23 April 2008
A frightened widow told commissioners of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that a fighter of Alhaji Kromah's defunct ULIMOD-K faction who massacred her entire family is still after her life.
Klubo Taitweewu said the fighter, she only identified as Dolley killed 15 of her relatives including her three brothers during the groups occupation to Lofa County at the height of the civil conflict.
She said her brothers were arrested in Konyammah, neighboring Guinea where they sought refuge along with other members of the family and was later brought to Liberia and executed. Taiwteewu, 45, was testifying Thursday at the Voinjama City Hall during the TRC rural public hearings in Lofa County.
"We were in Zorzor when the war started. When it started, my brothers and I decided to run to the border in Guinea. While we were going, we managed to cross and when we got in Guinea in one village, we saw the ULIMO soldiers coming.
When they came, they arrested all my brothers and took them back to Liberia and killed them," Kubo explained. Following her returned to Voinjama, Lofa County, she said, the fighters threatened to kill her if she disclosed information about her brother's death.
Klubo: "When the war ceased, I came back to Voinjama but the rebels started saying that if they hear me say anything concerning the death of my brothers, they will kill me. That one-man call Dorley who was fighting for ULIMO was the main person who killed my brothers and right now, he still wants to kill me.
"Most of the time since this war ended, he has always being abusing me and nothing can come out of it because I do not have anybody to talk for me." She said the fighters decided to exterminate her family because they said their family name: Taiwteewu means "strong and brave people."
"Right now I am afraid because the way I finished explaining, he will start to hunt for me again. I am too scared, so your please help me. I do not want him to harm me. Dorley and his group say why we have the "Taiwteewu", which means strong or brave people. So your please help me," the terrified witness told the hearings.
Klubo said following her testimony, she will be scare to return to Zorzor because Dolley who she claimed presently serves as Mandingo Chief still resides there. "I want the TRC to help me because the Dorley man keep abusing me and threatening to kill me so I want to leave from Zorzor because I do not have anybody to talk for me.
"All of my brothers are dead. One time, Dorley insulted me, I went to the human rights office in Zorzor, and nothing was done. So right now, I am very afraid. I actually want the TRC to help me so this man cannot harm me," she said.
The 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 TRC mandate is to also identify victims and perpetrators and make recommendations on amnesty, prosecution and reparation. The hearings are being held under the theme: "Confronting Our Difficult Past, For A Better Future." Meanwhile, public hearing in Gbarpolu County will open today in the provincial capitol of Bopulu.
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