RIVERCRESS (TRC)?Testifying Wednesday at Public Hearings in Cestos
City, the witness Frances King said
after beheading her brother's two-month-old baby, the fighters threw the
headless body into a river.
Sobbing profusely Frances
explained that following the killings, the fighters also threw her two-month-old
baby on a dump pile. She said however, that after the fighters left she rescued
the baby, who accompanied her during her appearance before the TRC.
She explained that during the raid the fighters also killed her
sister-in-law by pounding her head with a stick. Frances
testified that after murdering her, they also killed her husband's entire
family.
Frances said
the fighters were led by McDonald Tarpeh, now serving as a district
commissioner in Sinoe County.
Meanwhile, fighters of the LPC led by the late General Augustine Zor
massacred 40 inhabitants of the towns of Wrobo and Zoryeah during their
occupation of Rivercess County
in 1993 and1994, witnesses told TRC commissioners.
One of the witnesses, Elijah Wrobo said that in 1993, fighters of the LPC
under the command of Gen. Zor raided Wrobo
Town and slaughtered 27
inhabitants.
According to Elijah, the mass killings were ordered by Zor who led the
fighters. During the raid, he explained, the fighters burned down the entire
town, raped some of the women and conscripted several young men.
He explained that among the dead were his father, mother, sisters and
brothers.
Also testifying, Edward Zoryeah said LPC fighters under the command of Gen.
Zor also raided Zoryeah Town
in 1995 and massacred 13 male inhabitants.
Edward said during the killings, the fighters said they carried out the
massacre as retribution because National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) Gen.
Roland Duo and forces previously used the town as a military base to repel the
LPC from Kambo's Town, Rivercess County.
When the fighters entered the town, Zoryeah explained, they requested all
the male inhabitants to assemble in a palaver hut to meet their commander.
He explained that after they assembled, Gen. Zor ordered the fighters to
open fire and kill all the men.
"They then started the killings and after the shooting 13, our brothers were
lying dead around the palaver hut," Zoryeah testified.
After the massacre, he said the fighters burned some of the inhabitants
alive when they set all the houses in the town ablaze before they left.
The TRC is an independent body set up to investigate the root causes of the
Liberian crisis, document human rights violations, review the history of
Liberia, and put all human rights abuses that occurred during the period from
1979 to 2003 on record. The TRC mandate is to also identify victims and
perpetrators and make recommendations on amnesty, prosecution and reparation.
Public hearings in rural Liberia
under the theme: "Confronting Our Difficult Past For A Better Future," resumed
Tuesday in Cestos City.
