gerrie@sdcsmb.UUCP (Gerrie Smith) (12/04/85)
The official language in Liberia is a pidgin English for which I believe there is a textbook, circa 1980 by J. V. Singler. I may be able to get full cite later this week. There are also tribal languages--two major ones being Kru & Vai (sp?). ~~ Your friend might wish to consider a portable typewriter on the market that is light & can be battery operated & is only about $100--I don't recall the make offhand. ~~ As to the current political climate--your phrase "stirrings...Doe's election" gives pause. Samuel K. Doe most decidedly was NOT elected! His opponent Jackson Doe (no relation) is reputed to have received an overwhelming majority. This represents enormous courage & reflects the intense frustration (with Samuel K. Doe) on the part on the Liberian voters. Samuel K. Doe apparently had many of the ballots destroyed & replaced with forgeries & had all ballots counted by a puppet commission. There are unconfirmed rumors that Jackson Doe & other major opposition leaders including Mrs. Johnson- Surlief have been assassinated while in government custody following the recent coup attempt. (If anyone on the net has any recent information on this, I would be very grateful!) There is press censorship, with the publisher of the major opposition paper (Mrs. Johnson-Surlief's husband) in prison. It is commonly assumed by many that one's mail is likely to be read & therefore the convention when dealing with a subject which might be sensitive is to give the mail to someone (trusted, of course) retuning to the US & have it posted there. ~~ In the last couple of years, a number of persons speaking out for reform & improved civil liberties are reported to have been imprisoned & held without charge. a number of these were students. these people represent opposition to Doe; however, as a friend of mine puts it "The opposition (left) in Liberia is somewhere to the right of Walter Mondale." The situation is volatile, with (as I understand it) most of the population very anxious for democracy & an end to Samuel K. Doe's leadership. ~~ A shortwave radio sounds like an excellent idea.