Barely two weeks following the arrest of 21-yr-old rape suspect, who was charged with statutory rape of a 12 yr-old girl on old road, another rape case has surfaced with a Police officer accused of raping a 13 yr-old girl in the Paynesville- ELWA Junction area.FrontPageAfrica is withholding the name of the accused officer –…
Liberian mercenaries returning from western Ivory Coast tell the Monitor that they recently fought for both sides in Ivory Coast’s civil war, killing civilians, raping women, and destroying villages as they went. One commander of a unit of more than 30 Liberian mercenaries who returned days ago from Ivory Coast, Karmo Watson, says he was…
Foya, Lofa County – Theresa Fallah, a 26-year-old mother of two, worked in this green, mountainous region tilling the soil to grow rice, a Liberian staple, under a Liberian-Libyan partnership launched in 2007. Now Fallah, like other workers, is unemployed as Libya withdraws its investments in Liberia. Once a field laborer with the rice production…
The man accused of raping a young girl in Congo Town recently has finally given his side of the story. The crime captured the attention of FrontPage Africa readers almost two weeks ago when the mother of the girl, Emma Seekey, accused police of beating and imprisoning her when she reported the attack. The accused…
Cocaine trafficking through Liberia, a country with few effective counter narcotics programs, is on the rise. The United Nations says it’s exacerbating an addiction problem stemming from Liberia’s civil war. In a collaboration between New Narratives and Radio Veritas, Fabine Kwiah takes a closer look….
MONROVIA, Liberia — The pregnant woman was found dead in the shallows of Lake Shepherd. The fetus had been removed. A candidate for Liberia’s Senate and a former county attorney are among those standing trial for the 2009 murder, the latest in a long history of ritual sacrifices performed for political power in Liberia. In…
It happens all the time. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, an inappropriate word or unwanted touch. Sexual harassment is rampant in Liberia. There is no specific law prohibiting harassment. Victims say they are reluctant to talk about it because they fear reprisals. The Legislature is now considering the passage of a Decent Work…
Mary Broh is dressed for combat. In open-toed sandals and gray socks, short pants and a tank top, her graying braids tucked under a blue bandana, Monrovia’s Acting City Mayor leads a 200-member volunteer army on a march down the Capitol Bye-Pass. The 60-year-old recently marked the second year since she instituted the first-Saturday-of-the-month citywide…
“My daughter is still sick but I send her to sell water also because I don’t have enough money. I want the government to arrest the boy and fight my case because I have nowhere else to go.” Emma Seekey is 32-year-old single mother who makes a living by selling cold water on the streets…
GANTA–The first grade class at Ganta’s new child-friendly school recites multiplication tables as teacher’s assistant Mary Seway paces through the neat rows of tiny chairs and desks. At this school – the first of its kind in Liberia– children are the primary focus. Seway, a 45-year-old teaching veteran, said the approach allows more teacher-student interaction….
BUCHANAN, Liberia — The sun is high over the Buchanan Renewables nursery, a green expanse of 400,000 tiny seedlings. Theresa Doe hunches over one seedling, grafting a Malaysian clone that will produce a high-yielding rubber tree. “It’s my living,” she says, her eyes fixed on the plant. Doe and some 500 employees of this Canadian…
MONROVIA—It is after 8 o’clock in the evening on the Barnersville estate, a low-income housing project on the outskirts of the capital of Liberia. The entire area is dark. A few candles illuminate small shops along the road. A path leads to Kollie Yard, a cluster of faded whitewashed houses surrounding a sand pit. The…
Two white stars painted on the basketball court at the Lutheran Church on 15th Street are all that mark the buried remains of more than 500 people killed in the infamous 1990 massacre here. On that July night, Liberians fleeing for their lives thought they had found a safe haven in the church compound. Surely,…
The West African country of Liberia is considered one of the world’s worst places to be a woman. In the aftermath of the country’s brutal civil war, women have limited access to medical care, jobs, and education. Rape is so common that many women don’t know it’s a crime. And most women raise their children…
Gbaye Town, Margibi County — A Liberian lady is being considered for the International Women of Courage award, given each year to leading women’s advocates from around the world. The awards ceremony is held in Washington and attended by leading women such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton….
Teenage sex workers say the government has failed to deliver on any of the promises they made after reports in several Liberian media houses last year revealed Liberian girls were forced into prostitution to survive. After the New Narratives story was published in Front Page Africa and aired on Sky FM President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf…
Security along the border between Ivory Coast and Liberia is under threat as Ivorian cross to the Liberian side at will, according to UN officials working at the border. Officials here say the Liberian security presence here is ineffective. Outtara fighters caused panic among refugees in Zleh, a border town in Grand Gedeh County, on…
TOETOWN, Liberia — As gun battles between Ivory Coast’s rival armed forces intensify, throngs of refugees are fleeing the fighting for the relative safety of neighboring Liberia. About 90,000 Ivorians have crossed into eastern Liberia, according to U.N. refugee experts, who expect that number to swell to 500,000 if Ivory Coast slides back into civil…
MONROVIA, Liberia — On Wednesday, Liberians will honor the memory of two former presidents, William Tolbert and his successor, Samuel K. Doe, slain during two decades of fighting that started with a 1980 military coup. The exact whereabouts of the ex-presidents’ remains is unknown. Both men were tossed into mass graves along with thousands of…
MONROVIA (Reuters Trustlaw) – When darkness falls on Monrovia and most of the Liberian capital’s half a million inhabitants return home to rest, an army of teenage girls as young as 13 sets out to work as underage prostitutes, charging as little as 5 Liberian dollars (3 U.S cents) to clients who often abuse them. “I…
During the Liberian civil war, tens of thousands of dead were buried in unmarked graves. Mass graves litter the country including the capital city Monrovia. As Fabine Kwiah reports some leaders are calling for these graves to be excavated and the bodies reburied. …
