Charles Taylor’s five Top Notorious Generals Linked to Massacres In Liberia

By Josephus Moses Gray
Monrovia, Liberia


The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

March 1, 2004

Two major human rights commissions in Liberia, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) and the Independent National Commission on Human Rights have accused the deposed Liberian leader, former President Charles Taylor’s five top notorious generals as perpetrators of two separate massacres in the southeastern and northwestern parts of Liberia.

In their details and comprehensive reports on human rights abuses in the country, the two human rights commissions named the perpetrators of the massacres as former Director of the Special Security Service (SSS),General Benjamin Yeaten, Roland Duo, former director of Freeport Security; General William Sumo, former commander of the disbanded Charles Taylor security unit, Zeco Dadiah and Capt. Paye Suah.

General Yeaten who is a member of the Gio ethnic group from the central Liberian county of Nimba is noted for committing heinous crimes and massacres. General Yeaten has since fled the country and is now on the run around the sub-region.

According to information gathered, the two separate massacres were carried out upon the alleged directives of the brutal and dangerous regime of exile President Taylor.

The Independent Human right commission, in its reports, disclosed that a total of 369 persons including pregnant women, babies and mothers, school going children and their teachers as well as several old folks were among those massacred by Generals Yeaten and Sumo.

The killings, the commission said took place in Youbor, Sala and Fish Town, in River Gee County in southeastern part of Liberia. River Gee is next door to Grand Gedeh County, the birth home of the late President Samuel K. Doe. The massacre took place in
2003.

In his analytical report, the commission Chairman, Attorney Dempster Brown told a recent news conference in Monrovia that 53 persons were killed in Youbor, 100 killed in River Gbeh and 216 other massacre in Twobo Gbaweleken.

Among persons killed were five professional persons including Assistant Magistrate, Joseph Walkins, Physician Assistant, Joseph William , Aloysius Dweh, Freeman Nuah and Isaac Karty, all were classroom teachers.

For its part, the Catholic Justice and Peace commission says it has unearthed a massacre in the northwestern part of Liberia, claiming the lives of hundreds of innocent and unarmed civilians. The commission revealed that the victims’ bodies were dumped into the Maher River.

According to the JPC, the massacre took place on the Maher Bridge in July 2002 and was carried out by Charles Taylor’s militias, under the command of former Freeport Security Guard director, Gen. Roland Duo and Gen. Yeaten.

In a press release issued in Monrovia on February 27, the JPC said survivors of the massacre told them that on the 17 of July the same year, rebels of the Liberian United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), in the face of shortage of ammunitions and food items fled Tubmanburg, the Administrative seat of Bomi County, leaving the civilian population that were under their control vulnerable. The eyewitnesses told the commission that in the process, Charles Taylor’s militias overran Tubmanburg on July 18, 2002.

The JPC quoted the eyewitness that as a sign of good will, the Taylor militias distributed salt, sugar and gari among the vulnerable population who were told to assemble at the Via Town Gas station in Tubmanburg. The commission said the fighters promised the destitute population that their generals would later serve them rice, the nation’s staple food.

The commission further revealed that the vehicles made several trips to the Maher Bridge River and after assembling the vulnerable population at the Bridge, Taylor’s militias begun slaughtering them. Among those killed were babies, children, and women.