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Liberia: Information on the name of Prince Yormie Johnson's father, on the names of his father's brothers, on the name of the tribe to which Johnson belongs, and on the names of the tribes from which Johnson draws support; and on the name of the tribe to which Charles Taylor belongs and on the tribes which support him

According to Who's Who in Africa, Prince Yormie Johnson is a member of the Gio tribe in Nimba County, which is in the north-western region of Liberia (Rake 1992, 175). This source states that Johnson joined Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) in 1987 (ibid., 176). In 1990, following the emergence of "personality and ideological differences" between Taylor and Johnson, his second in command, the latter "... gained the following of a group of kinsmen prepared to give him their loyalty" (ibid.). Johnson's group, called the Independent National Patriotic Front (INPF), subsequently split off from Taylor's forces (ibid.).

The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have also stated that the Johnson-led INPF was formed in February 1990 with soldiers from the NPFL (Nov. 1993, 12; Oct. 1994, 11; Jan. 1991, 46). The UNHCR, citing as its source the Office fédéral des réfugiés (Suisse), states that more than 200 of Johnson's forces were former members of elite NPFL units (ibid.) The UNHCR report citing the same Swiss source also states that Taylor's forces largely consist of people from the Gio and Mano tribes (ibid. 9). This information is corroborated by the INS report, which also states that Americo-Liberians are among the ranks of the NPFL (16).

The UNHCR, the INS and Africa Watch all report that Johnson's INPF ceased to function in late 1992 (Oct. 1994, 9; Nov. 1993, 30; News From Africa Watch June 1993, 8). The INPF fought mainly in the Liberian capital of Monrovia, where their base was situated in a suburb called Caldwell (News From Africa Watch 21 Oct. 1991, 1; INS Nov. 1993, 19-20).

According to Who's Who in Africa and the Encyclopedia of the Third World, Charles Taylor is of Americo-Liberian mixed parentage (Rake 1992, 180; 1992, 1121). The World Directory of Minority Groups states that Americo-Liberians can also be called "Congos" or "Honorables" (Minority Rights Group International 1991, 219).

Information on the name of Prince Yormie Johnson's father and the names of his father's brothers could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. 4th ed. Vol. 2. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). January 1991. Human Rights Watch World Report 1990. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Minority Rights Group International. 1990. The World Directory of Minority Groups. The High, Harlow, Essex: Longman Group UK.

News From Africa Watch [New York]. June 1993. Vol. 5, No. 6. "Liberia: Waging War to Keep the Peace: The ECOMOG Intervention and Human Rights."

_____. 21 October 1991. "Liberia: The Cycle of Abuse Human Rights Violations Since the November Cease-fire."

Rake, Alan. 1992. Who's Who in Africa: Leaders for the 1990s. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). October 1994. Background Paper on Liberian Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Geneva: UNHCR.

United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). November 1993. Alert Series: Liberia: Disintegration of the Liberian Nation Since the 1989 Civil War. (AL/LBR/94.001). Washington, DC: INS Resource Information Center.