Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe publically offers to resign

Updated: 30 Jun 2020

Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe offered to resign in response to rebel incursions in his country. Doe was eventually kidnapped during a truce meeting, tortured and on 9 September he was executed by his kidnapers. His execution was recorded on video. Charles Taylor, who would later face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), became head of the Provisional Government. In April 1980, Doe overthrew William Tolbert Jr in a bloody coup. He subsequently established, for the first time in Liberia’s history, military rule over the country. On 26 April 2012, Taylor was found guilty by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on 11 charges of aiding and abetting the rebels who went on a bloody rampage during the decade-long war that ended in 2002 with more than 50 000 dead.

How we know this

01Liberia Past and Present, ‘President Samuel K. Doe’, [online], available at www.liberiapastandpresent.org (Accessed: 30 May 2012)
02Executed Today.com, ‘1990: Samuel K. Doe’, [online], available at www.executedtoday.com (Accessed: 30 May 2012)

Last updated · 30 Jun 2020

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, June 27). Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe publically offers to resign. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0087260

South African History Online (2012) 'Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe publically offers to resign', South African History Online, 27 June. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0087260 (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

South African History Online, Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe publically offers to resign [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0087260, (accessed 22 October 2026).

"Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe publically offers to resign." South African History Online, 27 June 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0087260. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Liberian President, Samuel Kanyon Doe publically offers to resign." South African History Online. June 27, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0087260.