The Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), also known as the Anti-Terrorist Brigade, was a

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

force of the government of

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

, established by then-President Charles Taylor in 1997–98.

Chuckie Taylor Charles McArther Emmanuel (born February 12, 1978), also known as Chuckie Taylor, is the son of Charles Taylor (Liberia), Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia.Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

and

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

, as well as former

Revolutionary United Front The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...

(RUF) combatants from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. The ATU had no legal basis for its existence, and was not under the command of the Ministry of National Defense (Liberia), Ministry of Defense. The ATU absorbed Taylor's most experienced NPFL civil war fighters, including undisciplined and untrained loyalists.

Sam Bockarie Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known as Mosquito (2 October 1964 – 5 May 2003), was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civil ...

(alias Mosquito), and Brig. Gen. Abu were named as being among the ATU's senior personnel in a report issued in October 2001. According to a report from the UN Panel of Experts on Diamonds and Arms in Sierra Leone, issued in December 2000, a former

SADF The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

officer, Fred Rindel, trained up to 1200 ATU personnel between September 1998 and August 2000, when Rindel cancelled his contract following negative media attention. During 2002 ATU members increasingly were involved in criminal activities such as theft, looting, and murder in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

. More than in the past, the perpetrators were apprehended; however, cases against them remained unresolved at year's end. Two ATU members arrested in November 2001 after looting a private residence in Monrovia were released during 2002. There were many unlawful killings by security forces during 2002. For example, on June 19, an ATU officer and presidential guards opened fire on a taxicab in Monrovia and killed a 6-year-old child and critically injured his mother and the driver. President Taylor ordered an investigation of the incident, which was ongoing at year's end. In September Lt. Isaac Gono, a driver attached to ATU chief Charles Taylor Jr.'s command, was beaten to death by his colleagues as a disciplinary measure for denting a vehicle. Two soldiers were arrested and held for court martial. The trial was opened; however, it later was suspended for unknown reasons, and the case was pending at year's end. Former Deputy Minister of Labor Bedell Fahn and four members of the ATU arrested for torturing two Nigerian men to death in October 2001 were tried during 2002. Fahn was sentenced to 10 months in prison; however, in September he was released. Two ATU members were acquitted and the other two were sentenced to life imprisonment. The National Transitional Government of Liberia disbanded the ATU,United States Department of State
accessed February 2009 as part of Liberia's larger post-war demobilisation process.

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* {{Cite journal , url = https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/921AB38267D93372C12572AB0049D39D-HRW-conflict%20analysis-mar05.pdf , title =Youth, Poverty and Blood: The Lethal Legacy of West Africa's Regional Warriors , last= , first= , authorlink = , date = March 2005 , journal = , publisher =

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, issue = 5(A) , volume = 17 , location =

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, pages = , ref = {{harvid, Human Rights Watch, 2005 *Globalsecurity.org, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/liberia/atu.htm, accessed February 2009 Government of Liberia Non-military counterterrorist organizations

See also

References

Works cited