian National Police (LNP), said mob violence is the very reason that the LNP discourages vigilante groups from forming.

About two years go, the LNP began its own neighborhood watch groups to encourage residents to apprehend robbers instead of killing them. Today, there are 152 communities with the police-sponsored groups.

The LNP gives the members whistles and the commanders cell phones. Members join with the expectation that they won’t carry weapons or kill intruders.

Mr. Norman said he hopes the groups will make a difference, despite the distrust of police.

Nevertheless, residents of many neighborhoods find it difficult to trust Liberia’s meager police force of 3,650 officers.

Across Monrovia, taxi drivers commonly slip police officers a few bills — presumably bribes to fend off harassment or to buy a measure of protection.

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