'I ate children's hearts, ex-rebel says'

I read this article... Marvellous proof that no one is too wicked to be beyond God's salvation. :D

Mr Blahyi, 37, is better known in Liberia as "General Butt Naked" because he went into combat with no clothes on, to scare the enemy.

He is now an Evangelist preacher, who prefers to use the name Joshua.

He was speaking to the BBC, after telling Liberia's Truth Commission that his forces had killed 20,000 people.

Forgiveness

Mr Blahyi said he had first become exposed to killings in 1982 when, at the age of 11, he was ordained "the traditional priest of my tribe."

He explained that when a rebellion broke out against President Samuel Doe, he had to go to war on behalf of the president, as they were from the same Krahn ethnic group.

He fought against the militia of Charles Taylor, currently on trial for war crimes in The Hague.

"Tradition made me to believe that as a priest, coming now to be a warrior, that I made a human sacrifice before going into battle."

He said he thought that confessing to what he had done and asking for forgiveness could help heal the country's wounds.

"I have been looking for an opportunity to tell the true story about my life; and every time I tell people my story, I feel relieved," he said, drinking a bottle of tomato juice.

He stopped fighting in 1996, saying God appeared to him as he was charging naked into battle and told him he was doing Satan's work.

'Ashamed'

He is now often seen preaching on street corners and churches in the capital, Monrovia.

"I now preach against murder and making human sacrifices," he said.

"Some people see me and congratulate me.

"Others see me and say I should not be walking down the streets of Monrovia posing proud. But I continue to tell such people I am not proud, I am ashamed."

...

The war is now over but thousands of UN peacekeepers remain in the country.

While asking for forgiveness, Mr Blahyi says he's ready for whatever the truth commission will decide to do to him.

"I could be electrocuted, I could be hanged," he said. "But I think forgiveness and reconciliation is the right way to go."

He also urged other former fighters to confess their doings because "wherever they go there is a stigma on them".