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| NEWS ARTICLE |
| Liberia: Post-War Justice Stirs Division |
| BY: UN-IRIN Posted to the web August 4, 2006 |
The impending trial of former rebel leader and ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone
has divided his countrymen on how best to pursue justice after 14 years of brutal civil war.
The March arrest of the charismatic strongman, who still has many supporters in Liberia, was internationally hailed as a major step towards
ending the culture of impunity in Africa.
"Taylor's trial should send a strong message around the continent and around the world that warlords in other parts of Africa cannot assume
they will get away with their crimes and that impunity will not be allowed to stand," said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on a recent visit to
Sierra Leone.
But in Liberia, many feel that the search for justice has only just begun with the launch of a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
in June. The commission, opened by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is to investigate 24 years of instability and seek out the root causes of
the civil conflict.
The nine-member commission has begun seeking information on gross human rights abuses ranging from murder to sexual violence on the
basis of voluntary statements.
Like the TRC in neighbouring Sierra Leone, which wrapped up hearings from that country's decade-long civil war in 2004, Liberia's TRC
cannot submit actions for prosecution.
However unlike its Sierra Leonean counter part, the Liberian commission can summon people to testify.
Fighting in Liberia left hundreds of thousands dead and forced 300,000 more men, women and children to run for their lives, sheltering in
refugee camps across West Africa. Many have yet to return home nearly three years after Taylor stepped down as president under
international pressure led by the US.
Liberia now has its first elected government since the war ended. Sirleaf, Liberia and Africa's first elected woman president, recently told IRIN
that Liberia's TRC is not just about justice but reconciling the war-battered country.
Breaking the silence
To encourage Liberians to come forward and tell their stories, a sign at the creaking metal entrance gate to the commission's temporary
offices explains: 'The TRC is not a court, and cannot send you to jail'.
Inside, Chairman Jerome Verdier said the commission would seek access to Taylor if considered necessary to the fulfilment of its duties, but
he warned it was "myopic" to reduce all of Liberia's problems to one man.
"We Liberians understand that the conflict didn't start with Charles Taylor," Verdier told IRIN. "It has deep historical roots and in finding a
durable solution we have to review the past and we have to have all the Liberians on board."
"What is essential now is a process that gives Liberians the opportunity to search their hearts, revisit the past and correct those historical
wrongs that have impacted the current situation as a way for laying the building blocks for the future," he said.
The commission was created under a peace deal signed in August 2003 by Liberian warring parties and civilians. Delegates initially rejected
establishment of a Sierra Leone-style war crimes tribunal, under whose jurisdiction Taylor now must stand trial.
Opening old wounds?
At the end of two years, the TRC is expected to make recommendations for reparations to victims and proposals on how to proceed with the
justice process. A further tribunal based on the TRC findings has not been ruled out.
But some believe the 24-month mandate of the TRC is too short to achieve its goals, even if the government exercises its right to extend the
TRC mandate by three months. They warn that airing Liberia's past atrocities without redress will only open old wounds.
"Will the true victims come forward, and will what they reveal lead to justice or to more bitterness, feelings of betrayal and unfulfilment?" an
editorialist of the daily Analyst newspaper wondered at the official launching of the TRC last month.
Others say there is no use in documenting human rights violations in the past as long as the abusers remain at large. They say that
perpetrators could easily seek revenge on those who tell their stories to the TRC.
"Why should I go tell who killed my brother 10 years ago?" a Liberian citizen who declined to be named told IRIN. "Why should I risk having
my door kicked in at night by his cronies?"
Many Liberians are now backing a campaign led by a group named Forum for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court in Liberia, which has
filed a petition that will be discussed at the Liberian Upper House this month. The Forum says Liberia should have its own war crimes tribunal
working alongside the truth commission, much like in Sierra Leone.
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