"...Our people do not deserve the suffering they are going through. Why should innocent people die because of the greed of others? God will you hear our prayers and save our people from destruction." Those were the trembling words of Cllr. Charles Walker Brumskine when he broke down in tears, apparently in sorrow for thousands of Liberians suffering the throes of renewed military arrogance in Monrovia.

Cllr. Brumskine could not hold back his tears last Monday when he saw televised photographs of bodies of civilians, many of whom were innocent women and children being displayed in front of the United States Embassy in Mamba Point, Monrovia.

“It beats my imagination as to why Liberians continue to kill one another,” he sorrowfully intimated with tears running down his cheeks.

The former president pro-temprore of the Liberian Senate who had been in constant telephone contact with relatives, friends, supporters, partisans, etc. back home spoke of the gravity of the humanitarian situation in Liberia and how the conditions of civilians caught up by the fighting were becoming increasingly horrible.

Cllr. Brumskine indefinitely suspended political activities over the weekend following the resumption of renewed military hostilities in Monrovia. Subsequently, he observed a day of quietude in solidarity with victims of the onslaught in the capital.

Moreover, he had been undauntedly lobbying with members of the international community, mainly the United States, attending ongoing peace negotiations in Ghana, to come to the rescue of the suffering people of Liberia.

Similarly, Cllr. Charles W. Brumskine had also been engaging representatives of LURD to stop the fighting.

He implored Liberian stakeholders currently attending the peace talks to do away with thoughts of personal gains and ambitions and sincerely formulate a comprehensive peace deal that will help quell the situation in Liberia.

Parties to the conflict will have to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and stop playing games with the lives of innocent people, he emphasized.

He said the more the international delays in sending peacekeepers to Liberia the more the death toll could rise.

Purported efforts by the rebels Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to quicken the exit of President Charles Taylor and respond to an alleged military provocation have resulted into an indescribable humanitarian catastrophe in Monrovia. Consequently, scores of residents including innocent women and children and the elderly are dying by the bundles from shelling and bullet wounds as mortar fire rained down the city all day.

At the same time, thousands of residents are wandering in the capital and have scattered like lost sheep in search of safe havens. There is hardly food and medication to treat those wounded by the fighting, as the humanitarian and political situations have reached an all time high.

In the face of fierce battle over the control of Monrovia, it is no doubt that Liberians caught up in the horrendous situation are justifiably impatient for a peacekeeping force that will take into consideration their concerns for security and urgent humanitarian assistance, both of which are contingent upon a realistic framework for peace. Of course, a fragile cease-fire agreement alone cannot even guarantee their desire for urgent deliverance.