Laye Sekou Camara
Resources
External links
- The Inquirer (2025) – Liberians who survived a civil war say a man now living in South Jersey committed atrocities including murder
- AFP (2025) – Ex-Liberian rebel pleads guilty to US immigration fraud
- US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (2025) – “Former Liberian Rebel General Pleads Guilty to Immigration Fraud”
- US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (2025) – “Former Liberian Rebel General Charged With Immigration Fraud”
Questions & answers
Laye Sekou Camara was arrested in New York, U.S., on March 26, 2022. Also known by his noms de guerre General K-1 and General Dragon Master, he is alleged to have participated in Liberia’s brutal second civil war as a high-ranking member of the LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy), a rebel group which committed war crimes and atrocities resulting in the death and displacement of thousands of Liberians. LURD was recognized as one of the “significant violator groups” active during the war by the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Sekou Camara was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint submitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On April 8, 2022, he was released on bail subject to home monitoring except for employment, court and medical visits.
Sekou Camara’s trial was scheduled to begin on 21 January 2025. On 16 January he pleaded guilty to all counts in the indictment, which waived his right to a trial before a jury.
On 23 January the judge scheduled a pre-sentence evidentiary hearing in order to enable the Liberian witnesses to enter their accounts on the record. Camara is due to be sentenced on 19 May.
Charged with immigration fraud
Sekou Camara was charged in Philadelphia with three counts of use of a fraudulently obtained immigration document, and one count of possession of a fraudulently obtained immigration document. He was alleged to have lied when submitting his applications to the US authorities for immigration documents, including a non-immigrant visa, an immigrant visa and a Pennsylvania state ID.
During these application processes, he indicated he had never been a member of a tribe or a rebel group; had never committed, ordered, incited or assisted in political killings or other acts of violence; and had never engaged in the use or recruitment of child soldiers. He also contended he had never sought a visa, or entry into the US, by fraud or misrepresentation.
Sekou Camara’s case is the third public criminal prosecution and third conviction in Philadelphia related to the Liberian civil wars, following “Jungle Jabbah”, former ULIMO commander, and Thomas Woewiyu, former NPFL spokesman and Minister of Defense. With the trial of Moses Wright scheduled for later this year, it is the fourth criminal case in which Civitas Maxima and its Liberia-based sister organization, the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), have provided assistance to the U.S. authorities.
