Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T the PROSECUTOR of the SPECIAL

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T the PROSECUTOR of the SPECIAL Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T THE PROSECUTOR OF THE SPECIAL COURT V. CHARLES GHANKAY TAYLOR THURSDAY, 15 MAY 2008 9.30 A.M. TRIAL TRIAL CHAMBER II Before the Judges: Justice Teresa Doherty, Presiding Justice Richard Lussick Justice Julia Sebutinde Justice Al Hadji Malick Sow, Alternate For Chambers: Mr William Romans Ms Carolyn Buff For the Registry: Ms Rosette Muzigo-Morrison Ms Rachel Irura For the Prosecution: Mr Stephen Rapp Ms Brenda J Hollis Ms Maja Dimitrova For the accused Charles Ghankay Mr Courtenay Griffiths QC Taylor: Mr Terry Munyard Mr Morris Anyah CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9891 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Thursday, 15 May 2008 2 [Open session] 3 [The accused present] 4 [Upon commencing at 9.30 a.m.] 09:32:32 5 PRESIDING JUDGE: Good morning. Appearances are as before, 6 I think, Mr Rapp. 7 MR RAPP: That is correct, your Honour. 8 PRESIDING JUDGE: And, Mr Griffiths, I think on your Bar 9 also. 09:32:46 10 MR GRIFFITHS: Good morning, your Honours, counsel 11 opposite. Representation is the same as it was yesterday: 12 Myself, Courtney Griffiths, my learned friend Mr Munyard and 13 Mr Anyah and Ms Logan Hambrick. 14 PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. If there are no other matters 09:33:01 15 I will remind the witness of his oath. 16 Mr Witness, good morning. I must remind you that yesterday 17 you took the oath to tell the truth. The oath is still binding 18 on you and you are to answer questions truthfully. 19 THE WITNESS: Your Honours. 09:33:21 20 PRESIDING JUDGE: I would also request that because 21 everything you say is typed as you speak if you could speak a 22 little slowly so the interpreters and the transcribers can take 23 it and into the microphone, please. 24 THE WITNESS: Yes, your Honours. 09:33:36 25 PRESIDING JUDGE: Please proceed. 26 MR RAPP: Madam President, your Honours 27 WITNESS: MOSES ZEH BLAH [On former oath] 28 EXAMINATION-IN-CHIEF BY MR RAPP [Continued]: 29 Q. Good morning, witness. SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9892 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 A. Yes, good morning, sir. 2 Q. I will go back to where we were yesterday. We were, I 3 think, on that flight from Burkina Faso to Liberia and there was 4 mention of a sheep that you had obtained. Why had you obtained a 09:34:00 5 sheep? 6 A. Because it was cheaper and it was a different kind of 7 animal to be carried to Liberia. We did not have that type in 8 Liberia. 9 Q. What gender, what sex was the sheep? 09:34:17 10 A. Well, it was a ram, a ram. 11 Q. Why did you need a sheep? 12 A. Well, I had a farm in my village and I rear animals there 13 like cows, goats and sheep, so I wanted that kind of sheep to be 14 carried there. 09:34:36 15 Q. During the time you were ambassador during Taylor's 16 presidency did you continue with your farm during that period? 17 A. Yes, my farm is still there as I speak. 18 JUDGE SEBUTINDE: Mr Rapp, you are going too fast. If you 19 look at the record you are overlapping. Just give it a little 09:34:54 20 break before the witness finishes his answer. 21 MR RAPP: 22 Q. Witness, I was asking what do you do with the farm now? 23 A. My farm is now in operation and there are people working on 24 the farm. 09:35:12 25 Q. Do you do anything with the farm? 26 A. Yes, my farm is there and I work on the farm. I'm raising 27 the animals. I have cows and they are grown and sometimes they 28 are sold and sometimes they are killed and then I eat myself. 29 Q. Now, on this trip in Burkina Faso, yesterday you told us SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9893 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 what President Compaore of Burkina Faso had told you and Mr Tuah. 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. What did you say to President Compaore? 4 A. No, it was just a message that I took and I had to come 09:36:00 5 back to Mr Taylor with a response. That's all. I had nothing to 6 say, but to take message and to return the message to the sender. 7 Q. Well, message, did you express that message orally to 8 President Compaore? 9 A. Yes, it was done orally. 09:36:17 10 Q. And I just want to be clear, what was the message? 11 A. The message that he had not forgotten as a friend, that it 12 had taken long that he has not been talking to him, but that he 13 still had him in his mind and that things have been difficult 14 with him himself and that he was having difficulties, people were 09:36:43 15 planning to attack his government from different angles, and that 16 he should still remember him as a friend. 17 PRESIDING JUDGE: There are a couple of "he"s in there and 18 I'd like to be sure who is who. 19 MR RAPP: Thank you very much, your Honour. We will have 09:36:59 20 several questions later on yesterday's record regarding some 21 "he"s: 22 Q. So in this particular answer - perhaps just give it again 23 and use, instead of "he", the name of the individual who 24 expressed these views. 09:37:11 25 A. Mr Taylor had Mr Blaise Compaore still in mind as a friend. 26 Q. And what was President Compaore's response? 27 A. He said - Mr Compaore said that he is not happy with the 28 way the friendship had been going and that he had been risking 29 his life for him, that is Mr Taylor, but that he was not hearing SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9894 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 from Mr Taylor any longer and that he was no longer happy about 2 the relationship. 3 Q. Well, when President Compaore said he had been risking his 4 life for Mr Taylor, what did you think he was talking about? 09:38:03 5 A. What I saw and from my own analysis is that he had been 6 helping, he had been sending things, he had been shipping 7 consignments and the news from Gaddafi that he should still send 8 Gaddafi consignments that he, Gaddafi, would replace later. 9 Those were the things I think Blaise was referring to. 09:38:29 10 Q. And when you refer to consignments, what did those 11 consignments consist of to your knowledge? 12 A. The previous consignment that I had made mention about, the 13 arms and ammunition. 14 Q. Now, you told us yesterday that you and Mr Tuah then met 09:38:50 15 Mr Musa Cisse and Ms Grace Minor in Ouagadougou. Did you know 16 that they would be there when you went to Ouagadougou? 17 A. No, sir, I did not know they were there. 18 Q. Did Mr Cisse say anything about both of you being in 19 Ouagadougou at the same time and what that indicated to him? 09:39:22 20 A. No, he only told me briefly. He did not tell me his 21 mission. He only told me that Mr Taylor was running things with 22 a Russian government and that he will send you and later send 23 someone after you. 24 THE INTERPRETER: Your Honours, the witness is going too 09:39:45 25 fast. 26 MR RAPP: 27 Q. Witness, you may have heard the interpreter that he said 28 you were going too fast. You were telling us about what Mr Cisse 29 had said to you. Would you repeat that slowly? SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9895 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 A. Mr Cisse told me in a joke that Mr Taylor was running a 2 Russian government; that is he will send you and send someone 3 after you and you would not know the mission that person was on. 4 So he said that was the kind of government that Mr Taylor was 09:40:20 5 running, so we made a joke and we all laughed over it. 6 Q. Well, what was - what did you think about the joke? 7 A. The joke was just that there were too many people sent on 8 one mission and you didn't know what the other side was after and 9 the other side also did not know what you were after. 09:40:50 10 Q. Well, why did you think Mr Taylor was engaging in this kind 11 of practice? 12 A. I wouldn't know. 13 Q. You had described being on the plane and seeing the cargo 14 and the size of the cargo and the markings on it. Let me ask you 09:41:14 15 about what happened to the cargo when you reached Monrovia? 16 A. The cargo was unloaded at the Roberts international airport 17 and upon arrival, alighting from the plane to come down, there 18 were some trucks, about three or four in the column, and they 19 were waiting to receive the cargos.
Recommended publications
  • Irregular Warfare and Liberia's First Civil
    JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL AND AREA STUDIES 57 Volume 11, Number 1, 2004, pp.57-77 Irregular Warfare and Liberia’s First Civil War George Klay Kieh, Jr. The article examines the causes of the irregular war in Liberia from 1989-1997, the forces and dynamics that shaped the war, the impact of the war on state collapse and the prospects for conflict resolution and peace-building. The findings show that the war was caused by a confluence of factors. Several warlordist militias were the belligerents in the war. The war and its associated violence precipitated the actual collapse of the Liberian State. Finally, the success of the peace-building project would be dependent upon addressing the causes that occasioned the irregular war. Keywords: Regular warfare, irregular warfare, state collapse, conflict resolution, peace-building, Liberia 1. INTRODUCTION Irregular warfare and its consequent precipitous impact on state collapse has been an enduring feature of human affairs. Even long before the inception of the Westphalian state system in the mid-seventeenth century, various state formations in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe emerged, and then collapsed. The precipitants ranged from internal imperatives triggered by issues such as the distribution of societal resources and territory, to the external imperialist impulse. In the case of Africa, during the pre-colonial era, several polities emerged, and then collapsed as a consequence of myriad internal and external factors. During the first two decades of the post-colonial era, irregular warfare in African states was minimized by the regulatory dynamics of the “Cold War.” However, since the end of the “Cold War,” the incidence of irregular warfare, especially its capacity to precipitate state collapse, has accelerated.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Previously Published Works
    UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Previously Published Works Title HAS LIBERIA TURNED A CORNER? Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4394423f Journal JOURNAL OF DEMOCRACY, 29(3) ISSN 1045-5736 Authors Spatz, Benjamin J Thaler, Kai M Publication Date 2018-07-01 DOI 10.1353/jod.2018.0052 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Has Liberia Turned a Corner? Benjamin J. Spatz, Kai M. Thaler Journal of Democracy, Volume 29, Number 3, July 2018, pp. 156-170 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2018.0052 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/698925 No institutional affiliation (16 Jul 2018 18:21 GMT) HAS LIBERIA TURNED A CORNER? Benjamin J. Spatz and Kai M. Thaler Benjamin J. Spatz is a doctoral candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has worked on Liberia since 2005, including serving on the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia during 2012–15. Kai M. Thaler is assistant professor of global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The January 2018 inauguration of Liberia’s newly elected president George Weah marked the small West African country’s first transfer of power between democratically elected leaders since its founding 171 years earlier. After an electoral process marred by charges of irregularities and court-ordered delays, Weah’s clear runoff victory was followed rapidly by the concession of his opponent, Unity Party (UP) candidate and incum- bent vice-president Joseph Boakai.
    [Show full text]
  • Taylor Trial Transcript
    Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T THE PROSECUTOR OF THE SPECIAL COURT V. CHARLES GHANKAY TAYLOR THURSDAY, 3 JUNE 2010 9.33 A.M. TRIAL TRIAL CHAMBER II Before the Judges: Justice Julia Sebutinde, Presiding Justice Richard Lussick Justice Teresa Doherty Justice El Hadji Malick Sow, Alternate For Chambers: Ms Doreen Kiggundu Ms Sidney Thompson For the Registry: Ms Rachel Irura Ms Zainab Fofanah For the Prosecution: Mr Nicholas Koumjian Mr Mohamed A Bangura Ms Kathryn Howarth Ms Maja Dimitrova For the accused Charles Ghankay Mr Terry Munyard Taylor: Ms Logan Hambrick Ms Fatiah Balfas Mr Isaac Ip CHARLES TAYLOR Page 41997 3 JUNE 2010 OPEN SESSION 1 Thursday, 3 June 2010 2 [Open session] 3 [The accused present] 4 [Upon commencing at 9.33 a.m.] 09:31:40 5 PRESIDING JUDGE: Good morning. We will start with the 6 appearances, please. 7 MR KOUMJIAN: Good morning, Madam President. Good morning, 8 your Honours and counsel opposite. For the Prosecution this 9 morning, Mohamed A Bangura, Kathryn Howarth, Maja Dimitrova, 09:34:35 10 Imogen Parmar and Nicholas Koumjian. 11 MR MUNYARD: Good morning, Madam President, your Honours, 12 counsel opposite. For the Defence this morning myself 13 Terry Munyard, Fatiah Balfas and Isaac Ip. Both are legal 14 assistants. 09:34:57 15 PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. Good morning, Mr Witness. 16 THE WITNESS: Good morning, your Honour. 17 PRESIDING JUDGE: Before you continue with your testimony, 18 I would like to remind you of your oath to tell the truth. That 19 oath is still binding on you.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberia ICAF UPDATE Report – March 2012
    Liberia ICAF UPDATE Report – March 2012 Disclaimer: This report has not been formally cleared by any of the agencies involved in the Interagency Conflict Assessment Team. The report may include views or statements of authors outside the government, and may have been written by an outside observer of the deliberations of the team. The authors accept full responsibility for any errors in their attempts to convey the views of the assessment team. Facts cited here have not been checked against other sources and the report itself is a summary of the team’s discussion. UNCLASSIFIED Project facilitated and led by Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations U.S. Department of State Drafted by Afiya McLaughlin - Johnson, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations With the participation of Embassy of the United States Monrovia, Liberia U.S. Agency for International Development: Liberia Mission, Washington DC Civilian Response Corps of the United States of America U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Defense UNCLASSIFIED TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Findings ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Background and Context
    [Show full text]
  • Liberian Case Study POLI 120N: Contention and Conflict in Africa Professor Adida
    POLI 120N: Contention and Conflict in Africa Professor Adida Liberian case study Final projects • Final week of class, 6 groups, 3 per class session, 20 minutes each • Structure • Background • Description of conflict • Explanation of conflict • Take-away • Graded on • depth of understanding of case • Ability to apply theories learned in class • Clarity (slides and delivery) • Originality (keep us engaged) Background • Colonized by the American Colonization Society • First Black Americans arrived in 1822 mappery.com Background • Colonized by the American Colonization Society • First freed American slaves arrived in 1822 • Liberia proclaimed Africa’s first independent republic in 1847 • Country’s motto: “The love of liberty brought us here” - applied only to settlers; native population brutalized • Source of settlers’ power: support from US and US corporations Domination of Americo- Liberians • Settlers, aka Americo-Liberians, monopolized political power • Indigenous peasants “eked out meager living” (Berkeley) Tubman, 1944-1971 • Graft and repression peaked under his rule: devoted more than 1% of national budget to the upkeep of presidential yacht • But also liberalized the system • Open-door policy • Unification policy Tolbert, 1971-1980 • Tried to liberalize the political machinery, but not enough • April 12, 1980: Samuel Doe, master sergeant in the Armed Forces of Liberia, led a coup; disemboweled Tolbert, executed his cabinet • People’s Redemption Council (PRC): brutal rule, repression, terrorization of population; stole $300 million • Ethnic favoritism: Doe progressively filled the top positions with family friends and loyal confidants, all who shared Doe’s Krahn ethnicity • Appointed Mandingos to positions in rural government and granted them preferential business opportunities Samuel Doe’s tyrannical rule • Populist policies • U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • SCSL Press Clippings
    SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE PRESS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE PRESS CLIPPINGS Enclosed are clippings of local and international press on the Special Court and related issues obtained by the Press and Public Affairs Office as at: Wednesday, 6 February 2008 Press clips are produced Monday through Friday. Any omission, comment or suggestion, please contact Martin Royston-Wright Ext 7217 2 Local News Prison Officers Recognised by Special Court / Awoko Page 3 International News (Untitled) / BBC World Service Trust Page 4 UNMIL Public Information Office Complete Media Summaries / UNMIL Pages 5-6 Former Rep Critical of Truth Commission / Star Radio Page 7 Prince Johnson Warns TRC to Stop Bothering Him / The Analyst Pages 8-10 3 Awoko Wednesday, 6 February 2008 4 BBC World Service Trust Tuesday, 4 February 2008 By Joseph Cheeseman at The Hague. CHEESEMAN: The tenth witness on the stand of the Special Court has testified to some gruesome atrocities allegedly committed in Sierra Leone by the RUF with the support of Charles Taylor. Perry Kamara, a former radio operator of the RUF, told the Special Court captured women were forced into marriage. He also said children abducted were taken to some of the bases for training. Looting and pillaging of Sierra Leone’s diamonds, sexual slavery, forced labour and recruitment of child soldiers are some of the counts against Charles Taylor. Speaking confidently in his seat positioned directly opposite the three regular Judges and the alternate, Perry explained to the Court how civilians in the RUF territory were treated during a special operation. KAMARA: Whatever village we got to or towns, the commander should pass an order that the village should be burnt down.
    [Show full text]
  • Yesterday Warlord, Today Presidential Candidate : Ex-Military
    Yesterday warlord, today presidential Ex-military leaders running for candidate office in post-civil war societies Fofana Abraham Henrik Persson Anders Themnér Policy note no 4:2019 Yesterday warlord, today presidential candidate : Ex-military leaders running for office in post-civil war societies NAI Policy Note No 4:2019 © Nordiska Afrikainstitutet/The Nordic Africa Institute, June 2019 The opinions expressed in this volume are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI). You can find this, and all other titles in the NAI policy notes series, in our digital archive Diva, www.nai.diva- portal.org, where they are also available as open access resources for any user to read or download at no cost. Rights and Permissions This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0). You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work under the following conditions: Attribution. If you cite this work, the attribu- tion must include the name(s) of the aut- hor(s), the work’s title and copyright notices. Translations. If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This translation was not created by The Nordic Africa Institute and should not be consi- dered an official Nordic Africa Institute translation. The Nordic Africa Institute shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation. Adaptations. If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This is an adaptation of an original work by The Nordic Africa Institute.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil War and State Formation and State Gerdes Civil War
    Liberia was the scene of two devastating civil wars since late 1989 and became widely consid- ered a failed state. By contrast, the country is frequently described as a success story since the international professional Ellen Johnson Sirleaf assumed the presidency following democrat- ic elections in 2005. The book investigates the Felix Gerdes political economy of civil war and democratic peace and puts the developments into histori- cal perspective. The author argues that the civ- il wars did not represent the breakdown of the state but exhibited dynamics characteristic of Civil War state formation. His analysis of continuity and change in Liberia’s political evolution details and State Formation both political progress and persistent structur- The Political Economy of War and Peace in Liberia al deficits of the polity. Mikropo- Civil War and State Formation and State Civil War Gerdes ISBN 978-3-593-39892-1 litik der www.campus.de Gewalt Civil War and State Formation Mikropolitik der Gewalt – Micropolitics of Violence Volume 9 Edited by Klaus Schlichte and Peter Waldmann Felix Gerdes, Dr. phil., is political scientist and specializes in politics of Sub- Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. He currently works as Academic Staff at Zaman University, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Felix Gerdes Civil War and State Formation The Political Economy of War and Peace in Liberia Campus Verlag Frankfurt/New York Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie. Detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISBN 978-3-593-39892-1 All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberia – Kru Tribe
    Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: LBR23755 Country: Liberia Date: 24 October 2005 Keywords: Liberia – Kru tribe – Ethnic Kru – Kru language – Prince Johnson – Independent National Patriotic Forces of Liberia (INPFL) – Independent Democratic Party (IDP) – Civil war This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Questions 1. Is the Kru tribe a minority in Liberia? 2. Are the Kru a subgroup of any other language/ethnic group? 3. Did the Kru support Prince Johnson or any other politician/faction? RESPONSE 1. Is the Kru tribe a minority in Liberia? The Kru tribe is one of 16 indigenous ethnic minorities in Liberia and comprises about 7% of the population (see attachments 1-6). 2. Are the Kru a subgroup of any other language/ethnic group? The Kru (or Kruan) language belongs to the Niger-Congo language family and is itself a family of languages that is comprised of several ethno-linguistic subgroups. Kru is spoken by several of the 16 ethnic groups currently residing in Liberia (see attachments 7-11). 3. Did the Kru support Prince Johnson or any other politician/faction? After extensive searches of the sources listed above, no evidence could be found that the Kru supported Prince Johnson, his faction, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) or any other politician or faction.
    [Show full text]
  • US Covert and Overt Operations in Liberia, 1970S to 2003
    ASPJ Africa & Francophonie - 3rd Quarter 2014 US Covert and Overt Operations in Liberia, 1970s to 2003 NIELS HAHN, PHD* Introduction and Background ith support from the US Navy, the American Colonization Soci- ety founded Liberia as an American colony in 1822 with the in- tention of sending rebellious blacks who were formerly slaves “back to Africa.”1 To reduce the administration cost of the colony and limit the responsibility of the US government (USG), Liberia was granted independence in 1847.2 The constitution was written at Harvard University, and W 3 the flag adopted was similar to that of the United States but with only one star. Although Liberia had all of the outward features of an independent state, the American Colonization Society and the USG de facto governed it indirectly. As former research director and president of the US Foreign Policy Association Ray- mond Leslie Buell puts it, Liberia survived “through visits of United States war- ships to Liberian ports and through more urbane gestures, the United States has posted a keep-off-the-grass sign on Liberian soil.”4 Liberia became a foothold of the USG in Africa during European colonial- ism, a place from where it could project its interests into other parts of the conti- nent. In 1926 the Firestone Company established one of the world’s largest rub- ber plantations in Liberia as a response to the British rubber monopoly.5 In the following decades, the USG put in place a number of military facilities such as a deep-sea port, an airport, and numerous military bases and training camps.
    [Show full text]
  • LIBERIA Santa Foya a Touba Kolahun Ff Kailahun Buedu Lo Mt
    12 11 Guéckédou 10 9 8 7 ° ° Koindu ° Macenta ° ° ° a n Voinjama o Mendekoma ak M LIBERIA Santa Foya a Touba Kolahun ff Kailahun Buedu Lo Mt. e GUINEA Wuteve g n Pendembu a a 8 Vahun R w LIBERIA 8 ° i a ° Bo M LOFA iz L agowi g Zigida o l e o g Kenema W n a Daru R zi gi Lola ne Glanlé o Nzérékoré SIERRA LEONE o W r Zorzor r e a o Mt. o M Zuie ng Biankouma a a M y Gletohn R be Mt. fa Nuon-Fa Gorahun G f Fassama Salayea Yekepa a o i b L ia n V a im N GBARPOLU Belle Yella M Sanniquellie Man Zimmi Diéké Zorgowee a Bombor Junction Kpo Mountains nd Monts des Dang Gumgbeta ia Belefanai Danané no N a Ganta M GRAND Foequelleh Tahn Flumpa Bopolu ul 7 Pa 7 ° CAPE t. Bangolo ° Bo Water Side Gbarma S Suacoco Gbarnga Saclepea MOUNT Sulima Tiene BONG Kpaai Tubmanburg Bong Town Gbatala Lake Butlo Piso Mecca Salala NIMBA Binhouyé a Duékoué Sinje ll Robertsport a BOMI Zuolay v Zekepa on a u C Klay MARGIBI Botota N Kakata Toulepleu Guiglo n Tapita oh Sa Bensonville J ss t. an Careysburg S d r Gboyi C a Toe Town av CÔTE Monrovia Harbel alla Kola GRAND BASSA Kangbo Towai Town D'IVOIRE MONTSERRADO Marshall Zleh Town Hartford G Gboleken 6 w Zwedru 6 ° e ° n (Tchien) Bolowhea C Chayee r Edina e e o k GRAND GEDEH Taï Buchanan b Garpu Drubo m C i (Dubwe) T RIVER CESS) a Trade Town s v o t Duabo Galio a es e l Yepa Town g l (C e a s n Dub (Du es Pennoken a ob C R e ) Timbo Gbokohn n Shabli h tu Sehnkwe u P Yibuke Cestos City Jakakehn (Kaobli) International boundary Juazohn County boundary RIVER GEE SINOE Tiehnpo Kopo o Fish Town National capital in S Bame Tawake County capital gbe Du Tutuke 5 5 ° A TLANTIC ° o Town, village s b s u e Kodeke D C Road Greenville O CEAN d Sinoe n a MARYLAND Nyaake r Railroad Bay G Airport Nana Kru GRAND KRU 0 20 40 60 80 km Sasstown Barclayville Nemeke The boundaries and names shown and the designations used 0 10 20 30 40 50 mi Grand Cess Plibo on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance Tabou by the United Nations.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberian History
    Liberian History Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean. Liberia has a hot equatorial climate with most rainfall arriving in summer with harsh harmattan winds in the dry season. Liberia's populated Pepper Coast is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the sparse inland is forested, later opening to a plateau of drier grasslands. Since 1989, Liberia has been in a state of flux witnessing two civil wars, the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996), and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), displacing hundreds of thousands of people and devastating the country's economy. The name Liberia denotes "liberty" as Black Americans moved to Liberia in 1822, who founded the country in 1847 with the support of the American Colonization Society creating a new ethnic group called the Americo-Liberians. However, this introduction of a new ethnic mix compounded ethnic tensions with the sixteen other main ethnicities. History of Liberia Anthropological research shows the region of Liberia was inhabited at least as far back as the 12th century, perhaps earlier. Mende speaking people expanded westward, forcing many smaller ethnic groups southward towards the Atlantic ocean. The Deys, Bassa, Kru, Gola and Gissi were some of the earliest recorded arrivals. This influx was compounded during the ancient decline of the Western Sudanic Mali Empire in 1375 and later in 1591 with the Songhai Empire. Additionally, inland regions underwent desertification, and inhabitants were pressured to move to the wetter Pepper Coast.
    [Show full text]