George Weah “The Peacemaker” from 1996

By Frank Dell’Apa

Globe Staff

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Peace no longer exists in the world of George Manneh Ousman Weah. But Weah is a man of peace, and even men of peace must fight battles.

Weah, 29, is Africa’s most famous athlete and probably the most recognizable African after Nelson Mandela. But unlike Mandela’s South Africa, Weah’s Liberia appears far from solving the brutal violence which shapes everyday life.

The civil strife of recent years has stunted the growth of Liberia, caused the country to retreat into a shell and kept it almost completely off the world stage except as a producer of rubber and as an off-limits West African hot spot.

Soccer is among the few surviving activities unrelated to war in Liberia, though if it weren’t for Weah, the sport would likely be suffering as well.

Weah, who has climbed to the top of international sport as a high-priced striker for AC Milan in Italy, is funding the activities of the national team, sponsoring a soccer team in Liberia and helping to place Liberian players with European clubs. But even these philanthropic acts have been jeopardized.

Until recently, Weah could command a sense of order when he returned to Liberia. There would be a parade to greet Weah, who would ride to the celebration at Antoinette Tubman Stadium in a convertible. Crowds would form at his 16-room seaside mansion, where Weah would greet each visitor personally in a receiving line. Weah would dispense advice, souvenirs and even some of the money he has earned while playing in Europe.

But Weah has had to take the national team out of Liberia to prepare for 1998 World Cup qualifying. And while the team was training in Ivory Coast recently, Weah’s property was invaded. The mansion was burned, the people caring for it beaten, the cars stolen. This was a warlord’s response to an appeal by Weah for the US to intervene in Liberia through the United Nations.

Previously, Weah had attempted to avoid politics, to concentrate on providing for the needy and sponsoring young sportsmen and teams. Now lines have been crossed. The warlords had turned Liberia into a shambles and now they have done the same to the home of the nation’s most famous citizen. For George Weah is not only an accomplished sportsman, he is a shining example for all Africans, the first African to be named European Footballer of the Year in the post-colonial era.

Life-and-death mission

`I could take out the warlords,” Weah is saying in a hotel room near Giants Stadium. “I could form a group and my followers could take over the country. But it would be the same thing as is happening now and the innocent people would be killed.

“Law and order is not respected in Liberia. There is no law and order. The people in the streets say the warlords are not our business — but they are forced into it. The warlords give you guns, and if you don’t take the guns, they kill you. They give young children guns to fight.”

Interviews with athletes are often superficial exercises, especially if their agents and sponsors are present to homogenize responses. Not so with Weah, who has a message to send and little time to waste.

Weah brings every image to life. There is no room for veiled suggestions for one who lives so close to violence.

Weah is talking about the warlords and their underlings, who have taken control of the streets of Monrovia. He stands to demonstrate a confrontation between an armed warlord and an innocent victim.

“Here is what they do. They come to you and they say, `Nice engine.’ ”

Weah uses his index finger to poke his shoe company representative in the chest. “Engine” refers to the victim’s heart.

” `Nice engine,’ they say.” And Weah jabs his finger again, for emphasis.

“Then they kill you. Then they cut out your heart and they eat it.”

Weah sits back on the bed.

“How can America look at what is happening in Liberia and still not do something?” he asks. “Americans have to understand. The United States is linked to Liberia. People can’t say they don’t know. They know everything that is happening in Liberia.

“The politicians are a small group of people and they shouldn’t be allowed to destroy a whole nation. Foolish politicians. Do you know that children are dying in Liberia as we are talking?”

To Weah, the US and Liberia are practically synonymous. Most Liberians were taught to think this way.

“I was running around town the other day and I saw a street, Broad Street,” Weah is saying. “That is a name we have in Liberia. Maryland, we have that, too. Gettysburg. Monrovia, named for James Monroe.

“Americans founded Liberia. Our school system is the same. We have the same books. We learned about Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln. We know all about them. We know George Washington but we don’t know anything about the first African leader.”

Escape by foot

Weah was raised in the Bushrod Island swampland adjacent to Monrovia’s port. His mother felt incapable of raising him, and left him to his grandmother, Emma Klon Jlaleh, who encouraged him to play soccer after having a vision that he would provide for her through the sport.

As a youngster, Weah shined shoes, sold newspapers, learned how to steal, smoked marijuana and says he was headed for a life of crime.

His salvation, Weah says, was the combination of his soccer ability and conversion to the Muslim faith. Indeed, Weah has overcome astronomical odds.

There are few realistic alternatives for many among Liberia’s population of 2.5 million. When Weah was growing up, youngsters were given drugs. Now they receive guns. But then, as now, they were also given a chance to play soccer.

Weah became a member of Liberia’s top club, Invincible Eleven, and was soon nicknamed “Oppong” after a Guinean striker named Charles Oppong. Weah went to Cameroon, where it became apparent he was too talented to remain in Africa. So, he went on to France, where his benefactors included Zackarie Noah, father of tennis star Yannick, who had followed a similar route.

Many successful African sportsmen are either unable or unwilling to return to their homeland. Eusebio, who 30 years ago became the first African to be named European Footballer of the Year, was considered Portuguese because Mozambique was a colony. Basketball star Hakeem Olajuwon left Nigeria and became a US citizen.

But Weah continues to return to Liberia.

“The warlords don’t like trouble,” he is saying. “Charles Taylor read what I said so he looted my house. They burned my house because of what I said. I had 11 cars, a Mercedes — they use it now. They took the buses I had for the teams and they changed the colors and they are using them now, the warlords.”

Weah names the warlords’ names. Most of them mean little outside of Liberia, except for Taylor, the Boston-educated army leader.

Taylor deposed Samuel Kanyon Doe, who had funded soccer because he envisioned it as a vehicle for Liberia to exhibit its best side in the international sporting arena.

Doe, though, was unable to follow the progress of the team since he was beheaded after being overthrown by Taylor’s forces.

Liberia has been in chaos since.

A strong connection

`America is my second home,” says Weah, who travels on a French passport. “I come here and nobody knows me. There is no media following me around.”

Once, West Africans were forced to come to America. Liberia was founded by repatriated slaves in 1847, the first independent republic on the continent. Now the Back to Africa movement is being reversed as Liberians seek to escape to the US.

Liberians feel favorably disposed to most US customs and policies. After all, their constitution was drafted at Harvard Law School. US business and military interests have long been in the country. Firestone operated the world’s largest rubber plantation, and the CIA-affiliated Omega satellite tracking station is the tallest tower in Africa.

Weah prefers living in the US to Europe because of the racial tolerance he has experienced, and even indicated he would play for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars after his contract with Milan expires in 1999. He is impressed that someone of African descent is allowed to drive an expensive car without undue harassment in the US. He also takes pleasure in walking the streets of New York, observing the spirited involvement in sports which he says reminds him of home.

Weah’s ties to the US might go back as far as his Kru tribe relatives. But he is reestablishing the connection in a way that might have been unimagineable to his ancestors.

Weah met his Jamaican wife, Clar, when she was working in a bank in New York. Their children attend school in the city, and relatives run the Weah-owned Caribbean restaurant, Flaky Crust Bakery, in Brooklyn. Weah sponsors a soccer team, the Park Hill Rangers, on Staten Island, plus a girls’ team which opponents refer to as The Paris Girls because of their stylish uniforms.

Two days before Weah performed for the FIFA World Stars against Brazil at Giants Stadium, he spent nearly 10 hours with the Park Hill Rangers and other youngsters at a park on Staten Island. He was required only to make a short appearance but got caught up in the activity. He helped coach the team, signed autographs, even played.

Then, after being on the front line of the FIFA team in a 2-1 loss to Brazil, Weah left for Italy to perform in a benefit concert for Liberia at Milan’s Stadio San Siro and to begin practice for the 1996-97 season.

Though Weah did not score against Brazil after replacing Japan’s Kazoyoshi Miura at halftime, he was impressive. At 6 feet 1 inch, 175 pounds, he is as big and strong as most of the defenders he faces in Europe. He has exceptional speed, a devastating first touch and a finishing ability which is unaffected by the most intense pressure situations.

Weah was the leading scorer as Milan won the Serie A championship last season. His performance in the Champions Cup tournament this season will likely be the equivalent of his World Cup. Five African nations will qualify for the 1998 World Cup, but Liberia has never come close. And now the team cannot even play matches in the country because of the violence.

“When you look at the Liberian flag, you know it came from America,” Weah said. “We have the same pledge: `I pledge allegiance to the Republic of Liberia.’ But America sends troops to Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti. When we needed assistance a few years ago, everything was diverted to the gulf war.

“I have to do what I can do for my country. But it is crazy sometimes and it gets frustrating. It would be nice if America could help.”

The Boston Globe July 24, 1996

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