Calls for a war crimes court for Liberia are justified but difficulties in securing funding for its operation may dampen prospects for its realization, Liberian human rights activist Torli Krua has said. 

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Mr. Krua, who is executive director of the Boston-based Universal Human Rights International (UHRI), said “No one should be under the illusion that there is an unlimited supply of money sitting out there in the international community to pay for all the ills of the world.” He however said Liberia can have a war crimes court today if Liberians are willing to pay for it. 

Citizens from the 15 political subdivisions of Liberia, following regional consultative meetings organized by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recently called for a war crimes court for the war-ravaged West African state to prosecute individuals alleged to have committed heinous crimes and violated international humanitarian laws during the country’s 14-year civil war. That call was strongly re-echoed a few days later by a consortium of Liberian women organizations. 

Civil war broke out in Liberia on December 24, 1989, when rebels of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) launched a cross-boarder attack from neighboring Ivory Coast. Taylor announced a week later his group had launched a “90-day armed campaign to remove (President) Samuel Doe from the backs of the Liberian people.”  

Doe was captured and tortured to death in September 1990 by a breakaway faction of the NPFL led by Prince Johnson who is now a senior senator for Nimba County. But the death of President Doe never ended the war, and despite massive international efforts to restore order, fighting intensified and armed groups proliferated until the country became a virtual patchwork of armed factions, with each fighting group targeting the NPFL, while at the same time turning the guns on each other, looting, raping, and executing civilians. 

Despite stiff opposition against Taylor, his National Patriotic Party was declared winner of the 1997 general and presidential elections conducted on the basis of proportional representation in which the winner takes all. Those elections were intended to return the country to democratic civilian rule. But Taylor’s resolve to use his victory as a license to revenge and run the country as a private firm led to much discontent, with rebel forces going back into the bush to regroup against him. Aid agencies conservatively estimate that over 250,000 people died in the war, which ended in 2003 with the ouster of Charles Taylor after the concerned parties signed a peace accord in Accra, Ghana, which also paved the way for the election of current President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2005. 

“Liberians have been talking about a war crimes court for the country but this is the first time something concrete has come out of the street talks to demonstrate the seriousness of Liberians about a war crimes court,” a journalist closely following the Charles Taylor’s trial in The Hague said on condition of anonymity. 

Flashback: Partial view of the War Crimes court in session

Crimes committed during the Liberian civil war waged from 1989 to 2003 include the recruitment of child soldiers, massacres, rape, and sex slavery. “These crimes violate international humanitarian laws and the international community is under obligation to bring the perpetrators to justice,” one analyst says. 

But the UHRI boss strongly believes Liberians are capable of paying for things they desire, including a war crimes court, if they stop taking what he called “free rides” and learn to live within their means. “It’s only then we can begin to benefit not only from a war crimes court but also from our places of worship, associations, political parties…” he pointed out.  

Krua lamented what he called “excessive and unsustainable compensation of public servants” in Liberia. “When an impoverished post-conflict country pays $20,000 salary per month to a public servant, it becomes clear to me that the unsustainable and reckless patterns of governance that make public service a path to personal wealth is totally out of step with democracies around the world,” he insinuated. Krua did not elaborate, but he called for legislations to limit the incentives and salaries of public officials to enable the government keep vital programs up and running. 

He said Liberians should not expect taxpayers around the world to pay for something dear to the hearts – justice, if they cannot act responsibly in their associations, political parties and live within their means. 

In budgetary terms, it’s not known what’s needed to set up a war crimes court for Liberia. But the United Nations-backed War Crimes Court for neighboring Sierra Leone set up to try rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) following that country’s brutal civil war, waged from 1991 to 2001, had an initial budget of US$85 million, with a mandate of three years. 

Former Liberian rebel leader turned President Charles Taylor, accused of supporting the RUF rebels known for chopping off the limbs, ears, and noses of thousands of civilians as they vandalized Liberia’s western neighbor, is presently on trial at the Sierra Leonean war crimes court now sitting in The Hague, the Netherlands, facing 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor, who is alleged to have trained and armed the RUF rebels for “blood diamonds”, is also accused of bearing the “greatest responsibility” for war crimes in Liberia. And with war crimes trouble already weighing heavily on him, the most flamboyant rebel leader in modern history could face war crimes charges again, this time in his own country, experts say. 

However, Krua said for a war crimes court to become a reality in the country, “the system of politics in Liberia must be changed from one that perpetuates the professional governing class at the expense of individuals dedicated to serving the interests of constituents and the greater common good of the public…to a new system of governance not set up by the same people who benefited from the failed system.” He said most of the crucial decision makers in Liberia are “recycled politicians” who will never make a decision for a war crimes court because “they were all part of the war” and they want to avoid punishment for their crimes. 

But internal political maneuvering, analysts say, can not stop the setting up of a war crimes court for a country in which war crimes are proven to have been committed and international humanitarian laws violated. 

The issue of a war crimes court for Liberia has added to the ongoing debate regarding how to move the country forward following 14 years of devastating civil war. Opponents of the idea maintain the security situation in Liberia is still too fragile and indicting former warlords on any count of war crimes may spark off a new round of violence that may derail the peace process, but advocates of the court believe not holding people accountable for their roles in an armed conflict that left more than 250,000 people dead will send a wrong message to would-be trouble makers and set a dangerous precedence for the country.

Writes: James Seitua
Contributing writer