In part three of this three-part series Anthony Stephens looks at the Liberian government’s efforts to get tough on human trafficking. In September 2021 the Liberian government sent a signal it was getting tough on human trafficking. The Legislature passed a revision to a 2005 law increasing the prison sentence for anyone found guilty of…
Where We Work
NSA Agent, Brother on Trial For Human Trafficking
MONROVIA – A disgraced agent of the National Security Agency has gone on trial with his brother for allegedly taking payments from international trafficking agents to mislead young Liberian women into traveling to the Middle Eastern country of Oman where they were to work as domestic servants. The indictment alleges Arthur Chan-Chan, and his brother…
Traditional Leaders Say They Will Not Stop Female Genital Cutting Without More Money
Massa Kandakai, the head of over three hundred FGM practitioners in Montserrado County, says she along with her women have fulfilled their part of the bargain with UN Women by closing all bush schools in Sonkay Town and Todee in Montserrado. Kandakai says UN Women should uphold the agreement by continually supporting them – with monthly salaries, access to cell phone networks, fishponds and processors for making Farina or flour from cassava and potatoes. The women say they will revert to the practice if their requests are not met….
Using Technology to Stamp Out Corruption
By: R. Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives MONROVIA-Corruption has plagued Liberia since its founding and threatens to engulf the Weah administration still reeling from the US Treasury’s dramatic move to place three top ministers on the Magnitsky Sanctions List. It is well proven that corruption constrains economic growth entrenching the majority of Liberians in extreme…
Liberian Public Prosecutors Call off Three-Week Strike
Monrovia – Liberian state prosecutors have called off a three-week strike which paralyzed courts across the country. The prosecutors, who represent the government in legal cases, were demanding the government increase their monthly salaries and provide benefits, including vehicles. But after a lengthy meeting among themselves, the prosecutors have conditionally agreed to return to work. By…
In a Whatsapp Group Trafficked Women in Oman Plead for Help, Suspect Flees
In part two of this three-part investigation Front Page Africa and New Narratives look at efforts to repatriate women trafficked to Oman and efforts to bring traffickers to justice. Monrovia – After a harrowing six months in Oman Sarah and Kolu, victims of human trafficking, returned home in early March. Their families were vexed with…
Door Closes on Oman as Destination for Trafficked Women
Monrovia – In separate chilly mornings in September and October 2021 Sarah and Kolu defied the weather to travel to Roberts International Airport with one thing in mind: a trip to “paradise,” where all their sufferings and hardship would end. The pair, cousins in their 20s whose names FPA/NN is concealing for their security, say…
Liberia: 2022, A Bad Year for Victims of Child Rape
Martu Yardolo had just turned 17 when she says she was given a drug hidden in a drink and gang raped by three men. It was the night of her birthday. Yardolo was looking forward to celebrating with her friends. Instead but it ended in violence that has destroyed her world Commentary by Evelyn Kpadeh…
Accused Oman Trafficker Skips Bail, Family Members Jailed Over His Escape
Monrovia – A Liberian man facing a minimum 20-year sentence for trafficking nearly 200 Liberian women to Oman has skipped bail and vanished leaving victims angry. Cephas Selebay, believed to be in his early 30s, worked as an accountant for the Forestry Training Institute in Bomi County before he was arrested in August. By: Anthony…
Police and Public Officials Step Up Attacks on Journalists in Liberia
As the 2023 general elections approach tensions are rising everywhere. No one has felt that more than Liberia’s journalists. Newsmen and women have faced arrest, threats and physical assault. Press freedom advocates say these are designed to intimidate them from doing their jobs. It has worked. Newsrooms across the country report a sense of fear…
Domestic Violence and Gender Based Violence Continue to Plague Liberians
Domestic and Gender Based Violence continue to be major problems in Liberian society including here in Bong County. Of about two hundred and fifty five inmates currently behind bars at Gbarnga Central Prison, seventy are there for sexual violence offences. But anti-violence activists say cases that make it to conviction are just a tiny share…
Conflicts Over Land Acquisition for Mining in Liberia and Sierra Leone
In December 2019, conflict broke out between an iron ore miner, Solway Mining Company and Gbazor villages when the company entered the Blei Forest after acquiring a mining licence from the Liberian government. The conflict was caused by a disagreement between government that badly needs revenue from the mining company and the Gbazor community who…
Destitute Diamond Diggers: Artisanal Miners in Sierra Leone Struggle for Survival
After five years of apprenticeship under his father and 12-years working dry riverbeds as an artisanal miner, Alieu Musa knows a thing or two about digging, swishing gravel and finding diamonds. His roughened hands parade his 37-years as they grip the handlebars of the small “okada” (a local motorbike) as he wheels over the pitted…
Now Breadwinners, Ex-Rebels in Liberia and Sierra Leone Work in Mines They Ran
SAND BEACH, River Cess – As a commander of the Small Boy Unit —a brigade of child-soldiers of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia — Emmanuel Gaye guarded civilians his adult commanders captured on a goldmine in River Cess. He monitored their movement and activities. Nearly 18 years after the war, the 36-year-old has returned…
Ex-combatants Fight a Different War on Small Scale Mine Sites in Liberia and Sierra Leone
Poor economies of Liberia and Sierra Leonean since the end of civil wars have made it almost impossible for hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants to make a living, despite the large rehabilitation and reintegration programs run by the UN at the end of the conflicts. Many, whose fighting days left them ostracized from communities, and…
Illegal Sierra Leonean Miners Dying in Liberia
HENRY TOWN, Liberia and KENEMA, Sierra Leone – Ibrahim Sesay, a Sierra Leonean miner, never signed up to die when he crossed into Liberia in 2008 in search of greener pasture on mines in Korninga Chiefdom of Gbarpolu’s Bopolu District. A New Narratives cross-border investigation by Mae Azango and Emma Black in Sierra Leone and…
Mining Companies Battle COVID-19 After The Ebola Crisis
Between 2014 and 2017, Sierra Leone was hit by the Ebola virus along with Guinea and Liberia. The disease killed almost 4,000 people in Sierra Leone but perhaps the worst of the crisis was the brutalization of the economy, especially in the extractive sector. In March 2020, Sierra Leone recorded its first confirmed case of…
How Covid 19 Protections are Impacting Mining in Sierra Leone
On 31 March 2020, when Sierra Leone recorded its first case of COVID-19, the Government instituted measures to prevent the transmission of the virus. Many of these preventative measures are based on the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations. These measures have greatly impacted the lives of every…
Aftermath of London Mining operation in Lunsar… Cemetery Turned Dumpsite
The operations of the defunct London Mining PLC in Lunsar have left residents of Chindatta Village with bad feelings with regards the bulldozing of their ancestral graveyard without due process and without any regard for the dead. Chindatta village happened to be one of the communities affected by the operations of the company, and residents…
Call for Journalists to Report on Justice Issues in Sierra Leone
West Africa Justice Reporting Project – Seeking Justice The Media and Information Bureau (MIB) in Sierra Leone is starting a new project with New Narratives, a non-governmental organisation that has been driving improvements in West African media for 9 years. The project supports journalists to cover justice issues. The project in Sierra Leone is part…