A Chronology of Liberian bloodbath 14-Year War

The spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) remains ever determined to bring to book all those responsible for the depopulation of the nation over the 14 years civil war to answer to the role they played in the long disturbing bloodbath. Justice is indeed precious and beneficial, but where it is being delayed, obviously what is implied is then that the latter is also being denied. Here are some of the highlights as indicated below.

April 12, 1980 - Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe, with only a few years of schooling to his name, staged a bloody coup d’etat, murdering civilian president William R. Tolbert on grounds of rampant corruption and mismanagement. April 22, 1980 - Army officers publicly stripped and drilled or executed 13 government officials by firing squad at a beachside military barrack in the capital, Monrovia. Most of them were from the educated elite; however, the then Minister of Finance Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, through the mercy of the Most High fled the country with her life .1985.

October 15, 1985 - Samuel Doe organized and won Liberia’s first multi-party general elections. Opposition leaders cried foul. November 12, 1985 - Samuel Doe’s former comrade in arms General Thomas Quiwonkpa staged a half-baked and short-lived invasion which was after few hours aborted after Doe’s regime tasted a brief topple. Later that day, Doe announced about the failed coup as his loyal military took to the streets to celebrate. Within days, Quiwonkpa was arrested and murdered by Doe’s armed loyalists in Monrovia.

January 6, 1986 - Samuel Doe was inaugurated as the president of the Second Republic and a new constitution - that remains in force today - came into effect. December 24, 1989 - Civil war started with Charles Ghanky Taylor mounting an insurgency from neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire into the northeastern Liberian border town of Butuo in Nimba County, helped by a group of guerrilla fighters trained in Libya

1990.

May 30, 1990 - ECOWAS heads of State gathered in Banjul, Gambia, to discuss the Liberian civil war. A five-member Standing Mediation Committee was set up to thrash out a peace settlement to end the Liberian civil war. June 1990 - Charles Taylor’s rebels and Doe’s army battled in Monrovia leading to indiscriminate killings of civilians including massive displacement.

July 1990 - Some 600 men, women and children who fled gun battles to take refuge in the Lutheran Church in Monrovia were massacred by government soldiers. July 6, 1990 - ECOWAS leaders met again in Banjul and agreed to send a multinational peacekeeping force into Monrovia.

July 1990 - A splinter group from Charles Taylor’s rebel movement emerged under the Command of General Prince Johnson and entered Monrovia. August 7, 1990 - ECOWAS Standing Mediation Committee established a Military Observer Group (ECOMOG), with the direct aim of resolving internal conflict in West Africa and in particular in Liberia.

August 8, 1990 - Taylor’s rebel fighters entered the Nigerian Embassy in Monrovia, thus killing scores of Nigerians who had sought refuge there while urging their leaders to send peacekeepers into Liberia. August 24, 1990 – The first batch of 4,000 West African ECOMOG peacekeepers’ ships led by Ghana and Nigeria and comprising soldiers from Guinea could for the first time be viewed on the Atlantic Ocean in Monrovia, Liberia.

At the same time, Sierra Leone and the Gambia landed in Monrovia. Taylor’s rebels, who opposed their intervention, greeted them with gunfire and attacks. September 9, 1990 - President Samuel Doe was captured and tortured to death by Prince Johnson and his rebel fighters. The event was filmed and distributed in the capital. November 27, 1990 – First attempts at peace talks brokered by ECOWAS were held in Bamako, Mali with Professor Amos Sawyer sworn in as Liberia’s first Interim Head of State. November 28 1990 - Taylor’s rebels and Doe’s soldiers signed Liberia’s first ceasefire agreement in Bamako, Mali.

December 21, 1990 - Another peace agreement was signed in Banjul between the Interim Government, Taylor’s rebels and the remains of Doe’s loyalists. January 1991 - Rebel leader Charles Taylor quashed previously signed peace deals and formed a government based in the central Liberian town of Gbarnga. At this stage his forces controlled 90 percent of the country.

February 13, 1991 - The Lome Peace Agreement was signed to clear the way for the deployment of ECOMOG peacekeepers throughout Liberia. The deal was never implemented. April 1991 - The United Liberation Movement for Democracy (ULIMO) formed by former Doe loyalists in Guinea and Sierra Leone respectively invaded Liberia to resist Charles Taylor. Alhaji V.G. Kromah, a former Information Minister under Doe, emerged as ULIMO’s rebel leader.

June 30, 1991 - Rebel leader Charles Taylor and Interim President Amos Sawyer met in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire, for a reconciliation meeting. October 14, 1992 - Charles Taylor’s rebels launched an all-out attack on peacekeepers and the interim government in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

July 17, 1993 - ULIMO, the Interim Government and Taylor’s rebels met and signed a ceasefire agreement in Geneva. July 25, 1993 - Another peace deal was signed in Cotonou, Benin, brokered by ECOWAS, the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) and the UN. Planned for disarmament and a new transitional government to organize general elections in February 1994 – which never took place - although all agreed.

September 12, 1994 – Another peace accord was signed by all the warring parties in Akosombo, Ghana, again brokered by ECOWAS. Warring parties accepted to establish a five-member state council to oversee general elections in October 1995. The elections never materialized. December 21, 1994 – Warring parties travelled to Accra, Ghana for more peace talks and agreed to elections in November 1995 that again never took place.

September 1995 - Warlords Charles Taylor, Alhaji Kromah and George Boley were sworn along with three civilian representatives as members of a collective presidency as a catalyst of support that would lead to the formation of a transitional government. April 6, 1996 - Gun battles erupted in Monrovia between allied forces of Charles Taylor and Alhaji Kromah against forces of dead warlord Roosevelt Johnson who had led a splinter group from Kromah’s ULIMO named and styled as ULIMO-J. Some 1000 civilians were killed in the process and private homes as well as UN’s facilities looted.

August 17, 1996 - Another peace deal was signed by the now seven warring parties and civil society representatives in Abuja, Nigeria again brokered by ECOWAS. Ruth Sando Perry was chosen to chair a new transitional government to organize elections on May 30, 1997. November 22, 1996 - ECOMOG commenced the disarmament of warring groups with assistance from the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia.

July 19, 1997 - Charles Taylor won ECOWAS-supervised elections in which two other warlords Alhaji Kromah and George Boley ran. Taylor’s campaign song included the words: “He killed my Ma, he killed my Pa, I’ll vote for him!” August 4, 1997 - Charles Taylor was sworn in as President before six West African heads of state in Monrovia for a six-year term. September 18, 1998 - Taylor’s government security forces clashed with former rebels.

April 1999 - Dissidents believed to be from Guinea, called the Joint Forces of Liberation for Liberia (JFFL), launched their first attack in Liberia raiding villages and holding six international aid workers hostage. July 1999 - A rebel group of exiled Liberians form a rebel faction in Freetown, Sierra Leone named Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to oppose Taylor’s regime.

September 2000 - LURD rebels launched their insurgency from Guinea raiding villages in northern Liberia’s Lofa County. May 2001 - UN Security Council reinforced an arms embargo on Liberia over Charles Taylor’s gun-running in return for diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone. February 8, 2002 - Charles Taylor declared a state of emergency after LURD’s rebels made gains in northwestern Liberia.

June 4, 2003 - Liberia peace talks opened in Accra, Ghana, and the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone indicted Charles Taylor’s on 17 counts of war crimes committed in supporting rebels in Sierra Leone. June 6, 2003 - First offensive by LURD’s rebels on the southern seafront capital, Monrovia and on June 24, 2003 – LURD’s rebels renewed a second offensive on Monrovia, but were repelled by Taylor’s troops.

June 17, 2003 - Mediators from LURD and a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) along with Taylor government representatives signed a first ceasefire following peace talks in Accra, Ghana. July 19, 2003 – The Ceasefire was broken and LURD staged their third and final attack on Monrovia leaving almost 600,000 displaced. As shelling of the city intensified, more than 1,000 civilians were killed. June 27, 2003 - Another ceasefire signed in Accra, Ghana.

July 4, 2003 - ECOWAS military chiefs agreed to send 3,000 regional peacekeepers to Liberia to restore peace. July 6, 2003 - Charles Taylor buckled under international pressure and agreed to leave Liberia and take up asylum in Nigeria after being offered shelter by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

August 4, 2003 – The first batch of 200 West African peacekeepers from Nigeria landed as part of a regional force sent to stabilize Liberia. August 11, 2003 - Charles Taylor stepped down handing over power to his vice president, Moses Z. Blah. Three African heavyweight leaders travelled to Monrovia to grace the ceremony.

August 18, 2003 - Liberia’s three warring parties and civilian representatives signed the comprehensive Peace Agreement. August 21, 2003 - Warring parties selected non-partisan Gyude Bryant and Wesley Johnson as head and deputy head of the power-sharing transitional government. September 19, 2003 – The UN Security Council authorized 15,000 blue-helmet peacekeepers for Liberia. October 1, 2003 - UN Peacekeepers began their mandate in Liberia.

October 14, 2003 – A power-sharing Transitional Government made up of representatives from armed groups and civilian society is inaugurated. December 1, 2003 – The UN formally launched a country-wide disarmament program for former combatants. December 7, 2003 - Fighters rioted in Monrovia over poor organization of disarmament forcing a temporary suspension of the program. December 27, 2003 - UN peacekeepers made their first deployment outside of Monrovia.

January 12, 2004 – UN training exercise of a new Liberian police force began. February 4, 2004 – A conference on reconstructing Liberia kicks-off in New York and US$520 million was pledged to help rebuild the tattered West African country. April 15, 2004 - Nation-wide disarmament program re-started after a three-month suspension.

October 31, 2004, the power sharing transitional government announced the official end of disarmament with close to 100,000 men women and child fighters disarmed. Yet disarmament continued in some remote regions. November 3, 2004 - Liberia’s three warring parties were officially dissolved. November 8, 2004 – A first batch of internally displaced people began their journeys home. February 7, 2005 – The National Elections Commission released the timetable for legislative and presidential elections on 11 October.

October 11, 2005 - Internationally supervised presidential and legislative elections were held. Retired soccer star millionaire George M. Weah and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf qualified for a second round run-off poll. November 8, 2005 – Liberians went to the polls for a second time to choose between the two remaining presidential candidates, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George Weah.

November 23, 2005 – The National Electoral Commission declared Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf winner of the run-off election. January 16, 2006 - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated as Liberia and Africa’s first elected female president. In November 2011, she won a run-off election, beating Winston Tubman of the CDC and was inaugurated on January16, 2012 for a second term.