US authorities have deported Liberian warlord Mayama Sesay, also known as “Black Diamond,” who is accused of killing civilians and captured soldiers during Liberia’s civil wars. Sesay, 43, was a commander with the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), which opposed the government of former President Charles Taylor.
According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Sesay was deported on September 5, but the announcement was made this week. An immigration judge had ordered her deportation in May, which was affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Sesay had entered the US on a visitor’s visa in 2014 and later married a US citizen, but denied any affiliation with Lurd during her immigration interview.
Sesay’s deportation comes nearly two weeks after another Lurd commander, Laye Sekou Camara, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for lying about his rebel activities in Liberia. Lurd was responsible for 12 percent of all crimes reported to Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, making it the second-most notorious faction after Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).
Sesay’s past is marked by brutal tactics, including recruiting and training child soldiers, restraining and beating captured soldiers, and deploying mortar bombs to terrorize and kill military personnel and civilians. She has been designated as a war criminal in Liberia and is likely to stand trial in the country’s proposed war and economic crimes court, scheduled to begin operations in November 2027.
Justice advocates have welcomed Sesay’s deportation, seeing it as a sign that warlords will be held accountable for their actions. Hassan Bility, director of the Global Justice and Research Project, urged the Liberian government to quickly establish the war crimes court to prosecute Sesay and other accused perpetrators. The deportation is a significant development in the pursuit of justice for victims of Liberia’s civil wars, and experts say it sends a strong message to warlords that they will not be able to hide from their past actions.
