-Liberia Rights Advocacy Platform says “war criminals” must account for their deeds
By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
Those who bear the greatest responsibilities for atrocities committed during Liberia’s over 14 years civil wars must be made to account for their actions, the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform in Liberia has said.
Over 250,000 people were killed and thousands more were either wounded, raped and faced other forms of abuse, according to United Nations estimate.
In an interview with www.newspublictrust.com in Monrovia at the weekend, Mr. Adama Dempster has welcomed steps by state prosecutors to indict the first suspect Gen. Benjamin Yeaten, expressing optimism that it serves as the beginning of strings of such indictments and prosecutions of suspected war criminals.
Human Rights Advocate Adama Dempster
Gen. Yeaten, who headed former President Charles Taylor’s elite SSS presidential guard, stands accused of summarily executing several prominent Liberians; one of them, along with wife and family members in November 1997 and June 2003.
The victims include former Internal Affairs Minister Samuel Dokie along with wife and family members, whose charred remains were found in their vehicles in the late 1990s outside Monrovia. Others included the then Deputy Public Works Minister for Technical Services Isaac Vaye and Deputy Minister for Operations at the National Security Ministry, John W. Yormie, who were slaughtered in June 2003 allegedly by Yeaten.
sMr. Dempster believes that attempts to try the man who allegedly killed them “is a sign of commitment and willingness on the part of our domestic justice system to ensure that those accused of committing atrocities during the civil war have their day in court.”
The Liberian rights advocate has expressed the hope that the country’s legal system will be further strengthened to be able to absorb and adjudicate more of such cases.
Beyond that, the Secretary General of the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform wants those who committed war crimes and violated international humanitarian laws held to account as well, as a way of complementing domestic efforts to do away with the culture of impunity.
Liberia’s civil brutal civil war, which lasted from December 1989 – August 2003, is replete with accounts of massacres carried out by various warring factions.
Notable among them are the Lutheran Church, Carter Camp, Duport Road, Sammay and Tenebu massacres, among others in which thousands including pregnant women were slaughtered by fighting forces, none of whom have so far faced justice.
Former General Yeaten of the defunct National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and other former warlords were named in the 2010 final report of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which called for those who bear the greatest responsibilities for the years of carnage to be prosecuted.
Besides Yeaten, other former warlords including former INPFL leader General Prince Y. Johnson (now Senator) were also recommended for prosecution in the TRC’s report.
Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was also found liable in the report for her support to Charles Taylor’s former NPFL and was recommended for a 30-year ban from political activities in Liberia. When she appeared before the TRC some years back, she admitted contributing US10,000 to the NPFLrebels referred to as “freedom fighters”.
In its conclusion, the TRC report said:
- “All factions to the Liberian conflict are responsible for abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- The massive wave of gross violations and atrocities assumed a systematic pattern of abuse.
- All factions committed gender based violence against women and recruited children to participate in acts of violence.
- “External state actors in Africa, North America and Europe participated, supported, aided, abetted, conspired and instigated violence, war and regime change for political, economic and foreign policy advantages and gains (Consolidated Final Report, Vol. II, p. 18).”
Recommendations
- The TRC advised for the establishment of an Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal for Liberia and named individuals, corporations and institutions recommended for prosecution or, in some cases, for further investigation.
- The commission also included a list of individuals recommended to be barred from holding public office for thirty years (including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf).
- The commission urged the Government of Liberia to guarantee the full enjoyment of social, economic and cultural rights, in addition to civil and political rights.
- The TRC’s report called for the establishment of a National Palava Hut Forum as a complementary tool for justice and national reconciliation. The commission recommended that the Palava Hut process be based on traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. Persons recommended for prosecution in the TRC Report for the commission of international crimes would not be entitled to be pardoned through the Palava Hut process.
- The TRC recommended that the Government of Liberia assumes its full responsibility under international law to provide reparations for all those individuals and communities victimized by the years of instability and war, especially women and children. The commission recommended a reparation program of approximately US$500m over 30 years. The commission recommended general amnesty for children, and amnesty for lesser crimes in an effort to foster national healing and reconciliation if individuals admit their wrongs and express remorse.”
Latest UN call for implementation of TRC report
A UN Concluding Observation Report released in July 2018 on Liberia has meanwhile expressed concern that the country has not done much to implement recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Portions of that document recommend prosecution and ban from holding public office for categories of perpetrators.
In its latest report on Liberia, the UN underscored that “none of the alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations and war crimes mentioned in the TRC report, has been brought to justice, and that some of those individuals are or have been holding official executive positions, including in the government”.
The report also notes with concern the absence of a comprehensive program of reparations for victims as well as gross human rights violations committed during the Ebola outbreak here.
The world body wants Liberia to “ensure that all alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations and war crimes are impartially prosecuted and, if found guilty, convicted and punished in accordance with the gravity of the acts committed, regardless of their status or any domestic legislation on immunities.”
The Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform says it is aware of a recent communication from the UN human rights office to Liberia’s Legislature regarding its Observation Report on Liberia, in which it called for renewed commitment to implementing the recommendations.
The country has up to two years to prepare for that execution, Mr. Dempster explained.
Since taking office on January 22, 2018, President George Manneh Weah and his CDC government has been under pressure to support the setting up of a war crimes court.
But Weah and his officials have been reluctant, saying prosecuting former warlords and others for war and economic crimes is not the CDC government’s immediate priority.