Liberia to begin TRC hearings
2008-06-10 09:40
St Paul - Thousands of miles from Liberia, exiles who fled the ravaged West African country years ago will get the chance to tell their stories this week to the country's truth commission.
Minnesota was home to the largest Liberian community in the United States, numbering more than 20 000. Other exiles were expected to come from Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York and Providence, Rhode Island.
Public hearings by the commission designed to document wartime atrocities began on Tuesday in the music hall at Hamline University and continue through Saturday.
"Liberians in the diaspora have always had a burning desire for change back home," said Jerome Verdier, who headed the nine-member Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia. "It's a significant voice we think should not be overlooked."
The violence in Liberia, which was founded in 1847 to resettle freed slaves, started in 1979 after government security forces killed dozens during riots over the price of food.
Taylor forced into exile
A bloody coup toppling the presidency of William Tolbert followed a year later. In 1989, rebels led by warlord Charles Taylor invaded from the Ivory Coast, setting off another civil war that ended 14 years later after Taylor was forced into exile in Nigeria.
He was being tried by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, in The Hague, Netherlands, on war crimes charges in connection with a rebel movement in Sierra Leone.
Verdier said 97% of Liberia's population was displaced during the years of violence. Most who could get out left. Many refugees from the country ended up in Minnesota and other pockets on the East Coast.
The commission had already taken statements from more than 1 000 Liberians in the United States, United Kingdom and a refugee camp in Ghana since starting its work in 2006, said Jennifer Prestholdt of Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based organisation co-ordinating contact with Liberians outside of Liberia.
Legal issues
About 30 Liberian refugees who lived in the US were expected to testify this week.
The commission aimed for a full accounting of wartime atrocities. It didn't have the power to charge perpetrators with crimes, but could recommend prosecutions, reparations and policy changes to the Liberian government. Verdier said the ultimate goal was to prepare the ground for a lasting peace.
In Minnesota, Verdier said he expected to hear about the early years of conflict, after many of the US refugees left the country. Exiles also were expected to raise concerns about immigration and legal issues.
Hearings in Liberia had centred on the violence from 1990 to 2003, which was fresher in people's minds there.
Reverend James N Wilson II, an Episcopal priest who left Liberia in 1997 and now lives in Minnesota, said he was looking to the commission to bring peace and reconciliation to his homeland. Wilson said he planned to attend several of the sessions this week.
- AP