Joshua Blahyi, once feared as “General Butt Naked,” confessed to killing thousands during the civil war and now insists that only a war crimes court can free him and his family from the burden of his past. He is joined by other former fighters like Victoria Zeh, who was forced into combat as a teenager…
Twenty‑three years after Liberia’s hard‑won peace, survivors celebrate progress but remind us that justice is still unfinished. This powerful piece shows how the wounds of war linger even as the nation rebuilds. Anthony Stephens reports in this social media Video. To read more about this story click this link: Liberia: 23 Years Into Peace, Victims…
“I am continuing the legacy of Liberian women who came before me, those who plaited the mat on which I sit. But I am also a forebearer of those who will come after me. I am simply keeping the seat warm for them and providing a blueprint of how Liberian women must represent our country…
By Eric Opa Doue, chief county correspondent with New Narratives Summary: BOLA, Bomi County– Kumba Thomas returns home from a long day at her farm. Around her, life in the community continues at its ordinary pace, but ghosts follow Thomas, weighing down every step of her day. Thomas says she was a new mother when fighting reached…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: It was Liberia’s biggest human trafficking trial to date. At the end of 22 days of hearings in June and July, a jury took just 23 minutes to decide eleven defendants were guilty of a range of crimes against 57 victims who were trafficked, starved, forced…
By King Brown with New Narratives Summary: BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County— The sun is hot here in Big Joe Town, outside Grand Bassa’s capital city. Lovetee, 21, sits on a wooden chair watching her four-month-old daughter, Princess, lying weak on her lap, suffering from diarrhea. Princess’s ribs show through her skin, and her hair is thinning…
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary When Charlyne Brumskine learned she had been selected to the coveted post as a judge on the Ecowas Community Court of Justice, her thoughts turned to her late father. Charles Walker Brumskine, the prominent lawyer and four-time presidential candidate who died in 2019, had hoped to…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: SOUL CLINIC, Montserrado County — Twenty-three years after Liberia’s warring factions signed an agreement ending more than a decade of civil wars, survivors and peace advocates gathered at the site of a wartime massacre to celebrate the country’s sustained peace — and warn that reconciliation remains incomplete without…
Liberia’s war and economics crimes court has won some surprising allies: former warlords. Many who were accused of atrocities during the country’s civil wars are now calling for their day in court.They say only a trial can bring justice, closure, or clear their names.Gloria Wleh reports in this collaboration with OkFm and our network of…
By Augusta S. Lafalay, senior reporter with New Narratives Summary: In 2021 Anthony Gbeh had never heard the word “dialysis”. Today, it has become the center of his life. The 45-year-old goes to the country’s only dialysis center here at John F. Kennedy hospital, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, spending about 12 hours a week…
By Tetee Gebro, gender and health correspondent with New Narratives Summary: In the four years to 2023 the European Union spent $16 million to boost the systems that would keep Liberians safe from gender-based violence. But in 2026 FrontPage Africa/New Narratives found a completely broken legal system in which victims had little chance of accessing…
Davidetta Browne Lansanah, who stepped down after 12 years as head of Liberia’s National Elections Commission, left behind what advocates call a powerful legacy of women’s leadership. She guided the Commission through two presidential elections, including one of the closest in Liberia’s history, and won public trust by ensuring results were accepted peacefully. “Females have…
By Gloria Wleh, senior reporter with New Narratives Summary BUTT NAKED COMMUNITY, Montserrado County — On a recent afternoon, commercial motorcyclists wait for passengers at this bustling entrance into a community which bears a name that stirs painful memories in the minds of many Liberians. Joshua Blahyi, famously known as “General Butt Naked” during the…
Residents of River Cess are forced to cross the Jo River on a slippery log after a US$90,000 government-funded bridge project was abandoned. The contractor dismantled the old community bridge, took more than half the project funds, and never began construction, leaving families divided, children unable to reach school, and farmers struggling to get their…
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary: At the Commission, Lansanah worked through 2 presidential elections, disputed results, political pressure, and one of the closest presidential races in Liberia’s recent history when President Joseph Boakai defeated former President George Weah by fewer than 21,000 votes. Advocates said the fact that the country accepted…
A woman named Saybah Kollie died after undergoing surgery at Stockton Creek Health Center in Caldwell, where a man posing as a doctor operated on her without any medical qualifications. Despite being asked to provide a license in 2022, the Liberia Medical and Dental Council failed to stop him from practicing, exposing Liberians to grave…
By Tetee Gebro, health and gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary CALDWELL, Monrovia — Saybah Kollie collapsed on a Sunday morning in early April, two days after her son’s second birthday. Her husband, Blama Kamara, and the community chairman rushed her to the closest clinic. Over the next few weeks, Saybah’s family said, she suffered at…
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives Summary: BODOWHEA, River Cess County — Every time Cecelia Garseedah thinks about visiting her parents, she must first decide whether the journey is worth risking her life. Her parents live on the opposite side of the Jo River. She must cross a dangerous bridge of two log to…
Liberia has nearly US$300 million in climate adaptation funding approved by international donors, but receiving and using the money will depend on the Boakai administration’s ability to implement reforms, strengthen public institutions and manage the funds transparently. The opportunity could help protect vulnerable communities, improve infrastructure and build resilience against flooding, coastal erosion and other…
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon, climate correspondent with New Narratives Summary Last year, the Boakai government made an ambitious promise to its people and the world: Liberia would cut emissions of the so-called “greenhouse” gasses that are causing climate change, by 64 percent by 2035, and make the radical adaptation efforts needed to protect the forests, farmers…
People in Victoria’s community told her that her daughter was a dragon. For a time Victoria believed them. Even pastors told her a snake had been sent on her daughter. She tried fasting, praying, spiritual interventions — all of it. ‘Many days, I used to cry over her,’ Victoria said. ‘When you see someone who…
