allAfrica.com: Liberia: Gov't Inaugurates Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Page 1 of 2)

"A Truth and Reconciliation Commission shall be established to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as an opportunity for both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences, in order to get a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation. In the spirit of national reconciliation, the Commission shall deal with the root-causes of the crises in Liberia, including human rights violations" - CPA, Accra, AUGUST 18, 2003.

With this, stakeholders to the Liberian peace process ended discussions on whether or not war excesses should be punished. Following more than two years of formative arrangements, the Commission has been given form and teeth. "But will Liberians brace themselves for the challenges head; will the culture of silence be broken?" is the question many are asking. The Analyst's Staff Writer has been leafing through President Sirleaf's investiture speech.

Have you ever imagined a day when the perpetrators of violence in the Liberian society will pray for mercy or face justice in order to lay the foundation for a new nation?

Well, that day of reckoning, of rewards and penalties, is in the offing, if the Sirleaf Administration finds the required wherewithal soon enough.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, yesterday, inaugurated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and charged it with the responsibility to make that day a reality in the shortest possible time in order to help resolve Liberia's historical fallacies and set the nation on a new footing.

According to her, her administration expects the TRC to put into place that will cleanse and sanctify the land, unifying the people into a national space disregarding ethnic, religious, creed, or social statuses of those who might be opposed to the proccess.

This, she said, would be achieved if the TRC makes the process inclusive by adopting approaches that cut across tribes and step up community-based groups that are not vertical or mainly city-based.

"Second, we envisage that the process will catalyze our nation to the re-writing of our national history. I am aware that the construction of a nation's history is a difficult exercise, but it is an exercise without which our nation cannot be rebuilt," she said.

Statutorily, the TRC which comprises nine commissioners, five men and four women, is mandated to document all abuses, validate and establish the narratives of both victims and victimizers or perpetrators, paying particular attention to women, children, the elderly, and other vulnerable members of society.

Moreover, amongst other responsibilities, it is mandated to provide at the end of process clear and workable recommendations on how the nation can collectively restitute for the past-and move on in unity to face the future.

In addition to these mandates, President Johnson wants the TRC to create a healthy balance between restorative and retributive justice.

In order words, she wants the nation and its people to make the sacrifice of rehabilitating less liable victimizers and restoring the value and dignity of the victims of the war while putting into place a mechanism through which those most liable for crimes against humanity will be made to pay for their crimes.

She said while in tune with the advice of some Liberians it would be better to let bygone be bygone the avoidance of the truth and reconciliation process in order to avoid the difficulties involved will be even riskier to the present and future of the nation and its people.

"We must make collective restitution to those victimized, rehabilitate the victimizers, while at the same time visiting some forms of retribution upon those whose violations qualify as crimes against humanity," she noted.

Believing that truth often redeems humanity from the cowardice claws of violence, the Liberian Chief Executive said Liberia would be cleansed just by knowing who committed the Carter Camp, Duport Road, Garplay, St. Peter's Lutheran Church, and many other massacres during Liberia's 14 years of bloodletting.

More than that, she said, there was the need to exonerate the dead from what she called "historical right or wrong" and accord them "sacrificial victim-hood," their blood having cleansed the omen in the land.

This could be done by searching out mass graves and according the bodies contained in them proper burials in keeping with traditions and culture.

"We must therefore be courageous sufficiently as a nation to face up to the past and revile as an affront to all civilized people the despicable acts our people endured during the past 14 years of our civil conflict. Such collective disapproval will have a prophylactic effect that assures a sense of safety-and therefore restores our nation's much needed social capital and dignity," she said.

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