4 April 2008
Monrovia — Public Hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process is presently ongoing in the City of Cestos, Rivercess County with witnesses and others screaming their experiences at the hands of fighters of the defunct belligerent factions.
Amongst factions whose deeds are being washed before the commissioners are the Liberia Peace Council (LPC), National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), and others from the rest of defunct warring factions are all topping the list in terms atrocities and other inhumane acts committed against their fellow Liberians.
At Tuesday hearing, several witnesses detailed the former warring factions war glut, saying that LPC fighters beheaded a mother and her baby and finally massacred 40 villagers in split seconds. The Analyst analyzes a TRC press dispatch.
A weeping woman told commissioners of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that fighters of George Boley's Liberia Peace Council (LPC) in 1995 beheaded her mother and her young baby in her presence in Toe Town, Rivercess County.
Testifying Wednesday at Public Hearings in Cesstoss City, the witness Frances King said after beheading the two, the fighters threw the headless body of the two-month-old baby on her mother in a river.
Sobbing profusely Frances explained that following the killings, the fighters also threw her two months old baby on a dump pile. She said however, that after the fighters left she rescued the baby, who also accompanied her during her appearance before the TRC.
She explained that during the raid, the fighters also killed her sister-in-law after they pounded her head with a stick. Frances testified that after murdering her they also killed her husband and his entire family. Frances said one McDonald Tarpeh, now serving as a district commissioner in Sinoe County, led the fighters.
Meanwhile, fighters of the LPC led by the late General Augustine Zor massacred 40 inhabitants of towns of Wrobo and Zoryeah during their occupation of Rivercess County in 1993 and1994, a witness 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, Zor who led the fighters ordered the mass killings. During the raid, he explained, the fighters burned down the entire town, raped some of the women and conscripted several young men.
He said that the dead included 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 said 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 palava 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.
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 Truth Commission 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 Cesstoss City.
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