All Liberians are amenable to the TRC, says Verdier

Posted May 29, 2006

http://runningafrica.com/news-05292006TRC.html

Mr. Ben Weefua hails from Lofa County, Liberia, West Africa. Mr. Weefua currently resides in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State. He is the former president of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania.

Ben as he is popularly called, is one of the hundreds of Liberians that have dreadful memories of the ended 14 years Liberian civil war. According to Ben, some of his relatives were brutally murdered by rebel fighters in 1990. “ The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) fighters rounded up my aunt and grandmother along with 40 other women in our village (Balagwalazu) in Lofa. The rebels locked them up in a house and set the house on fire with gasoline. Our people were burnt alive,” Mr. Weefua painstakingly recounted the tragic home going of his relatives.

He made the allegation recently in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when the chairman of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Jerome Vedier met with a cross section of Liberians at a town hall gathering. The meeting was organized by the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania (LAP).

Mr. Weefua’s family story is painful, heartbreaking, and horrifying. His account of the civil war is one of the many outrageous tales that hundreds of Liberians will begin narrating before the TRC when the commission begins the hearing of cases on June 22, 2006. The TRC has the mandate to probe and document economic crimes and human rights abuses committed in Liberia from June of 1979 to October of 2003. The National Reconciliation Act passed in 2005 by the disbanded Transitional Legislative Assembly created the commission. The setting-up of the Commission is in compliance with the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which was signed by parties to the ended Liberian Civil war in 2003.

Speaking at the meeting, Chairman Vedier said, TRC commissioners have begun a sensitization campaign in rural Liberia as part of efforts to educate Liberians about the work of the commission. He said the campaign would last for three months. “ My visit to the US is also in keeping with the TRC’s public awareness campaign,” he said. “The task at hand is difficult, and we can not do it alone. We think there should be a vigorous involvement of Liberians in the work of the TRC. That’s why I am here to mobilize your support in helping us restore peace and stability to Liberia,” he noted.

Hearing Process
He said, “Following the tours, we will travel to Ghana and South Africa to attend workshops and after that, we will formally begin the hearing of cases in June. To ensure that every town or village in Liberia is reached during the hearing process, we have demarcated the country into eight zones.” He said the commission will hear all cases regardless of the individuals involved.

He explained, “The process will be democratic and accessible to all Liberians. Our work will be marked by diligence and honesty.” Chairman Vedier stated, “We will make sure that recommendations emanating from the commission are comprehensive and realistic.” Truth, he noted, “Is the path to reconciliation. So, people will have to account for their wrong doings.”

Legislative Immunity
He said the commission has the mandate to subpoena anyone accused of war crimes in Liberia. “The Act that created the TRC does not exclude anyone from appearing before the commission not even legislators.” Chairman Vedier who is also, a barrister by profession, argued, “I know that Article 42 of the Liberian constitution protects legislators from arrest while attending, going to or returning from sessions of the legislature, but they can be arrested for treason, felony or breach of the peace.”

“So, he went on, “If the need arises for a lawmaker or lawmakers to testify before the commission for acts committed during the civil war, we will subpoena them”. He maintained, no legislator or public official can claim any form of immunity as a means of evading appearance before the TRC because “We have the power to come after you”.

Justice, the youthful chairman promised, would be rendered. “We are Liberians and we know what happened in Liberia during the war. We don’t have to get complaints before citing anyone. We have the power to summon any Liberian to testify before the commission if doing so would be in the interest of the reconciliation process.”

He said the commission has contempt power to deal with anyone who may try to obstruct the work of the TRC. “We with the backing of the legal system, can impose fines and imprison for up to six months anyone who may elect to barricade our work.”

Funding
According to Chairman Vedier, the TRC has a very huge mandate. “Our work requires funding, resources, and collaboration at all levels. That’s why I am here to mobilize your support .” The TRC has a 10 million dollar budget that covers a two year period.

At the moment, the Chairman said, “ We have 900 thousand dollars of the 10 million dollars budgeted for our work.” He said, the money was donated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)…$ 300,000.00, the Danish government…$300,000.00, and the Liberian government…$ 300,000.00.

He stated that the Liberian government has also agreed to fund the TRC’s administrative cost which is put at $ 3 million. He said, “With this commitment from the Liberian government, we now have a gap of $ 7 million. That’s what we are now trying to raise.” Chairman Vedier pleaded with his fellow compatriots to get involve in the work of the commission. “We need your financial and logistical support in the accomplishment of our mission,” he pleaded.

TRC Hearings in US and Britain
Meanwhile, Liberia’s Consul General to the City of Philadelphia, Teta Banks, is calling on the TRC to establish hearing centers for Liberians in the United States and Britain. The Consul General reasoned that the creation of sites in the US and Britain would afford Liberians in both countries affected by the civil war to be a part of the commission’s adjudication process. “We want the hearing of cases evolving out of the civil war to be democratic and unlimited in terms of access,” She emphasized.

She said Liberian consulates in the US and Britain would conclude arrangements with the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC), the Cable News Network (CNN), and C-Span for the telecast of TRC’s hearings without any cost to the Liberian government.

At the same time, the Co-chairman of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania (LAP) Board of Directors, Francis Duwana is urging the TRC to intensify its public awareness campaign. “The commission must devote time and resources to explaining its work because many people still do not understand the work of the commission,” Mr. Duwana, advised.

Making closing remarks at the LAP town hall meeting, Mr. Duwana noted the frequent misuse of the word, reconciliation by Liberian politicians and ordinary citizens. He said, the TRC must help Liberians understand and practicalize the essence of reconciliation. “Reconciliation in Liberia must be supported by truth telling. It must be a precipitating condition for genuine peace.”

The creation of a TRC to investigate and document abuses committed in Liberia during the civil war, is a not a new phenomenon to Africa. South Africa, was the first African nation to establish a truth and reconciliation commission. The National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34, passed in 1995 after the fall of apartheid created South Africa’s TRC. The commission was mandated to bear witness, record, and in some cases grant amnesty to perpetrators of crimes committed during the apartheid area.

Although the concept of TRC in peace building is controversial, truth telling has helped in unearthing abuses committed by authoritarian groups and leaderships in Africa and Latin America. The idea originated from Latin America where countries emerging out of long periods of authoritarian rule, such as Chile, and Argentina developed TRCs in order to expose and condemn human rights abuses committed under outgoing military regimes.

Blood letting in Liberia came to an end in 2003 following the signing of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement by contending parties to the civil war. The ended 14 years Liberian civil war claimed an estimated 200 thousand human lives and billions of dollars worth of properties. Liberia now has a democratically elected administration headed by Africa first female president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Mrs. Sirleaf Was elected in 2005 during a special election held in November following the nation’s general and presidential elections in October of 2005.

Writes, Moses D. Sandy