September 30, 1971 - Joshua Milton Blahyi
His militia, composed largely of children, became one of the more disturbing armed factions of the First Liberian Civil War — a conflict already defined by atrocity. Blahyi later testified before Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, confessing to killings and ritual practices spanning years of fighting, and acknowledged responsibility for the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people. The combination of religious framing, child soldiers, and a dramatic postwar conversion made his case a subject of sustained journalistic and academic attention in the years that followed.
From Wikipedia
Joshua Milton Blahyi (born 30 September 1971), better known by his nom de guerre General Butt Naked, is a Liberian preacher and philanthropist best known for being a warlord during the First Liberian Civil War. Born in Monrovia into a Krahn family, Blahyi claims that at the age of seven he was inducted as a high priest into a secret society and participated in child sacrifices along with assisting the regime of President Samuel Doe. Such claims have been disputed by Blahyi's relatives, who instead claim he dropped out of school after the third grade and worked at a local market in Monrovia before turning to crime. In 1989, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) sparked the civil war when they invaded Liberia to topple Doe, who was murdered in 1990.
In c. 1993, Blahyi joined the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), which had been formed in 1991 and fought against the NPFL. He raised his own militia of mostly child fighters known as the "Naked Base Commandos", and became known for going into combat wearing no clothing, which led to him adopting his nom de guerre. In c. 1994, ULIMO split into the rival ULIMO-K and ULIMO-J, and Blahyi backed the latter faction, resisting an attempt by the NPFL and ULIMO-K to arrest its leader Roosevelt Johnson in April 1996. Blahyi claimed to have experienced a vision of Jesus in July 1996 and abandoned his fighters, instead turning to street preaching. The war ended in 1997, and the NPFL's leader, Charles Taylor, was elected as president.
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