-Sends Open Letter to International Community
“March for Justice Liberia”, a pressure group has sent an open letter to the international community calling for “the urgent need for war and economic crimes court for Liberia.”
The open letter dated October 20, 2018, which was addressed to the United States Embassy in Liberia, the European Union, UN and ECOWAS mission, said the advocacy group of Liberians in the diaspora was “committed to ensuring that the age-old entrenched culture of corruption and impunity are eradicated from Liberia.”
Below is full text of the March for Justice Liberia open letter dated:
MARCH FOR JUSTICE LIBERIA
October 20, 2018
Open Letter to the following Diplomatic Missions accredited near Monrovia:
The Embassy of the United States of America
The EU Delegation to Liberia
The Embassy of France
The Embassy of Great Britain
The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
The United Nations Mission in Liberia
The ECOWAS Commission
The African Union
The Mano River Union
Your Excellencies:
RE: The Urgent Need for War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia
We are pleased to convey heartfelt compliments on behalf of ‘MARCH FOR JUSTICE LIBERIA’, a diaspora Liberian advocacy group committed to ensuring that the age-old entrenched culture of corruption and impunity are eradicated from Liberia. March for Justice has its members spread across the United States of America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
The diaspora Liberian umbrella organization strongly believes that corruption and impunity have eroded every fabric of the Liberian society for so many years thus impeding the development of the country in every aspect. For more than a century and half since independence in 1847, successive governments have dwelled in corruption with gross insensitivity to the wellbeing and general state of affairs of the country.
Swamped by greed, dishonesty and selfishness, leaders of the country are on record for amassing wealth for they and their families subjecting the citizenry to abject poverty. It is inconceivable that Liberians could subject their fellow compatriots to such poor quality of life while they personalized the wealth of the country. It is no doubt that poverty, disease and violent conflicts caused by pervasive corruption and impunity account for this intolerable state of the nation.
Although considerable progress was made with your immeasurable contributions in the last decade towards recovery and development in the aftermath of the decade and half (1989-2003) devastating civil war, corruption remains a colossal challenge to progress. Sadly today, Liberians are amongst the world’s poorest and unhappy inhabitants. Citizens are barely surviving with limited or no access to safe drinking water, quality education and healthcare delivery services, infrastructure, roads and food production. Despite the first democratic transition in more than 70 years in which President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf peacefully handed power over to President George Oppong Manneh Weah following the 2017 elections, the country’s democracy is still fragile. The prospects don’t look good because the economy is in a bad shape.
Today, resentment is rapidly growing in the country evidenced by the measure of expressed or demonstrated dissatisfaction manifested by the different segments of the society. Liberians are rapidly becoming hopeless of solutions to the prolonged economic improprieties thereby engendering anxiety and apprehension. Obviously, genuine peace and stability are still not in sight due to the continuous hardship and significant traces of corruption and impunity predominantly visible in the public sector. Consequently, the new Liberia under President Weah is greeted by these very same vices that are responsible for record setbacks and underdevelopment. That is exactly why March for Justice like every well-meaning Liberian is troubled by this disquieting situation.
Your Excellencies, March for Justice is fully aware that your respective countries are equally troubled by the constant breakdown of governance whenever the country appears to be on the trajectory of sustainable peace and development. You have every reason to be concerned because primarily, Liberia is one of the largest recipients of aid from your countries. Your support cuts across all of the sectors of government to include post-war recovery programs such as the security sector reform, the justice system and rule of law reform, elections and democracy enhancement, health care and education, water and sanitation, electricity, and road rehabilitation. These recovery efforts have been largely funded by your governments using taxpayers’ monies. Interestingly, only in some cases that the government of Liberia provides marching funds to support some of these much-needed services.
Your unwavering support to Liberia speaks highly of the benevolence of your countries. Once again, Liberians are truly grateful. While it is true that Liberians are grateful for such unwavering support, the government which represents the people is under obligation to ensure that it is transparent and accountable in all of its dealings. Demonstrating such integrity and credibility is paramount to guaranteeing trust and confidence capable of further strengthening cooperation between Liberia and your respective countries. Absolutely, Liberia cannot afford to lose such opportunity especially during these difficult moments of recovery. The current reality in the country is not pleasing. March for Justice is equally concerned and would therefore like to use this medium to seek the support of your respective governments through your missions for the full implementation of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation report.
Your Excellencies, it has been more than 15 years now since the civil war ended in Liberia. It was considered the bloodiest ever in the history of the country. The war was so devastating that it spread over to neighboring Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire thereby destabilizing the entire Mano River Union subregion. Women and children were raped, children were conscripted by various rebel groups as fighters, mass murder took place across the country with wanton destruction of properties. It is said that about 250,000 lives were destroyed with massive looting of the economy. Rebel groups and their benefactors committed heinous crimes against humanity, violated international humanitarian laws and protocols. They violated the domestic laws and the constitution of Liberia.
Your Excellencies, according to the Rome Statute, these crimes fall directly under the jurisdiction of the ICC and therefore warrant and require the intervention, investigation, and prosecution by the ICC. Yet, all these committed crimes have never been investigated by the ICC as required; except the crime of aggression committed by Charles Taylor in Sierra Leone for which he was prosecuted and now sentenced through the special court that was set up by the ICC for Sierra Leone. The Common Article 3 and Protocol II of the Geneva Convention was ratified by the Government of Liberia and are applicable to Liberia. These too must be enforced by all members and be accountable thereof.
The violations of international criminal laws, international human rights laws and international humanitarian laws, including war crimes should never be swept under carpet. The facts are preponderant and evidentiary: All factions engaged in armed conflict, violated, degraded, abused and denigrated, committed sexual and gender-based violence against women including rape, sexual slavery, forced marriages, and other dehumanizing forms of violations. Massacres, genocides, economic crimes, and extra-judicial killings were also committed.
These carnages, onslaughts, and atrocities committed up to today’s date continue to hunt the citizens of Liberia because justice continues to be delayed and denied. Unfortunately, some of those who bear the greatest responsibilities for these heinous war crimes continue to walk sky-free. Most unfortunately also, some of these individuals are being rewarded with state powers and therefore rule their victims at will and at their detriment, displeasure, and dissatisfaction. This has created a tormenting and viciously traumatic cycle for the civilian population. This is wrong, unacceptable, and unjust. Only justice for the victims can correct these unthinkable crimes and set Liberia on a real path for reconciliation and healing.
The Liberian civil conflict also unimaginably saw numerous massacres: the Sinje, the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on 14th Street, the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church massacre on Camp Johnson Road, and many other massacres. During the conflict, Liberia also experienced a heart-breaking genocide which today remains an untold story. Members of the khran ethnic tribe of the Late President Samuel Doe, who was dehumanized and murdered, were targeted, hunted and killed because of their ethnicity. Members of the Mandingo, Mano and Gio ethnic tribes were also targeted, hunted and murdered because of their ethnicities. Genocide is a crime against humanity and we demand accountability and justice for this vicious crime.
Delivering justice for these uncivilized and barbaric crimes is the only way to correct the wrongs, reconcile the country and its people, and eventually end the culture of impunity in Liberia. It is and will be unfortunate for the world to let these levels of atrocities go into the books of history without any accountability. It will be saddened and mistaken for such crimes to go unpunished. These terrible crimes must be investigated, and the required judicious measures taken to serve as the best deterrent.
Your Excellencies, another dimension of this most heart wrecking was the killing of five American Catholic Nuns. The March for Justice Campaign-Liberia joins every decent Liberian to say this was wronged. It was even reported that these women were raped before being killed by the perpetrators to cover up this appalling act. Only a special criminal tribunal will establish who raped and gruesomely murdered these women. These women were on humanitarian mission and should have been exempted and not targeted. Every decent human being should and must demand answers for these acts. Like you, the March for Justice is seeking answers to the following questions:
- Who killed these women?
- Why has this human mystery remained unresolved for so long?
- Why has nobody been held responsible or accountable?
- Who will stand and speak for these Americans when they can’t for themselves?
- Who will deliver justice for these sisters?
- When will the world stand up to give them justice?
A special criminal tribune-a war crimes court for Liberia will answer these questions. So, let’s do what is right. Let justice be served for the five catholic nuns and every Liberian who paid the ultimate price for that brutal civil war. Justice is the answer we demand today and now. That’s the only way these crimes can never happen again. It is the responsibility of the world community through the ICC to act and now. It is the responsibility of the United Nations and the United States to act and now. It is also the responsibility of the Liberian Government to act and now. Let Great Britain, France, Germany, the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) not turn a blind or an unknown eye to this catastrophic display of barbarism because it happened years ago.
For the March of Justice Liberia, now is the time for justice. Now is the time for accountability, responsibility, and leadership. Now is the time for all perpetrators to answer questions for their evil acts against Liberia and its people. These crimes were committed against humanity. We want to remind the world that injustice somewhere, is injustice everywhere. And that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
The March for Justice Liberia is therefore calling on the United Nations Security to adapt and pass a resolution establishing a war and economic crimes court (WECC) to right this wrong. The death of a quarter million of people is completely out of the ordinary and we think the World MUST act. Therefore, we demand the establishment of a War and Economic Crimes Court based on the outcome of the truth and reconciliation process for Liberia to prosecute the crimes against humanity that were committed during the Liberian Civil War as it was in the cases of Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
Your Excellencies, it is also important to note that the civil war was launched because of corruption, nepotism, political marginalization and the abuse of power by previous governments in Liberia. Sadly, these vices remain engrained in Liberia and the current government is yet to demonstrated commitment to address this creeping situation. These are uniquely worrisome recipes for economic instability and continuous poverty. These too must be given serious consideration and urgent attention for so many reasons.
First, the two years transitional government immediately after the ousting of Charles Taylor was corrupt and did not serve the already poor and war-ravaged citizens of Liberia. Second, though now former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf two terms government received significant support, it did not change the economic situation in the country as it should because of massive corruption.
Your Excellencies, today, corruption reports remain uninvestigated while the accused officials remain at large and some even reappointed into the current government headed by former Soccer Icon George Oppong Manneh Weah as President.
The culture of impunity in Liberia has been a vicious cycle so entrenched that about $16 billion Liberian Dollars (newly printed bank notes) have been reported missing and yet not a single suspect has been held accountable. Impunity has emboldened individuals to the extent that they think siphoning state resources too can go unpunished just as the cases of the killings, raping, genocides, and massacres that others committed during the war.
Lastly and sadly, the current government has refused to audit the previous government and to go after officials indicted in audit reports. Instead, the government of President Weah is walking the path of his predecessors. Just over nine months in power, President Weah and his officials are building mansions and flooding the government with their relatives while ordinary Liberians wallop in abject poverty. These are real troubling times. The March for Justice Liberia is also requesting the intervention of your governments through your missions to quickly intervene in ensuring a speedy and independent investigation of these serious economic crimes that have the propensity for Liberia to relapse into the dangerous past.
Your Excellencies, the March for Justice Liberia firmly believes that the full implementation of the TRC recommendations in the framework of a War and Economic Crimes Court and a full-scale independent investigation into current reported cases of corruption will drastically reduce corruption and put an end to impunity. It is exactly when Liberia will rise from the current state of degradation and seek the path of sustainable peace and stability.
While anticipating your fruitful and timely intervention, please accept Your Excellencies, the profound gratitude of the March for Justice Liberia for your immeasurable contributions to Liberia’s post-war recovery and development.
Kind regards.
Sincerely,
Vandalark Patricks +1-202-826-1717
Ysyndi Martin Kpeyei +1-404-234-2534
Korpar B. Wohwoh +1-816-588-9469
Ansony Sieh +1-651-3991614
Josiah F. Joekai, Jr. +1-929-250-3164