The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS has announced May 2, 2019 as the date of the hearing between the government of Liberia and the Mandingo people of Ganta, Nimba County under the banner the Ganta Support group.
The suit emanates from a long-standing land dispute, which was offset by the illegal occupation of land and properties of residents of Ganta (mainly the Mandingo people) who fled the country during the war, only to return and find their properties occupied.
According to the suit, “The Mandingo people have been the owners of landed properties in Ganta, Nimba County, from time immemorial.
In 2006, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf set up an ad-hoc committee headed by former Internal Affairs Minister, Ambulai Johnson, to resolve the Nimba land disputes that had the potential to plunge Liberia into crisis.
Another commission was constituted comprising only Nimbaians and presided over by Mr. Musa Hassan Billity.
The two commissions established that to achieve peace and foster reconciliation, there was the need to compensate all the squatters to enable them to vacate the properties.
The suit further alleged that over 75 heads of families of the Mandingo citizens of Ganta and its environs in Nimba were brutally beaten, tortured and jailed in 2016 by state security during a peaceful rally in demand of their land.
According to the aggrieved party, the government of Liberia allocated the unoccupied portion of the embattled land to former and current government officials, including current City Mayor of Ganta Amos Suah.
Serious tension nearly resulting into conflict recently ensued in Ganta after the Mandingo people resisted a court ordered to evict them of a portion of the land in question despite the case being before the Supreme Court of Liberia.
Following the incident, the Mandingoes hailing from Ganta Nimba County issued a statement calling on the Justice in Chambers of the Supreme Court to forward their case currently before him to the full bench for adjudication.
