Joshua Blahyi

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Joshua Blahyi (born ca. 1970), also known as General Butt Naked, is a Liberian warlord-turned-preacher. He was a fiercely violent and eccentric leader on the side of Roosevelt Johnson[1] in the First Liberian Civil War in the first half of the 1990s.

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[edit] Religious beliefs

Blahyi is a member of the Sarpo clan, which make up 20% of the Krahn tribe in Liberia.[2] At age 11, he claims, the Devil called him on the telephone, commanding him to his later excesses.[3] The Krahn elders later appointed him as high priest, a position that would later lead him to become the spiritual advisor to Liberian President Samuel Doe.[4] Blahyi adhered to a complex traditional belief system as a Krahn Priest, and like many in Africa he has mixed those beliefs fluidly with Christianity. Blahyi himself explains: "I was a high priest for the biggest god under the Krahn tribe, and the late Samuel K. Doe being a fellow tribesman, was automatically placed under my jurisdiction... I also placed nyanbe-a-weh amongst the first three high ranking deities in the West Africa’s black-witch coastal line division."[5] Nyanbe-a-weh was Blahyi’s protecting deity who (according to Blahyi) demanded ritual sacrifice; Blahyi would later replace Nyanbe-a-weh with the devil.[6] He explains that the Krahn tribe selects leaders based upon physical prowess rather than birthright. The selection process takes place through an annual fight: "The traditional fight was a no holds barred affair. The eventual victor was allowed to kill and maim to show his strength and bravery. The strongest or last man standing after the bloody contest will take over the birthright and the headship of the tribe."[7]

[edit] In battle

Blahyi has said he led his troops naked except for shoes and a gun. Apparently, he believed that his nakedness was a source of protection from bullets.[8][9] Blahyi now claims he would regularly sacrifice a victim before battle, saying, "Usually it was a small child, someone whose fresh blood would satisfy the devil."[1] He explained to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Sometimes I would enter under the water where children were playing. I would dive under the water, grab one, carry him under and break his neck. Sometimes I'd cause accidents. Sometimes I'd just slaughter them."[10]

Blahyi got his nickname — General Butt Naked — from his nakedness, supposedly demanded by the Devil. He claimed to a South African Star reporter that he "met Satan regularly and talked to him" and that from the age of 11 to 25 he took part in monthly human sacrifices (Ellis 268). In his account of a typical battle Blahyi claimed, "So, before leading my troops into battle, we would get drunk and drugged up, sacrifice a local teenager, drink their blood, then strip down to our shoes and go into battle wearing colourful wigs and carrying dainty purses we'd looted from civilians. We'd slaughter anyone we saw, chop their heads off and use them as soccer balls. We were nude, fearless, drunk and homicidal. We killed hundreds of people — so many I lost count."[11] Blahyi also purported that during that period he had "magical powers that made him invisible" and a "special power" to capture a town singlehandedly, then call in his troops afterwards to "clean up".[12]

Some of Blahyi's soldiers — often teenage boys — would enter battle naked; others would wear women's clothes.[1] In June 2006 Blahyi published his autobiography including pictures of him fighting with a rifle, wearing nothing but sneakers.[13] In January 2008, Milton Blahyi confessed to taking part in human sacrifices which "included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat." He fought against Charles Taylor's militia.[14]

[edit] Conversion

Blahyi's rampage ended in 1996, when the civil war in Liberia was coming to an end. In 1997 Blahyi traveled to the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. It was at the camp, he recounts, that he made confession at a Church for his sins and had his life saved.[15] When he goes out to preach now, he says he sometimes encounters relatives of his victims. "I feel very bad, so bad", he said, but he insists it was satanic powers that possessed him in the past and he cannot be held responsible.[10]

Blahyi is now the President of the End Time Train Evangelistic Ministries Inc., with Headquarters in Liberia. He is married to Pastor Mrs. Josie and has three children: Michaela, Joshua Milton Junior, and Janice.[16] In 2004 Liberian-American director Gerald Barclay traveled to Buduburam to shoot a documentary which included interviews with Joshua Blahyi.[17] In January 2008 Blahyi returned to Liberia from Ghana and claimed before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia that between c. 1980 and 1996 he and his men were responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 people.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Jim Klima. "Going Mental". It Will Be So Awful, It Will Be Wonderful. http://web.archive.org/web/20051029203402/http://jetcityjimbo.com/awful_wonderful/50.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-01-15. 
  2. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. 1. ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  3. ^ "Stupid Crime, December 1997". L. T. Lawrence & Associates. http://www.ausmall.com.au/law/crime3.htm. Retrieved on 2006-01-24. 
  4. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. (About the Author). ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  5. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. 68. ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  6. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. 45. ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  7. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. 4. ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  8. ^ Daniella Carlsson. "General Buttnaked". http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/Liberia/Asadstateofaffairs.html. 
  9. ^ Paul Gains (17 August 2003). "Where angels will not tread". Sunday Herald. http://web.archive.org/web/20050528131441/http://www.sundayherald.com/36066/. 
  10. ^ a b Susman, Tina (August 4, 1997). LIBERIA'S FIERCE BUTT NAKED GENERAL NOW PREACHES PEACE. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 
  11. ^ Gary Brecher (2003-06-12). "Please Don't Eat the Pygmies". eXile. http://www.exile.ru/2003-June-12/war_nerd.html. Retrieved on 2006-01-24. 
  12. ^ "Repentant Liberian warlord delivers himself for judgment". Agence France Presse -- English. 16 January 2008. 
  13. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  14. ^ news.bbc.co.uk, I ate children's hearts, ex-rebel says
  15. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. 121. ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  16. ^ Milton-Blahyi, Joshua (June 2006). From Priesthood to Royal Priesthood. Lagos: C.R.M. Press. pp. (About the Author). ISBN 978-072-683-7. 
  17. ^ "Liberia: The Love of Liberty Brought us Here (2004)". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469934/. 
  18. ^ Ex-warlord confesses to 20,000 deaths - CNN.com
  • Makovsky, David, et al. "World in brief", U.S News & World Report Vol 124, Issue 14 (1998), 39.

[edit] External links

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