SAND BEACH, River Cess – As a commander of the Small Boy Unit —a brigade of child-soldiers of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia — Emmanuel Gaye guarded civilians his adult commanders captured on a goldmine in River Cess. He monitored their movement and activities. Nearly 18 years after the war, the 36-year-old has returned…
Journalism
Ex-combatants Fight a Different War on Small Scale Mine Sites in Liberia and Sierra Leone
Poor economies of Liberia and Sierra Leonean since the end of civil wars have made it almost impossible for hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants to make a living, despite the large rehabilitation and reintegration programs run by the UN at the end of the conflicts. Many, whose fighting days left them ostracized from communities, and…
Defense Focuses on Witness Inconsistencies in Massaquoi War Crimes Trial
Forgbe Kloh of Lux FM and New Narratives reports on Gebril Massaquoi’s war crimes trial in Monrovia. In this report, she also interviews Lennart Dodoo of Frontpage Africa and New Narratives about today’s court proceedings….
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…
VIDEO: The First Liberian Faces Trial for War Crimes in Liberia; Alleged Victims Want Justice
When the United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO) sieged Lofa County in Northern Liberia in bloody fashion in June 1993, they allegedly committed all kinds of atrocities, including widespread looting. Under the command of Alieu Kosiah, ULIMO made Foya District their stronghold — and then proceeded to tear it apart. Looting is one of the…
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…
RADIO: A visit to accused “war criminal” Alieu Kosiah’s Liberia stronghold – Part 2
As Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah faces a war crimes trial in Switzerland, Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh visits his civil war stronghold of Foya. She speaks to survivors about the extent of Kosiah’s alleged looting and love of money, that got him the war name “Physical Cash.” This piece originally aired on Truth FM’s magazine show,…
RADIO: A visit to accused “war criminal” Alieu Kosiah’s Liberia stronghold – Part 1
Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh visits accused “war criminal” Alieu Kosiah’s stronghold of Foya and speaks with survivors of his alleged violence, for whom justice is long overdue. Kosiah goes on trial in Switzerland for war crimes in Liberia. This piece originally aired on Truth FM’s magazine show, State of the Nation, as part of the West…
VIDEO: Liberia’s Health Care Workers Aren’t Getting the Pay They Deserve in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Liberia’s frontline soldiers fighting coronavirus are complaining of working under poor conditions. Health care workers tell Anthony Stephens they have not been paid for months and are not receiving hazard compensation. After this piece aired on PowerTV, Liberia’s government announced it would give hazard pay to those risking their lives. But healthcare workers say they…
VIDEO: Security Brutality Amid Liberia’s Coronavirus Lockdown
Power TV’s Anthony Stephens and cameraman Harry Browne bring this in-depth report on how Liberia’s security forces are brutalizing civilians to enforce the coronavirus lockdown and victims are demanding justice. Security Brutality Amid Liberia’s Coronavirus Lockdown from New Narratives on Vimeo….
Bea Mountain Shifting to Underground Mining amid Environmental Concerns
KINJOR, GRAND CAPE COUNTY – Musu Konneh recalls she became speechless for several minutes when she heard that Bea Mountain Mining Corporation intends to start underground mining for gold by 2022 in a stakeholder consultation conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Konneh’s clan was one of 322 families who relocated from their ancestral villages…
Liberia on Verge of Delisting from Global Extractives Transparency Body Risking further Blow to Economy
Monrovia – Liberia risks being delisted from the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative, the global body which monitors transparency in oil and mining industries, in a move that will likely deal another blow to the shaky economy. Liberia will be delisted if it doesn’t meet a deadline set for December 31 to file overdue reports according to…
Illicit Miners Invade Gola Forest Nat’l Park
FORNOR/MANO RIVER KONGO GRAND CAPE MOUNT COUNTY – Illicit miners have invaded the Gola Forest National Park, extracting gold and diamonds from one of Liberia’s five protected areas and smuggling them across the border to Sierra Leone, local authorities say. Gola Forest National Park cuts across Sierra Leone and Liberia. Residents of Porkpa District, Grand…
Miners Drive River Cess Fishing Town into Poverty
WESSEH TOWN, River Cess – Fifty-two-year-old Churchemah Wesseh says her grandson died from malaria last year because she could not afford to pay the hospital bills in time. A fisherwoman for more than 30 years, the single mother of six hardly makes ends meet these days. Her catch has declined, and the little money she…
Land Dispute Driving Villages into Poverty in Lofa
MamadeeKelledue, Lofa County – Fatuma Kamara, turned to gardening, planting plantains, cassavas and bananas after her husband died more than three decades ago. Her garden prospered. Proceeds from the garden did not only feed her family but left her with enough money to save and pay her children’s tuition. It seemed her dream of becoming one…
County Authorities Fight Community over Logging Deal in Bassa
Residents of District #3B&C in Grand Bassa County on a sunny day in July 2018 gathered in their numbers to celebrate the presentation of an official certificate from the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) that gives them the right to manage their forest. They slaughtered a cow, had a big feast and partied all nightlong. That…
Liberia: Foya Fights to Prevent Yearly Forest Fire
KPANDU, LOFA COUNTY – Andrew Saah Kendema expected a big harvest, not the big fire that swept through his farm and thousands of acres of forest land in the Foya Tengia District of Lofa County in March this year. His sugarcane farm would have fetched him about 20 drums of liquor, enough returns on a US$10,000…
Liberia: Denied for Decades, Women Lead Land Rights Campaign in Bong
GOKAI TOWN, BONG COUNTY – Gormah Mulbah and her five children were thrown out of their home last year after her husband died. Her late husband’s family was angry she refused to marry his younger brother. While she thought all hope was lost, a man—whose identify she would not reveal over reprisal—confronted her in-laws over the…