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Yeaten Killed Fianc?e before Fleeing Liberia...Witness Tells TRC


Former chief of staff of the disbanded Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) murdered his fianc?e before fleeing the country in 2003, a witness told commissioners of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The witness who was a captive at Yeaten's Congo Town residence for six months after he was transferred from Lofa County on suspicion of being a fighter for the LURD rebel group explained that one day, the feared ATU commander returned home and asked for tarpaulin before it was discovered that his fianc?e only named "Babygirl" had been killed.

The witness, James Y. Kollie said after the killing, which was secretly carried out under the cover of darkness, there were concerns amongst bodyguards, servants, and captives about the conspicuous absence of Babygirl.

He was testifying Monday at the continuation of the TRC Public Hearings in Montserrado County at the Monrovia City Hall in Sinkor.

Kollie said the remain of the victim was wrapped in the tarpaulin and transported in Yeaten's pickup to an unknown destination.

He said before the murder he heard the victim telling a female associate only known as Wedor that for the first time since her acquaintance with her "husband" he had offered her liquor to drink.

Since that day, the witness explained, Babygirl was not seen in the compound.

Kollie said shortly after the killing and during the arrival of ECOMIL Peacekeepers into the country, Yeaten fled into exile.

He said during his period of captivity several other captives were paired and ordered to fight until one of them killed the other.

In one of the incidents, Kollie explained, the nephew of a captive killed him in a grueling fight.

The TRC was agreed upon in the August 2003 peace agreement and created by the TRC Act of 2005. The TRC was established to "promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation," and at the same time make it possible to hold perpetrators accountable for gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law that occurred in Liberia between January 1979 and October 2003.

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