In recent decades, the vast majority of armed engagements in the world occur within single states, rather than between states. Apart from perpetrating great human suffering in the immediate area of conflict, civil wars have major impacts on stability and prosperity throughout the regions where they occurred, with no exception to the years of bloodbaths in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone which finally came to an end about 14 years ago following the intervention of the global body United Nations and Liberia’s development partners. Credit first to the former President of America, George W. Bush who as I collect said: “I wouldn’t take no for an answer, let Mr. Taylor leave now”.
Josephus Moses Gray, [email protected],Contributing Writer
While it is also essential to mention a group of indigenous Liberian women from diverse background who took the bull by the horn, locked the doors to deny the participants from leaving the conference hall in Accra as a means of pressurizing ex-leaders of belligerent groups, political parties and civil society organizations to find a common ground and put end to the 2003 insurrection in the country.
This article provides fresh insights and collection of reflections how Liberians and Sierra Leoneans got to this far and the role played by international partners, not forgotten the significant influences of Liberian mothers and peace activists whose took the bull by the horn to force former war-lords, and power testy political bureaucrats to affix their signatures to the historic deal-“Accra Comprehensive Peace Accord”.
Precisely, it was on the faithful Day of 18 August 2018 all the ex-belligerent fractions, corrupt power testy political bureaucrats and foreign capitalists said “Goodbye, war! Goodbye, carnages! Goodbye guns!” against their will but due to an intense pressure from peace-brokers and non-violent Liberian women and peace advocates. This cessation of gun battles was head under the patronage of the former President of Ghana and ex-Chairman of ECOWAS, John Agyekum Kufuor and the mediation of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not leaving out the former President of America, George W. Bush who as I collect said he “I wouldn’t take no for an answer, let Mr. Taylor leave now”.
Considering our ugly past to the present one where Liberians and foreign residents can sleep in peace without the echoes of guns and other deadly weapons, or without the country being divided between factional lines, all cautions must be exercised to maintain stability and peace that the nation is enjoying, and not allow the “missing” LRD16 Billion lead to any instability and brawl in the country. The rightful course of action or orderly demands must be upheld and years 15 years of uninterrupted peace and stability in the country demands protection and respect by all Liberians especially those at the helm of state powers.
For the past four weeks or more Liberia’s international images have been under serious question owing to countless banner headlines in both the local and global media about the misery surrounding the reported disappearance of L$16 Billion. The complexity of the growing trend towards the missing Billion in such a multipolar world, without doubt have tarnished the good image of the country and its people.
But the biggest opportunity to reinvest this lost image internationally and restore domestic confidence lies in how public officials maintain the right tone in all aspects of publicity, how they discipline their words and deed when addressing the missing billion saga; they should be aware that criticism and self-criticism will do the nation no good, instead they should find the balance and communicate effectively since clarity is very essential in communication.
From the initial stage to present, there have been inconsistent regarding information dissemination on the local and international fronts. Positive publicity should be attractive and appealing; truth and accuracy are the lifeblood of information dissemination. Therefore public officials closely investigating the missing money should strengthen their ability to effectively communicate with international audience, and have a stronger voice and properly coordinate information reaching the domestic audience; the Central Bank of Liberia and the committee investigating the money saga are giving conflicting information.
The CDC led-government should be fully alert to the grave nature of international actors and Liberia’s development partners concern over the missing money situation. Therefore the current administration should not treat the missing money saga lightly, and must be aware that the ocean is vast because it admits all rivers while delicious soup is made by combining different ingredients.
As a serious cue, one of the major failures of the Unity Party-led government was the failure to combat corruption despite the ex-president persistently acknowledged that corruption is “systemic, prevalent and endemic in public sector, describing corruption as public enemy number one and vampire, the former government of Johnson-Sirleaf failed to live up to its national commitment to defeat corruption. As a result, corruption remained institutionalized and negatively affecting democratic space and denying the poor needed justice, rule of law and erode public trust; it’s also undermines institutions and unique processes to improve the vulnerability of the greater suffering population.
Despite stringent anti-corruption laws and permanent commissions to curb it in Liberia, corruption reigns supreme in the former regime as was being tolerated without concert action against the perpetrators. The former administration fight against corruption was selective, other perpetrators were dismissed and sent to course while other were untouchable and glorify, the Liberian population also shared part of this situation.
However, President Weah was overwhelmed elected to invest for the poverty-stricken population a new and thriving Liberia that entails quality education, reduce poverty and eliminate corruption, ensure justice for all, rule of law, economic and job security and massive employment, these were the dreams of bulk of the population that voted the CDC led-government into office in the 2017 decisive elections.
For the past 170 years, historically, Liberia has not seemed a great leader who has removed bulk of the destitute population from object poverty, so what Liberians wanted was someone with internal and international expertise and contacts to deliver with successes and sustainability, and not one who starved the population with economic viability and derelict their livelihood.
Therefore President Weah was elected as a magic touch in the body politics of the land; the people needed a leader who could pass the ball around to the rest of the team mates, therefore Weah was a people person who many believed came with ideas of how to fix the fragmented economics, reduce poverty in the country and unemployment, create jobs and provide security for the entire population with quality educations and unique health delivery system booming in the country. This is a national task that president Weah faces in his six year administration, with all domestic and international attentions to the “missing” LRD16 billion saga; the legacy of the president is on the line.
The expectations of Weah’s leadership are sky-high among Liberians especially the youthful population who have faith and trust in the Weah’s leadership and positively recognize that the president will deliver on the people centered pro-poor project and improve living standard of poverty-stricken population, but the misery surrounding the LRD16, 000,000,000 poses a serious challenge to the government’s status and the nation’s image internationally.
The LRD16 billion is converted and multiply by the current exchange rate at US$1 toLRD155 the equivalent will be about US$127 million which represent about six percent of Liberia’s GDP and 19 percent of the national budget. For instance, the amount if managed properly could buy over Two Thousand-Three hundred (2,3000 30-seated buses for public use or could buy two planes of 300-seated, or pave the Gnata-Zwedru highway and also pave all the feeder roads in Monrovia and its surroundings.
According to research, for travel: If you were to travel 16 billion miles, you could fly around the World 642,544 times or take a round trip to the moon 33,487 times and for savings: If you could save LRD100, 000/year, it would take you 160,000 years to save 16 billion dollars. If you could save $10,000 every single day, then it would only take you 4,384 years to save 16 billion while for life expenditure, If you could live for 16 billion minutes, you would live until you were 30,441 years old.
It is imperative that the nation acknowledge consequential role of peace brokers and key players, specifically our non-violent Liberian mother whose are credited for doing what others around the world had failed to do in pressurizing belligerent forces to face one another on a conference table to sign a Comprehensive Peace Agreement. They activities also drew international attention to the atrocities that were being committed in the country.
The years of an uninterrupted peace across the country which has witnessed three successive democratic exercises of 2005, 2011 and 2017 General Elections come about on the back of the assurances and commitment by Liberians to bury their differences and demonstrated a resolve to protect the years of fragile peace but co-exist in the interest of peace and stability; a national commitment which must be sustained in the spirit of patriotism and Liberialism with a high price.
As such, credit first to former President of America, George W. Bush; ECOWAS and AU peace brokers, the ex-war factions and their belligerent groups; the late Gyude Bryant’s transitional government that was able to conduct a peaceful democratic elections; the Ellen Jonson-Sirleaf’s administration that maintains the democratic space for 12 unbroken years, not leaving out the current administration of President George M. Weah which has a arduous task to keep the peace and stability.
The reluctant departure of Ex-president Charles Taylor on 11 August was of particular importance chapter in the history of Liberia, as a necessary condition for the restoration of peace in across. The entire ECOWAS community was thankful to Nigeria and its former President for offering political asylum to the ex-president Taylor from the political scene into exile and investiture of former president Moses Z. Blah, leading to the deployment of troops to help stabilize the country, while on 4 August the first troops belonging to the interposition force landed on the soil of Liberia, giving hope to the hopeless population that time and the beginning of the silence of the echo of guns and end of wanton killings and harassment of peaceful civilians.
Following the short tenure of the Blah’s presidency, then came the Bryant’s administration, although it was a difficult one due to the its composition, however, succeeded in bringing about a negotiated settlement of the conflict and successful disarmament and demobilization of ex-fighters, ended the loss of innumerable lives, wanton destruction of our infrastructure and properties and massive displacement of people.
Then came the Johnson-Sirleaf’s administration to keep the peace, this displayed has witnessed a 12 years of an uninterrupted peace came as a direct result of the Sirleaf’s administration initiatives undertaken supported by the people of Liberia and its development partners and key international actors. With the expiration of the Sirleaf’s regime, the Weah’s Administration must do all with care and caution to maintain the peace and stability of the state and its people, decisions should be people-centered and good governance should be exercised.
Meanwhile, as a matter of reflection, Article XIII of the peace agreement states that Truth and Reconciliation Commission, shall be established to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as an opportunity for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences, in order to get a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation and makes recommendations for appropriate course of actions.
The deal further states that in the spirit of national reconciliation, the Commission shall deal with the root causes of the crises in Liberia, including human rights violations and pinpointed that Commission shall, among other things, recommend measures to be taken for the rehabilitation of victims of human rights violations.
Liberia owes a duty under both international humanitarian and human rights law to investigate and prosecute the heinous crimes, including torture, rape and extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians, committed in the country by the ex-warring parties in the course of 14 years of brutal conflict. In the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), our leaders need to display the confidence reposed in them.
Justice is indeed precious and beneficial, but where it is being delayed, obviously what is implied is then that the latter is also being denied; the issue of TRC’s recommendations must be addressed once and for all.
The various ex- armed factions targeted civilians and were responsible for massacres and systematic human rights abuses, and none of which was fighting for any recognizable cause or ideology. Tens of thousands of innocent Liberians have been brutally murdered in cold blood by armed factions that fought to have state power by force. The war was also characterized by the extensive use of child soldiers, boys younger than fifteen years old who were easy prey for all the factions.
It is crucial to reflect on the significance contributions of our courageous, indigenous and non-violent mothers, and highlights their meaningful contributions, as such; this article depicts the heaviest price our mothers paid in the obtainment of tangible peace, which is the direct result of this new dispensation of a participatory democracy. This year anniversary of peace desires the befitting merriments and jovialities.
The late Mother Mary Brownell and several other courageous mothers and critical voices among the thousands of victimized women who refused to play to the threats of their male counterparts were undeterred by the havocs. They stood their grounds and courageously echoed their vices by pressing the rebels’ leaders to play to the rule of non-violent and seek solutions through the conference table and not bullets. These strong and fearless women’s voices had a collective objective-the sensation of the long years of bloodiest war and the restoration of democracy, the process which witnessed to successive democratically elections across the Republic.
Out of an unthinkable display of bravery, our mothers extended their search for genuine peace to even unsafe military zones; in short, they ran the day-to-day affairs by also ensuring that the madness in the country be brought to an end; by that, they traded places, engaging influential and powerful global movers and shakers as well as world leaders pinning their serious attentions to the hell their country had been plunged into chaos.
During the 2003 peace talks held in the Ghanaian capital, Accra when belligerent groups displayed an improper behavior by delaying to sign the peace agreement to end the war, a group of indigenous Liberian women from diverse background took the bull by the horn, locked the doors to deny the participants from leaving the conference hall as a means of pressurizing ex-leaders of belligerent groups, political parties and civil society organizations to find a common ground and put end to imbroglio.
Our mothers were violated, harassed, beaten and stripped of their goods and values, they were subdued and maltreated, while other women whose would not stand the agonies were obliged to give themselves to the fighters to survive. But there were several other critical voices among the thousands of victimized women who refused to play to the threats of their male counterparts.
At the heart of the male-imposed-looming predicament profoundly suffered by women, it became the very women, especially during the heyday of the bloody civil war in Liberia who braced and took on the harsh, dangerous and terrifying terrains fending for their families as bullets were flying indiscriminately while their male-counterparts were stuck in complete seclusion in order to save their skins.
During the heat of the war when men were afraid to leave their homes for fear of being conscripted or tortured by rebel forces, it was the women who braved the storm to walk through the deadly checkpoints to find food for their families. In the process, some women were unfortunately subjected to sexual abuse, beaten and tortured by combatants.
In the face of visible intimidations and nastiness, the women without fears went across battle lines despite heavy fighting to spread peace messages. The painful experiences of women during the war were one of unanimity. Some narrated how they were subjected to eat human feces while others shared sorrowful memories of having forced sex with rebel fighters to spare their lives.
But this cruel treatment did not deter them from their non-violent advocacy for peace and an end to fratricidal civil feud in the country. Most war affected women were held hostage and used as ‘combat-wives of warlords and fighters, while others ‘were conscripted to head-load materials along forest tracks and cook and provide sexual services for the combatants. Moreover, they sacrificed their personal security and lives by openly undertaking lengthy periods of prayers and open-air fasting invoking the divine intervention of the ‘Father of Creation’ to end the war. And indeed, their efforts and sacrifices provided praiseworthy dividends.
The two successive tenures of former president Johnson-Sirleaf’s leadership experienced some tough time, but with mixed feeling with one group highlighting the positivity while other go for the negatives, depending where one stand either as a pessimist or optimist. The journey to achieve this landmark of peace and stability across the country has been a difficult, but yet, Liberians and international partners kept the promise to keep the peace and stability although there are several unfinished businesses that still require substantive collective actions by all Liberians, if the country is to be on pal with rising nations.
In order to maintain the enthusiasm on which it came to power, the Weah’s administration needs to do more to deliver a bravura performance to ensure that the pro poor agenda is successfully achieved.
The phenomenon of President George Weah remarkable election and inauguration in the global arena is quite significant and presents opportunities and challenges to post-war Liberia socio-economic, governance and industrialization, but in the context of the criticism and self-criticism about the misery surrounding the reported “disappearance” of Sixteen Billion Liberian Dollar (LRD16,000,000,000), what does it denotes for the nation’s image internationally since no country in internationally since no country in international politics is an island.