Joseph Boakai, Liberia’s President, supplied a particular prayer for the nation at a nationwide service Wednesday on the Effort Baptist Church in Paynesville, the place Boakai additionally serves as a deacon. As Liberians with formal employment took benefit of a shock final minute public vacation, the president supplied a particular prayer for the nation in opposition to corruption, premature deaths, a drug epidemic sweeping Liberia’s youth, and for reconciliation and unity.
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives
The nationwide vacation, declared throughout Boakai’s July 26th Independence Day deal with, got here three weeks after the president took the numerous step of formally apologizing to victims of the nation’s civil wars, which killed an estimated 250,000 folks, displaced thousands and thousands and devastated its infrastructure.
“Prayer received us this far,” mentioned Boakai. “Prayers have labored their work, and so they proceed to work. And so as we speak, we felt that with all that has occurred, that we are saying due to God for the sunshine that’s bringing the nation. We thank him for having mercy upon us, making an attempt to open the gateway for blessings on this nation.”
The president was criticized over the timing of his determination to declare the day a nationwide vacation amid the nation’s worsening financial disaster, however he defended his determination, stressing the importance of the occasion. There have been noticeably empty pews within the within the church throughout the service which was attended by some members of the clergy and senior authorities officers and bizarre residents.
Boakai has been praised by transitional justice consultants for in depth his reconciliation and accountability efforts, together with help for establishing a battle and economics crimes court docket. However they’ve additionally expressed concern in regards to the lack of funding the federal government has given to the Workplace for Warfare and Financial Crimes Court docket, which he set as much as oversee the nation’s justice and accountability course of. Jallah Barbu, government director of the Workplace, has repeatedly complained in regards to the lack of funds to function. $US2 million promised for the Workplace by the president in Could has but to be disbursed.
A day earlier than the Nationwide Prayer Service, victims and survivors of the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church bloodbath—one of many bloodiest atrocities in Liberia’s battle historical past— held a memorial service to mark the 35th anniversary of the brutal killings.
They gave testimonies in regards to the homicide of their households, and family members, together with males, ladies and infants. Troopers from the Liberian military and the Particular Anti-Terrorist Unit, the elite presidential guard loyal to Samuel Doe, Liberian president on the time, have been accused of the killings. The church was used as a Purple Cross shelter for 1000’s of civilians who fled combating between troopers from the Nationwide Patriotic Entrance of Liberia, loyal to Charles Taylor, a insurgent chief on the time and the Impartial Nationwide Patriotic Entrance of Liberia of Prince Johnson. Taylor turned president of Liberia earlier than being convicted of battle associated crimes in Sierra Leone. He’s now serving a 50-year sentence in a United Kingdom jail. Johnson died final 12 months after serving practically 20 years because the highly effective senator for Nimba county. Troops from Anti-Terrorist Unit and the Liberian military have been accused of committing the mass killings as a result of they claimed the civilians, primarily of the Mano and Gio ethnic teams, supported Taylor and his troops.
In his Independence Day speech on July 26, Boakai pledged to fee a nationwide battle memorial for victims of the wars and regional peacekeepers who have been killed within the battle. No venue has but been named, however on the victims’ memorial service, G. Victor Padmore, bishop of the Lutheran Church of Liberia, mentioned it was necessary for church’s compound to be “preserved as a nationwide memorial for victims of the bloodbath in order that generations can study from our historical past.”
In Liberia, nobody has been held to account for the killings, although in 2022, a U.S. district court docket discovered Moses Thomas, a former commander of the Particular Anti-Terrorist Unit, civilly liable and ordered him to pay $US84 million to victims of the bloodbath. Moses Wright, the alleged commander of the military that oversaw the killings, and probably the most high-ranking navy figures on the time, will go on trial in October within the U.S. for perjury and felony immigration fraud expenses. U.S. prosecutors mentioned he lied about ordering his troops to commit human rights violations.
In October, the Ecowas Neighborhood Court docket of Justice dashed the hopes of Lutheran Church bloodbath victims when it mentioned it didn’t have jurisdiction to listen to a case introduced in opposition to the Liberian authorities by 4 of the survivors as a result of it mentioned the case predated its institution. The victims and survivors insisted they have been nonetheless awaiting justice.
“Allow us to agree, unequivocally, that reconciliation with out justice shouldn’t be therapeutic,” mentioned Marcus P. Quoigoah, government director, Lutheran Church Bloodbath Survivors Affiliation. “It’s delay. And memorialization with out reality shouldn’t be remembrance. It’s reinvention. Let the echoes of the previous compel us to construct a nation the place the dignity of each particular person is honored, and the promise of peace is secured by the unwavering pursuit of reality and justice.”
The memorial service was attended by key members of the worldwide group, together with Karl Backéus, Sweden’s Ambassador to Liberia, and Marie Paule Neuville, program officer for European Union misson. Neuville mentioned the worldwide group supported the victims.
“We stand with you in grief,” mentioned Neuville. “And we stand with you and the decision for a future with the reality, justice, peace, and reconciliation.”
Backéus recommended the Liberian authorities for its transitional justice steps up to now.
Sweden stays the one bilateral donor to have made a major money contribution to help Liberia’s transitional justice course of up to now – within the type of a grant to the UN Workplace for Human Rights – amid dwindling worldwide help. Mark Toner, the retiring U.S. ambassador to Liberia, disclosed in an exclusive interview FrontPage Africa/New Narratives this month that there could be no rapid U.S. money funding for Liberia’s battle and financial crimes court docket and nationwide anti-corruption court docket. Backéus mentioned they remained dedicated to serving to Liberia obtain justice, reconciliation and accountability.
“As chair of Liberia Configuration on the United Nations Peacebuilding Fee, we’re additionally main the Fee’s work and worldwide group to make sure that Liberia’s accountability course of stays on prime of the thoughts of the worldwide group,” mentioned Backéus.
Throughout the memorial service, Quoigoah urged authorities and worldwide companions to offer reparations to victims and survivors of the bloodbath within the type of medical help. Reparations have been one of many 207 suggestions of the nation’s 2009 Fact and Reconciliation Fee report.
“These usually are not mere requests; they’re elementary human rights for these struggling to maintain afloat whereas awaiting prosecution for alleged perpetrators,” mentioned Quoigoah. “Our wounds can’t heal with out assist. Our lives can’t flourish with out means. We’re not asking for charity; we’re asking for dignity.”
This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as a part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Mission. Funding was supplied by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia which had no say within the story’s content material.
