The Inquirer (Monrovia)

Liberia: How Samuel Doe Was Killed

Monrovia — A former commander of the defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) who later joined Taylor's NPFL, has recollected how President Samuel K. Doe was captured, tortured and killed at Prince Johnson's Base in Caldwell outside Monrovia.

Former General, Bob Koffi Zah, an elephant hunter was recruited by President Doe to assist combat advancing NPFL rebels but later joined the INPFL of Mr. Johnson, now Senator of Nimba County, told a public hearing that he participated in the capturing of President Doe at the Freeport of Monrovia.

General Zah told the hearing in Cestos City, Rivercess County that former President Doe was tortured at the INPFL base by so-called freedom fighters.

He recollected how the late John Yormine, Charles Taylor's National Security Minister then, hacked Doe's ears leaving him to bleed profusely.

Prior to the torture the former president underwent, ex-General Zah narrated that a small boy soldier assigned with Mr. Johnson identified as Zoedawon shot and broke the legs of former president Doe at the Freeport minutes to his arrest.

He said "we were at Island Clinic when Mr. Johnson received a call that the president was at the Freeport apparently trying to escape. Johnson immediately left for the Freeport in a pickup."

The former general further recollected that they (Johnson's forces) attacked the AFL soldiers who accompanied Mr. Doe.

He disclosed that several soldiers and some officials who accompanied the slain president got killed in the exchange while others got drowned in the Atlantic Ocean .

He indicated that Doe was later reported to have died by torture in Johnson's bathroom where he was detained following his ignominy.

Ex-General Zah told the jam-packed hall that Johnson deposited Doe's remains at the Island Clinic near St. Paul's Bridge but later removed it for burial when Taylor's fighters attempted capturing the dead body.

He disclosed that Doe's body was buried near a market site in Caldwell . The witness assured that he would take members of the Commission to where Doe was buried.


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  • Komoh Winn
    Jan 13 2009, 15:41

    Let's find President Doe, wherever he was buried, and give him some kind of formal (respectful) burial. He was not our best president; that's undisputable, but he had done something noteworthy to Liberia. He had the gut to bring a much-needed change,which has arguably evolved today in all-inclusive government. The only regret is he did it through violence.