Word: tolbert
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...corruption and $200 million in bills from the summit conference. As TIME Nairobi Bureau Chief Jack E. White discovered during a visit to Sierra Leone, the country's plight is disturbingly similar to that of neighboring Liberia, where Stevens' friend and predecessor as O.A.U. chairman, President William Tolbert, was killed in April during a coup staged by noncommissioned officers. White's report...
...Sierra Leone under Stevens is like Liberia under Tolbert: a time bomb waiting to explode." That grim forecast comes from a Western diplomat who has had long experience in both countries. Indeed, even a casual visitor is likely to spot similarities between the two West African republics. Both countries became havens for former slaves in the 19th century. In Sierra Leone, the "creole" descendants of these settlers still dominate the country's business and educational elite-as did scions of the freed slaves in Liberia until the recent coup. Sierra Leone gained its independence from Britain in 1961; seven...
...March serious rioting broke out in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, when the government announced a hike in gasoline prices from $2.50 to $3 per gal. The rioting was reminiscent of the savage protests that erupted in Morovia last year after Tolbert increased the price of rice. Stevens, a burly former union leader whose folksy style has earned him the nickname "the Pa," concedes that "we could get into trouble," when his government announces another boost in fuel prices, possibly this week...
...Liberia's revolution is revenge, the hatred of the native "country people," who constitute 97% of the population, for the "settlers" descended from American slaves who have dominated the country since its founding in 1847. For more than a week, reports had circulated that 91 former associates of Tolbert would be executed. In fact, trials were already under way for 14 defendants, including the late President's elder brother Frank and the former Foreign Minister, C. Cecil Dennis. In all cases, the charge was the same: "High treason, misuse of public office, rampant corruption, and gross violation...
...condemned men were dragged from the bus, shoved against the telephone poles and tied up. Then, for perhaps 20 minutes, they waited desperately while the firing squad tried to get itself organized. Cecil Dennis, one of Africa's most respected diplomats, stood impassively as soldiers heckled him. Frank Tolbert collapsed in a faint or, perhaps, from a heart attack. Charles King, a member of the House of Representatives, looked around nervously, as though he expected to wake up and find it was all a dream. The officer in charge struggled to unjam the rifle of one member...