Liberia's TRC calls for unity

2009-06-16 10:05

Monrovia - The chairperson of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday called on his countrymen to strive for unity to overcome the scars left by years of civil war.

"We should stop seeing ourselves as Grebo people, Loma people or Kpelleh people. We should begin to see ourselves as one people, one nation, and all Liberians," TRC chairperson Jerome Verdier said at the opening of a five-day national conference to discuss the commission's findings and the way ahead for reconciliation.

"At one moment we had 15 tribes and maybe 15 political parties and so we had 15 different nations existing in one border. We have to advance ourselves beyond that and make sure that united we will progress as a nation, and divided we will remain poor," he told delegates from 17 political parties, diplomatic observers and national and international human rights groups.

The mandate of the commission, modelled on the similar South African body which catalogued crimes committed during the apartheid era, is due to end June 30 when the commission will publicly announce its recommendations.

Notorious warlords take the stand

The TRC was set up in 2006 to probe war crimes and rights violations during the back-to-back civil wars that ravaged Liberia between 1989 and 2003 and left about 250 000 people dead.

In past years the commission has heard from key figures in the civil war including some notorious warlords, but it cannot force anyone to take the stand. Neither can it judge those who testify before it but it can recommend they be prosecuted in its final report.

In January commission members had already said they would be recommending a special court be set up to try those guilty of war crimes and human rights abuses during the conflict.

Last weekend Prince Johnson, a former warlord turned senator, warned again that he would resist any attempt to prosecute him.
"I am saying again that any attempt to arrest me, there will be trouble," he told journalists.

Liberia's neighbour Sierra Leone already has a special war crimes court which is currently trying Liberia's former president Charles Taylor for his alleged role in arming and controlling the RUF rebels during the civil war there.

- SAPA