A new gang against War Crimes Court?

Following its extensive hearing, Liberia’s erstwhile Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) reported that all warring factions in the country’s brutal civil conflict were responsible for the commission of gross human rights violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, domestic criminal laws, among others.

Monrovia, Liberia, 12 March 2024: What appears to be the formation of a new gang to stall the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court is creeping into the Liberian Senate.

During the previous regimes headed by former Presidents George Manneh Weah and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the Senate was reported to have killed initial efforts that sought legislative backing to establish a war and economic crimes court.

That tactic seems to be creeping into the Senate of the 55th Legislature just after some 40 lawmakers from the House of Representatives signed a resolution for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court and sent it to the Senate floor for concurrence.

To hinder legislation, a motion to have it reviewed in some committee room could potentially drag it beyond expectation or even lead to its demise.

And each time that happens, it works in the interest of the opponents of the instrument, like in this case, those seeking impunity for heinous war and economic crimes they committed during Liberia’s civil conflict and in peacetime.

Three members of the Liberian Senate are now the loudest opponents of establishing the War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia.

The opposing Senators are immediate past Pro-Tempore Albert Chie of Grand Kru County, Prince Y. Johnson of Nimba County, and Thomas Yaya Nimely of Grand Gedeh County, respectively.

Johnson and Nimely are former Liberian warlords, while former Pro-Tempore Chie was placed on U.S. sanction last December for his alleged involvement in significant corruption by abusing his position through soliciting, accepting, and offering bribes.

Under Johnson’s command, then-sitting Liberian President Samuel Kanyon Doe was brutally murdered.

In the war that lasted over a decade, over 250,000 Liberians were killed, millions were displaced, and properties worth millions of dollars were destroyed.

But suspects of war and economic crimes and their loyalists are defending impunity, while other Liberians continue to seek justice to deter future senseless civil crises.

At the end of the civil conflict, Liberia established the TRC and heard testimonies of victims of war and economic crimes as well as perpetrators.

Some of those testimonies were horrible, leaving lasting pains in the hearts of many who have been demanding justice for over 20 years since peace was restored here.

The TRC investigation found that a prosecution mechanism is desirable to fight impunity and promote justice and genuine reconciliation.

It said all warring factions – rebels and government forces – are responsible for the commission of gross human rights violations in Liberia, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, International Human Rights Law (IHRL), International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Criminal Law (ICL), and domestic criminal laws. 

The TRC noted that prosecution in a court of competent jurisdiction and other forms of public sanctions are desirable and appropriate mechanisms to promote the ends of justice, peace, and security, foster genuine national reconciliation, and combat impunity.

It stated further that the massive wave of gross violations and atrocities that characterized the conflict assumed a systematic pattern of abuse, wanton in their execution, and the product of deliberate planning, organized and orchestrated to achieve a military or political objective.

The factions were accused of disregarding the rights of noncombatants, children, women, and the elderly disarmed or surrendered enemy combatants.

All factions of the conflict systematically targeted women mainly as a result of their gender and committed sexual and gender-based violations against them, including rape of all forms, sexual slavery, forced marriages, and forced recruitment, among others.

All factions and other armed groups were said to have recruited and used children during periods of armed conflicts.

Efforts to establish a War and Economic Crimes Court have received the backing of some lawmakers from the House of Representatives with the signing of a resolution which is hoped could lead to some legislations.

If legislation grows out of this resolution and is passed by both legislative chambers, it will boost President Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s quest to establish a war and economic crimes court.