Monitor Newspaper

Prince Johnson Sounds Warning

A former rebel leader in the Liberian civil war has made a radical statement in Monrovia relative to his role during the country’s protracted bloody civil conflict. The former leader of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) the warring faction that captured and executed President Samuel Kanyon Doe at the Free Port of Monrovia made the statement a week into the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.

Nimba County Senior Senator Prince Johnson, highly regarded as a key player in the Liberian conflict said he is not a warlord. The former rebel leader has though labelled himself as a true revolutionary or freedom fighter.

“I’m not a warlord”. I’m a revolutionary”. I’m a true freedom fighter who took the humanitarian needs of the Liberia people at heart. I fought to take over the Freeport to supply food to the nation.” “Even in Gbarnga I fed people with rice.” “In Bong Mines I fed people with food.”

Senator Johnson said his participation in the struggle to oust a sitting regime was a true fight back.

“So, if I came to this Country (Liberia) in 1989 to remove a dictatorial system, oppressive, repressive, suppressive system, which massacred my people and all other sympathizers. The Liberian people who sympathized with Nimba people were slaughtered here in this Country in cold blood, especially by loyalists of the Doe regime. They were people plying vehicles in Monrovia with the inscription “death squad” all over the place. There were times one could see headless bodies of Nimbaians in this Country.”

The Nimba County lawmaker said there was no need for him to overemphasize the many massacres in Liberia. He named the JFK massacre, Lutheran Church Massacre, Grey Stone Compound massacre, Carter Camp massacre and those massacres being unearthed at the public hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The statement by Senator Johnson follows “continuous calls” by TRC authorities asking him to appear voluntarily for public hearings as in the case of Evangelist Joshua Gblayee (Gen. Butt Naked).

He vowed not to take the stand at the TRC public hearings willingly because in his words he is totally against its activities in Liberia. “I’m not in favor of the TRC I’ve warned the TRC commissioners never to call me again for public hearings.”

Senator Johnson said he is not a perpetrator of the war in Liberia but a defender. “A liberation war is not a civil war, where you just go revenge; where tribes are involved. I didn’t come to fight the krahn men, I came to fight the system and whoever backed the system I dealt with them militarily on the combat field. I want people to understand.”

Senator Johnson said he did not remember doing anything wrong during his so-called liberation or freedom struggle. But he said his struggle targeted his enemies-that is those his movement was fighting against.

Senator Prince Y. Johnson is on record for capturing and murdering the late president Samuel Doe. He later wrote the Doe family expressing his regret for the death of Doe.

Senator Johnson predicted a war crime tribunal in Liberia following the activities of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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From the January 24, 2007 edition of the Monitor Newspaper

Monitor Newspaper

Vahun Reconnects to the Rest of Lofa

The construction of the major bridge linking Vahun District to the rest of Lofa County has been completed enabling direct access to the district for the first time in 14 years. The Vahun is about 62km from Kolahun and has a population of about 24,000 with 56 towns and villages.

UNHCR directly accessed the area on 16 January 2008 to conduct protection monitoring, including community needs assessment. During the mission to Vahun, the UNHCR team observed the need for support to the district office and was presented with requests for assistance in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment.

The bridge that cut off Vahun from the rest of Lofa County.

Vahun District has lagged behind in terms of economy recovery initiatives and other interventions due to the problem of inaccessibility, but given the above positive development, protection monitoring and other humanitarian and development activities are expected to be enhanced in that part of the country soon and recovery efforts strengthened in the near future.

Direct link to Vahun District will bring about enhanced efforts of stakeholders and humanitarian partners to fill existing gaps in the various sectors wanting in that part of the country, including health, shelter, education, water and sanitation, empowerment and economic activities as well as the rule of law.

Prior to the completion of this bridge, UNHCR accessed the district through Sierra Leone including to carry out the just ended repatriation program. With support from the Swiss Government, UNHCR embarked on the Kolahun-Vahun road rehabilitation project last year as it was one of the major repatriation axes.

UNHCR also collaborated with other UN agencies and the government of Liberia to carry out other major roads rehabilitation in Lofa County including the Voinjama-Foya road. Improved road condition increased repatriation movement to these areas and reduced the repatriation travel time.
UNHCR contracted the services of private companies to carry out the Kolahun-Vahun road project. The SSF Company was involved in the road repair and culverts installation on the Kolahun-Vahun road section while the REDES Company took part in the rehabilitation of the Vahun major bridge over the Mawah River, which is about 5 minutes drive into Vahun Town, according to an UNHCR release issued in Monrovia recently.

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Monitor Newspaper (January 24, 2007)

Monitor Newspaper

Vahun Reconnects to the Rest of Lofa

The construction of the major bridge linking Vahun District to the rest of Lofa County has been completed enabling direct access to the district for the first time in 14 years. The Vahun is about 62km from Kolahun and has a population of about 24,000 with 56 towns and villages.

UNHCR directly accessed the area on 16 January 2008 to conduct protection monitoring, including community needs assessment. During the mission to Vahun, the UNHCR team observed the need for support to the district office and was presented with requests for assistance in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment.

The bridge that cut off Vahun from the rest of Lofa County.

Vahun District has lagged behind in terms of economy recovery initiatives and other interventions due to the problem of inaccessibility, but given the above positive development, protection monitoring and other humanitarian and development activities are expected to be enhanced in that part of the country soon and recovery efforts strengthened in the near future.

Direct link to Vahun District will bring about enhanced efforts of stakeholders and humanitarian partners to fill existing gaps in the various sectors wanting in that part of the country, including health, shelter, education, water and sanitation, empowerment and economic activities as well as the rule of law.

Prior to the completion of this bridge, UNHCR accessed the district through Sierra Leone including to carry out the just ended repatriation program. With support from the Swiss Government, UNHCR embarked on the Kolahun-Vahun road rehabilitation project last year as it was one of the major repatriation axes.

UNHCR also collaborated with other UN agencies and the government of Liberia to carry out other major roads rehabilitation in Lofa County including the Voinjama-Foya road. Improved road condition increased repatriation movement to these areas and reduced the repatriation travel time.
UNHCR contracted the services of private companies to carry out the Kolahun-Vahun road project. The SSF Company was involved in the road repair and culverts installation on the Kolahun-Vahun road section while the REDES Company took part in the rehabilitation of the Vahun major bridge over the Mawah River, which is about 5 minutes drive into Vahun Town, according to an UNHCR release issued in Monrovia recently.

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Monitor Newspaper (January 24, 2007)

Monitor Newspaper

US$5,000 Bribery Case Heats Up:
Witnesses Flown Abroad
13 Lawmakers to Face Probe?

As investigation into the alleged US$5,000 deal which led to the removal of Edwin M. Snowe as Speaker of the House of Representatives intensifies, latest reports available to The Monitor have revealed that the two former drivers assigned to two of the lawmakers [ring leaders] in executing the plan have confessed to the International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL) and a panel of European Union and the United States investigators currently carrying out preliminary investigation into the bribery scandal at the first branch of the Liberian government.

The reports said the two drivers were assigned with the two lawmakers on that night of the operations “to handle the physical cash” by their respective bosses. According to them, they drove upon the instruction of a former minister of government to take delivery of the “huge quantity of the United States dollars” for distribution among the lawmakers for Snowe’s removal.

Our sources quoted the two drivers, who are currently out of the country, as saying, after the two legislators (names not disclosed) collected the money, they began to ask each other,” the deal is done, but who do we have to replace this young man”? “My man, one of us is capable of becoming speaker, we only need to support each other in the process,” they were quoted as saying.

According to our investigation, the two lawmakers hailed from opposing political parties.

Sources in the corridors of power who begged for anonymity hinted our reporter that the Unity Party and some members of the House had earlier planned to expel Representatives Saa Richard Gborllie of Margibi County and Samuel Bondo of Bong County for going public that “each of them received US$5,000 to commit themselves to the fight to remove House Speaker Edwin Snowe.”

But again, that plan was abandoned following reported threats by the two lawmakers to open up on the entire bribery issue in the media should there be any attempt by a group or group of individuals to expel them from that august body.

According to our sources, the two drivers alleged that the entire bribery investigation may tie around 13 lawmakers and Representatives Gbollie and Bondo may be used as witnesses in the investigation.

The two Representatives in their statement at the time expressed concern about the source of the “huge funds” being spread around, because according to them, their colleagues did not have such huge sum of money to dish out.

Representatives Gbollie and Bondo told newsmen at the time that “the purpose of taking the money was primarily to serve as evidence to reveal the undemocratic and dubious plans by some officials of this government which could undermine the peace and stability we now enjoy.”

Two lawmakers ended their challenge by withdrawing their signatures from the resolution, on grounds that they were “coerced to do that in a fraudulent manner.”

However, in a recent interview on a local radio, two-time contender for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Edward Forh welcomed the calls by U.S. Ambassador Donald Booth and others for an independent investigation into the bribery case.

He was one of those accused of taking bribe to remove Snowe. Forh once battled Snowe for the speaker post.

It was reported in the media recently that two experts from the United States of America (USA) were in the country at the invitation of the US Embassy, the European Union (EU) and International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL) to carry out exclusive interrogation into the bribery scam.

The (ICGL) and United States Ambassador accredited to Liberia Donald Booth insisted on an in depth investigation into widespread allegation of “money changing hands” for the removal of Edwin Snowe.

When the Co-Chair of the ICGL, Ghanaian Ambassador to Liberia Major/General Francis Adu-Amanfoh was contacted Wednesday to comment on the latest preliminary investigation, our reporter was informed that the Ambassador was out of the country.

But a source closed to the ICGL maintained that the group has not abandoned it quest for an independent investigation in the US$5,000 bribery scam.

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Published with the permission of the Monitor Newspaper (January 24, 2007 edition)