 |
Sekou Damate Conneh, Jr. (born 1960) is a Liberian politician and former rebel leader.
|
Sekou Damate Conneh, Jr. (born 1960) is a Liberian politician and former rebel leader.
Born in 1960 in the town of Gbarnga, Liberia (Bong County) to an ethnic Mandingo Muslim family, Conneh attended St. Martin's Cathedral School from 1966 to 1973. He attended William Tubman Methodist High School where he received his diploma in 1979.
He first became active in politics in 1980 when he joined the opposition Progressive People's Party; this was formed as one of the first legally recognized opposition parties in Liberia in more than 100 years. Ethnic indigenous groups in Liberia, who comprise some 95% of the population in the 21st century, had grown impatient with restrictions and lack of power under governments dominated by the True Whig Party, whose leaders were primarily Americo-Liberians, an ethnic group descended from African-American colonists of the early and mid-19th century.
Conneh had been a member of the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL), the PPP's mother organization. He served as a senior party coordinator for the Kokoyah district in Bong County before fleeing to Uganda when the administration of President William Tolbert banned the PPP and arrested some of its leaders.
In 1985, after the Tolbert government was overthrown by Samuel Doe, Conneh returned to Liberia in a bid to contest the upcoming legislative election on the ticket of the United People's Party (UPP). The party was later banned by Doe's increasingly autocratic government, allegedly for possessing a 'foreign ideology'. In 1986, Conneh found employment in the Ministry of Finance, working as a revenue agent in Rivercess County. In 1988, he was transferred to Montserrado County, where he remained until the collapse of President Samuel Doe's regime in 1990 after a decade of rule.
During the period of civil war in the country, Conneh moved to Guinea. There he founded and served as the managing director of the Damate Corporation, an export and import business entity based in Conakry. The corporation's main activity involved the trading of second-hand cars imported from Europe. In his testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia he claims that he does not know French, the official language of Guinea. [1]
After the civil war ended and elections were held, Conneh returned to Liberia to resume his former job as a revenue agent for the Ministry of Finance. Soon after, he quit and returned to car trading in Conakry. This time, Conneh began exporting second-hand cars purchased in Guinea to Liberia. Liberian intelligence officers accused him of smuggling, and he was arrested and moved to a prison cell in Monrovia. His wife, Aisha, appealed to Guinean president Lansana Conté to intervene and ask for Conneh's release. She was the daughter of Conte's soothsayer. With his release obtained, Conneh returned to Guinea.
In April 1999, several veteran opponents of President Charles Taylor formed a rebel movement known as Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). LURD was to some extent a successor to United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO). Based on a power sharing agreement between Krahn and Mandingo united around a single maxim: Taylor must go. Conneh was appointed chairman of LURD, because of his wife's high-level contacts with the Guinean government. Civil war resumed in Liberia in 1999 after clashes between LURD rebels and government forces. [2]
Following the departure of Charles Taylor under international pressure and the setting up of a broad-based transitional government, which represented multiple ethnic groups and political parties, LURD and other rebel groups finally disbanded.
Conneh's supporters founded the Progressive Democratic Party (PRODEM) in preparation for upcoming elections, scheduled for 11 October 2005. Conneh was nominated as the party's presidential candidate, but received only 0.56% [3] of the vote in the election that brought Ellen Sirleaf to power as president. [4]
Testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on August 28, 2008, Conneh said that, during the war, Sierra Leone and Guinea had allowed the LURD rebels free passage "through their borders with our arms without any questions from them". [5]
Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Cote d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south. It is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry after its capital Conakry, to distinguish it from other territories in the eponymous region such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of 14 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi).
Liberia is a country in West Africa founded by free people of color from the United States. The emigration of African Americans, both freeborn and recently emancipated, was funded and organized by the American Colonization Society (ACS). The mortality rate of these settlers was the highest among settlements reported with modern recordkeeping. Of the 4,571 emigrants who arrived in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only 1,819 survived (39.8%).
The Politics of Liberia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic modeled on the government of the United States, whereby the President is the head of state and head of government; unlike the United States, however, Liberia is a unitary state as opposed to a federation and has a pluriform multi-party system rather than the two-party system that characterizes US politics. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the legislature.
Samuel Kanyon Doe was a Liberian politician who served as the 21st president of Liberia from 1986 to 1990. He ruled Liberia as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council (PRC) from 1980 to 1986 and then as president from 1986 to 1990.
Prince Yormie Johnson is a Liberian politician who has served as a senator for Nimba County since 2006. A former rebel leader, Johnson played a prominent role in the First Liberian Civil War.
Charles Gyude Bryant was a Liberian politician and businessman. He served as the Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia from 14 October 2003 to 16 January 2006. The installation of the transitional government was part of the peace agreement to end the country's second civil war, which had raged since the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebelled against President Charles Taylor in 1999. Bryant was previously a businessman and was chosen as chairman because he was seen as politically neutral and therefore acceptable to each of the warring factions, which included LURD, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), and loyalists of former President Taylor. He was a prominent member of the Episcopal Church of Liberia, and was critical of the governments of Samuel Doe (1980–90) and Taylor (1997–2003).
The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) was a rebel group in Liberia that was active from 1999 until the resignation of Charles Taylor ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. While the group formally dissolved after the war, the interpersonal linkages of the civil war era remain a key force in internal Liberian politics.
The First Liberian Civil War was the first of two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia. It lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of the support of the United States by the late 1980s. The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast to overthrow Doe in December 1989 and gained control over most of the country within a year. Doe was captured and executed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter faction of the NPFL led by Prince Johnson, in September 1990. The NPFL and INPFL fought each other for control of the capital city, Monrovia and against the Armed Forces of Liberia and pro-Doe United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy. Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 but fighting continued until a peace agreement between the main factions occurred in August 1996. Taylor was elected President of Liberia following the 1997 Liberian general election and entered office in August of the same year.
The United People's Party (UPP) is a political party in Liberia. It formed in the 1980s as a successor to the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), but was initially banned under President Samuel Doe because of its "socialist leanings".
The Second Liberian Civil War was a civil war in the West African nation of Liberia that lasted from 1999 to 2003.
The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) was a Liberian rebel group that initiated and participated in the First Liberian Civil War from 24 December 1989 – 2 August 1997. The NPFL emerged out of rising ethnic tensions and civil unrest due to the Liberian government that was characterized by totalitarianism, corruption, and favoritism towards ethnic Krahns. The NPFL invaded Liberia through Ivory Coast’s border with Nimba County in Liberia under the direction of Charles Taylor, a former Liberian politician and guerrilla leader who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003.
The Progressive Democratic Party (PRODEM) is a political party in Liberia, formed in 2005. It fielded candidates in the 11 October 2005 elections.
AlhajiGarxim Varmuyan Kromah was a Liberian journalist who became a warlord and leader of the ULIMO faction during the Liberian Civil War. He was a Muslim and member of the Mandingo ethnic group from Tusu Town, Quardu Gboni District, Lofa County. He attended St. Patrick's High School (1973).
General elections were held in Liberia on 15 October 1985. They were the first elections since the 12 April 1980 military coup that brought Samuel Doe to power. During 1984, a new draft constitutional was approved in a referendum, which provided for a 58-member civilian and military Interim National Assembly, headed by Samuel Doe as president. After a ban on political parties was lifted, four parties – Doe's National Democratic Party (NDP), the Liberian Action Party, the Unity Party and the Liberia Unification Party – contested the elections.
Gabriel Bacchus Matthews was a Liberian politician. He is considered one of the leaders in developing a multi-party system in Liberia, long dominated by the True Whig Party. He founded the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) in 1975, the first active opposition party since the demise of the Republican Party.
Chea Job Cheapoo, Sr. was a Liberian politician who served as the 15th chief justice of Liberia from July 1987 until his impeachment and removal from office on December 2 of that year. His full rights were later restored by an act of legislature.
A new civil war began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighboring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), emerged in northern Liberia. By the spring of 2001, they were posing a major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic. By the beginning of 2002, both of these countries were supporting the latest addition to the lexicon of Liberian guerrilla outfits – Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), while Taylor was supporting various opposition factions in both countries. By supporting Sierra Leonean rebels, Taylor also drew the enmity of the British and Americans.
The Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) was an opposition political movement formed in 1975 in Liberia led by group of Liberians from the United States and local students. The Political Education Team of the organization was organized, prepared, and awarded certificates by and under the signature of the founding Chairman of PAL, Gabriel Baccus Matthews. Members of the Political Education Team of six young Liberian students were:
The 1980 Liberian coup d'état happened on April 12, 1980, when President William Tolbert was overthrown and murdered in a violent coup. The coup was staged by an indigenous Liberian faction of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) under the command of Master Sergeant Samuel Doe. Following a period of transition, Doe ruled Liberia throughout the 1980s until his murder in 1990 during the First Liberian Civil War.
The RFDG Insurgency was an insurgency in Guinea by the RFDG, a rebel group supported by Liberia and the Sierra Leonean rebel group RUF. The fighting was closely connected to the Second Liberian Civil War and the Sierra Leone Civil War and primarily occurred on Guinea's borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone. Beginning in September 2000, some of the most intense fighting took place around the city of Guéckédou in December, before the level of violence decreased in 2001.