BRUSSELS – FrontPageAfrica has been reliably informed that authorities in Belgium briefly held Mr. Logan Davies, Director of the Seaport Police and a former rebel general of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front.
Earlier reports suggesting that Mr. Bill Tweahway, head of the National Port Authority, and a bodyguard, travelling along with Davies, were also held although held has not been confirmed.
Mr. Sekou Kalasco Damaro, an aide to President George Manneh Weah posted a video on the social medium Facebook Thursday, showing Mr. Tweahway, with the comment: “The information about Bill Tweahway AKA Gbekugbeh Jr. being arrested is a big lie. This is a short video of me and the MD getting ready for a visit to the UL Campus.”
“I’m not arrested, I’m right in the yard here of the excellency, the President.”
it is unclear whether Logan has been released or is still in custody.
Davies was reportedly on his way to the United States of America and was scheduled to connect on a United Airlines flight when the incident occurred.
Diplomatic sources confirmed to FPA Thursday that Davies drew the interest of immigration officials in Belgium because his date of birth in US visa carried 1979 while his passport carried 1974 as the date of birth.
Belgium authorities are yet to make an official announcement but war crimes investigators say, Logan, a former NPFL strongman who used to be assigned at the Executive Mansion in Gbarnga, is a person of interest.
Last year, FrontPageAfrica reported based on an investigation that there was a resurgence of several fighters of Mr. Taylor’s NPFL in the security sector, including the Executive Protection Service (EPS) and the National Security Agency (NSA).
Prominent among them is Davies, appointed by President George Manneh Weah as Director of the Liberia Seaport Police at the National Port Authority. Davies was a prominent figure in the September 18, 1998 Camp Johnson Road Massacre of over 1,000 defenseless Krahns and other tribes seeking refuge in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church.
Davies recently completed a five-year prison sentence at the Monrovia Central Prison due to his role in the stabbing to death of the late Fred Zelee on Perry Street.
The fight between Roosevelt Johnson and Taylor’s forces, resulted into the killing of Madison Wion in the U.S Embassy Compound, fired from Government forces.
Today, international war and crimes investigators are very concerned about the resurgence of several former NPFL figures in the Weah-led government, with General Bright, being the latest to be elevated to a senior Cabinet-level role. For years, General Bright was listed on the United Nations Travel and assets freeze ban as an Associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor with ongoing ties to him.
The Davies report comes five years after the arrest of Martina Johnson, a former artillery commander of Mr. Taylor’s NPFL. Johnson was arrested in September 2014 in Gent, Belgium, and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. She was later released while she is awaiting trial. Her arrest marked the first time ever a Liberian was criminally charged for international crimes allegedly committed during the 1st civil war in Liberia (1989-1996).
Civitas Maxima and the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) have been documenting crimes allegedly committed by Martina Johnson and the NPFL in Liberia and helped victims to file a criminal complaint against her in Belgium with the Belgian lawyer Luc Walleyn. The Belgian authorities conducted a two-year non-public investigation based on the information Civitas Maxima and GJRP collected.
In recent years, several other former warlords have been picked up.
Alieu Kosiah, a former commander of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO) was arrested and charged for war crimes in Switzerland in November 2014 and his arrest was made public in January 2015.
Agnes Taylor, an ex-wife of ex-president Taylor, was arrested in June 2017 and charged with torture for her alleged involvement with atrocities committed by Taylor’s rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), during the first Liberian Civil War.
In April 2016, Mohammed Jabbateh, aka Jungle Jabbah, was arrested in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. On 2 October 2017, the U.S. Government’s immigration fraud case against the Liberian citizen, Pennsylvania resident, and alleged war criminal began in Philadelphia. Jabbateh was charged with two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury for having lied to authorities about his war time activities. He was a ULIMO commander, then later ULIMO-K post-faction split, during the First Liberian Civil War and responsible for commanding atrocious wartime crimes including murder, conscription of child soldiers, and cannibalism.
A jury convicted Jabbateh on 18 October 2017. On 19 April 2018, Jabbateh was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the maximum possible sentence for his charges. This sentence is also one of the longest sentences for immigration fraud in U.S. history.
Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu, one of the founders of the NPFL with Taylor and served as Spokesman and Defence Minister until political dissonance led him to create and lead the NPFL-CRC during Liberia’s First Civil War (1989-1996), was arrested in May 2014.
Woewiyu was arrested at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, U.S.A, upon his return from a trip to Liberia. Woewiyu was charged with 2 counts of fraudulently attempting to obtain citizenship, 4 counts of fraud in immigration documents, 3 counts of false statements in relation to naturalization, and 7 counts of perjury.
On June 11, 2018, Woewiyou went on trial on immigration fraud charges. More than 35 witnesses testified to his direct and indirect involvement with war crimes during the civil war. After 13 days in court, the jury found Woewiyu guilty on 11 of 16 counts on 3 July 2018; his maximum possible sentence is 75 years in prison. His sentencing has been postponed and is expected in 2019.