A Few Personal Testimonies
Of The Civil War
"The hurt and the trauma and the pain is so widespread, we bury it and just walk around with it."
Doris K.Parker, Testimonies to the Liberian Truth Commission, June 10th 2008
Joshua Milton Blayee also known as the former General Butt naked now turned An evangelical pastor described the atrocities he and his men committed during the Liberian civil war, including magical rituals that involved slaughtering children and eating their hearts
Allen Nicholas, testifying former NPFL fighter said forces of the NPFL killed almost 600 men, women and children at Carter Camp.
Amnesty International. Sexual violence is believed to have affected around two-thirds of Liberia's female population as a result of the civil war.
29-year-old woman: "I was pregnant, running away from the camp near St Paul bridge. Three government soldiers caught me and raped me. They beat me and my unborn baby died. All my belongings were stolen."
Rev. Claudius Cooper. Rebel soldiers forced him to bury decomposing bodies in exchange for a cup of rice, so precious a commodity it was then known as “gold dust.”
Gaye said, of her brother: “My mother was present when they killed her son in front of her, she passed out. Before they killed him, he asked ‘Can I say a prayer?' And they said, 'Yes, go ahead and say a prayer', then they killed him. I’m a Christian says the Mother, we pray with each other, we cry, and then try to forget.”
Joedafi: The rebel soldiers took my friend and broke his arms. We watched on with horror as they detached his arms from his body with a sharp machete. Then they slit through his throat. Hishead rolled off his body.
Joedafi continued: I was dozing off to sleep, I heard a 'silent voice' call my name, commanding me to rise up and walk away from my captors. It was so commanding, I obeyed instantly, walked past sleeping guards out to the road passing many rebel soldiers but not one of them ask me any questions. I walked through check-points and wasn't stopped once.
Posner Truth and Reconciliation Committee: I view this as really the start of healing process for this country. I don’t think anybody going into it can quite prepare for the experience. After my first interview, I was physically sick the next day after hearing the stories.”
Posner said: “Two things that amaze me: how depraved humanity can be and two, the people I’ve been interviewing — one of the questions we ask is, ‘What do we do to reconcile if family members have been killed, to reconcile with that perpetrator ? It’s amazing how many say, ‘I forgive them, I’m moving on.’ ”
