Lt General Charles Julu (Rock)

Former Commander of the Executive Mansion Guard Battalion

Died: 25/09/2009

Biography: Chief of Security, LAMCO; Commander, Executive Mansion Guard Battalion, 1983-90; Chief of Staff, the Armed Forces of Liberia, 1990 ; Exile, 1990-94; Detained, Post Stockade military prison, Barclay Training Centre, 1994-96;

Commentary: Also known as 'Rock', General Charles Julu was the Commander of the Armed Forces of Liberia under Samuel Doe. He was arrested on 20th July 2007 by the National Security Agency, headed by Fumbah Sirleaf, and accused of subversive acts and then charged with treason in Monrovia City Court along with colonels Andrew Dorbor (arrested in February) and Wolo Nagbe; Jacob Kaarahn, who is Lebanese; and Ephraim Junior Gaye, a cousin of Julu's.

The writ before the Monrovia Court states that a video taken in Yamoussoukro shows some of the accused discussing arms shipments from Côte d’Ivoire intended to remove 'a government headed by lady Delilah' (presumably Sirleaf). Julu backed the late President Samuel Kanyon Doe and led a failed coup in 1994 against David M. Kpormakpor's transitional government. The defendants are from Grand Gedeh County, home of Doe and footballer-politician George Oppong Weah, who leads the largest party, the Congress for Democratic Change. Johnson-Sirleaf's Unity Party lost miserably in Grand Gedeh in the 2005 elections, where some leaders see the case as a stitch-up. A trial of Gen. Julu and company might affect peace talks across the border in Côte d’Ivoire.  

Julu was aquitted by Peter Gbeneweleh, Judge of Criminal Court 'A', in May 2008. He died in 2009, reportedly after having suffered from pneumonia.