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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
WHEIN TOWN, PAYNESVILLE – More than 60 townspeople of Doru chiefdom in the Gbi/Doru District of Nimba County spent the sixth straight night at the headquarters of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) here, demanding the cancellation of a logging contract between their community and the Liberia Tree and Trading Corporation (LTTC). LTTC, owned by former Representative…
Liberia extends the coronavirus state of emergency and passes a stimulus package for the poor. But the poorest Liberians, known as “zogos”, living on the streets, have received no relief. Anthony Stephens of Power TV reports that they are also now suffering brutality at the hands of security forces. Liberia’s Poor Hit Hard by Coronavirus…
Liberia declares a nationwide state of emergency with tougher restrictions to curb coronavirus. This comes 17 days after a health emergency order led to police demolishing market tables in the capital, Monrovia. Anthony Stephens of Power TV looks at the impact on street vendors, who say the actions are violating their rights. Street Vendors Accuse…
PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado County, Liberia – In the quiet suburb of Cow Field community, in the Duport Road part of Paynesville, Tenneh Dolokon, 26, sits on a worn cushion and stares out at the marshland on the fringes of her unfinished house. She spends much of every day like this. Dolokon was a toddler in 1994, when…
TODEE, Montserrado County, Liberia – In November, the current school year was just midway, but in Tumay Town, Todee District, it was already over for more than 100 girls at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Public School. They had abandoned their classrooms to attend Sande school. This contributed to a drop in enrollment from 250 students at…
MONROVIA, Liberia – The future was bright for Doboe-Blee Garley, a 20-year-old, newly-married man in 1926. Well built and outstanding in the Menson Clan of Tchien District in Grand Gedeh County, Garley was a great royal hunter and a farmer. His wife, Munah, had come from a long lineage of traditional priests. Excitedly, the newlyweds made…
FOYA, Lofa County, Liberia – Mary Ndominin, now in her 50s, will never forget that day in September 1994 when a ULIMO commander aliased “Ugly Boy” killed her husband and ate his corpse. Rebels of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy seized Saah Ndominin, tied him up by passing a wire through a hole…
