ON THIS DATE, PRES. SAMUEL KANYON DOE WAS ARRESTED AND KILLED BY PRINCE JOHNSON AND HIS INPFL FORCES

Date:

LIBERIA – President Samuel Kanyon Doe was killed on this date by Independent National Patriotic Front leader Prince Johnson and his rebel forces in 1990.

At the end of the Cold War, his previously unwavering support from the US after a 1980 Coup evaporated and, as Liberia erupted into civil war, Doe was left vulnerable.

And nine months into the conflict on 9 September 1990, Doe was captured on a visit to the headquarters of ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Monrovia at the Freeport Port of Monrovia.

Hours later, he was dead, though Liberia’s civil war would continue for another 13 long years. In his last hours, Doe was stripped to his underwear, interrogated on film, and his ear was sliced off.  Rebel leader Prince Johnson nonchalantly presided over the affair.

When a 28-year-old Master Sergeant took power in 1980, he set in motion a series of events that reverberates in Liberia to this day.

In 1980, Samuel K. Doe, a 28-year-old Master Sergeant, assumed power in Liberia in a blaze of glory. In a surprise night-time attack on the Executive Mansion overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Doe and his accomplices brutally murdered President William R. Tolbert Jr, ending 133 years of rule by black American settlers and their descendants (known as Americo-Liberians).

Having discarded with Tolbert, Doe became Liberia’s first president of “exclusive indigenous heritage”.

In the subsequent decade, President Doe inflamed ethnic politics and eked out a suspiciously close victory in the 1985 elections, before he met an even less dignified end than his predecessor.

Today, exactly 32 years after Samuel Doe’s bloody death, his legacy continues to reverberate in Liberia. Prince Johnson, for instance, is today a Liberian Senator, while a range of actors tied to Doe’s overthrow, including current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is a former president.

Doe set in motion a chain of events that continue to make their impact felt across the nation he once led.

A tenuous reign

Doe came to power in 1980 by virtue of being the highest-ranking of the coup members and began his reign in brutal fashion. Ten days after President Tolbert met his brutal end, thirteen of the most senior officials of the Tolbert government were stripped down to their underwear and publicly executed on a Monrovia beach.

Doe’s new government briefly flirted with Libya, before aligning firmly with the US.  This position was rewarded with massive foreign assistance from the administration of President Ronald Reagan and a state visit to the White House in 1982. Furthermore, until 1985, Liberia was the largest per capita recipient of US aid in sub-Saharan Africa, receiving more assistance from the US in 1981-1985 than over the entire previous century – though by the time rebels Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson moved to overthrow Doe at the twilight of the Cold War, this support had evaporated.

Before that, however, Doe won fraudulent elections in October 1985 and then, just a month later, faced a major coup attempt led by a former comrade. Doe survived the failed overthrow, but this tumultuous period caused domestic political calculations to change greatly.  The army quelled an uprising soon after and proceeded to launch reprisals and perpetrate human rights violations against the Gio ethnic group, which was seen as widely supporting the coup.  By 1990, forces under Doe were committing ever greater atrocities and primarily consisted of members of his own Krahn ethnic group.

Doe’s decade-long rule is often remembered for these atrocities, but he also has some defenders.

smartnews
Smart News Liberia is an online news outlet, a product of Smart Media Group Inc. smartnewsliberia.com publishes a wide range of content including politics, business, sports, and entertainment on and about Liberia. Contact: +231777425285/ 886946925 Email: info@smartnewsliberia.com/ smartnewsliberia@gmail.com

MORE NEWS

LIBERIA: FORMER AG MORLU WANTS JAMES KOLLIE, OTHERS RESTITUTE LOAN FUNDS

Former Liberian Auditor General and the man who will...

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE APPRECIATES CHRIS SMITH’S “EFFORTS TO ADDRESS RITUAL ABUSE AND SACRIFICE IN AFRICA” 

November 22, 2023 The Honorable Chris H. Smith, Chairman House Foreign Affairs...

SWEDEN ACCUSED OF LIBERIAN ABORTION LAW INTERFERENCE

"We know that other countries are putting pressure on...

LIBERIA ELECTED TO EXECUTIVE BODY OF IMO, AS RUSSIA OUSTED

Liberia has been elected as a member of the...

LIBERIA: REP. MARVIN COLE, OTHERS CHARGED WITH MULTIPLE CRIMES

GBARNGA, BONG COUNTY –Police in Gbarnga have charged and...

INTEGRITY MATTERS FOR ELECTORAL LEGITIMACY – TEAM KANUBAH–SIEH ON ELECTIONS AND PUL

MONROVIA – The National Campaign Management Team of Julius...

PRESIDENT WEAH DISMISSES TWO COMMERCE MINISTRY OFFICIALS

MONROVIA – President George Manneh Weah has with immediate...

CALVARY TEMPLE A.G. CONCLUDES 36TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

A thanksgiving service commemorating the 36th Anniversary of the...

FCCI LEADS HUMANITARIAN SUPPORT IN LIBERIA

GBARNGA, BONG COUNTY – The Foundation for Children Care...

REMEMBERING PREZO: A TRIBUTE TO FALLEN PUL PRESIDENT TERENCE SAHR ALBERT SESAY

By Danicius Kaihenneh Sengbeh (former SG/PUL) In the hushed moments...

ECOWAS COURT DELIVERS JUDGEMENT ON VIOLATION OF LIBERIAN PARTY’S RIGHTS

By Maina Maina The ECOWAS Court of Justice has delivered a...

ALJA COMMENDS LIBERIANS ON THE SUCCESSFUL AND PEACEFUL CONCLUSION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA)...

FORMER NIC CHAIRMAN PAYGAI CONGRATULATES BOAKAI

MONROVIA – Dr. Q. Somah Paygai Sr., former Chairman...

LIBERIA: CDC SECRETARY GENERAL RALLIES PARTISANS TO AVOID ANTI-PEACE ACTIONS AFTER ELECTION

MONROVIA – The Secretary General of Liberia’s ruling party,...

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

SPEECH

LEGAL

spot_imgspot_img

COUNTY NEWS

COMMENTARY
COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY: OVERCOMING ENTRENCHED CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS

By Johny Teah Koffa Corruption has long been a debilitating...

I BEG TO DIFFER, LFA VICE PRESIDENT MR. ADOLPHUS DOLO…

A commentary by Olando Testimony Zeongar Yet again, the...
Share via
Copy link
%d bloggers like this: