The Armed Forces of Liberia was disbanded in its entirety after the war because the incoming government suspected that AFL soldiers were too loyal to the ousted leader and war criminal, Charles Taylor. Demobilized en masse, the soldiers received $540 US dollars and were told to wait for further reintegration support. 540 visits the squatter settlement that hundreds of these demobilized soldiers built on a swamp in Monrovia which they named Peace Island. They describe the bitter disappointments of their experience with military downsizing and ask what should happen when international promises are broken.
Runtime: 28:51 mins
Main Credits
Director/Producer
Camera
Editor
Research Assistance
Jaremey McMullin
Matthew Hyndman
Jamie Loggie
Kennedy K. Berrian
Original Music
‘This Is Why They Call It 540’
Lyrics by
Music by
Performed by
Recording Studio
Music supervision and facilitation by
Leaders of the Peace Island 540
Moenue S. Harvey
Moenue S. Harvey
More Hits Records
Kennedy K. Berrian
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
Joschka Philipps (2018) ‘The Urban Politics of Ruins: New Imaginations of Postmodern Monrovia,’ Postcolonial Studies. [Book Review: Danny Hoffman (2017) Monrovia Modern: Urban Form and Political Imagination (Durham: Duke University Press).]
University of Liberia (2014) ‘Voices on the Liberian Security Sector and UNMIL’s Withdrawal,’ Policy Brief No.2, Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation, February.
Sukanya Podder (2013) ‘Bridging the ‘Conceptual-Contextual’ Divide: Security Sector Reform in Liberia and UNMIL Transition,’ Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 7:3, 353-380.
Morten Bøås and Karianne Stig (2010) ‘Security Sector Reform in Liberia: An Uneven Partnership without Local Ownership,’ Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 4:3, 285-303.
WEB RESOURCES
