February 12, 2008
HARPER (TRC)?The first witness to testify at Liberia's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission's Public Hearings in rural Liberia said fighters of
the Liberia Peace Council (LPC) wantonly killed civilians and subjected nearly
a dozen elderly men and women to slave labor.
Viola P. Jones, one of the elderly captives, said the LPC, following its
capture of Harper City, Maryland
County rounded up more than 10 elderly men and women and forced them to pound
rice, fetch water and cut firewood daily.
Viola, a resident of Harper, where the TRC Tuesday commenced public hearings
for rural Liberia,
explained that they were also forced to bury dead bodies, following summary
executions.
She said the fighters engaged in wanton killings of civilians and accused
them of burning down the Harper City
Hall.
Another witness, Talitha Yibada Graham, said fighters of the LPC also killed
scores of civilians, including her aunt at the Carblakay
Border Road while they were fleeing to the Ivory
Coast.
She said the fighters, who accused her aunt of being a supporter of NPFL
leader Charles Taylor, slit her throat and left her almost lifeless body by the
roadside. She explained that besides her aunt, Yuapay Howe, all the other
victims were gunned down by the fighters who were riding in a pickup truck.
"My aunty pleaded for her life and even promised to gave them money to spare
her life, but they slaughtered her by cutting her throat halfway after shots
fired at her could not penetrate her body," she explained. She said her aunt
was the head superintendent for Maryland
County women.
The first male witness to testify, Otis W. Thompson, claimed fighters of the
National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) severely tortured him and burned
down his residence after a search for his father, Borbor Alfred Thompson, then-chair
of the Maryland County
branch of the National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL).
Otis said the fighters later conscripted him into their rebel army, saying,
"Before I joined them they severely tortured me. I am still suffering from the
pains as a result of the torture."
He said the fighters, who were under the command of Baltimore, alias "Sea
Never Dry," executed in his presence the son of an Armed Forces of Liberia
colonel, who was taken captive along with him. Otis said his life was spared
after the intervention of a Lebanese national, Samuel Abrahams.
Another witness, Morris Weah, also claimed he was forcibly conscripted by
fighters of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) after they captured
the town of Tapita, Nimba
County from soldiers of the Armed
Forces of Liberia (AFL).
While traveling from Monrovia to
Tapita, Weah explained, he was stopped from traveling at night by the soldiers
before they attacked and seized the town requesting residents to come out of
their homes and identify their tribes.
Weah said he was captured by the fighters and tied for two days before he
was saved by a female fighter.
"I was then forced to join the rebels to save my life, but I did not kill
one person the whole war," Weah claimed.
Mamadee Konneh, the last witness to testify in public Tuesday said fighters
of the Movement for Democracy and Elections in Liberia (MODEL) tortured him
after they seized his vehicle and demanded a ransom.
Konneh claimed he paid the sum of L$30, 000 to the MODEL fighters commanded
by General Alphonsus Zaryee before he was released by the men who initially
demanded L$60,000.
One of Tuesday's witness, Asata Kamara testified in camera only before commissioners of the TRC.
The TRC is an independent body set up to investigate the root causes of the
Liberian crisis, document human rights violations, review the history if
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.
The Commission heard over 70 cases of rights violations during public
hearings in Montserrado County
which commenced on January 8.
At the close of the 15 days of hearings in Montserrado, 58 of the witnesses
were victims while were nine perpetrators and three eyewitnesses who recounted
ghastly accounts of their experiences. The statistics reported that three
witnesses testified in camera.
Following the Maryland Hearing, the public hearings will move next week to
the southeastern counties of Grand Kru, Rivergee, Sinoe and Grand Gedeh.
