Liberia: War in Lofa County does not justify killing, torture and abduction
Amnesty International today called on the Liberian government and armed opposition groups based in Guinea immediately to end abductions of women, children and other civilians.
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
30 April 2001
AFR 34/004/2001
77/01
AOne of the ATU [Anti-Terrorist Unit] members told the
others >He is going to give us information on the rebel business=
. They took me to Gbatala. I saw many holes in
which prisoners were held. I could hear them crying, calling for
help and lamenting that they were hungry and they were
dying.@ (Testimony of a young man detained at Gbatala military
base in August 2000.)
Amnesty International today called on the Liberian
government and armed opposition groups based in Guinea
immediately to end abductions of women, children and other
civilians.
In a report published by Amnesty International today
titled -- Liberia: War in Lofa County does not justify killing,
torture and abduction (AI Index: AFR 34/003/2001) -- the
organization details the findings of its research mission to the
area and calls on the international community to demand an
immediate end to the Liberian government's rampant torture and
killings of unarmed citizens suspected of supporting the rebels
coming from Guinea.
"The fighting in Lofa County is rife with human rights
abuses. The international community must act urgently to stop
those abuses, including by requesting the Guinean government to
intercede with Liberian armed opposition groups based in its
territory," Amnesty International said.
Since the renewal of armed incursions from Guinea into
Lofa County in July 2000, the human rights situation has been
deteriorating daily. Women and girls fleeing the outbreak of
hostilities since February 2001 have been arrested at checkpoints
and gang-raped by Liberian government forces. In early April
2001, a three-month pregnant woman was grabbed near Zorzor, Lofa
County, by an officer of the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), a special
government security unit. She was repeatedly raped until being
released a few days later. ATU officers beat her, stepped on her
stomach and flogged her in custody, as a result of which she lost
her baby.
Since 2000 alone, dozens of civilians have allegedly been
deliberately killed on suspicion of backing the armed incursions
from Guinea and more than 100 civilians, including women, have
been tortured by the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) and other
government forces. Unofficial detention centres include the
military base in Gbatala, central Liberia, recently investigated
by the UN for being a training base for the Sierra Leonean
Revolutionary United Front (RUF), responsible for widespread
killings, abductions, amputations and other abuses in Sierra
Leone. Other suspected dissidents have been held and tortured at
the ATU cells behind the Executive Mansion, the office of the
presidency in Monrovia, the capital.
According to testimonies and other evidence gathered by
Amnesty International during its three- week visit to Liberia in
February 2001, civilians suspected of backing the dissidents are
held in holes dug in the ground at the military base in Gbatala.
Some of the holes are filled with dirty water. Prisoners are
flogged, kicked and beaten including with gun butts; some have
had plastic melted on their bodies or cigarettes put out on their
skin; others have been forced to roll in the mud, walk on broken
glass with their bare feet or eat hot pepper. Suspects are
regularly tabied, which means that their arms are tied together
so tightly behind their backs that their elbows touch. The
victims met by the Amnesty International delegates still bore
scars and marks of torture and were visibly traumatized.
In early April 2001, in response to significant military
advances in upper Lofa County by the armed opposition groups,
President Taylor announced that a 15,000 force composed of former
fighters of his warring faction, the National Patriotic Front of
Liberia (NPFL), would be assembled to fight in Lofa County. The
NPFL, as well as other former warring factions, was responsible
for widespread human rights abuses during the 1989-1996 civil
war. Amnesty International calls on the Liberian government to
ensure that these forces do not carry out further human rights
violations.
As a result of renewed fighting in Lofa County in July
2000 and pending UN sanctions on Liberia, currently under
discussion at the UN Security Council, internal repression and
intolerance by the government of any form of scrutiny by Liberian
human rights organizations, journalists, students and opposition
members has reached alarming levels. The security forces have
used a wide range of means including rape and other forms of
torture to silence them and other government critics.Virtually
every month since July 2000, human rights defenders, journalists
or political opponents have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured
or forced to flee the country. During one of the latest
crackdowns, on 21 March 2001, more than 40 university students,
often on the front-line in promoting and defending human rights
in Liberia, were held incommunicado and beaten with gun butts,
kicked and humiliated by members of the Special Operation
Division (SOD) and the ATU. Female students were raped.
Background information
Following the publication in December 2000 of a UN report
containing evidence of Liberian military support to the RUF and
illicit trade of diamonds from RUF-held areas through Liberia,
the UN Security Council on 7 March 2001, reiterated the 1992 ban
on arms transfers to Liberia.It also introduced a new ban on
diamond exports from Liberia and travel for senior officials. The
ban is due to come into effect on 7 May 2001, unless Liberia
complies with the UN Security Council's demands. These include
ceasing military support to the RUF, expelling RUF members from
Liberia and stopping the import of rough diamonds from Sierra
Leone.
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