By our Reporter
The Foreign Ministry in Monrovia on Tuesday confirmed the British government’s decision to expell two Liberian diplomats in London, but says the UK “has not cited reasons for their decision.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received, through our Embassy near London, the United Kingdom the decision of Her Majesty’s Government to declare two of our Foreign Service Officers at the mission persona non-grata,” the Liberian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement
“Though the British Government has not cited reasons for their decision and is not obliged to provide an explanation, according to Article 9 (1) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, the Liberian Government has taken note of the decision of Her Majesty’s Government,” according to the Foreign Ministry in Monrovia.
News of the expulsion of the two Liberian diplomat—J. Napoleon Toquie, II and Chester Dweh Barh, Sr—was first reported in the media, which quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the two men were allegedly found to be involved in acts incompatible with their diplomatic status.
But the two expelled Liberian diplomats have so far not made any public comment on the British government’s action. Toquie was commissioned by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2007 as First Secretary and Consul of the Liberian Embassy in Britain and Northern Ireland, while Barh has been serving as Counselor at the country’s embassy in London.
This is the second time in the last few months that the Liberian mission in London has been engulfed with controversy.
Meanwhile, the Liberian Foreign Ministry says it has begun arranging for the departure of from London of the two expelled diplomats and their respective families back to Liberia before the decision of the British Government takes effect on January 8, 2018.
Last October, the country’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr. El-Mohammed Sheriff was sacked and recalled by President Sirleaf for “acts incompatible with his diplomatic status,” and conducting himself as a trouble maker at the Liberian mission in London
Sheriff’s sacking came just days after his BBC interview saying jailed ex-president Charles Taylor “has learned his lesson and should be freed to return.”
Speaking on her return home from New York after giving her last address to the UN General Assembly as Liberia’s President, Sirleaf told Reporters October 3, 2017 that the dismissed diplomat caused a lot of confusion at the London mission and he needed “he needs to check himself.” The Executive Mansion said his exit has brought relief to staffers at the Liberian embassy in London.
‘’ I was being nice to Dr. Sheriff when I said his behavior was undiplomatic and the people at the Embassy in London are relieved of his removal,’’ Africa’s first elected woman president added.
But Amb. Sheriff, a career medical doctor, has rather taken serious exception to the President’s comment.
‘’I am a normal person, I have never been taken to mental home and I’ve never been called upon to go and fund people who want to bring trouble to this country or I have never gone out there to solicit funding for any illegal act,’’ he said in Monrovia.
The former Liberian diplomat expressed surprise that the president would ‘make an inferior comment imputing his reputation.’
He said such a low-grade attribute to his character has the ability of creating doubts and uncertainty in his future.
He then expressed gratitude to the president for the opportunity accorded through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as diplomat representing the Liberian government in London but strongly disapproved her statement reason for recalling him.
‘’The president leaves me with no choice but to explain and protect my integrity as a father of three children because my family is greatly concerned. When a president of a country takes on you that is of a major distress to your family, your life and wellbeing is a stick‘’ he said looking visibly upset.
Sheriff wants the President Sirleaf to give reasons for making what he considers as derogatory statement against him sending out several questions to the Liberian leader.
‘’ Judging from the comments of the president one may ask the question if she was emotionally charged with a well balance capacity to have made such a remark against me?
“I’m not accusing the president of anything but one may also ask was she exhibiting some traumatized actions considering we came from war days?”
According to the dismissed Liberian envoy, these are questions President Sirleaf should be answering.