Monrovia — The dust is finally settling after the brutality that characterized the 14 years of civil upheaval that overtook Liberia in the 1990s. The war took the lives of about 500,000 persons and displaced thousands of others across the sub-region.
Almost every Liberian experienced one or other physical or emotional scar but people have never had the opportunity to reveal their ordeals. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) now seeks to provide them a forum.
The commission had its official opening on Tuesday January 8. Its first hearing began afer a colorful ceremony graced by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, most of her cabinet and members of the diplomatic corps.
The TRC, which is modeled after the one established in post-apartheid South Africa, has a mandate to cover the period from 1979 to 2003. The period stretches from the year before Samuel Doe, who led the country throughout the 1980s and was later killed in a coup, took power, to the year former President Charles Taylor stepped down.
Many Liberians think that bringing alleged perpetrators of atrocities to the hearings will be a difficult task, as most currently hold high positions in society. However, the President dismissed this concern by asking all Liberians to avail themselves to the TRC when called upon. The commission has the power to subpoena anyone – the President included.
Much anxiety has surrounded the commencement of the hearings. Now that it has taken off the ground and the enormity of the brutality inflicted upon the country is becoming clear, emotions are running high. Some are questioning the commission’s very existence. Former presidential candidate Winston Tubman said that he foresees tensions building in the country as some of the processes involved in the hearings are “flawed and unconstitutional.”
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For instance, one taxi driver on Wednesday asked: “How can I forgive a man who comes up and says yes, I killed your mother, but I want you to forgive me?”
One piece of testimony that has generated widespread discussion took place on the first day of the hearings, when Liberia's most popular musical artist, Marcus Davis - otherwise known as “Sundaygar Dearboy” - was accused of ordering the rape and killing of a teenage girl. The allegation against an artist famous for the campaign and victory songs he did for the President shocked the nation. No one ever thought he was once, as a witness testified, a “rebel commander.”
In other evidence, a woman explained on Wednesday the humiliation she faced when she was forced to drink her own urine. These testimonies, which have sparked anger in some quarters, have renewed suggestions that a war crimes court should be established, a body which would have the authority not only to hear perpetrators ask for forgiveness, but also to prosecute.
However, others think that we have gone through a lot in Liberia and that it is now time for healing. They claim that it is only by confessing that one gets “cleansed of his sins.”
Liberian society is now polarized, with many clinging onto their past alignments. It is certain that the political climate will get even hotter when the testimonies start to point to the names of those most responsible for atrocities.
