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At TRC Grand Kru Public Hearings:Factions' War Atrocities Revealed


February 22, 2008

BARCLAYVILLE (TRC)?A weeping widow told commissioners of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Wednesday that her brother- in- law, a fighter of the defunct Liberia Peace Council (LPC), killed her husband and her parents after her husband refused to join the rebel group.

Annie Nimeley, 43 said one Othello Sonpon in 1994 joined the LPC and killed her husband Victor Swen and her brother in GBC, Sinoe County after Swen tried to convince him to join the LPC.

Following the killing of Victor, Annie explained, with tears streaming down her eyes that Othello embarked on a killing spree executing her father, Matthew Nimeley, and her mother, Comfort Teah. She said the fighter also killed her brother, Roosevelt Nimeley, in an ambush before looting all of their belongings. The Liberia Peace Council was one of several factions that fought in the Liberian civil war.

The victim was testifying at the Barclayville Central High School, the venue of the TRC Public Hearings in Barclayville, Grand Kru County.

Another victim, Robert K. Kieh of Sass Town said fighters of the LPC burned alive his mother, Theresa Kieh, and two children alive in their home when the group attacked the town in January 1996.

"LPC came and destroyed life and properties on a massive scale when they captured this area," the witness said.

Forty-three-year-old Jackson Wleh Weah said fighters of the Peace Council killed a man he only identified as Kieh and looted the entire city when they captured Barclayville.

Emmanuel Quanteh Seibo of Sass Town said fighters of the LPC under the command of the late General Teh Quiah captured the town in 1996 and took away his brother Joseph Siebo. He said the whereabouts of Joseph is still unknown.

Another resident of Sass Town, Sylvester Nimeley, said fighters of the LPC burned down his residence when they captured the town in 1995.

The witnesses also accused fighters of the group of looting their cattle, which they claimed were their source of livelihood before the civil war.

The TRC is an independent body established to investigate the root causes of the Liberian conflict and objectively document human rights violations between 1979 and 2003. The TRC mandate is to also identify victims and perpetrators and make recommendations on amnesty, prosecution and reparation.

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