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…
Journalism
Liberians Plagued by Mental Health Problems in Aftermath of War
Ganta, Nimba County – The heat of late morning sun here is overwhelming today. Dorbor Kullie- [name withheld to protect him from stigma] moves his chair by the side of a building to benefit from its shade. He uses his shirt to wipe his face but he continues to perspire profusely. Yet, he wears a…
Liberia: U.S. Judge Rules Lutheran Massacre Case Will Go Ahead
MONROVIA – An American court has ruled that Moses Thomas, the senior officer who allegedly ordered the Lutheran Church Massacre, will face trial in Philadelphia. A civil suit brought by the Center for Justice and Accountability on behalf of four anonymous survivors of the massacre alleges Thomas gave the command for the killings when he…
Samay Massacre Survivors Call for Justice Through a War Crime Court
SAMAY, Bong – As calls for the establishment of war and economic crimes court in Liberia intensify, victims and survivors of the infamous Samay Massacre have joined, demanding the prosecution of those who carried out the massacre here in 1994 that killed 28 people and destroyed 22 houses. This story first appeared on Bush Chicken as…
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…
Liberians March the Streets of Monrovia In Demand for Justice against War and Economic Crimes
MONROVIA – “We are the victims; we cannot get tired!” “We want justice!” and “Yor leave us oh! Dah justice we want!” were among an estimated 4,000 Liberians who gathered early Monday morning to memorialize the deaths of 250,000 thousand people who died during the Liberian civil war. The march, through the streets of Monrovia,…
Liberia: UN, American Envoys Call for War Crimes Court at Milestone Justice Conference
Monrovia – Stephen Rapp, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice and Dr. Uchenna Emelonye, Country Representative of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights have both called for Liberia to set up a war crimes court to prosecute perpetrators of its civil war. This story first appeared on FrontPageAfrica as part of…
The Quest for War Crimes Court: Who are the International Players?
Monrovia – The call for a Liberian war and economic crimes court has reached new heights since President George Weah became head of state. Campaigners see the ex-football superstar as the best person to muster the political will for a court because he has no known connections to the war. This story first appeared on…
German Envoy Says Justice for Liberian War Victim Is Key
MONROVIA – Hubert Jäger, the German Ambassador to Liberia, joined the chorus of international community calling on Liberia to hold a war crimes court. This story first appeared on FrontPageAfricaOnline as part of a collaboration for the West Africa Justice Reporting Project. Speaking at the launch of the Alliance for Transitional Justice, a collaboration of…
Family Calls for Justice and Reparations over Maher Massacre
Morris Town, Bomi County – Watta Kanneh, 68, struggles to draw water from a creek next to towering palm trees, where she and other villagers make palm oil in two blackened drums sitting over huge fire hearths. Kanneh still suffers from wounds she received 16 years ago during the 2003 killings that became known as…
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…
Call for Applications for the West Africa Justice Reporting Project
New Narratives, a non-governmental organization that has been driving improvement in Liberia’s media sector for 9 years, is excited to announce a major new reporting project in Liberia and Sierra Leone – The West Africa Justice Reporting Project. WAJRP is running from 2018-2020 and will feature training, mentoring and capacity building for Liberian journalists and…
NN Writes on our Role in the Ban on Female Genital Cutting
NN’s Mae Azango and Prue Clarke write on the role of good journalism in breaking the taboo around female genital cutting in Liberia that led to its eventual ban for the Columbia Journalism Review. PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF left office in January with a tremendous, if overdue, parting gift for the girls of Liberia….
Alpha Daffae Senkpeni NN Fellow and Reporter, Front Page Africa
Alpha Daffae Senkpeni is a multimedia journalist with over a decade experience. He is the Sub-Editor of FrontPage Africa newspaper based in Monrovia. He also coordinates a network of journalists in the country. He has been a New Narratives fellow since 2017. Amongst several of his beats, he has a special interest in health, rule…
Lennart Dodoo NN Reporting Fellow, Front Page Africa News Desk Chief
Lennart Dodoo is the News Desk Chief of FrontPage Africa Newspaper and online news magazine. He began his journalism with the Daily Observer Newspaper where he served as a judicial correspondent. Lennart has been a New Narratives fellow since 2017. In 2010 Lennart moved on to the INSIGHT Newspaper where he reported mostly on crimes…
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…
NN’s Prue Clarke and Mae Azango on Sirleaf’s Legacy for Foreign Policy
The Tearing Down of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf MONROVIA, Liberia — Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will leave office in January as one of the most celebrated African leaders of recent memory — outside of Liberia, that is. The first woman elected to lead a government in Africa, she has presided over a period of peace…
Falling Global Oil Prices has Big Impact on Liberians
The price of oil has fallen sharply around the world in the last year. That’s forced major companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil, that were pouring millions into Liberia, to hold back and watch the global trend in the oil market. Despite their initial investment in the country, Chevron has pulled out for now and…
Oil Industry Chaos: Liberians Benefit From Low Oil Prices
Monrovia – The plunge in oil prices on the world market has dealt a devastating blow to Liberia’s oil industry dashing hopes that oil may have been the savior for Liberia’s struggling economy. But at the same time those low prices have been an expected boost to ordinary Liberians thanks to the sharply lower price…
Tetee Gebro Reflects on her Experience Reporting on the Oil Industry in Liberia
First off, a confession: even as the oil industry in Liberia made a lot of news in our country in the years from 2010, as a practicing journalist I knew very little about it. Like most of my peers, all I ever knew reporting on the sector came at the mercy of the National Oil…
Call for Applicants for Extractives Reporting Program
The Thomson Reuters Foundation is working with New Narratives, a non-governmental organization that has been driving improvements in Liberia’s media sector for seven years, to run a program that supports Liberian media to cover the country’s extractives industry. Support for the project comes from GIZ. The program has a focus on mining, which is an…