Christianity sits at the foundation of Liberia, including its government, and army, too. Liberia’s Declaration of Independence was signed in a church, and Monrovia was first called Christopolis or “the city of Christ”. But not even this history or even a gigantic cross that hangs over its altar from the attic of the church with the
bevy of its mosaicked windows could deter the bloodthirsty soldiers.
The memorial on Sunday honored those who died that day and, the organizers say, all of those who lost their lives to during the course of the civil war. It was meant to remind the public about the plight of several survivors of the killings, who still suffer from wounds they sustained, and to reemphasize the need for a Liberian war crimes court.
The event was held by the Alliance for Transitional Justice – Liberia, a conglomeration of 13 civil society organizations and faith-based organizations. It was held under the theme: “Igniting National Consciousness – Restoring Dignity of War Survivors…” The aim of the group is to establish an endowment fund for needy survivals and rally the government and general public to bring war crimes perpetrators to book.
In attendance were Bishop Jensen Seyenkulo of the Lutheran Church of Liberia, Bishop Samuel J. Quire, Jr. of the United Methodist Church, Archbishop Isaac S. Winker of the Isaac Winker Global Ministries and Bishop Wolo Belleh of the Bethel World Outreach International. Acting United States Ambassador Sam Watson also graced the occasion.
Since the massacre, the Lutheran Church has always had a memorial but this year’s involved more stakeholders.
Monrovia – A memorial for the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Massacre over the weekend was expected to be solemn, and the graphic, mournful narratives of survivors could only deepen the grief of congregants of the horrible event that turned the church into a slaughterhouse.
An estimated 600 people, including women and children (babies as well) were killed in what remains the single-most heinous atrocity committed during the Liberia civil war (1989 -2003).
‘Rebel Cross’
As the war heated up, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Liberian Council of Churches (LCC) set up several camp for displaced people. Bobby Wolo Kingsley, who survived the bloodbath, told the memorial that more than 6,000 people found refuge in the church-school compound.
After an attack on the United Nations headquarters (now Lonestar Cell MTN) in Congo Town by the army, where many civilians found refuge, the church was the only hope them. During the heat of the civil war, many of the Gio and Mano tribes fled into the church, escaping the purge by the Krahn-dominated Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) under the command of late President Samuel K. Doe. Some families, witnesses have said, were uncertain the church could not be sanctuary after what happened at the UN headquarters, but many did not expect that the soldiers’ onslaught would go as far as a church.
The soldiers, Kingsley narrated, bulldozed the church’s door and shot indiscriminately at the unarmed civilians. There was a lot of wailing and panting, he said, and then after some time, no one moved. There was silence in the church.
Some people, Kingsley further narrated, were trapped in the windows trying to escape. Those ones were hacked to death together with the wounded who were lay in agony.
Prior to the day of the massacre, Kingsley who had fled the UN compound killings said he and other people watched soldiers cut off the genitals of a man who had left the Lutheran compound to get food. The soldiers, he said, threatened to kill them.
“They (soldiers) came to the gate and told us that we were all rebels, not displaced people,” Kingsley recalled. “One of the men ripped a Red Cross flag at the gate [of the compound] and said ‘This is not Red Cross, but Rebel Cross.”
Another survivor, Marcus Quoigboah, who lost four members of his family said the soldiers convinced a woman to tell them where the men were hiding. When the soldiers first entered the church premises, he narrated, they stormed the classrooms in the other building but did not find any man, only women and children.
