Mr. Stephen Rapp, Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, now United States Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, has disclosed that the international Community especially the United States government, will support war crimes court and prosecution of warlords if the Liberian government and people request the international community and the Barrack Obama administration for the establishment of the court.
Speaking at a press conference held at the headquarters of the Press Union of Liberia, Mr. Rapp said, the United States and the international community will not make decision on behalf of Liberians; something he termed as 'unacceptable' and it violates international norms.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, the United States Government supports the Liberian government, adding she won't go any further with questions for the prosecution of warlords. Mr. Rapp indicated that implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations which calls for the prosecution of over 98 persons and exclusion of 50 persons including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and others is based on what Liberia will put forward.
Many Liberians including civil society groups in the country have in recent time called for the full implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations, they feel is the only sound that will served as deterrent for others who may want to trend the path of wars as a means of ascending to state power.
It can be recalled that in July of this year, the former chief prosecutor was nominated by President Obama to be the United States Ambassador at Large for war crimes issues, and was later confirmed by the United States Senate. He also disclosed that if the government and people of Liberia believe that the prosecution of former warlords and those who carried out major human violations in the 15 years of protracted civil wars are the problems and their prosecution is the best alternative, the United States government will fully support the entire exercise, he promised.
He revealed that the prosecution team in The Hague was pleased that the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor was proceeding accordingly, adding that Mr. Taylor is entitled to present his own account and respond to the charges leveled against him. "I must note that I am not able to comment on the specifics of his testimony, as the evaluation of his testimony is a matter for the judges", he said.
Mr. Rapp maintained that "the Accused (Taylor) is presenting a story that is very different from the evidence offered by the Prosecution", he narrated.
He noted that the prosecution calls for over 90 witnesses to appear in person before the court, more than 50 of these witnesses told the judges and world about the grave crimes committed against tens of thousands of innocent victims in Sierra Leone, more than 30 witnesses provided the linkage evidence showing Taylor's responsibility for the commission of these atrocities", he briefed several journalists who attended the conference.
According to him, the prosecution is waiting patiently while the Accused (Taylor) gives his contrary version of events and denies all the charges against him. "We are looking forward to questioning him on cross examination in the coming weeks. When our time comes to ask the questions, we will confront Charles Taylor with the full weight of the case", he averred.
Meanwhile, after the press conference, members of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) bitterly quarreled the PUL's President Peter Quaqua and Secretary General Philip Sandi for allowing the former Chief Prosecutor to used the facilitates of the union, including the conference room which hosted the press conference. They also frowned on Mr. Quaqua for using the letter head of the union to send out citations.
Many members who were held in the lobby of the building said, the trial of former President Charles Taylor is highly political, and many supporters of Taylor may feel that the Union is in support of the prosecution. The aggrieved media practitioners maintained that the role of the media should be neutral, and taking side in the process, as this may bring them to public ridicule as well as putting their credibility as stick.
They argued further that the media as the watch dog in society should not take interest or be part of issues that will damage the image of the institution, they warned. Responding to his accusers, Mr. Quaqua informed his colleagues that he allowed the chief prosecutor to use the facilities of the Union because, "the Union is a neutral body and that any institution can use the conference room of the Union to host their press conferences."
Comments 1 to 5 of 8 Post a comment
Mr. Stephen Rapp, the United States Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues do not speak for the international community , the U.S. government or it's people or President Obama. He has not been on this job very long and already has step out of his position. What a bad choice President Obama.
This is part of the International Politics that is playing now in the war crimes trail. Who'll they order to be arrested?Let them finish with the cases in the Congo,Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Kosovo or Ugoslavia.
I believe many Liberians will want to put that behind them once and for all,by not welcoming another waste of UN or Donor money to facilitate the trails of warlords,as they called them.
For the trail of Taylor alone they have spent more than 200 millions.How much more they'll have to spend for the trails of more warlords and multiple commanders that took part in the Liberian civil war?
I'm appealing to all Liberians notto think on such a nonsense undertaking.They'll have to spend another huge sum for only Taylor's defense.Because his Lawyer,Courtnay Griffiths is standing by to catch that huge pay.
Mr. Stephen Rapp, Chief Prosecutor, an American who should be thinking about prosecuting George Bush and Tony Blair, Is again trying to bring his slave master thoughts on us.I don't know why this white people can't live the way we live in their country. We are only consider as immagrants or reffugees... Ambassador for war crimes in america not liberia. So close your mouth and stop bringing problem in liberia. If Ellen wasn't apart of this war crime stuff,This would have been inplimented long time.
I AM ANITA , A LIBERIAN PRESENTLY LIVING IN BUJUMBA,THE CAPITAL OF BURUDI. I LEFT MY COUNTRY WANT I WAS JUST ELEVEN YEARS OLD, WITH OUT PARENTS , I BEING TO OTHER COUNTERS AS WELL, BY THE GRACE OF God. . I AM SO HAPPY TO BE ONE OF THOSE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC. I HAPPEN TO BE ONE OF THE VACTIM DOING THE WAR, MY OLDEST BROTHER THE LATE DAVID WAS BRUTEALLY MURDER BY THE FORMER WARLAND, THE ISMATIC MALITAN, WHAT EVER THEY CALL THEM.I AM SO BITTLE AND I WANT JUSTIC FOR HIM.
I PEREONAN SUPPORT THE U S SPECIAL AMBOSSADOR , STEPHEN RAPP TO PROSECUTOR ALL THOSE FORMER WARLORDS THAT KILLED AND SUFFER THE LIBERIANS BY SENDING THEM IN OTHER COUNTTRIES.LET THEM FACE A POUNISHMENT THAT WILL SET A LESSION FOR THE BETTER LIBERIA TOMORROW.
Fellow Liberians, Our country( remote) is not like the USA( very advanced) where Mr. Rapp came from. Mr. Rapp can not compare our way of living with that of the USA. We all heard about George Bush and the Iraq war. I think Mr. Rapp also know about this war and the amount of people that continued to die. I believed he also know about the properties damage that continued to surface in Iraq daily. Mr. Rapp is from this powerful nation that every poor nation in the world depends on for everything( based on credit not free). Is Mr. Rapp calling for war crime on people that were involved in Iraq destruction? Or he only voiced the one in Africa because africains do not reason like americains?
Mr. Rapp told us that Mr. Taylor kept our millions in number of banks world wide. I think presently we are desperate for money to rebuild. We need to put more pressure on Mr. Rapp back or ask the US government to give Mr. Rapp the special assignment to retrieve our millions that he knows about. I personally that the US is a great country and someone that is representing such country will be expected to always say the truth. If my thinking is right, I want to believe that Mr. Rapp accussation that Mr. Taylor has millions needs to come to light. He needs to bring us the millions as quickly as possible.
Mr. Rapp statement " that the international community especially the United States government, will support war crime court and prosecution of warlords if the Liberian Government and people request the international community and the Barrack Obama administration for the establishment of the world crime court" is another way of putting fuel on the fire now burning in Liberia. Mr. Rapp is indirectly trying to influence the minds of our illiterate people to start confusion in Liberia. As far as we are concerned, the war in Liberia is over and we need to start the process of coming together. We should not allow people to just come and brain washed us. The US government officials were right in Liberia when all the killing went on. Some people( seeking for help) even die before their embassy gate why officials were closing their gate and looking elsewhere. Many of you presently in Liberia and all over the world are witnesses. To crown this all, this is the only country in the world that people who think that they are trying to solve the world's problem will match and arrest, handcuff and take away a sitting leader to be judge in another country because of some accusation from someone that was not well filtered.
Mr. Rapp, please accept the job to bring our millions... This is what we want desperately for now. We do not have that much money for world crime court right now. We are starving in Liberia for food, jobs, shelters, education, roads ETC! ETC! ECT!..... If you help us get the millions, I think you will be remembered for a job well done in Africa.
See All Comments