A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

compound was later forced to go to Fendell.
The rebels told my family we had to leave ELWA. The rebels said “just
follow us.” Everyone there, about two hundred people, had to pack their
stuff, and start walking. We walked through bushes until, at night, we
stopped at a big open field. The field was in the area of Duport Road, but I
was not sure of its exact location. The rebels said everyone had to rest until
the next day. Near the field was a big house. There was a fenced area around
the house. The rebels were taking all the women and girls into a fenced
area around the house. I saw girls that went into the house that were crying,
saying they had been raped. My dad was scared for me, but I had to go inside
the fenced area while the men in my family stayed outside in the field. I
never went in the house—I stayed outside and hid beneath a flower bush. I
was not raped, and I didn’t see anyone get raped, but I saw one girl come out
with torn clothes, crying and saying she got raped by seven soldiers. In the
morning the soldiers opened the gates and let people out. I was able to find
my brothers and father. 94
A statement giver now living in Ghana described trying to seek a safe refuge among the chaos in
Monrovia in the summer of 1990:
When the rebels…overran Paynesville, I fled from my home. That was
during the earliest part of July 1990. My younger brother…also fled along
with me to the ELWA compound. We stayed there for about two weeks. The
U.S marines that were assigned there were recalled by their government.
After their withdrawal, the NPFL rebels took over the compound. They
beat and killed some people. They also forced us to go to Fendell. 95
One statement giver noted that those fleeing the conflict were used as “human shields” and “slaves”
at Fendell. 96 News of the dangerous conditions at Fendell spread, and some Liberians sought to warn
others to stay away.
The government told people to go to a college campus called Fendell in
Cuttington, outside Monrovia. They were told that from Fendell they would
be taken by bus to their hometowns so they would be safe, but the people
taken away on the buses were killed. If we saw journalists on the road to
Monrovia, we stopped the journalists and told the journalists, “If you see
our friends, tell them not to come to Fendell. Tell everyone, it is dangerous
here. It is not safe.” 97
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