West Africa Justice Reporting Project

Since 2017 New Narratives has supported West African journalists to cover groundbreaking universal jurisdiction cases that have held perpetrators accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity to account in Europe and North America.

Journalists from Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone have travelled to the United States and Europe to cover trials of accused perpetrators for audiences across West Africa. They have also covered the quest for justice, reparation and reconciliation in all its forms, at home. Advocates have credited our reporting with the public support that led Liberian President Joseph Boakai to commit to holding a war crimes court, 22 years after the end of the war.

Hassan Bility, Liberian justice advocate.

“New Narratives, I expect and hope, should keep up the world and the Liberian people informed of developments every step of the way. I believe NN deserves a justice prize. Your journalism gave Liberians hope when no one believed there was a chance.”

Massa Washington, former commissioner with the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

”New Narratives has played a pivotal role in assisting Liberians to understand the importance of establishing a war crimes court and why holding alleged perpetrators accountable is good for Liberia’s stability, peace, security and growth. New Narratives is the “window” through which Liberians and the rest of the world are informed and educated about transitional justice processes concerning Liberia. Through the dedication, commitment and hard work from project staff, New Narratives is playing a pivotal role in shaping the narrative in transitional justice reporting on Liberia. The consistency and quality of New Narratives’s coverage of events ensures that  Liberians are continuously equipped with appropriate, factual information to assist them understand what is happening which ultimately bolstered their courage to finally commit to establishing the Court.⁠ ⁠Continue to play the role you’re playing.”

The project has been funded by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and Australia Aid.


Thomas Dismisses Ruling Against Him

It was one of the most shocking events of the Liberian civil war. In April 1900 troops with then-President Samuel Doe’s Special Anti-Terrorist Unit shot and hacked to death 600 people including babies taking refuge in Monrovia’s St Peters Lutheran Church. Images of the carnage were broadcast around the world. The massacre kicked off a…

LGBTQ Liberian Fired From High Profile US Job

One of the most high-profile Liberians in the United States has lost his job after being caught up in the sexual harassment scandal that took down New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Alphonso David, 50, was the head of the Human Rights Campaign, the most powerful group lobbying for the rights of LGBTQ Americans, until last…

Despite LURD Atrocities Survivors are Split Over Call for Justice

GBARMA, Gbarpolu County – When news broke that Jankuba Fofana had been arrested by British police as part of an investigation into war crimes one might have expected celebration here in Gbarma. Fofana is the first member of the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to face justice for war crimes in Liberia’s…

Arrest of Ex-LURD General In UK Brings Faction’s War Crimes Out From The Shadows; In A War Filled With Shocking Brutality…

GBARMA, Gbarpolu County – Miatta Gray wept as she recalled the day, nearly 20 years ago, that rebels with the absurdly named “Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy” (LURD) upended her life. Mrs. Gray said the rebels arrived here with a friendly request that everyone assemble in the town square for a meeting. Then the killing…

War Crimes Trial of Alieu Kosiah ends

Anthony Stephens of Power FM/TV reports on Alieu Kosiah’s war crimes trial in Bellinzona, Switzerland, where Kosiah is demanding over $ 1.3 million in compensation. In this report, he also speaks to the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, Alain Werner, who Kosiah’s lawyer accused of “advertising his client’s statements for his personal benefit”. James Harding…

A War Crimes Trial Finally Comes to Liberia. Will it be the last?

Finally this month a trial over war crimes will start on Liberian soil. It’s been 18 years since the end of the Liberian civil war and nine years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended the country hold a war crimes court to bring those accused of directing the atrocities that left 250,000 dead to…

Accused War Criminal ‘Loved Looting’

FOYA DISTRICT, Lofa County, Liberia – The ruins of a factory sit on a major route in a town called Menigesua, towards the Sierra Leone border. Tall grass and weeds have engulfed what used to be staffers’ domiciles of this facility. Two huge, rusted metal tanks—that stored palm nuts before they were processed into palm…

Foya Wants Death Sentence for Alieu Kosiah in War Crimes Trial

FOYA DISTRICT, Lofa County, Liberia – In June 1993, rebels of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) overran this Kissi countryside and drove out their rivals, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). People fled for their lives into the forest. ULIMO fetched them out from their hideouts up to October of…

VIDEO: As the first trial of a Liberian for war crimes committed during the civil war begins, we talk with his alleged victims.

With the historic war crimes trial of Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah under way in Switzerland, TV reporter Anthony Stephens and cameraman Harry Browne explore Kosiah’s alleged violence. They capture the firsthand accounts of atrocities from the relatives of victims. These survivors have been waiting for nearly three decades for justice. Kosiah is the first accused Liberian…