The man named earlier this week by the executive council of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) to replace Sekou damate Conneh as chairperson is dead, according to Presidential Affairs Minister Jackson E Doe.
Doe told journalists in Monrovia late on Wednesday that his first cousin, Charyee Doe, died in a United States hospital on Wednesday following an operation to remove a tumour from his brain.
He was a founding member of Lurd and was until recently the movement’s vice-chairperson for administration.
Charyee Doe was also a brother of the ill-fated former president Samuel Doe who was tortured to death by former warlord-turned-evangelist Prince Yormie Johnson in July 1990.
The deceased, who was until his death managing director of the National Port Authority, was described by friends and colleagues as a ”caring, brave and affable” person.
He is believed to have been in his forties. The executive council of Lurd was expected to meet on Thursday to decide on his replacement. — Sapa-DPA