Residents of Bethel in River Cess County say more than 100 men from nearby Bah Clan communities stormed their town after rumors falsely accused them of killing a missing hunter, leaving 24 homes and 27 rice kitchens burned and over 150 women and children sleeping under the palaver hut with almost nothing to eat. Survivors…
Video by Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives The mudslide in Chio Town has now claimed 11 lives, deepening the grief of a community already struggling to survive as injured residents receive little to no financial support. Survivors describe a night of chaos in which families dug through collapsing earth with their bare hands to…
By Eric Opa Doue, Contributing Writer CHIO TOWN, River Cess—Aaron Harris, an injured person from the Chio Town mudslide who was being treated at the John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, was confirmed dead on Sunday morning by authorities. This brings the number of casualties to 11. Apart from the initial ten individuals who were…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives BETHEL, River Cess County — In the latest example of vigilante violence in Liberia, residents of this northern River Cess town say more than 100 men from neighboring communities in the Bah Clan stormed the village 10 days ago, beating residents and setting fire to homes and food…
Flood impacted communities in Liberia say they feel abandoned by government.They have accused the Disaster Management Agency staff of stealing aid en route.As Eric Opa Duoe, New Narratives’ senior correspondent reports, experts say much more needs to be done to protect communities as climate change makes rainy seasons more deadly. New Narratives’ Eric Opa Doue…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives ITI, River Cess – Last month’s Cestos River Bridge collapse here in the south of River Cess county, has caused chaos across the country, severing the primary route from the capital to southeastern Liberia during the Christmas and new year holiday period. The bridge collapsed under the weight…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives GLANYAH, River Cess – A week of relentless rainfall has plunged the traditional town of Glanyah into chaos, as rising waters swallowed homes and displaced hundreds of residents. This once-thriving community, established in the late 1970s by farmers and hunters, now faces an unprecedented crisis, with 27 houses…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives ZAMMIE TOWN, River Cess – It is not yet midday and Odel Morris is already out of water. Most of the customers of her business, selling tea, coffee and snacks here in this rural part of the county are leaving, without being served. Morris says she has been doing for…
In River Cess County, residents of Garwin Community Forest say logging companies have abandoned their promises, leaving them poorer than before. As climate change drives more farmers into the forest, the government of President Joseph Boakai is promising reforms. But as Eric Opa Doue reports in this collaboration with New Narratives, for people on the…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives KANGBO TOWN, River Cess— On a hot morning in this forest-fringed village of Gborgar Town deep in south-central Liberia, Marthaline Gbar sits hunched outside her zinc-roofed home, stirring a pot of simmering cassava leaves. The pot, barely half full, was meant to stretch across four children aged 5…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives ITI, River Cess – The horizon is gray and murky here and in neighboring Glanyah, two communities battered by the wrath of nature. Mohammed Keita, sits on an old sponge mattress gifted him by a neighbor, in the ruins of his former home that was destroyed by flooding…
Ten are confirmed dead, over thirty missing, and survivors blame local authorities for forcing miners into a dangerous pit. Rescue efforts stall as promised excavators fail to arrive amid growing outrage….
A late-night mudslide at an artisanal mine in Chio Town has left at least ten feared dead. Locals continue desperate searches, while officials cite overwhelmed safety efforts and illegal mining activity….
Witnesses in Philadelphia accuse ex-LURD commander Camara of mass killings, torture, and child soldier use. Testimonies recount horrific scenes as victims seek justice decades after Liberia’s brutal civil war….
Former LURD rebel Laye Sekou Camara faces sentencing in the U.S. as 17 Liberian victims testify. His guilty plea marks a landmark step in international accountability for Liberia’s civil war atrocities….
Water dictates the lives of people in this part of central River Cess. With just three hand pumps to supply a town of 7,000, women and children here wake as early as 3 am to fetch water from distant creeks. But the creek water carries dangers….
In part two of this two-part series with New Narratives Eric Opa Doue finds widespread opposition from teachers and civil society to government’s privatization of schools and a plea to government to abandon the scheme and let counties take charge….
Jacob Beegar, 15, faces a grim future in Kporkon, Liberia, as the prolonged closure of his school since 2020 forces him to forsake education for farm labor, dimming his hopes of escaping poverty….
Community members here in Tartweh and Drapoe chiefdoms are fuming over a range of what they claim are violations of Liberian laws by the country’s forest management body the Forestry Development Agency….
CEE TOWN, River Cess – For months, residents in this area of Gbarsaw Clan have watched with increasing alarm as hundreds of men with heavy machinery have cut down trees and hauled them away. In March, residents told The Bush Chicken that the land – more than 600 acres according to the local Community Land Development Management…
VONDEH TOWN, River Cess – The people of this area celebrated in 2019 when a forestry company began operations here. The five-year Social Agreement signed with the company, African Wood and Lumber, an Italian-owned company, was supposed to deliver the community US$5,000 each year in scholarship funds, US$15,000 in land rental fees, two feeder roads,…
