Former warlord Prince Johnson, a major player in the civil war that ravaged Liberia between 1989 and 2003, and known for his cruelty, died suddenly on Thursday, November 28. “We lost him this morning. he died [à l’hôpital] Hope for women »in the suburbs of Monrovia, at the age of 72, Wilfried Bangura, one of the leaders of his party, told Agence France-Presse. The exact causes of his death were not immediately specified.
“Senator Johnson’s death is very unfortunate and unexpected. This morning, the vice president [du Liberia, Jeremiah Koung, l’un de ses proches] “He went to the hospital, to Hope For Women, and he and other senators are planning to go to the senator’s house to meet the family.”confirmed Siaffa Jallah, head of the Senate press service.
Prince Johnson, who was caught on video drinking beer while his men tortured President Samuel Doe to death in 1990, remained an influential senator in his country and never expressed regret for his past. The death of President Doe was one of the first bloody episodes that would lead Liberia to civil wars that, until 2003, left some 250,000 dead and devastated its economy.
After this conflict, Prince Johnson became a senator for his native region of Nimba (North), became a preacher of an evangelical church and was followed by many faithful, maintaining strong popularity. He was also one of the main opponents of the creation of a tribunal to try civil war crimes, seizing the danger of reopening old wounds and declaring that establishing such a tribunal was “look for problems for the country”.
Influential and unapologetic
Johnson was one of the leading militia leaders during the Civil War. He first allied himself with Charles Taylor, the future president of Liberia convicted of crimes against humanity, then broke with him and was then forced into exile in Nigeria, where he remained for twelve years. This father of 12 children, who returned to Liberia in 2004, preached peace and reconciliation. He never expressed regret for his wartime past, which he nevertheless seemed to want to forget.
“I cannot be prosecuted, I have not done anything criminal (…). “I fought in defense of my country, of my people, who were being taken to the slaughterhouse, like chickens and goats, by the Doe regime.”declared in 2011, when he was a presidential candidate in which he came third with 11.4% of the votes. And to add: “There are circumstances that change people, that regenerate them (…). I have changed, my actions show it, look at the enormous support I have in the country. »
The former warlord remained politically engaged. During the 2017 presidential elections, he surprised again by obtaining more than 8% of the votes. A key figure in Liberian politics, that year he gave his support in the second round to former football legend George Weah, who became president after winning his head-to-head with Joseph Boakai.
During the 2023 presidential election, he supported the latter and negotiated a vice-presidential position for Jeremiah Koung, a decisive alliance for Joseph Boakai, who won the election with 50.6% of the votes.
