FrontPage Africa Archives - New Narratives

Belgian Court Orders War Crimes Trial for Martina Johnson, a Key Ally of Warlord-Turned President Charles Taylor, After Decade-Long Investigation

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A high court in Belgum ruled on Thursday that Martina Johnson, one of the most powerful women of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front for Liberia, should stand trial for crimes she’s accused of committing during Liberia’s first civil war between 1989 and 1996. The decision by…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Leading War Crimes Investigator’s Office is Attacked As Threats Against Witnesses and Investigators Escalates

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Armed men broke into the offices of the Global Justice and Research Project last month, targeting Liberia’s leading organization investigating civil war crimes, according to security guards, and alarming activists who say threats against victims, witnesses and investigators are rising. According to Hassan Bility, director…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Large Numbers Expected for Thursday’s Youth March On the Capitol Against Rape and Other Forms of Gender Based Violence

By Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives Summary: Six years ago, former president George Weah won praise for declaring rape a national emergency. He promised a tougher response to sexual and gender-based violence. But little real change was evident, and the numbers kept rising. In 2024, the number of cases of rape, domestic violence, and other…

Joyclyn Wea
Frontpage Africa

Experts Warn of Health Risk as Hungry People Eat a Dead Whale

By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon, environment correspondent with New Narratives Summary CONGO TOWN, Monrovia-The morning of February 11 started like most mornings at here at Sheri Beach on the shoreline of the capital – the slow crash of Atlantic waves, the smell of salt and diesel. Then someone spotted something enormous at the water’s edge: A baby…

Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon
Frontpage Africa

For Women, Subservience Is Still the Expectation — Even When They Win a Nobel Prize

By Tetee Gebro, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Leymah Gbowee, one of Liberia’s two Nobel Peace Prize winners, warned that societal pressure to conform and be subservient is holding Liberia’s women back and robbing the country of the productivity and contributions of half of its citizens. In a candid admission at the latest Feminist Lecture…

Tetee Gebro
Frontpage Africa

Vigilante Mob Levels River Cess Village; Authorities Slow to Respond

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…

Eric Opa Doue
Video

Saudi Rice Shipment Becomes Early Test of Boakai Government’s Anti-Corruption Drive, But Experts Say Delay in Trial is Undermining Trust

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…

Joyclyn Wea
Video

Saudi Rice Shipment Becomes Early Test of Boakai Government’s Anti-Corruption Drive, But Experts Say Delay in Trial is Undermining Trust

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…

Joyclyn Wea and Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon
Frontpage Africa

10 Dead, More Than 30 Missing in River Cess Mine Collapse

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…

Eric Opa Doue
Video

Vigilante Mob Levels River Cess Village; Authorities Slow to Respond

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…

Eric Opa Doue
Frontpage Africa

Outgoing Finance Minister Admits to a Mental Health Illness in Closed Door Donor Meeting; Experts Commend His Disclosure, Warning Against Stigma

By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—Finance Minister Boima Kamara has said health issues were the cause of his absence from duty over recent months leading President Boakai to request his resignation as reported by Front Page Africa on Monday. Front Page Africa/New Narratives have learned that in a closed-door UN donor meeting on July 3…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

After a Mysterious Press Release and Bad Start for The Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts, Advocates Demand a Reset

Leading human rights lawyer Tiawan Gongloe has condemned the process for selection of the head of the Office for the War and Economics Crimes courts By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—After a bad start to the launch of the Office for the War and Economics Crimes courts human rights advocates are demanding President…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Finland Awards More Than $US426,000 in Compensation to Acquitted Sierra Leonean Warlord Massaquoi

By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Finnish government has awarded €390,000 ($US426,00) in compensation to Gibril Massaquoi, the former Sierra Leonean rebel leader acquitted in January of war crimes and crimes against humanity prosecutors said he committed during Liberia’s second civil war between 1999-2003. The payment covers Mr. Massaquoi’s loss of liberty and income during the…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Liberia’s Silent Crisis: Women and Children Bear the Brunt of Persistent Hunger

Liberia is facing a quiet but devastating hunger crisis, and women and children are suffering the most. In communities like West Point, mothers often survive on just one meal a day so their children can eat, while many families scrape by through informal work that barely covers a few cups of rice. Liberia ranks 112th…

Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon
Video

Stroke, Heart Disease, Cancer and Diabetes Reaching Crisis Levels, Say Experts, But Few Liberians Know How to Protect Themselves

By Tetee Gebro with New Narratives In a three-part series Tetee Gebro, senior reporter with Front Page Africa and New Narratives, examines what health experts call Liberia’s “next epidemic” and the barriers to helping Liberians retake control of their health. NEEZOE, Montserrado County —In 2018, William Pewu was living a regular life like most Liberians. The 54-year-old father of…

Tetee Gebro
Frontpage Africa

Whistleblower Protections in Place But Transparency Advocates Say They Are Useless Without Funding

By Joyclyn Wea with New Narratives It’s been four years since Sensee Morris took the brave decision to call out corruption. It’s a choice very few Liberians make, according to transparency advocates, because of the dangers involved. And Mr. Morris has paid a heavy price. As a deputy managing director of the Liberia Water and…

Joyclyn Wea
Frontpage Africa

Hunger on The Rise in Liberia, According to Latest Global Hunger Index

By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon with New Narratives ELWA QUARRY, Monrovia — Fatu Moore pounds rocks hour after hour in this quarry on the outskirts of the capital. Her weathered hands tell a story of survival. For 35 years she has crushed rocks here under the hot sun, transforming boulders into gravel for income to feed…

Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon
Frontpage Africa

US Aid Cut Will Have Devastating Impact on Liberian NGOs and the Aid Economy, Says One Local NGO Head

By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon with New Narratives The sun was just coming up one morning last week when the chief of one local NGO received the email that threatens to have upended her life’s work. The email subject line “A Memo of Our Project, Stop Work Order Notice,” with the letter subject “Suspension Notice” was…

Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon
Frontpage Africa

Liberia Debates War Crimes Court, Experts Urge Forced Marriage Be Treated as a Crime

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: As Liberia intensifies debate over establishing a long-awaited war crimes court, justice experts are urging lawmakers to explicitly criminalize forced marriage in the court’s founding statute, warning that failure to do so risks sidelining one of the civil wars’ most pervasive abuses. One of these…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Three Month’s On From Government’s World Sight Day Pledge to Screen 1,000 Students and Distribute 12,000 Glasses, Few Details Are Available

By Fatu Kamara with New Narratives Summary In October, as part of World Sight Day celebrations, Liberia’s National Eye Health Program made an exciting announcement: an ambitious program by the unit housed in the Ministry of Health promised to deliver badly needed help to Liberian students struggling with poor vision. The program was to screen…

Fatu Kamara
Frontpage Africa

Justice at a Price: A Grandmother’s Struggle To Get Justice For Rape in Rural Montserrado

By Tetee Gebro, New Narratives health correspondent Summary : PENSON TOWN, Montserrado – It was the end of another long Sunday morning for this grandmother, panning through mud in a stream here trying to find enough specks of gold to feed her eight grandchildren. As she walked into the bush on her way to the…

Tetee Gebro
Frontpage Africa