United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia - Roosevelt Johnson (ULIMO-J)
David Roosevelt Johnson (died October 23, 2004) was a Liberian who led a rebel group during the country's civil war. He was a member of the Krahn ethnic group. A former teacher, Johnson joined the rebel group United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) soon after the war began.
The Ulimo Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) was initially founded in 1991 by Krahn and Mandingo ethnic groups, and was led by Alhaji G.V. Kromah (AI Oct. 1997, 13). In 1994, it split into two groups: ULIMO-K and ULIMO-J, led by Roosevelt Johnson (ibid.).
After the Presidential election of July 1997, fighting factions were disbanded and Roosevelt Johnson became the minister of rural development (AFP 5 Oct. 1998; ibid., 5 Aug. 1997). However, the Taylor administration has since accused Roosevelt Johnson of treason, and he lives in exile in Nigeria (AFP 27 Sept. 1998).
Amnesty International reports that in February 1997, "four dock workers suspected of being former ULIMO-J fighters were arrested in Sayontown and taken to the ECOMOG base in Monrovia. There, three ECOMOG soldiers reportedly beat them with wire on the back, shoulders and legs and kicked them," but they were later released "after 14 March, when Alhaji Kromah, former leader of the defunct ULIMO-Kromah (ULIMO-K) branch, apologized for an arms cache found in his home" (1997, 236).
Information on whether Fante and Americo-Liberians would be activists in ULIMO-J could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. An official of the Africa Justice and Peace Network, a Catholic organization based in Washington DC, with expertise in Liberia, stated that as a group, the Fante are not actively involved in politics because they are considered "foreigners." He explained that they are originally from Ghana and are found along the coastal area. He further stated that they tend to be fishermen. This information is corroborated by The Encyclopedia of the Third World (1992, 1122).
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