SUMMARY
INPFL (Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia) was a splinter group that originated from a leadership conflict within the Liberian rebel group NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) in the beginning of 1990. NPFL was led by Charles Taylor, a self appointed leader that had little or no intent of dividing or ceding any of his powers. One of the members of NPFL, Prince Yormie Johnson, in charge of training, had leadership ambitions of his own, however, and felt that this arrangement was not optimal. In January 1990 Johnson left the NPFL taking with him approximately 500 men. Johnson established himself and his outfit as an actor in the raging civil war. The new group, INPFL, was, just as NPFL, striving towards ousting President Samuel Doe.
Once parted from the original group INPFL were hastily thrown into battle against their former brothers in arms. The violence continued throughout 1990, during this time INPFL was mostly active in the capital, Monrovia. It was in fact members of the INPFL who, when the government of Samuel Doe collapsed, apprehended the President. Doe was subsequently tortured and killed by Johnson’s forces on 9 September 1990. Following the killing of Doe and the installation of an interim government, led by Amos Sawyer, INPFL found themselves in a new position. The central issue of removing Doe was accomplished, and the focus instead shifted towards the interaction with the interim government. Within INPFL the opinions varied as to what extent they should in fact interact with President Sawyer’s government. The varying outlooks for INPFL in the new context of a Liberia without Samuel Doe caused the group to disintegrate from within. The failure to clearly situate its position vis-à-vis the new government led to the downfall of the organisation, and as of late 1992 the group was formally disbanded.
INPFL’s leader Prince Johnson managed to escape conviction of possible war-crimes even though a video of INPFL soldiers torturing Samuel Doe surfaced, the video shows Johnson sipping on a Budweiser while his men cut one of Doe’s ears of. During Taylor’s presidency, 1997 – 2003 Johnson was in exile, but when Taylor was ousted he returned. Johnson engaged in politics upon his return to Liberia, and in the 2005 elections he ran for, and won, a senatorial seat, representing his home county; Nimba.
INPFL has been involved in the intrastate, non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
