Freetown — Bishop Joseph Christian Humper's TRC Report has singled out Libya of having to pay reparation to Sierra Leone for training top rebel commanders who played key roles in Sierra Leone's brutal civil conflict.

That is an incredible pronouncement from Bishop Humper and the TRC. But what is interesting the TRC says since Liberia is still emerging from its own crisis after 14 years of civil war and because the country is very poor, its own reparation should be symbolic. That is to say, Liberia only needs to erect a monument or organize a ceremony in atonement of its role in destabilizing Sierra Leone during the last decade. That is also fine judging from the fact Sierra Leone and Liberia belong to a single enclave and cannot afford to shatter relationships over issues like these.

But what is of concern to most of us is whether the TRC has been fair in its findings and recommendations?

And why has the TRC exonerated Liberia and held Libya accountable for the mess perpetrated on us by our own brethren?

It is irrefutable that Libya's Colonel Mohamar Ghadhafi may have played a viable auxiliary role to most rebel groupings in Africa with the POLISARIO front being no exception. It is also undeniable that most of Africa's warlords - from Savimbi to Taylor and Foday Sankoh - relied on Colonel Ghadhafi to provide them with arms and training to prosecute their guerrilla wars. And it is also true that most African states including Guinea, Sierra Leone and few others often receive aid and assistance from Colonel Ghadhafi, a man formerly maligned by the west as a terrorist.

Consequently, Colonel Mohamar Ghadhafi has served both as a father and an icon of guidance for most of Africa's heads of states and their armed opponents. In fact, at some point, he even became a key mediator (a father of peace) in some of these conflicts. So he is one of Africa's most renown and longest serving heads of state.

But looking at Libya and its role, overt and covert, in Sierra Leone's conflict would surely make one wonder how and why did Bishop Humper and other TRC officials came to the conclusion that only Libya should pay reparation to the country. Why not Liberia, Ivory Coast and Burkina Fasso? They all played "active participatory roles" in the destabilization of our country and the smuggling of our diamonds. But I doubt whether Bishop Humper and the TRC bothered themselves in thoroughly investigating the role played by these countries in their findings.

Now we agree that Libya should pay us for participating in a mayhem perpetrated on us by our own brethren, but is Ghadhafi's involvement of such a magnitude outwitting that of Monrovia and others? This is the same question those at the Special Court need to answer when determining those bearing "the greatest responsibility" in the country's civil conflict.

This is nothing like a defense for Mohamar Ghadhafi or Libya. The whole issue is about the fairness and impartiality that should characterize transitional justice mechanisms. TRC's report and recommendations would definitely have to be an authoritative document to be relied upon when the history of what actually happened in the country during the last decade has to be recorded by Historians in future. We cannot afford to rely on an impartial and unfair report, one that is bias and selective.

Bishop Humper and those who undertook that exercise have bugged big time in exonerating those who directly participated in our country demise. Now if we may go back to the records in order to truly see who and who are responsible for the carnage of the last decade, I think even the United States is culpable and must be the first to pay huge reparations not only to Sierra Leone but entire sub region. And I believe if the Special Court is fair in determine or tracking those who bear the "greatest responsibility" in our conflict, the United States is no exception. Why?

Taylor was serving a jail term in Massachusetts for swindling monies from the government of late Samuel Doe. He escaped "miraculously" from US prisons and became a tyrant in the sub-region and eventually a thorn in the flesh of the International Community. Can somebody imagine how ordinary Taylor at the time could have escaped from a fortified US prison to become a warlord in West Africa? Today, the same US is actively campaigning for Taylor's extradition to face trail in Sierra Leone. Is that not selective justice?

This is what we had wanted Humper and the TRC to avoid by making their decision objective and free from bias.

Why do we have to single out Libya alone in identifying those who facilitated the destruction of our country? Or is it because the whole world is shouting claiming reparation from Libya, so we too have joined the trail?

Fairly, Libya might be one among many countries that engineered our destruction and we should not be afraid in identifying them and demand justice from them. This is why I had suggested that the whole of West Africa should storm American Embassies to protest the role of the US in destabilizing the region. Why did the United States release Taylor from prison in the first place?

And secondly, let the United States tell us the circumstances surrounding Taylor's escape. Taylor, a former CIA Informant, would not have been a tyrant in West Africa had the US not released him from jail.

So Humper and the TRC would have been fair if they had traced the genesis of West Africa's crisis. Libya of course may have the money to pay whatever we may demand as reparation but what are the implications and possible ramifications? This should be what we take into consideration before attempting to demand reparation from Libya. But if at all, Libya should pay why exonerate the United States, Burkina Fasso, Ivory Coast and Liberia? Why should Liberia only erect a monument or hold a national ceremony to appease us?

Liberia's role in Sierra Leone's conflict is far more involving than that of Libya. And the United States participation in destabilizing West Africa is the "greatest responsibility" the Special Court needs to address. And we cannot afford to jubilantly call for a reparation emanating out of a questionable decision made by a Commission that has failed to take into consideration the implications and ramifications accompanying the very decision. This is not about Libya paying reparation to Sierra Leone alone, but a propos concerning the partiality and inequity of transitional justice mechanisms.