LIBERIA: RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HARBEL MASSACRE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06828325
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2020
• Case Number: F-2018-01308
• Publication Date: June 25, 1993

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TOY SE
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25 June 1993
MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: Liberia: Responsibility for the Harbel Massacre
Can we confirm who perpetrated the massacre?
1. No; we have only circumstantial and anecdotal evidence
on the massacre of almost 500 civilians the night of 5 June at
the displaced persons' camp outside Harbel. Most of this
evidence consists of accounts by survivors, but their stories
were often contradictory and vague. Much of the available
evidence suggests however, that rebels from Charles Taylor's
National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) probably were
primarily responsible.
Most survivors interviewed agreed--and a trail of
bodies confirmed--that the attackers withdrew to
rebel-held territory after the raid.
Taylor's forces have a reputation for ruthlessness
and have been accused of several mass killings over
the past three years.
There have been consistent reports in recent months
that frontline rebel units have been short of food,
thereby providing a possible motive for the attack.
Taylor says that some survivors of the massacre fled
to Gbanga for protection, but an alternative
explanation for their presence in the rebel capital
is that they may have been taken hostage by the
rebels who raided the camp.
Could someone else have been responsible?
2. Yes; there is a real possibility that the Armed Forces
of Liberia (AFL) troops guarding the camp were at least partly
responsible. The UN special envoy's initial findings
indicate that AFL soldiers are
at a minimum guilty of negligence and may also have been involved
to some degree, although here, too, the evidence is
circumstantial.
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SUBJECT: Liberia: Responsibility for the Barbel Massacre
Survivors report that AFL troops had intimidated the
refugees and tried to extort rice from camp
residents the day of the attack.
Survivors also have stated that many of the AFL
soldiers guarding the facility went into town on the
night of the attack, and that the few AFL soldiers
left on duty did nothing to defend it: moreover
these auards all survived the attack.
another AFL unit two miles
from the camp was aware that the attack was taking
place but neither responded nor notified West
African regional forces.
The AFL has a well substantiated history of mass
killings that include mutilations similar to those
inflicted on the Harbel victims. Moreover, the
acting commander of the AFL battalion charged with
guarding the camp has been implicated in the murder
and mutilation of 16 teenage NPFL prisoners in
February.
AFL forces that arrived at the massacre site on the
morning of 6 June looted the camp and probably
destroyed evidence in the process--possibly
deliberately.
-- It is even conceivable that AFL and NPFL fighters--
although enemies--lointly carried out the massacre.
Can we confirm that the NPFL has perpetrated other massacres in
recent weeks?
3. No. The UN envoy based some of his preliminary claim of
NPFL responsibility for Barbel on what he says has been a pattern
of NPFL massacres over the past mont
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SUBJECT: Liberia: Responsibility for the Barbel Massacre
Did Taylor Order the Attack?
4. Probably not. Even if NPFL troops were responsible,
there is no evidence to suggest that Taylor ordered the attack.
5. It is also questionable whether ordering a massacre
would have been consistent with Taylor's priorities. Although
some observers believe Taylor might have sought to demonstrate
his continued viability as a player in Liberia, we doubt he would
have approved any operation that would have jeopardized current
UN efforts to arrange all-party talks and a cease-fire.
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TOP CECRET
SUBJECT: Liberia: Responsibility for the Harbel Massacre
6. Assuming the NPFL was involved, the Harbel attack more
than likely was conducted by a rogue rebel force. Such a unit
was implicated in the killing of five American nuns last year.
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No White Hats in Liberia
Liberia's various warring factions have a history of human
rights abuses and atrocities against civilians. Since the
current conflict began in 1989, the vast majority of casualties
have been innocent civilians. Ethnic hatreds, a vicious cycle
of retribution, undisciplined and often drugged troops, and the
lack of punishment have all been contributing factors.
The AFL, composed primarily of remnants of former President
Doe's Army, has a well substantiated history of mass
killings, including the massacre in July 1990 of over 600
displaced persons in a Lutheran church in Monrovia; a 1990
rampage through Nimba county, where AFL troops executed
inhabitants of entire villages; and a 1985 campaign of
retribution in which an undetermined number of Gios and
Manos were killed. In recent months, AFL troops have been
responsible for the murder of a British citizen, the
execution of numerous NPFL prisoners, and other civilian
deaths
The NPFL has been accused of several mass killings over the
past three years, including those of 450 civilians in the
Kle-Bomi Hills area last September; 160 Bassa civilians who
were discovered in a mass grave near Buchanan in April 1992;
and, according to Guinean President Conte, the killing of
1200 Liberian civilians near the Guinean and Sierra Leonean
borders in mid-1991. Although none of these mass killings
have been confirmed, undisciplined NPFL rebels operating
independently probably have been responsible over the past
several years for thousands of civilians deaths, including
those of five American nuns last October.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that ULIMO--an anti-Taylor
faction aligned with ECOMOG, which includes some fighters
from former President Doe's Army--has been responsible for
summary executions and for killing scores of noncombatants
in western Liberia since it occupied the region in mid-1992.
ULIMO's abuses are not well substantiated, but ULIMO leader
Kromah admits that his troops are undisciplined at times; he
insists, however--with some justification, in our view--tha
their conduct is superior to NPFL's and AFL's.
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Liberia: Factional Operating Areas and Ethnic Regions
G arn a
Site of Massacre
� Capitol
* Taylor's Capitol
Airport
NPFL Territory
MANDINGO Homeland
ULIMO Territory
AFL and Black Berets
GIO Homeland
MANO Homeland
KRAHN Homeland
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