MONROVIA – It was a year ago that President George Weah declared rape a national emergency. His announcement came in response to a crime that shocked the nation: a fifteen-year-old boy had raped a three-year-old girl, using a razor blade to commit the crime. By Mae Azango with New Narratives That followed years of cries…
Mae Azango
Govt Freezes Assets of Royal Gold CEO
Monrovia – The government, through the Ministry of Justice and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Liberia, has secured a freezing order on accounts of the Chief Executive Officer at Royal Gold Trading Company INC. and his two Managers at 10 Liberian Banks. According to a court document in the possession of FrontPageAfrica, the government sought the…
One Year Since President Weah Declared Rape a National Emergency Activists Say Nothing Has Changed
MONROVIA – It was a year ago that President George Weah declared rape a national emergency. His announcement came in response to a crime that shocked the nation: a fifteen-year-old boy had raped a three-year-old girl, using a razor blade to commit the crime. That followed years of cries by women activists for governments to…
FEATURE: War Crimes Trial Finally Comes to Liberia. Will it be the last?
Aaron Weah sees the Massaquoi trial as a clear sign to all parties that a court can happen in Liberia. 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…
Women Farmers Made Destitute by Pandemic
MONROVIA – Weatta Gbelly has seen hardship in her 35 years but nothing prepared her for the Covid-19 pandemic. Ms. Gbelly has never had the virus, neither does she know anyone who has, but she has suffered just the same. Ms. Gbelly is a mother of six. She and her husband used to farm to support…
Land Title Authorities Overwhelmed By Disputes
GBONYEA, Bong County – Emmanuel Tokpah always wanted a home of his own. The 27-year-old bike rider had saved enough money to begin construction on a house in this village. But his dreams were shattered in July 2016 when a group of men from neighboring Gbonata came and ordered him to stop work. The men claimed…
Overwhelmed Doctors at Treatment Unit Plead with People to Believe the Covid-19 is Real
BUSHROD ISLAND – Liberians are facing the latest and most dangerous wave since the Covid-19 pandemic started 15 months ago. This latest wave, caused by the highly infectious Delta variant which entered the country a month ago, has taken dozens of lives including journalists and high-profile personalities. As of July 11, 2021, the National Public Health…
Women Farmers Made Destitute by Pandemic
MONROVIA – Weatta Gbelly has seen hardship in her 35 years but nothing prepared her for the Covid-19 pandemic. Ms. Gbelly has never had the virus, neither does she know anyone who has, but she has suffered just the same. Ms. Gbelly is a mother of six. She and her husband used to farm to support…
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…
Mae Azango Acting Africa Director
“I am a journalist because there are a lot of people suffering. Who hears them? No one, unless I go and record their voices.”… Mae Azango Mae Azango is one of the best known reporters in Liberia. Mae’s consistent dedication to telling the stories of ordinary Liberians in FrontPage Africa newspaper has won her acclaim…
Liberia: Witnesses Fear Testifying Before War Crimes Court without Security
SINJE, Capemount County – Alhaji Tucker was only 10 when the civil war started in Liberia, but he remembers clearly the day rebels fighting with ULIMO K brutally slaughtered his little brother and other family members here. Tucker has vowed to testify against the attackers known as “Senegalese” and “Bility” before a war crimes court…
Liberia: Tecumsay Roberts and Music Icons Slain in War, to be Honored at Industry Awards
MONROVIA – The lyrics of ‘Coming Home’ and ‘Ma Susu’ – albums by the late Tecumsay Roberts – live on in the minds of many Liberians. An icon of the music scene when he was killed in 1990 at age 39, Roberts was bigger in Liberia than Michael Jackson. This story first appeared on FrontPageAfricaOnline…
Liberia: “It Pains Me to See Children Playing over a Mass Grave” – Lutheran Massacre Survivors Angry at Treatment of Remains
Monrovia – It has been 28 years since the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Massacre. Survivors, most of whom only escaped death through the sacrifice of loved ones, have yet to see justice. This story first appeared on FrontPageAfricaOnline as part of a collaboration for the West Africa Justice Reporting Project. Peterson Sonyah, 43, was only…
Liberia: War Crimes ‘Victim’ Advocates for Court Establishment
Monrovia – Since the recent increase in calls for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court, many victims of Liberia’s 14-year brutal civil war are speaking out about their painful ordeals at the hands of warring factions. They are also joining call and urging major state actors to push for the establishment of…
New Narratives Coverage of Warlord Trial Makes International Media
New Narratives reporters covered the trial of Mohammed Jabateh, convicted of immigration fraud in a Philadelphia court in October 2017. Reporters Tetee Gebro, Jackson Kanneh, James Harding Giahyue provided extensive reporting in Liberia and in the court and Liberian community in Philadelphia. Court art was also done by NN visual artist Chase Walker. Please see…
Exxon Set to Drill – Are Liberians Ready For Jobs in Oil Industry?
Monrovia – Liberia’s oil industry is holding its breath waiting for the outcome of ExxonMobil exploration efforts by the end of the year. With global oil prices low, and little interest by big oil companies in Liberia’s yet unproven oil reserves, Exxon’s drilling operation may represent Liberia’s last chance of discovering oil for some time….
Total Stations Threatening Liberia’s Environment? Neither EPA or Public Works Admit Granting Permits
Monrovia – The swamps or wetlands along Liberia’s coast is said to play a crucial role in the country’s ecosystem. They are nesting grounds for sea creatures, which lay and hatch their eggs before returning to the rough sea. Without them Liberia’s fishing industry could be endangered. The wetlands also play a crucial role in…
NN’s Mae Azango’s Brave Reporting Features on Chime for Change
When Mae Azango wrote her cover story on the health effects of female genital cutting in Liberia’s major newspaper, FrontPage Africa on International Women’s Day in March 2012 she had little idea of the firestorm she would ignite. Within days Mae and her 9-year-old daughter were in hiding – the targets of death threats from…
Teen Pregnancy and Bush Schools Hurting Efforts to Educate Girls
Cestos City – Hannah Toe is in the twelfth grade class at Cestos High School in rural Rivercess County. She looks youthful with cornrows and a red flower headband in her hair matching her ruffled top, but she is 24 years old and already a mother, with a five-year-old son named Tony. Part 3 of…
Liberia Schools Crisis: Unfit Buildings and No Books Leave Children Behind
Cestos City – Twelve-year-old Baby Girl Yarkah is in the first grade and attends the Upper Timbo Community School in Little Liberia, Rivercess County. She shares a small chair with another girl because there are not enough seats to accommodate the school’s 200 students. The chairs have no arms. There are no desks at all….
Liberia Education Crisis: A 3-part series reveals schools in chaos
Cestos City – Students in Rivercess County are learning less than half of the curriculum each semester because of untrained teachers and a broken pay system that forces teachers to abandon schools for days, even weeks at a time. The first of a 3-part series on Liberia’s rural schools crisis by New Narratives fellow Mae…