The rumor I keep hearing is that as soon as the United Nations troops are withdrawn from Liberia, civil war will return to the country. What an ominous and pessimistic thought! I will not buy this notion and I am expressing my gut feelings about this doomsday scenario:

The United Nations has about 15000 troops in Liberia. These troops are there to protect the same people everybody seems to be brouha-ha-ing and hullabaloo-ing about; they are there to protect the same Liberia everyone seems to love so much. These troops are in Liberia to stop the killing of the same Liberian people and give them back the peace that the country enjoyed before 1979. Enjoying peace before 1979, some die hard may say, is relative. No matter how the term peace is dissected, decrypted, analyzed, hypothesized, or theorized; no matter how one may feel about Liberia before 1979, the bottom line and the truth of the matter is, that before 1979, Liberians had not experienced such a chaotic wind nor had they been terrorized by their their own people in a manner seen during that year and beyond.

I saw a polling being conducted on the site of the Daily Observer online. Any time you see a question like the one being asked a people, it becomes obvious that rumors about something ominous are circulating around and about. The burning question that has many feeling sick in the stomach is, do Liberians, once again, want to live the nightmares of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000? Here is the question: After Ellen's term in office, will Liberia return to normal or turn back to civil war? One should answer Yes or No.

The figure is between 200,000 and 300,000 deaths. The number of Liberians that suffered injuries is not known. The number of people that went into exile during this period of chaos is yet to be given an actual figure.No matter what the final numbers in our tragedy come out to be, tiny Liberia suffered a modern day genocide and a complete self destruction.

As of the time I began writing this piece, the results of the poll show that 33% of respondents said that there is a likelihood that Liberia will return to civil war after Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf leaves office. 40% of those responding are optimistic that the democratic process that was begun in 2005 will prevail and that Liberians have had enough of the shenanigans and the lies and the self promotion and the corruption and the dee-dee-ba; that Liberians are fed up with the head work and the midnight handshakes that lead to deals that are difficult to explain; and, that Liberians want to move on with their lives, looking to a future filled with opportunities and possibilities for generations unborn.

When America and the United Nations went into Somalia in the early 90s to help bring law and order to that country, they were shot at; helicopters were shot down and some Americans were killed. The humanitarian efforts were snubbed and today, almost 20 years later, Somalia is still in chaos. Are Liberians really serious when they go around and boast that when the United Nations leaves Liberia they would prefer to go back to killing their own people and destroying their country? I understand that Julu and Dorbor are innocent, but do we still have Julu and Dorbor clones out there who have drawn blood and tasted fame through the barrels of guns and are lurking in the dark and waiting for democracy to collapse?

Will the people of Nimba County, a county that has been vilified and blamed for even the flies that perished in Liberia, be willing to sit by and allow invaders or local war enthusiasts to plunge our country into another war? Will the people of Cape Mount or Lofa County sit again and cry foul from war mongers who prefer to destroy and pillage their motherland than to promote peace? Will the people of Grand Bassa or Grand Gedeh county be willing again to allow rebels to invade their counties and strip the men naked, rape their wives and daughters, and forcibly enlist their young sons into rebel groups to destroy their country? Will the the people of Sinoe or River Gee or Gbarpolu County ever again sit and watch their counties go down in flame because they sat and thought that those who came into their towns and cities were their own people? Will Liberians in the Diaspora stomach the idea of another war after all that has been done by the international community to bring Liberia back into civilization?

I know without a doubt, because I am Liberian, that Liberia was a divided country before 1979. I know that 5% of the population had complete control over everything that a country and its entire population are supposed to enjoy. I know that while we the "country" people were struggling to make ends meet, the "congo" and "America-Liberians" could afford to send their children to the best schools, colleges, and universities that money could pay for. I know that all these things happened and they were dangerously wrong. Separating your own people into big time haves and haves-not and endowing the haves-not with a sense of inferiority complex is, as we all found out, a recipe for an avalanche of disasters.

I know in my heart that there are some Congo people who are very sorry for what they or their parents did to the majority of their own people. If it were not for the ego and bigity, as we say in Liberia, members of this minority group would come out openly and apologize to their fellow Liberians for the great wrong done. But as I see it, the notion and expectation are that the majority should apologize to the minority for what happened on April 12, 1980. Ten years of hardship and indifference are pale in comparison to 133 years of pomposity , high-hat bluff, massive corruption, underdevelopment, and all-time illiteracy.

Liberians do not need to resort to another civil war. The process that was experienced in 2005 was and is the most exciting way to elect those who are supposed to run any country. Let those who want to be president or senators or Representatives throw their hats into the election ring. Let the people decide who is the best to be employed for these positions. Let the people of Liberia be the ones to decide who goes into the Executive Mansion and who becomes a Senator or a Representative. That is the most civilized and democratic way to elect your leaders. Forcing one's way into power with guns and bombs is uncouth and uncalled for.

Vlee-ma in the Gio Language means threatening or pretending to frighten or coerce. After 15 years of war and say, six years of relative peace, I am confident that Liberians are ready to move on with their lives. Threats and rumors of another civil war will neither deter nor detract our people's focus from the bigger picture that is clearly in their sight.