Liberian News

When students return to the classroom at Bopolu Central High School this year, there will be something not seen at the school since it reopened after Liberia's long civil war: senior-class women.

Meriam Dukumue, like the majority of women in her country, cannot read and write. Having suffered through years of conflict and now the breadwinner of her family, she is giving her children and husband what she never had – an education.

Golden and draped in red, white and blue ribbons, the spelling trophy won by Mango Town School has become more than a source of orthographic achievement for the students and their teachers. It has brought a wealth of attention to a school that was largely forgotten.

Lawyers of the Liberia Bar Association (LBA) have described the "rape law as killing and wicked against defendants" and are seeking its removal from the practice of law in the country.

In continuation of their intensified crackdown on crime in Monrovia and its environs, police have raided the infamous "Trench Town" Community, a haven for many notorious drug dealers and drug users on Center Street, burnt eight ghettoes and arrested several suspects.

Some aspects of the controversial Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report should be sent to a committee of experts under the Ministry of Education, while reparations for victims have been ruled out, and those for communities and institutions proposed.

UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, in his various reports on prevailing security and economic conditions in Liberia, has been issuing the same warnings and making the basically the same observations: progress is undeniable, but not all that glitters is gold.

Former TRC chair Cllr. Jerome Verdier has recommended that people should be subjected to psychiatric test to determine the extend of their lunacy before holding important public offices.

Nineteen Americans were sworn-in as Peace Corps/Liberia volunteers on August 27 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia.

The German Ambassador accredited to Liberia, Dr. Bodo Erich Werner Schaff, on Friday, August 27, presented his letters of credence to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Media Colleagues:

A monthly summary of the Taylor trial for June 2010 by written by Elena Marrs at the University of California- Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center.

Charles Taylor's former Vice President Moses Blah ordered the execution of a Sierra Leonean rebel commander in Liberia who was already a subject of an indictment issued by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2003, a former radio operator in Charles Taylor's Special Security Services (SSS) unit today told the Special Court for Sierra Leone judges in The Hague.

Rescue Alternatives Liberia (RAL) Executive Director, Jarwlee Tweh Geegbe, has condemned last week's incident between officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) and residents of the Rocky Hill Community adjacent the Ducor Palace Hotel.

Some residents of Montserrado County District #7, Paynesville have become pulling in with support for representative hopeful Godfrey Mulbah ahead of the Elections.

While others were hustling and bustling going to beach parties, attending official Flag Day celebrations, the people of Kadoma Community were seeing backed by women, youth and older men on the main road of the community cleaning up sidewalks, closing pot holds and opening drainages among others.

The Organizational Manager of the Inter-African Committee (IAC) on traditional practices affecting the health of women and children, Mr. Alemayhn Asseta Wednesday, August 25, 2010 paid a courtesy call on Acting Information, Culture and Tourism Minister, Norris Tweah on Capitol Hill.

Forty-six persons representing organizations and community leaders in the campaign against HIV/AIDS yesterday commenced a three-day leadership and advocacy training to strengthen their abilities in advocating for the protection of the rights of people living with AIDS in the country.

A Special Ad-Hoc Committee constituted by the Plenary of the House of Representatives to investigate concerns from Maryland County Representatives David Saydee about payments of high and un-uniform amount on Land Rental Bid Premium on contract area has recommended the cancellation of the fees.

The founder and proprietor of the Jimmy Jolocon High School, who was last week reported dead, has broken silence from the United States of America, dispelling the spreading rumor, terming the information as work of his enemies.