8 August 2008
The TRC process to which Liberian stakeholders accede in the search for peace and reconciliation is no doubt in full-swing. Past and present political activists have been appearing before the commission to explain their roles in the transformation or devastation of Liberia by omission or commission.
This is what was expected and many say it is healthy for peace and reconciliation in Liberia.
But analysts see a weird twist in the process. Falsehood, innuendos, outright arrogance, and conspiracy to soil popular images are finding their ways in the process and many are worried.
The Analyst picked up this mudslinging scenario at the TRC process Wednesday, this week.
The ongoing Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Thematic and Institutional hearings took a dramatic turn yesterday when a former member of the Progressive People's Party of Liberia (PPP) linked President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to activities of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), then headed by former President Charles Taylor.
Testifying to his role in the Liberian dilemma from 1979 to 2003, Mr. Jesus Alieu Swaray said opposition politicians including President Sirleaf gave support to Charles Taylor and the destructive operations of the NPFL.
Responding to Commissioner John Stewart's demand that he (Swaray) specifically name opposition politicians he earlier accused of responsibility for the madness visited upon the country and championed by Taylor, he said confidently, "I will disclose a name to you and then you can ask that person to name the rest of the people.
What I do know is that on several occasions, while Charles Taylor was leading the rebellion and while he was in Nimba County at the various military bases, I can remember, I saw Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her complete military uniform visiting those military bases."
Swaray, who said he did not know what Madam Sirleaf was doing there, retorted to continue questioning, "But we all heard that as rumors".
Observers are however bemused over the contradiction of seeing Madam Sirleaf in military uniform visiting bases along with Taylor and simultaneously hearing rumors about the same person being present in Taylor-controlled areas.
The outspoken PPP official could not say when he was in "Greater Liberia", as Liberia outside Monrovia was referred to at that time, and how did he get out, but he insisted that he saw the "Iron Lady" as Madam Sirleaf is affectionately called, in full military regalia with Mr. Taylor visiting military bases in Nimba County.
His revelation of the involvement of Madam Sirleaf with the NPFL invoked barrage of questions from Commissioner John Stewart, urging him to establish the veracity of the issue.
But Swaray did not sway, maintaining that Madam Sirleaf, now President of Liberia, is the best person who can defend herself against the allegation of her involvement with the war.
"I saw her and Charles Taylor at the various military bases, so I will suggest to you that you find out from her if she was in any way linked; if she is one of those," he told commissioners of the TRC and in packed hall of the Centennial Pavilion in downtown Monrovia.
Swaray's allegation may appear tangible given various cross-interests during the Liberian civil, but NPFL insiders who preferred to remain anonymous because lest they be seen as "crying more than the bereaved" say Swaray's claim is "outrageous because it is a lie".
"Had President Sirleaf ventured in the NPFL areas during the war, she would have been subjected to the same fate as NPFL secretary general, Moses Duopu who was killed summarily under the directive of Taylor for fear of undermining his chances for president with his (Duopu's ) tribesmen, the Gios and Manos," said one insider.
He said he believed Swaray may have mistaken Agnes Reeves, Taylor's wartime mistress who roamed NPFL in military fatigue, for President Sirleaf.
"From the distance, they are somehow alike, you know. Agnes Reeves is bright and slim. She may have passed, in Swaray's sight, for President Sirleaf. But for all my days with NPFL up to 1997 - my days were numerous and I was almost ubiquitous - I never saw or heard of Madam Sirleaf being in Greater Liberia or meeting Taylor anywhere else. It seems a typical case of illusion and misidentify, you know," he said.
Whether that explains what observers now called "Swaray's illusion about the President" is not clear, but explaining how he got into the Taylor-Controlled areas during the war, Swaray said he sought refuge in the area when INPFL, a splinter military group of Taylor's NPFL, attacked Monrovia.
Monrovia was then the stronghold of remnants of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) under the command of head of state Samuel K. Doe.
When asked as to his experience behind the lines as a member of the PPP, Swaray said he saw horrible things, which of course he did not delve into.
Swaray also said he was not attacked or harmed while in "Greater Liberia" because he did not think officials of the PPP were being targeted by the NPFL.
"We are no real problem to the NPFL. There were no differences in ideological outlook between NPFL and PPP," he said, adding, "If there were any, they would best be known to the two groups."
Swaray is the first witness from defunct Progressive People's Party (PPP), or the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) and Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA) to testify to the alleged involvement of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the military devastation of Liberia.
Former PPP members Oscar Jaryee Quiah and Chea Cheapo who earlier testified before the commission did not mention the involvement of Madam Sirleaf in the struggle for transformation, let alone her deeds with the NPFL.
Oscar Quiah however denied that the PPP had anything to do with the NPFL because the two institutions did not share the same ideology. Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh and H. Boima Fahnbulleh of MOJA, who also testified earlier, made no mention of Madam Sirleaf's connection.
In his testimony Fahnbulleh, who is regarded as a fundamental insider, said the NPFL was the dream of the late Thomas Quiwonkpa, one of the 17 military officers who took power after the fall of the Tolbert government.
Dr. Fahnbulleh said the political and military ideologies adopted by Taylor were fundamentally distant from the vision of the originators of NPFL.
However, top TRC insiders hinted to The Analyst yesterday that President Sirleaf will have her day to, like many Liberians, explain her role in the damnation of the Liberian nation. It was earlier said she would have appeared last week, but the TRC denied the information saying that its media people made an error.
At the same time, witness Swaray, a former political advisor of ULIMO-K also gave insight into the fragmentation of ULIMO into ULIMO-K and ULIMO-J, saying that the separation erupted from the sale of the faction's slot to its opponent.
Following the crack, he said, a meeting of the organization was convened in Robertsport during which Thomas Siah, a member of the Krahn element of ULIMO was replaced with Dexter Taryoh while Dr. El Mohammed Sheriff succeeded Maxwell Kabba.
On their way to Monrovia, according to ULIMO political advisor, the former chief of staff of ULIMO ordered that those fomenting terror in the organization be disarmed, but added that the order met stiff resistance.
In another testimony twist, Mr. Jesus Alieu Swaray questioned the true revolutionary nature of Dr. Boima Fahnbulleh, claiming, "He is not a true revolutionary."
He said when G. Baccus Matthews resigned as Foreign Minister for "policy differences" with President Doe and Fahnbulleh took over, he dismissed him (Swaray) from his assistant minister post on the basis that the two of them did not come from the same school of thought.
Swaray said Fahnbulleh told him that he could not work with him because "he is from the PPP and he (Fahnbulleh) is from MOJA."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Analyst. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
