MONROVIA – The Liberia Peacebuilding Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its partner, the United Nations Development Program on Monday April 1 commenced a three-day Political Reconciliation Dialogue in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
By Christophina Nyanneh, contributing writer
The Political Reconciliation Dialogues seek to bring stakeholders of the county together to break a cycle of violence, aid post-traumatic reconciliation, build a more peaceful common future, and ultimately sustain peace in Grand Bassa County and Liberia at large.
In proxy of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the National Peace Ambassador of the Republic of Liberia, Eric Quaqua called on political leaders to refrain from all forms of violence and respect the rights of all.
Eric Quaqua at the same time urged participants to utilize their fundamental right to calmly participate in democratic process, noting that everyone is responsible for creating a better country for the present and future generations.
Meanwhile, participants at the Dialogue outlined some ills in society that spark up violence and at the same time promised to implement whatever that will be taught at the end of the three-day Political Reconciliation Dialogue in the county.
The Liberia Peacebuilding Office Political Reconciliation Dialogue brought together representatives from the civil society organizations, youth groups, women organizations, motor cyclists, and traditional leaders among others. The dialogues are scheduled for four counties which include Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Nimba, Bong, and Lofa counties.
Liberia has enjoyed relative peace since the end of the civil war two decades ago. However, land conflicts, failure for concession companies to live up to agreements made with local residents that often lead to riots and violence between local people and security forces, drug abuse, sexual and gender-based violence threaten peace in Liberia.
The Liberia Peacebuilding Office (PBO), based in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), was established in January 2009 with a primary function of supporting the Government of Liberia in the development and implementation of the government’s peace and reconciliation programs.
