The judge in former Liberian warlord, Kunti Kamara’s appeal of his 2022 conviction for war crimes, dealt a blow to Kamara’s case on Monday by striking out his two challenges to the charges.The former Ulimo rebel commander’s lawyers had introduced two new arguments in this appeal claiming that Kamara was 15 at the time the…
As Kunti Kamara’s war crimes appeal enters the final stages, his lawyers are calling on the jury to reject the prosecutors’ plea of guilty due to the lack of sufficient evidence. They also want Kamara acquitted. Presenting their plea before the court Tuesday, his defense lawyers argued that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence…
The French Court of Appeal hand has found former Ulimo comer, Kunti Kamara guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, upholding his earlier 30-year sentence. In the French judicial system comprising 3 judges and 9 juries, the jury needed to have an innate belief in Kamara’s guilt to convict. A simple majority of jurors,…
Residents of Bethel in River Cess County say more than 100 men from nearby Bah Clan communities stormed their town after rumors falsely accused them of killing a missing hunter, leaving 24 homes and 27 rice kitchens burned and over 150 women and children sleeping under the palaver hut with almost nothing to eat. Survivors…
Flood victims in River Cess and Margibi say they were left hungry and abandoned after the 2024 rains destroyed their homes, even as officials promised help that never came. Their stories now sit at the center of a major corruption case involving 25,000 bags of Saudi‑donated rice that prosecutors say were diverted instead of reaching…
By Joyclyn Wea and Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon with New Narratives Summary: ITI VILLAGE, River Cess County -When the rain came hard in 2024, residents here in this village in the southern part of the county described a disaster: floodwaters swallowed roads, farms, and homes, stranding people and pushing families into makeshift shelters. In the same…
R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives Tourists at Constitutional Hill watch a documentary on apartheid In South Africa In November 2023 New Narratives reporters, including R. Joyclyn Wea, traveled to South Africa to learn what the country has done to commemorate and reconcile after fifty years of apartheid and see what lessons there are for…
In this special report Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon goes to South Africa with the New Narratives team to report on the role of commemoration in the post-apartheid era. It’s 30 years since South Africa ended the government led racial segregation system that terrorized and discriminated against the country’s non-white populations. Though many feared the end of…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Apartheid was a vicious system of racism and racial separation that ended 30 years ago here, just as Liberia was winding down its first civil war. Since then, South Africa has emerged as an economic powerhouse that implemented a Truth and Reconciliation process that activists, economists, and…
We all know waste management is a crisis in Monrovia and Paynesville where mounds of trash line streets and block drainage causing major headaches. But it’s also a problem across rural Liberia where there is very little or no waste collection at all. People are forced to burn their trash adding to air pollution and…
Video by Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives The mudslide in Chio Town has now claimed 11 lives, deepening the grief of a community already struggling to survive as injured residents receive little to no financial support. Survivors describe a night of chaos in which families dug through collapsing earth with their bare hands to…
By Eric Opa Doue, Contributing Writer CHIO TOWN, River Cess—Aaron Harris, an injured person from the Chio Town mudslide who was being treated at the John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, was confirmed dead on Sunday morning by authorities. This brings the number of casualties to 11. Apart from the initial ten individuals who were…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia— Liberia took a major step to end war time impunity this month when President Joseph Boakai issued an executive order to establish an office for a war crimes court to try those “bearing the greatest responsibility” for atrocities in civil wars that ended in 2003 and left…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives BETHEL, River Cess County — In the latest example of vigilante violence in Liberia, residents of this northern River Cess town say more than 100 men from neighboring communities in the Bah Clan stormed the village 10 days ago, beating residents and setting fire to homes and food…
A recently released survey has confirmed what child welfare advocates have long feared: The rising number of Liberians living in poverty has led to a huge number of children living on the streets. There were more than three hundred and sixty six thousand children living on their own in 2022. Sadly, experts say, with so…
The number of people waiting for trial in Liberia’s jails has been a major problem for some time.More than three thousand four hundred people – who have not been convicted of any crime –are now in pretrial detention nationwide, according to the Bureau of Corrections. Pretrial detainees account for seven in every 10 prisoners in…
COUNTRIES ACROSS AFRICA ARE CLOSELY MONITORING CASES OF AN OUTBREAK OF MPOX DISEASE. THE DISEASE HAS LONG SICKENED PEOPLE IN WEST AFRICA BUT IT HAS BEEN FAIRLY MILD WITH JUST ONE IN ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE DYING AFTER INFECTION. THAT HAS CHANGED IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO WHERE MORE THAN THIRTY THOUSAND PEOPLE HAVE…
At his inauguration in January this year President Joseph Boakai became the latest Liberian leader to announce bold new initiatives to end corruption at the start of his administration. But Liberians have seen decades of endemic corruption, with few attempts to hold accused officials accountable. So most took a wait and see approach at this…
By: R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives Todee, Liberia – Fourteen-year-old Emmanuel Yarsiah would rather be on the football field, playing with his friends. But instead, he’s working long hours as a coal burner with his mother, toting heavy logs in excessive heat. “I suffering to haul water, cut grass, haul the coal, dig it,…
The long‑standing practice of forcing underage children into hazardous labor continues to endanger young lives across Liberia, with little accountability for those responsible. As highlighted in a report by Tetee Gebro in collaboration with Okay FM, the issue persists despite clear data from international partners showing its severity. While the impacts on children are profound…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado —A local adoption agency with partners in the United States has been shut down and an arrest warrant issued for its Liberian and American heads and four local staff, according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. The ministry, which supervises adoption agencies and orphanages…
