Samuel Doe | |
|---|---|
 Doe in 1982 | |
| 21stPresident of Liberia | |
| In office 2 January 1986 – 9 September 1990 | |
| Vice President | Harry Moniba |
| Preceded by | Himself(as Chairman ofPeople's Redemption Council) |
| Succeeded by | Amos Sawyer(interim) |
| Chairman of the People's Redemption Council | |
| In office 12 April 1980 – 6 January 1986 | |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | William Tolbert(as President) |
| Succeeded by | Himself(as President) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1951-05-06)6 May 1951 Tuzon, Liberia |
| Died | 9 September 1990(1990-09-09) (aged 39) Monrovia, Liberia |
| Political party | National Democratic Party |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of Liberia |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Liberia |
| Branch/service | Armed Forces of Liberia |
| Years of service | 1969–1985 |
| Rank | Master Sergeant |
| Battles/wars | First Liberian Civil War |
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|---|---|---|
Leader of Liberia Government
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Samuel Kanyon Doe (6 May 1951[2] – 9 September 1990) was a Liberian politician and military officer who served as the 21stPresident of Liberia from 1986 to 1990. He ruled Liberia as Chairman of thePeople's Redemption Council (PRC) from 1980 to 1986 and then as president from 1986 to 1990.[2]
A member of theKrahn ethnic group, Doe was amaster sergeant in theArmed Forces of Liberia (AFL) when he staged the violent1980 coup d'état that overthrew PresidentWilliam Tolbert and theTrue Whig Party, becoming the first non-Americo-Liberian leader of Liberia and ending 133 years ofAmerico-Liberian rule.[2] Doe suspended theConstitution of Liberia, assumed the rank ofgeneral, and established the PRC as aprovisionalmilitary government with himself asde factohead of state.[2]
Doe dissolved the PRC in 1984 and attempted to legitimize his regime, with a new democratic constitution and ageneral election held in 1985. He won with 51% of the votes, but the election had widespread allegations ofelection fraud.[2] Doe opened Liberian ports to Canadian, Chinese, and European ships, which brought in considerable foreign investment and earned Liberia's reputation as atax haven. Doe had support from the United States due to his anti-Soviet stance during theCold War.
Doe's rule was characterized byauthoritarianism,corruption,favoritism towards fellow Krahns, and persecution of theGio andMano tribes, particularly after surviving a coup attempt in 1985, which led to growing opposition to his regime from the Liberian public and the United States. TheFirst Liberian Civil War began in December 1989 when the anti-DoeNational Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led byCharles Taylor invaded Liberia from theIvory Coast to overthrow him. The following year, Doe was captured and executed by theIndependent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), an NPFL splinter group led byPrince Johnson.[3]
Samuel Kanyon Doe was born on 6 May 1951 inTuzon, a small inland village inGrand Gedeh County. His family belonged to theKrahn people, an important minority indigenous group in this area.[4] At the age of sixteen, Doe finished elementary school and enrolled at a Baptist junior high school inZwedru. Two years later, he enlisted in theArmed Forces of Liberia, hoping thereby to obtain a scholarship to a high school inKakata. Instead, he was assigned to military duties.[5]
Over the next ten years, he was assigned to duty stations, including education at a military school and commanding garrisons and prisons in Monrovia. He finally completed high school bycorrespondence. on 11 October 1979, Doe was promoted tomaster sergeant and made an administrator for the Third Battalion in Monrovia, a position he occupied for eleven months.[5]
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On 12 April 1980, commanding a group of Krahn soldiers, Master Sergeant Samuel Doeled a military coup by attacking theLiberian Executive Mansion and killing PresidentWilliam Tolbert. His forces killed another 26 of Tolbert's supporters in the fighting. Thirteen members of the Cabinet were publicly executed ten days later. Shortly after the coup, government ministers were walked publicly around Monrovia in the nude and then summarily executed by a firing squad on the beach. The convicted were denied the right to a lawyer or any appeal.[6] Hundreds of government workers fled the country, while others were imprisoned.
After the coup, Doe assumed the rank of general and established a People's Redemption Council (PRC), composed of himself and 14 other low-ranking officers, to rule the country. The early days of the regime were marked by mass executions of members of Tolbert's deposed government. Doe ordered the release of about 50 leaders of the oppositionProgressive People's Party, who had been jailed by Tolbert during the rice riots of the previous month.
Shortly after that, Doe ordered the arrest of 91 officials of the Tolbert regime. Within days, eleven former members of Tolbert's cabinet, including his brotherFrank, were brought to trial to answer charges of "hightreason, rampantcorruption and gross violation ofhuman rights."[7] Doe suspended the Constitution, allowing these trials to be conducted by a Commission appointed by the state's new military leadership, with defendants being refused bothlegal representation andtrial by jury, virtually ensuring their conviction.
Doe abruptly ended 133 years of Americo-Liberian political domination. Some hailed the coup as the first time since Liberia's establishment as a country that it was governed by people of native African descent instead of by the Americo-Liberian elite. Other persons without Americo-Liberian heritage had held the Vice Presidency (Henry Too Wesley), as well as Ministerial and Legislative positions in years prior. Many people welcomed Doe's takeover as a shift favoring the majority of the population that had largely been excluded from government participation since the country's establishment.
However, the new government, led by the leaders of thecoup d'état and calling itself thePeople's Redemption Council (PRC), lacked experience and was ill-prepared to rule. Doe became head of state and suspended the constitution but promised a return to civilian rule by 1985.
In the first alleged plot against his government, nine military personnel arrested two months after the original 1980 coup were reportedly jailed for life.
In June 1981, his government denounced another alleged coup in which thirteen members were executed behind closed doors.
Months later,Thomas Weh Syen, an outspoken critic of some of Doe's policies, including the closure months before of theLibyan diplomatic mission and the forced reduction of staff from fifteen to six at the Soviet embassy, was beaten and arrested on 12 August of that same year, along with four other officers. They were promised a defense attorney, but none was given, and in three days, they were executed, which caused panic among the citizens of the capital.[8][9][10]
In August 2008, before aTruth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Monrovia, Doe's former justice minister, CouncillorChea Cheapoo — who contested the 2011 Liberia Presidential elections — alleged the AmericanCIA had provided a map of the Executive Mansion, enabling the rebels to break into it; that it was a white American CIA agent who shot and killed Tolbert; and that the Americans "were responsible for Liberia's nightmare".[11] However, the next day, before the same TRC, another former minister of Samuel Doe, Dr. Boima Fahnbulleh, testified that "the Americans did not support the coup led by Mr. Doe".[12]
Some facts of the 1980 coup are still clouded by reports of an "Unknown Soldier".[13] It is reported that an "unknown soldier" was one of the "white" mercenaries who would have staged the 1980 military takeover of the state. According to the autobiography of Tolbert's wifeVictoria, the First Lady witnessed a masked man with a "white" hand stabbing her late husband.[14]
During his rule, Doe portrayed himself as an enlightened leader whose actions were intended to bring "relief to many". He styled himself "Dr. Doe" starting in 1982 after making a state visit toChun Doo-hwan in South Korea and being awarded an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Seoul.[5] After seven years of calling himself a doctor, Doe announced in 1989 that he had completed a bachelor's degree from theUniversity of Liberia.[15]
During his first years in office, Doe openly supported U.S.Cold War foreign policy in Africa during the 1980s, severing diplomatic relations between Liberia and theSoviet Union.
The United States valued Liberia as an important ally during the Cold War, as it helped to contain the spread of Soviet influence in Africa.[16] As part of the expanding relationship, Doe agreed to a modification of the mutual defense pact granting staging rights on 24-hour notice at Liberia's sea and airports for the U.S.Rapid Deployment Force (RDF), which were established to respond swiftly to security threats around the world.
A draft constitution providing for a multi-party republic was issued in 1983 and approved by referendum in 1984. On 26 July 1984, Doe was elected President of the Interim National Assembly.[17] He had a new constitution approved byreferendum in 1984 and went on to stage apresidential election on 15 October 1985. According to official figures, Doe won 51% of the vote—just enough to avoid a runoff.[18] The NDPL won 21 of the 26Senate seats and 51 of the 64 seats in theHouse of Representatives. However, most of the elected opposition candidates refused to take their seats.
The election was heavily rigged. Doe had the ballots taken to a secret location, and 50 of his own handpicked staff counted them. Foreign observers declared the elections fraudulent and suggested that runner-upJackson Doe (not related) of theLiberian Action Party had won.[19] Before the election, Doe had more than 50 of his political opponents murdered. It is also alleged that he changed his official birth date from 1951 to 1950 to meet the new constitution's requirement that the president be at least 35 years old.[20]
Doe was formally sworn in on 6 January 1986. On the day of his inauguration as the twenty-first president, in the stadium, a show with several Liberian girls danced artistically in his honor with hoops. Later, the dancers danced with maracas. Finally, the army paraded in line and they played a majestic orchestra.[21]
Doe publicly declared that if he lost the elections, he would not hand over power, and the army would carry out another coup in less than two weeks. This position was harshly criticized by the international community and the political parties participating in the elections. Official results showed that Doe received a narrow majority of the votes in the elections, although the US State Department alleged widespread fraud.[22]
GeneralThomas Quiwonkpa, who had been a leader of the 1980 coup along with Doe, attempted to seize power on 12 November 1985. The attempt failed after fighting inMonrovia, in which Quiwonkpa was killed. Doe announced in a radio and television broadcast that anyone found on the streets after a 6 p.m. curfew would be considered a rebel and executed immediately.[23][24]
Doe's government became even more repressive after the attempted coup, shutting down newspapers and banning political activity. The government's mistreatment of certain ethnic groups, particularly the Gio (orDan) and theMano in the north (Quiwonkpa was an ethnic Gio), resulted in divisions and violence among indigenous populations who until then had coexisted peacefully.
Charles Taylor, a former ally of Doe, crossed into Liberia fromIvory Coast on 24 December 1989 to wage aguerrilla war against Doe.[25] Taylor had broken out of a jail in the United States, where he was awaiting extradition to Liberia on charges of embezzlement.[26] The conflict quickly flared intofull-fledged civil war. By June 1990, most of Liberia was controlled by rebel factions.[27]
Approximately 600 civilians were killed at thechurch in the Sinkor section of Monrovia on 29 July 1990. The massacre was carried out by approximately 30 government soldiers loyal to Doe.[28] The perpetrators were of Doe's Krahn tribe, while most of the victims were from the Gio and Mano tribes, which were in support of the rebels.[29]
Doe was captured in Monrovia on 9 September 1990 by Prince Johnson, leader of theIndependent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a breakaway faction of Taylor'sNational Patriotic Front of Liberia (|NPFL).General Quainoo, the head ofECOMOG, had invited Doe to the ECOMOG headquarters for a meeting and assured him of his safety from the rebels.[30] On the morning of 9 September 1990, Doe arrived at a precarious time during an ongoing change in guard duty from the well-armed and better equipped Nigerian team of peacekeepers to the weaker Gambian contingent.[31]
The Nigerian team had just withdrawn from the scene when Doe's convoy of lightly armed personnel arrived. Doe was escorted to General Quainoo's office, where he was formally welcomed while most of his team of aides and guards waited outside. Johnson's rebels surprised everyone by suddenly arriving on the scene uninvited and heavily armed, overwhelming and disarming all of Doe's team while encountering no resistance.[32]
They then started shooting Doe's team individually and later in groups. Upon hearing the gunshots from outside, Doe expressed concern to Quainoo, who assured him everything was fine. Quainoo later excused himself to check on what was happening outside and was followed by his aide, Captain Coker of the Gambian contingent. Both men took cover upon assessing the situation. Johnson's men moved indoors, finished off Doe's remaining team, shot him in the leg, and took him captive.[33]
Doe was taken to Johnson's military base. To prove that he was not protected byblack magic,[34] Johnson ordered Doe's ears be cut off in his presence.[35]Shackles were placed around Doe's legs and something strange was tied around his glans, as can be seen in the recording. At the end of the recording, Doe was forced to get up. Some of his fingers and toes were amputated, and there were attempts to mutilate his middle finger. After 12 hours of torture at Johnson's hands,[36] Doe was murdered.
His corpse had its head shaved and was exhibited naked in the streets of Monrovia with cigarette burns. Doe's body was later exhumed and reburied. The spectacle of his torture wasvideo-taped[37] and seen on news reports around the country. The video shows Johnson sipping a beer as Doe's ear is cut off.[38][39][40][41][42]
Doe was a Baptist. At one time, he was a member of the First Baptist Church in the town ofZwedru inGrand Gedeh County. He changed his church membership to the Providence Baptist Church of Monrovia on 1 December 1985.[43] Doe was a passionatefootball fan, and theSamuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex bears his name.
In November 2000, at a religious rally representing the Doe family, Doe's son Samuel Kanyon Doe Jr, accompanied by his motherNancy, Doe's widow, told a conference that he had feelings of hatred and resentment against "a certain person in particular", and thoughts of revenge against his father's murderer for the past ten years and that he intended to cleanse his sins and feelings of hatred and revenge against his father's executioner. Both parties were reconciled at the hand of the Nigerian pastorTB Joshua.[44][45][46]
Media related toSamuel Doe at Wikimedia Commons| Military offices | ||
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| New creation | Chairman of thePeople's Redemption Council 12 April 1980 – 6 January 1986 | Office abolished |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of Liberia 6 January 1986 – 9 September 1990 | Succeeded byas President of the Interim Government |
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