Liberian Musician Sundaygar Dearboy was a member of Charles Taylor’s Rebel Movement

Posted by: CareTaker on February 13, 2008 Under: Discussion Lounge, Liberia, Podcast

James Butty Washington of VOA interviewd Micheal Davis (Sundaygar Dearboy), Liberian musical sensation who admitted he was a member of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia rebel movement during the country’s 14-year civil war.

This comes after three witnesses testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that Sundaygar Dearboy AKA Michael Davis raped a young woman and murdered several men, women and children in Grand Bassa County during the civil war. The TRC says Dearboy should come clean and give full disclosure about his actual role during the war. Dearboy told VOA that he was forced to join Charles Taylor’s rebel movement.

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Steven Jlopleh | Mar 31, 2008 | Reply

Mr Dearboy’s attempt to set the record strict with regards to his involvement as a child soldier during the more than the decade long horrors in Liberia which manifested themselves in the form of internal fighting felt short of its intended purpose. I don’t know Mr. Dearboy personally, however, I am a huge fan of his musical talents and abilities. In my life time, Mr. Dearboy’s songs are among the best songs I have listened to and everytime one of his many hits is played, I can’t help but jump out of my seat and head for the dance floor. Mr. Dearboy musical achievement is a remarkable feat of national pride. Like many Liberians, I am basking in the national pride and glory that Mr. Dearboy’s musics engender for Liberia. Having registered my personal liking of Mr. Dearboy artistic creativity, let me also register my disappointment in Mr. Dearboy’s failure to effectively address the issue of being a child soldier by being completely truthful. My disappointment stamps from the responses that Mr Dearboy gave to questions posed by Mr. Washington of VOA during his interview with Mr. Dearboy. First of all, Mr. Dearboy did a very poor job in eloquently articulating the extent to which he was involved in the Liberian war as a child soldier. The fact that Mr. Dearboy said that he was compelled to join the NPFL makes sense to me because his claimed tale of conscription is not unique to him, like him, many young and defenseless Liberian children were forced into joining NPFL as child soldiers. However, the fact that Mr. Dearboy did not speak publicly about being a child soldier until he was accused of war crimes leaves me with little reason to really believe his story that he did not kiil or rape anybody during the course of child soldier experience. Additionally, I find Mr. Dearboy’s accusers to be more believable and his story of not inflicting any harm on anybody in the form of rape, murder or beating less believable because his tone during the interview was not one of remorse and sincere realization of a less than desirable childhood to say the least. Instead, I found Mr. Dearboy’s responses during the interview to be very appalling, especially when he claimed that the only reason his accusers are talking about those things he alledgely did is because they want to see his downfall. The fact of the matter remains that the Truth and Reconcialation entity that was set in Liberia, at least in theory, was not intended to bring people to damnation but to heal the wounds of a war-ravaged country in an effort to bury the miasmas of the past and discover in the process, a future that is beeming with promises and reassurances. So for Mr Dearboy to argue that his accusers’ actions of reporting alledged war crimes he committed is a selfih venture that is geared towards seeking his downfall or somehow undermining his achievement makes no sense and does not hold any water because he is not vilify by telling the tale of his child soldier experiences, instead, if anything else, his truthful admission and apologies only go a long way in solidifying his already acquired fame. At this point, Liberians are more than willing to continue their support for Mr. Dearboy and his musics and by being honest, sincere and open about what he did and did not do as a child soldier will be of enormous benefit to him and the level of fame he has accrued. On the flip side, many Liberians, including me, are disappointed in the apparent perception of Mr. Dearboy not telling the entire truth about his child soldier days. He can only help himself with the Liberian people by being truthful. Remember, the Bible says, the truth crushed to the ground will rise again. If I could in any way speak to Mr. Dearboy, my advise to him will be, just be truthful about what you actually did or did not do as a child soldier becasue when and if the truth comes out to the contrary of your claim, Liberians will not dislike you or your songs becasue you were a child soldier but because you knowingly lie to an entire country that considers you a symbolic figure of national pride.

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