Sekou Conneh
Encyclopedia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
n politician and former rebel leader.
Born in the Liberian town of Gbarnga
Gbarnga
Gbarnga is the capital city of Bong County, Liberia, lying north east of Monrovia. Bong County is one of the over 13 political subdivisions of Liberia known as counties. During the First Liberian Civil War, it was the base for Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia...
(Bong County
Bong County
Bong is a county in the north-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has twelve districts. Gbarnga serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
) to an ethnic Mandingo
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
family, Conneh attended St. Martin's Cathedral School from 1966 to 1973. He then attended William Tubman Methodist High School where he received his diploma in 1979.
He first became active in politics in 1980 when he joined the opposition Progressive People's Party
Progressive People's Party (Liberia)
The Progressive People's Party is a political party in Liberia. It participated in the 1997 elections, but its current status is unclear, as it did not field candidates in the 11 October 2005 elections....
(PPP). Conneh was also a member of the Progressive Alliance of Liberia
Progressive Alliance of Liberia
In 1975 the Progressive Alliance of Liberia became the first legally recognized opposition party in Liberia since the country was founded. The party was initially formed among the Liberian diaspora in the United States and was led by Gabriel Baccus Matthews who espoused a quasi-Marxist ideology...
(PAL), the PPP's mother organization. He served as a senior party coordinator for the Kokoyah district in Bong County before fleeing to Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
when the administration of President William Tolbert banned the PPP and arrested some of its leaders.
In 1985, after the Tolbert government was overthrown, Conneh returned to Liberia in a bid to contest the upcoming legislative election on the ticket of the United People's Party
United People's Party (Liberia)
The United People's Party is a political party in Liberia.In the 11 October 2005 elections, the party participated as part of the Alliance for Peace and Democracy ....
(UPP). The party was later banned, allegedly for possessing a 'foreign ideology'. In 1986, he found employment in the Ministry of Finance, working as a revenue agent in Rivercess County. In 1988, he was transferred to Montserrado County
Montserrado County
Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has four districts. Bensonville serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring , the smallest...
, where he remained until the collapse of President Samuel Doe
Samuel Doe
Samuel Kanyon Doe was the 21st President of Liberia, serving from 1986 until his assassination in 1990. He had previously served as Chairman of the People's Redemption Council from 1980 to 1986. He was the first indigenous head of state in Liberian history.Doe was a part of a rural tribe in inland...
's regime in 1990.
During the period of civil war in the country, Conneh founded and served as the managing director of the Damate Corporation, an export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
and import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
business entity based in Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
. The corporation's main activity involved the trading of second-hand cars imported from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. While in Guinea, he became fluent in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
After the civil war ended and elections were held, Conneh returned to Liberia to resume his former job as a revenue agent for the Ministry of Finance. Soon after, he quit and returned to car trading in Conakry. This time, Conneh began exporting second-hand cars purchased in Guinea to Liberia. Liberian Intelligence officers accused him of smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
and he was arrested and moved to a prison cell in Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
. His wife, Aisha, used her position as daughter of the Guinean president
Heads of state of Guinea
-List of Heads of State of Guinea:For Colonial Heads prior to independence, see: Colonial Heads of Guinea-Affiliations:-Latest election:-See also:*Guinea**Colonial Heads of Guinea...
Lansana Conté
Lansana Conté
Lansana Conté was the second President of Guinea from 3 April 1984 until his death. He was a Muslim and a member of the Susu ethnic group.-Early life:...
's soothsayer
Oracle
In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
to urge Conté to intervene and ask for his release. Conneh was duly released soon after and returned to Guinea.
In April 1999, several veteran opponents of President Charles Taylor formed a rebel movement known as Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy was a rebel group in Liberia that was active from 1999 until after the peace accords that ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003...
(LURD). LURD was essentially a reorganized version of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-Kromah faction
United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-Kromah faction
The United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy–Kromah faction was a rebel group that was active during the First Liberian Civil War....
(ULIMO-K), which was a Mandingo dominated rebel faction that participated in the civil war. Its goal was to remove Taylor from power. Conneh was appointed chairman of LURD, mainly because of his high-level contacts with the Guinean government. Civil war
Second Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...
resumed in Liberia after clashes between LURD rebels and government forces in 1999.
Conneh became the second president of the national executive committee of LURD in early 2003. Following the departure of Charles Taylor and the setting up of a broad based transitional government, LURD and other rebel groups disbanded.
Conneh's supporters founded the Progressive Democratic Party
Progressive Democratic Party (Liberia)
The Progressive Democratic Party is a political party in Liberia, formed in 2005. It fielded candidates in the 11 October 2005 elections....
(PRODEM) in preparation for upcoming elections, scheduled for 11 October 2005. He was nominated as the party's presidential candidate, but received less than 1% of the vote.
Testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on August 28, 2008, Conneh said that, during the war, Sierra Leone and Guinea had allowed the LURD rebels free passage "through their borders with our arms without any questions from them".