Liberia: Irish troops are involved in disarming child soldiers, writes Declan Walsh, in Monrovia
Stephen swung his legs idly on an unturned canoe on Monrovia's rubbish-strewn beach, staring out to sea. During the war he had respect, he said.
As battles blazed around the city, the 16-year-old fighter strutted the streets with a joint between his lips, an AK-47 over his shoulder, and a nickname inspired by movie-star violence - Judgement Day.
But now people treated the ex-fighters like beggars or criminals, he moaned, his small eyes glazed over with marijuana. "You say you have no chop (food). They say go away," he said. "They say suffer and die."
His AK-47 remains buried under the rough shack he shares with another fighter. He will surrender it only in return for money or a living.
"We want the UN soldier to take the guns away. But we need to find a way to live. Time is running out." Liberia has tens of thousands of volatile, drug-addicted gunmen like Stephen. Yesterday the UN relaunched its programme to disarm them, a critical step in the ongoing peace process. It is a mountainous task.
"It's going to be a very difficult process, every step of the way," said UN spokeswoman Ms Margaret Novicki.
Irish troops assisting with the process know at first hand how tricky it can be. As they arrived in Liberia in December their convoy passed the chaotic scenes of the UN's first disarmament attempt.
Thousands of fighters descended on an ill-equipped UN camp, demanding to be paid in dollars immediately. Refusal sent the soldiers on the rampage, storming through city suburbs, shooting in the air and looting. At least eight people were killed.
"They called it happy firing but it wasn't very funny," recalled Comdt William Dwyer.
The UN ended the crisis by paying the soldiers $75 each, and destroying as many weapons as possible. "Sure there were mistakes," admitted Ms Novicki. "But all sides were under pressure to demobilise quickly. And in the end there were 12,000 less combatants and 8,000 less guns."
This time the UN is starting with an information campaign aimed at the ex-fighters. About 9,500 peacekeepers, mainly from African and Asian countries, are in place. And actual disarmament will not start until the entire 15,000-strong force has arrived, probably next month.
But presuming the fighters lay down their arms, the next problem is to what they will do next.
For years Liberia's undisciplined fighters lived through theft at gunpoint, popularly known as "Operation Pay Yourself". Now they must get by in a devastated country with little money or jobs. "We want to learn a trade, to work for our own money," said Stephen's colleague, 18-year-old Joseph.
The psychological damage could be even more difficult to resolve. All sides snatched teenagers from their homes, and forced them to fight. Now that lost generation is struggling to adjust to life without violence.
A sparsely-furnished house on the city outskirts, near a villa owned by Liberia's soccer hero George Weah, is a half-way house for 26 recently demobilised girl fighters. The youngest is an 11-year-old who carried her brother's ammunition into battle; the eldest is a combat-toughened 19-year-old with a bullet wound in one leg. Staff say they can be aggressive, even dangerous.
One girl tried to stab a social worker during a quarrel; another tried to push a rival from a second floor balcony. "Most of these girls have spent their formative years in war. It's going to be a long road for them," said centre manager Mr Thomas Jeffrey. Two years ago Yei Dahn (14), was snatched as she walked home from school and forced to fight with a notorious militia known as Jungle Fire. She was taken to Gbarnga for training, where the Taylor army fashioned her into a killing machine with brutality and drugs.
"They used to force us to smoke (marijuana), to make our minds strong for the fight. If you refuse, they kill you," she said.
To eat, they used Operation Pay Yourself. "I had a gun so I had power. We used to beat people, kick them and then take their food." Now the night brings fearful images. Yei has nightmares of people with their throats slit. She wants only to go home.
"I don't want to fight no more war. I just want to see my mother," she said.
The Irish Minister of Defence, Mr Smith, is due to arrive in Liberia this evening for a short visit to the Irish troops, and the President of the transitional government, Mr Gyude Bryant.
Destroying Liberia's guns could help stabilise all of west Africa. Recent wars in Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Guinea have been fuelled by floods of guns and itinerant fighters that wash around the region.
Under Charles Taylor, many originated in Liberia.
For now, the key is to ensure all factions are disarmed simultaneously.
On Monrovia's filthy beach, ex-fighter Joseph said: "We put our arms down. The UN must make sure the others do the same."