General Butt Naked

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This article is about the Liberian preacher. For the American college football player, see General Booty.

Joshua Milton Blahyi
Born (1971-09-30) 30 September 1971 (age 53)
Monrovia, Liberia
OccupationPreacher
Military career
Nickname(s)General Butt Naked
AllegianceUnited Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy
Years of servicec. 1993–1996
UnitNaked Base Commandos
Battles / warsFirst Liberian Civil War

Joshua Milton Blahyi (born 30 September 1971), better known by his nom de guerre General Butt Naked, is a Liberian preacher and philanthropist best known for being a warlord during the First Liberian Civil War. Born in Monrovia into a Krahn family, Blahyi claims that at the age of seven he was inducted as a priest into a secret society and participated in child sacrifices along with assisting the regime of President Samuel Doe. Such claims have been disputed by Blahyi's relatives, who instead claim he dropped out of school after the third grade and worked at a local market in Monrovia before turning to crime. In 1989, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast to topple Doe, who was murdered in 1990.

In c. 1993, Blahyi joined the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), which had been formed in 1991 and fought against the NPFL. He raised his own militia of mostly child fighters known as the "Naked Base Commandos", and became known for going into combat wearing no clothing, which led to him adopting his nom de guerre. In 1994, ULIMO split into the rival ULIMO-K and ULIMO-J, and Blahyi backed the latter faction, resisting an attempt by the NPFL and ULIMO-K to arrest its leader Roosevelt Johnson in April 1996. Blahyi claimed to have experienced a vision of Jesus in July 1996 and abandoned his unit, deserting ULIMO and turning to street preaching. In 1997, the war ended and NPFL leader Charles Taylor was elected president.

Blahyi fled to a refugee camp in Ghana in 1999 to escape persecution by Taylor's administration. There, Blahyi learned to read and write and began delivering sermons, founding a ministry and rehabilitation programme. He returned to Liberia in January 2008 to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, becoming the first former Liberian warlord to do so. His testimony sparked mixed reactions among the Liberian public but resulted in Blahyi achieving global fame, being featured in several documentaries and inspiring a character in the 2011 musical comedy The Book of Mormon. Many of Blahyi's claims about his life and rehabilitation programme have come under scrutiny, in particular the number of deaths he was responsible for during the war.

Early life

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Monrovia in 1975

Joshua Milton Blahyi was born on 30 September 1971 in Monrovia, Liberia into a Krahn family.[1][2] In his 2013 autobiography, Blahyi claimed he was handed over by his father at the age of seven to a group of Krahn elders, who anointed him as a high priest in their secret society. He alleged that as a priest he would receive visions informing him of children who were to be sacrificed; once he gave the victim's surname to the elders, they would abduct the child and sacrifice them on an altar. However, his half-brother Harrison Challar disputed this account, asserting Blahyi never served as a priest but instead sold Kool-Aid and chicken soup at a local market once he left school after the third grade before becoming involved in drug trafficking and robberies.[3]

On 12 April 1980, Samuel Doe, a master sergeant in the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), staged a coup d'état which overthrew and murdered President William Tolbert.[4][5] In the aftermath of Tolbert's murder, Doe quickly became the de facto ruler of Liberia, heading a military junta known as the People's Redemption Council.[6][7] Blahyi claimed in his autobiography that he served as a spiritual advisor to Doe and performed black magic rituals for him at the Executive Mansion, the official presidential residence in Monrovia, to influence the 1985 Liberian general election in Doe's favour.[3] In a 2008 interview with BBC News, Blahyi stated that his alleged support for Doe was borne out a sense of tribal loyalty, as both men were born into Krahn families.[8]

Wartime actions

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The First Liberian Civil War began on 24 December 1989 when Charles Taylor, a former government official and commander of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group, invaded Nimba County from the Ivory Coast to depose Doe. After bouts of intense fighting and atrocities committed by all sides, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a breakaway rebel group under Prince Johnson, captured and murdered Doe on 9 September 1990. In May 1991, Liberian politicians and AFL veterans who had fled to Sierra Leone, many of whom were Krahn or Mandinka, founded the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) rebel group to retake Liberia from the NPFL.[9] By c. 1993, Blahyi had joined the ULIMO, which at the time was engaged in an offensive to capture Monrovia from NPFL forces.[1][3][10] During the war, all sides vied for control of Liberia's cities and resource-rich countryside, in particular the latter's diamond and gold mines.[3]

As a ULIMO warlord, Blahyi formed his own militia of several dozen fighters known as the "Naked Base Commandos" or "Butt Naked Brigade", most of whom were children as young as nine. Operating around the Monrovia area with his unit, Blahyi became known for wearing only shoes and magic charms, and eventually adopted the nom de guerre "General Butt Naked". His fighters also followed his patterns of dress, which Blahyi, in line with his "distorted emulation of animist tradition", believed could make one immune to bullets. To fund his wartime activities and secure a steady supply of drugs for his fighters, Blahyi allegedly traded locally mined diamonds and gold to Mexican drug cartels in exchange for guns and cocaine. He conscripted many of his fighters, and according to some accounts laced the food he fed them with cocaine along with showing them Jean-Claude Van Damme films and "[explaining] to them that killing people was a game" in an effort to "uproot the fear of death".[1][3]

During the conflict, Blahyi and his fighters perpetrated numerous atrocities, although the exact extent of the crimes they committed have been the subject of dispute.[3] He has repeatedly discussed the alleged atrocities perpetrated by him and his fighters, which according to Blahyi included murders, cannibalism and human sacrifice.[11][12] Blahyi estimated that the Naked Base Commandos were ultimately responsible for 20,000 deaths, a claim which has since come under criticism; fellow Liberian warlord Mohammed Toure, who personally witnessed him in combat, acknowledged that Blahyi was a "notorious killer" but argued that he "couldn't even reach one thousand [deaths]—it's not possible."[3] Nicholai Lidow, an independent academic who wrote his doctoral dissertation at Stanford University on Liberian rebel groups, told The New Yorker that as Blahyi commanded at most 40 fighters for roughly three years, it was unlikely that he was responsible for 10% of the war's death toll.[3]

The NPFL searching for ULIMO fighters in Monrovia, 1996

In 1994, ULIMO split into two rival factions, in part due to ethnic tensions: ULIMO-J, led by Krahn commander Roosevelt Johnson, and ULIMO-K, under Mandinka commander G. V. Kromah.[9] Blahyi supported Johnson, who funded him and his fighters.[2] On 6 April 1996, NPFL forces, in concert with ULIMO-K, launched an operation to arrest Johnson in his Monrovia residence, "leading to one of the most ferocious battles of the war".[3][13] Blahyi and other ULIMO-J commanders resisted the operation, and one bystander witnessed him standing atop a truck during the battle, holding an assault rifle with one hand and the severed genitals of a man in his other hand.[3] A ceasefire ended the fighting after hundreds of combatants and civilians had been killed.[13]

Blahyi claimed to have received a vision of Jesus in July 1996, which he credited with ending his involvement in armed conflict.[14] In his autobiography, he wrote that the incident occurred after he had murdered a three-year-old girl and cut out her heart: "When I looked back, I saw a man standing there... who told [me] 'Repent and live, or refuse and die.'"[3][15] He left his unit, leaving his fighters to fend for themselves, and started sleeping in one of the pews of a local church. The church's pastor summoned his congregation, and together they prayed to God, requesting him to cure Blahyi of his "demonic powers". Afterwards, Blahyi went to see his commanding officer, handing over his weapons and charms and stating "My new Commander is Jesus Christ."[3]

Religious activities and fame

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Once he ended his wartime career, Blahyi began working as a bodyguard for a bank official before becoming an evangelical street preacher, selling cassettes of his sermons on Monrovia's streets with the message of "If God can save me, He can save you, too".[3] In 1997, the war officially ended due in part to the intervention of West African peacekeepers from the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group, and Taylor won that year's general election.[16] Once in office, Taylor used the Liberian military to persecute his former wartime enemies, including Blahyi, who fled to Ghana in 1999 and settled in a refugee camp.[17] There, he learnt to read and write, studied the Bible and began delivering sermons, founding the "End Time Train Evangelistic Ministries" in 1999.[3][18] Taylor, his administration collapsing due to the Second Liberian Civil War that anti-government rebels had been waging since 1999, stepped down as president in August 2003, ending the conflict.[19]

In 2007, Blahyi founded "Journeys Against Violence" (JAV), a non-governmental rehabilitation programme intended for young men who were veterans of the Naked Base Commandos and other Liberian militia units. Many of the programme's employees were Blahyi's family members: his half brother Ernest Nelson worked as JAV's supervisor, Blahyi's mother was employed as its cook and one of the programme's drivers was his cousin. JAV at some point rented a house in the Monrovia suburb of Chocolate City as a residence for those who had joined its programme, and a series of "Ten Commandments" were drawn up for them, including abstaining from drugs, alcohol, sex and fighting along with participating in daily prayers. As of 2016, 18 enrollees lived in the residence, sleeping three small bedrooms "crammed with bunk beds".[3] Activities for JAV's enrollees, who as of 2017 numbered 48 individuals, have included driving lessons, farming and bricklaying.[14][20]

In January 2008, Blahyi returned to Monrovia and became the first former Liberian warlord to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which had been established by the government of Liberia in May 2005 to investigate atrocities committed during the Liberian civil wars.[1][3] Most of the former Liberian warlords who had been called on to testify by the commission, including Taylor and former INFPL leader Prince Johnson, had refused to do so as the TRC lacked the authority to bring any binding charges. During Blahyi's testimony, which was broadcast live across Liberia on television and radio, he recounted his wartime actions and atrocities to the commission, which challenged few of his claims. A report published by the TRC in 2009 recommended 38 people for prosecutorial amnesty, including Blahyi. Most of the report's recommendations have not been implemented, and such a decision is unpopular among large segments of the Liberian public.[3][15]

The testimony, which quickly became front-page news in Liberia, resulted in Blahyi achieving global fame. The Liberian public's reaction to his testimony was mixed: while many condemned his actions and perceived his turn to street preaching and founding of JAV as a cynical attempt to avoid government prosecution, others forgave him either due to their Christian beliefs or because they thought that forgiveness was "the only way forward for the country".[12][20] As he was the only warlord to testify, Blahyi's public contrition "satisfied a deep need" and launched his career as a showman. In the aftermath of his testimony, he was interviewed by journalists around the world and featured in a 2010 Vice News travel documentary titled "The Vice Guide to Liberia", which has been viewed millions of times on YouTube.[21] Several American evangelicals who viewed the documentary subsequently contacted Blahyi and supplied funds to JAV, along with helping to publish his autobiography.[3]

Later life

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In 2016, Blahyi claimed in an interview with Reuters that JAV had helped train approximately 1,000 former combatants and street children in activities such as farming and bricklaying since it was founded, but had been hamstrung by a lack of funds.[20] His request for a donation of 500,000 dollars was met with criticism by segments of the Liberian public, though the head official of Liberia's National Human Rights Commission informed Reuters that as JAV was "intended to help young people", Liberian authorities "should encourage him to continue".[20] In the same year, journalist Damon Tabor investigated JAV for The New Yorker, and was told by an enrollee that Blahyi was embezzling the programme's funds, mistreated JAV's enrollees and used them as props for Western reporters. Blahyi denied the allegations, though he did admit to reneging on some of the promises made to enrollees, but justified it by stating: "The [enrollees] are very young... I know what is good for them."[3]

Blahyi has repeatedly argued for the establishment of a war crimes trial to try former combatants such as himself.[17] In May 2024, President Joseph Boakai passed an executive order to establish a war crimes court for such a purpose, though as of April 2025 no such court has been actually established.[15][22] In February 2025, Blahyi, who had been undergoing treatment at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center due to complications with his kidneys, was transferred to Kenya for advanced care. Liberian newspaper The New Dawn noted that Blahyi's medical complications mirrored similar issues faced by other former Liberian warlords, including Prince Johnson, who died on 28 November 2024 at a hospital in Paynesville.[23][24] These developments have sparked concerns among the Liberian public, some of whom have suggested that Blahyi's health issues and move to Kenya are intended to help him evade justice if Boakai's administration actually establishes a war crimes court.[23]

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Blahyi has been featured in several documentaries. In addition to the 2010 Vice documentary, Blahyi was also featured in a 2011 documentary titled "The Redemption of General Butt Naked", created by filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion and screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.[25] The documentary received mostly positive reviews; a review in The Hollywood Reporter praised the documentary for foregoing "any personal judgments to let audiences draw their own conclusions".[26] Another review in Screen International was also positive, praising the documentary's depiction of the impact of Liberia's civil wars as "staggeringly cinematic" and calling it "one of the best titles since John Waters's Pecker" with "bravura visual flourishes".[27] However, a review in Indiewire argued that in spite the documentary's "skillful navigation of Blahyi's controversial freedom", it "lacks enough voices of dissent... it takes little scrutiny to realize his fate is not that simple."[28]

The Book of Mormon, a 2011 satirical musical comedy written by American creatives Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, features a character named "General Butt Fucking Naked". The character is depicted in the musical as a Ugandan warlord, as he was originally modelled after Joseph Kony, the infamous commander of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan militant group which shot to fame as a result of the Invisible Children, Inc. short documentary Kony 2012.[29][30][31][32] The character serves as the main antagonist of the plot and is shown committing atrocities such as female genital mutilation and summarily executing those who protest against him.[33] Stone noted in an interview with ComingSoon.net that "warlords in Liberia have such colorful names and we were reading about the one named General Butt Naked. We just ripped off his joke, basically."[34] Parker added in the same interview: "We were like, "What's better than Butt Naked? Butt F–ing Naked!"[34]

See also

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References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b c d Margaritoff 2021.
  2. ^ a b Sherman 2011, p. 277.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Tabor 2016.
  4. ^ Dash 1980.
  5. ^ Rosenau 2009, p. 18.
  6. ^ Ellis 2001, p. 54.
  7. ^ Ellis 2001, p. 317.
  8. ^ Paye-Layleh 2008.
  9. ^ a b Adebajo 2002, p. 47.
  10. ^ Duyvesteyn 2004, pp. 31–32.
  11. ^ Iaccino 2014.
  12. ^ a b Bradshaw 2008.
  13. ^ a b Gerdes 2013, p. 55.
  14. ^ a b Gaffey 2017.
  15. ^ a b c Blomfield 2024.
  16. ^ Left 2003.
  17. ^ a b Johnson 2021.
  18. ^ Bartholomew 2011.
  19. ^ Sengupta 2003.
  20. ^ a b c d Toweh 2016.
  21. ^ Capper 2010.
  22. ^ Kamara 2025.
  23. ^ a b Thompson 2025.
  24. ^ Mengonfia 2024.
  25. ^ Turan 2011.
  26. ^ Honeycutt 2011.
  27. ^ D'Arcy 2011.
  28. ^ Kohn 2011.
  29. ^ Lengl 2015.
  30. ^ Wareing 2019.
  31. ^ Ford 2015.
  32. ^ Kanczula 2012.
  33. ^ Daniels 2019.
  34. ^ a b Lesnick 2012.

Bibliography

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Websites

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Books

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