Author: Anthony Stephens

A Finnish court has additional compensation to Gibril Massaquoi, an ex-commander of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF), acquitted in 2024 of charges that he committed egregious human rights violations in Liberia under the direction of then-president Charles Taylor.

CARTER CAMP, Liberia—Dr. Jallah Barbu, executive director of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts of Liberia, says a bill for the courts will be ready “very soon.”

In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. Liberia is not immune.

Leading human rights advocates have condemned President Joseph Boakai’s decision to commission Lewis Brown, a former national security adviser to Charles Taylor, as Liberia’s ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Brown was recommended for prosecution by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and could be one of those prosecuted by a future war and economic crimes court.

Beth Van Schaack, US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice in the Biden administration has left the post as the second Trump administration took power on Monday. In a farewell message Ambassador Van Schaack called her work in Liberia, The Gambia and other countries “impactful,” and applauded the human rights defenders who had worked with her during her three years in the role.

The US Trial of accused Liberian warlord, Laye Sekou Camara, alias “K-1” or “Dragon Master”

MAMBA POINT, Liberia— Two months after the appointment of Dr. Jallah Barbu as the second head of Liberia’s Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court, the government has finally released $368,000 funding for Dr. Barbu and his team which has been working without pay or operations funding since his appointment on November 1.

ONE UN HOUSE, Liberia—A United Nations expert has warned that poverty and equality are high among “children, women and girls” in Liberia and “are drivers” of human trafficking.

MAMBA POINT, Monrovia—The Office of Liberia’s War and Economic Crimes Courts is facing eviction in from its rental space as the ongoing battle with government for funding reaches a crisis point.