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.
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
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