A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

If you are a man and wear a red T-shirt and jean pants, they felt that was the
rebel uniform and you were killed. They killed my brother-in-law. He had on
jean pants. He liked to wear them. He did not know the AFL were looking
for pants that color. The AFL were of President Doe’s tribe. They shot my
brother-in-law. He drove a taxi. 104
Government attempts to identify suspected rebels heightened the risks of traveling, and one statement
giver described how perilous it was to move through the country at this time. He stated, “If you
lived in another town and were going to Monrovia, you might reach there by the grace of God. The
Liberian Army will kill you.” 105
In Monrovia, as in Greater Liberia, the Doe government continued its sweep. In January and February
1990, the government made hundreds of warrantless arrests of Gio and Mano males. 106 A statement
giver living in Monrovia described witnessing AFL soldiers seizing Gio and Mano people in the spring
of 1990: “Day and night, I saw Krahn soldiers of the AFL
take away civilians of the Gio and Mano ethnic groups.
These people were my neighbors who never came back
after they were taken/carried away.” 107 The detentions were
often coupled with the disappearances or killings of NPFL
supporters, Gio, and Mano people. 108 A Gio government
inspector described seeing numerous corpses when AFL
soldiers arrested him and took him to their barracks in
1990:
When I entered inside, I saw a lot of dead bodies -- hundreds. I could not
recognize any of them. There were wounded people without any medical
attention. On March 7, they sent a grader to bury the people, right behind
the barracks. The grader covered them with soil. 109
riSe of the independent national patriotic front of liBeria (inpfl)
The hostilities between Charles Taylor’s NPFL and Doe’s AFL were soon exacerbated by the rise
of another fighting faction. In July 1990, a split developed between Taylor and a group of NPFL
fighters led by Prince Johnson. 110 Prince Johnson launched a splinter group known as the INPFL,
comprised of approximately 500 combatants. 111 The INPFL gained control of areas in Monrovia 112
and established its base in the city’s outskirts at Caldwell. The rise of the INPFL increased the risks to
civilians, as they not only became subject to violations by fighters in INFPL territory, but also could
be suspected of association with yet another faction.
140
“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary
arrest or detention. No one shall be
deprived of his liberty except on such
grounds and in accordance with such
procedure as are established by law.”
Art. 9(1), International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.