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.
