Former president, human rights leader attacked

About 100 men armed with knives, hammers, sticks and other weapons attacked Liberia’s former interim president, Amos Sawyer, and a leading human rights defender on Tuesday in the offices of their pro-democracy group, the Center for Democratic Empowerment (CEDE).

The assailants, who appeared to be former combatants, ransacked the CEDE offices, ripped Sawyer’s shirt off, beat and robbed him, Liberian media organisations said. The attackers beat and stabbed human rights activist Conmany Wesseh, CEDE executive director. Both men sought treatment at hospital, a humanitarian source in the capital, Monrovia, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Wesseh has been an active campaigner against weapons in Liberia, clashing with the government of President Charles Taylor, which wants a UN arms embargo against the country lifted.
Wesseh’s home was attacked in July 1999 and his wife and children were threatened. They have since fled Liberia, as have many journalists, human rights and pro-democracy activists who have felt threatened by security forces.

“People are expressing outrage” over the latest attack, the humanitarian source said. He said call-in shows on Radio Veritas, which is run by the Roman Catholic Church, and DC-101 were dominated by people criticising state security forces.

Sawyer, who led an interim government while Taylor was still a rebel leader trying to capture Monrovia in the early 1990s, said he believed Tuesday’s attack was organised but doubted that the assailants would be brought to justice.

“There was no state action in the first incident (against Wesseh) ... so when there is impunity, rampant lawlessness will prevail and this is not good for this country,” Sawyer was quoted by PANA as saying.

Press reports quoted Police Director Paul Mulbah as saying that several suspected former fighters have been detained for questioning in connection with Tuesday’s attack. Taylor broadcast a statement expressing concern about the assaults.