Washington, DC — As the Liberian government opened its National Reconciliation Conference in Monrovia, Saturday, with most key members of the opposition absent, the organizers were insistent that the meeting would go ahead.
"Whether those invited from outside the country come for this conference or not, the National Reconciliation Conference will be held, the Director of Cabinet and Co-Chair of the Conference Organizing Bureau, Mr. Blamo Nelson, said in a telephone interview with allAfrica.com from his office in Monrovia.
President Charles Taylor last month declared the convening of the Liberian National Conference on Peace and Reconciliation with invitations extended to regional, International organizations and hundreds of Liberians at home and abroad.
Mr. Blamo Nelson said that unless Liberians came together to discuss their concerns and differences, "we cannot move forward... Even if those in exile refuse to come, we in Liberia will hold the reconciliation conference."
He said he understood the position of those who have had "some bad experiences with security officers and decided to stay away," and the concern raised on journalist Hassan Bility issue [the newspaper editor held in detention for six weeks out of sight despite repeated demands from judges to produce him in court].
But he warned that Liberians must take advantage of the conference to address those situations, especially since the government had guaranteed the security of all participants.
The Taylor governments reconciliation campaign has been applauded by Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States, Ecowas, during his visit to Monrovia recently. Chambas said efforts by Liberians to reconcile were crucial for the stability of the sub-region.
Ibn Chambas was in Monrovia to discuss a proposed peace meeting that Ecowas plans to hold in Dakar for Liberia.
Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, leader of the opposition Unity Party of Liberia, normally based in Cote dIvoire, said she would not be attending the reconciliation conference in Monrovia.
"I am still trying to understand the relevance of the conference. I see the agenda as undefined," Mrs. Sirleaf told allAfrica.com by telephone from Abidjan.
She suggested that instead of organizing a conference where participants would not be in the position to make meaningful contributions, government should use the funds to rehabilitate schools, make available health services for the people.
Liberias former Interim President, Dr. Amos Sawyer, said he would not attend the conference and would not be encouraging others invited from abroad to go.
Dr. Sawyer said his decision was based on several factors, including the state of emergency which, he said, gave President Taylor virtual power.
He said the state of emergency has allowed the government to engage in search and seizures of firearms and reinforced the lawlessness of security forces who were brutalizing ordinary people.
"There is the arrest and torture of Hassan Bility and war against journalists. We also have the situation of the systematic arrest and detentions of people. Im recalling all of this against the background of my own experience on November 28, 2000, when Taylors security forces ransacked my office, beat me up," Sawyer said.
Sawyer said he continued to be baffled by President Taylors statement after the November incident: "A week after we were severely beaten, Mr. Taylor himself confirmed that he supported the attack. Taylor further said he will not stop until he gets at people like me."
The Former Interim President expressed doubts about President Taylors promise to provide security for conference participants.
He said people could only be assured of security when there is respect for the rule of law, adding: "Citizens should not need personal guarantees from the president to enter their country".
On the invitation that has been extended to those inside the country, Dr. Sawyer said inhabitants of Liberia did not have options.
"I will not discourage those from the rural areas to stay away because they are all hostages. They will show up and they will show up in large numbers if they are commanded to do so because they know all too well the consequences of not showing up," Dr. Sawyer said
Samuel Kofi Woods, a Human Rights lawyer presently in Sierra Leone with the International Human Rights Law Group said he is not attending the conference because he is not convinced that the threat to his security has dissipated.
"The threat to my security still prevails as evidenced by the government of Liberia increased paranoid state and desperateness in its search for perceived enemies and the illegal arrest and detention of lawyers, human rights activists, journalists and the merciless rape of innocent persons," Woods told allAfrica.com in an interview.
"The Liberian government is an embodiment of inherent contradictions", Samuel Woods said."
He said he had visited refugee camps in the Mano River basin and spoken to people who have been abused by government security forces.
Woods said, "a guarantee of Security by the Liberian government was a confirmation that Liberians both in and out of the country were not safe."
Mr. Conmany Wesseh, Executive Director for the Center for Democratic Empowerment, a democratic organization based in Monrovia but operated from Abidjan said he would not attend the conference until a full and independent investigation was carried out on the attack against his wife and children in 1999 and himself in 2000 when he was almost killed.
"Unless there is concrete evidence that the government is addressing cases beginning with opposition politician, Samuel Saye Dokie who was killed along with his wife, his sister and cousin in 1997, up to the arrest and continued detention of journalist Hassan Bility and the others, I will not attend that conference and I am sure many others will not," Mr. Wesseh said.
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Opposition politician Dusty Wolokollie supported the stance taken by Sawyer, Woods, and Wesseh.
Wolokollie told allAfrica.com from Ivory Coast that the large number of persons fleeing Monrovia on a daily basic was an indication that security was not guaranteed and that no meaningful reconciliation could be achieved.
Former Senator Charles Brumskine, presently in exile in the United States, said that although he had seen reports that he had been invited, he had not received any invitation and would not honor any invitation to attend the conference.
"I believe this proposed conference is a sham and I will be no part of a disservice by attending a conference that the government is not committed to," Brumskine said.
He said that in order to have any meaningful progress, there needs to be reconciliation between President Taylor and the insurgents and the President and the Liberian peoples.
"Each reconciliation process involves two or more parties. Mr. Taylor is himself a problem in Liberia and the sub-region and he has to be a party to the reconciliation process and not preside over the process," Brumskine said.
