A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

Liberians engaged in an array of tactics to survive the innumerable checkpoints. One man noted
that he survived because he knew many Liberian dialects and would speak whichever dialect he
thought would be least threatening to the fighters he encountered. 81 Another statement giver said
that her “Auntie tried to keep everyone together and in the center of the groups moving through the
checkpoints, because those on the edges were more likely to be pulled off the line.” 82 Sometimes life
or death was simple blind luck – a statement giver said that at one checkpoint “the soldiers shot every
fourth person in line for no apparent reason.” 83
Most who were pulled off the line did not survive, but a statement giver now living in Ghana told the
TRC of being pulled off the line and ultimately released at a checkpoint in Kakata.
The rebels told me to tell my family to go on ahead because I was going to
die there. After my family left, I again pleaded with them not to kill me,
saying, “I don’t think I deserve to die for no reason.” Finally, one of the
rebels said, “Let’s leave him.” That rebel left and two others walked with
me, telling me that if I was there tomorrow, they would kill me. At this time,
my spirit left me, and I thought I was dead. I became mute, and was unable
to speak for days. 84
Checkpoints were also used for forced recruitment of
adults and children as fighters, sexual slaves, and forced
laborers. One statement giver now living in Minnesota
recounted that her entire family was pulled off the
line and “were sent to do forced labor, unloading the
cargo at the port of Monrovia, which the rebels were
systematically looting. One [of them] was told to stay
behind to watch over the little children, while the rest
of the family was forced to load trucks…[They] were
forced to work unloading cargo for the rest of the day,
and they had to sleep overnight at the docks. The next
day, the rebel commander came down and ordered
them all to get out of the area, and began beating
people, so they ran away as fast as they could.” 85
Another statement giver traveling from Monrovia to Buchanan with his family noted that it was
dangerous for men to travel because of the risk of forced recruitment and dangerous for women
because of the risk of rape and other assault. 86 He had been pulled off the line at one checkpoint
but was saved by a former student who was a young fighter. Forced recruitment along the highway
between Monrovia and Sierra Leone was well documented. 87 One statement giver now residing in
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