Long-range weapons, refugees, and Liberia events in the US

Used clothing from the US and Canada being sold at the Buduburum refugee camp in Ghana.

Washington, DC: On Wednesday, April 9 Ruthie will be speaking at Gerogetown University on a panel discussing child soldiers. The event will be from 5:30pm-6:30pm. It will be at the Walsh Building, at 36th Street between Prospect and N Streets, in room 395. More information here.

New York: On Wednesday, April 16 she will be speaking on a panel about reporting global crises at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. The event is from 7pm-9pm, and will be at West 116th Street and Broadway, on the third floor. More information here.

Ruthie and Emily Bowers, an Accra-based journalist, have an article in Women’s eNews about the female Liberian refugees in Ghana who were protesting in a soccer stadium against forced repatriation to Liberia. The article includes this troubling assertion:

Heavily armed police went to the stadium while it was still dark and surrounded the women while they slept on the football field at the camp, said Madison Wion, who lives in Buduburam and has contacts with members of the protest group.

Confirming previous accounts, he said there were seven buses, as well as armored tankers, trucks, tear gas and long-range weapons. “They were fully prepared for combat,” he told Women’s eNews in a phone interview.