English

Hello 

Create Profile

Creating your profile will enable you to submit photos and stories to get published on News24.


Please provide a username for your profile page:

This username must be unique, cannot be edited and will be used in the URL to your profile page across the entire 24.com network.

Settings

Location Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location. If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to take affect.









Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.

 
 

Liberian leader 'won't resign'

2009-07-10 10:51
line

kalahari.com

Monrovia - Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf "is not going to resign", government spokesperson Laurence Bropleh said in the wake of a damning report by the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Sirleaf was among a number of politicians whom the TRC recommended be banned from political activities for 30 years because of their alleged involvement in the west African country's brutal civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

"The president is not anticipating resigning," said Bropleh, who is also minister of information. "She is not going to resign. The president and the rest of us are reading the report."

"What I can tell you, is that President Sirleaf has tried to reconcile the country for the last two years," Bropleh said. "She will continue to do that."

Transitional period

In its final report, released on Monday, the panel investigating Liberia's successive civil wars included Sirleaf's name in a list of people it accused of being "the financiers and political leaders of the different warring factions".

"They (those named) should be banned from occupying public office for 30 years beginning the day of the passage of the report at the parliament," the TRC recommended.

The panel was set up by Sirleaf herself after she was sworn in to office in January 2006, after a transitional period following the departure of Liberia's previous warlord president Charles Taylor in 2003.

"The people of Liberia elected her by popular vote in 2005, they reconciled with her at that time, and that reconciliation has brought development, hope and dignity back into the life of the Liberian people, and that is what the president is more concerned about at this time," Bropleh said.

Biting effect

For the report to have a biting effect, it has to be adopted by Liberia's parliament, but that step seems highly unlikely given that many people listed in the report currently hold political office.

The TRC also listed eight warlords it said should be tried by a special tribunal for crimes against humanity, but on Wednesday some of them warned at a joint press conference that they would oppose any bid to bring them to justice.

"This government is not passing into law anything that will bring this country back to war," one of the main warlords, Prince Johnson, today a senator, told journalists.

At a hearing in February before the TRC, Africa's first woman head of state denied she had even been a member of Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, which took up arms against president Samuel Doe in 1989.

Raise funds

But Sirleaf, who is 70, admitted she had met Taylor several times and helped raise funds for him when he was planning to topple Doe, who was in the end tortured to death by Prince Johnson's breakaway faction in 1990.

Taylor is already charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his support of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) guerrillas in neighbouring Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war.

He has been on trial in The Hague since January last year following his arrest in Nigeria and his handover to a Special Court for Sierra Leone. He had gone into exile in 2003 in a deal ending Liberia's civil war.

- SAPA

Read News24’s Comments Policy

Comment on this story
0 comments
Comments have been closed for this article.

inside news24

 

140
1
1 of 10

Latest comment in World

Vic says... Elkita, I don't think your comment has any bearing on this tragedy.There is no comparison. Read the article...

 
Traffic
Lottery
 
  • Wednesday Ladysmith - 22:09 PM
    Road name: N11 Both Ways
    ROADWORK - two sets of stop / go controls just south of the R68 Dundee exit - expect waiting times of up to 20 minutes between Ladysmith and Newcastle (ends March 2013)
  • Saturday Pretoria - 08:07 AM
    Road name: N1 Both Ways
    ROADWORKS - lane closures on both carriageways for long term roadworks between the N4 Witbank Highway Interchange and the Zambesi Drive exit - EXPECT DELAYS (until Jan 2013)
 
More traffic reports...
 

Jobs [change area]

Cars[change area]

OPEL

Corsa 1.4 Base Utility MY08 PU
2008
R 75,900.00

VOLKSWAGEN

CitiGolf 1.4i 5-dr MY04
2007
R 77,995.00

AUDI

A4 Avant 1.9TDi Dsl 6-sp
2004
R 159,990.00

Property [change area]

Vulintaba Country Estate, Upper Drakensberg

A lifestyle estate beyond compare. Home Package Options From R990 000

HOUSES FOR SALE IN Pretoria

Houses R 2 300 000

Travel - Look, Book, Go!

Casa Rex, Vilanculos

Spend 5 nights in at the magical Mozambican resort of Casa Rex from R7983 per person sharing. Includes accommodation, return flights, taxes and transfers. Book now!

Kalahari.com - shop online today

TV Series

If you need a crash course in what happened last season of your favourite show. Get the series DVD Box set now. Buy now.

Fifty Shades of Grey Series

Keep away Jack Frost and let Christian Grey have you hot under the collar with New Yorks #1 Fifty Shades of Grey series. Buy now.

Playstation Games on special

Reignite that faltering love affair with your Playstation by grabbing these selected titles on special. Buy now.

The BBC Earth Collection

Indulge the explorer in you with the BBC earth collection on Blu-Ray. Buy now.

Kids DVDs for R89

Keep your kids boredom at bay with 2 Children’s DVDs’ for R89. Buy now.

OLX Free Classifieds [change area]

pool table

For Sale, Toys - Games - Hobbies in South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg. Date May 6

Lexus: IS

Vehicles, Cars in South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg. Date May 7

stylish bachelor furnished in sandton from 1st of june

Real Estate, Houses - Apartments for Rent in South Africa, Gauteng, Johannesburg. Date May 7

DSTV HD PVR Decoder

Only R1299.95

Pause, Rewind and Record, all in High Definition. Take full control and dictate what you watch with DSTVs’ HD PVR. Buy now.

Visit www.kalahari.com for millions of books, music, DVDs, games & more!

Nokia N9

The Nokia N9 has a beautiful one-piece, unibody design where...

From R3698.59

I'm shopping for:

Horoscopes
Aquarius
Aquarius

As tricky as it is to talk about money, as important it is to do so today. Chances are that you might get a brainwave about it,...read more

There are new stories on the homepage. Click here to see them.