Thursday, February 16, 2017

“Behind-The-Scenes” Solutions… Very Wrong for Liberia…

Bernard Gbayee Goah
Written By Bernard Gbayee Goah
President, Operation We Care for Liberia

I want to caution the international community against imposing a fixed solution on the Liberian people using a “Behind-The-Scene” derived approach or formulas”. If core issues that led to the backwardness of this country are not properly addressed, soon the country could become a distraction within the West African sub-region.

However, while I detest any calculated solution imposition on the Liberian people, I warmly encourage the involvement of the international community in supporting the will and desire of the Liberian people in the country’s post-war justice, reconstruction and peace building process. As Liberians go to the polls to elect new public officials, it is important that those who want to help lift Liberia out of the abyss of poverty understand the hopes and aspirations of the people. Citizens eagerly look forward to a new beginning that will mark the end of war, senseless violence, impunity and moral decadence.

To Liberia’s international partners; I say this to you…if you desire the best for Liberia, then please do not impose remedies that are contrary to what the Liberian people truly desire. Also, please do not exhibit biases in your good intentions to contribute to the reconstruction, and post-war justice process of Liberia. Liberia is just too old to adjust to peace formulas that are only bent on temporary solutions because the premise of such solution is to erroneously equate the absence of the sound of gun battle to peace.

It is also totally wrong for any one to interpret the absence of political protests and poverty-provoked street violence as the absence of disillusionment in the country. The prevailing peace in Liberia is only temporary and must be firstly attributed to the resilience of the people themselves to swallow the bitter pills for a while, and secondly to the brief observatory efforts of the United Nations Peacekeepers. During this transitional period of temporary peace, the people of Liberia were of the hopes that specific steps would have been taken to prevent the reoccurrence of past horrors that visited them. Sadly, this has not happened and the window of opportunity might just be fast closing.

We, (all of us) must remind ourselves that a durable solution to Liberia’s quagmire has yet to be reached. Those same derivatives that led to the demise of the country are even more visible today as of this publication. Those who bear the greatest responsibilities for the horrors in Liberia have not yet been held accountable for the crimes they’ve committed. Government has allowed rape, torture and murder to go unpunished. Those who planned, financed, supervised and executed the wanton destruction of Liberia and its human resource, seem to be clinging to the mistaken belief that their actions against the nation and its people were justified. As a result, Liberians are kept in perpetual poverty, while the alleged perpetrators and their reported conies mellow in the resources of the state with demonstrated arrogance.The people of Liberia must now move to avert the potential re-occurrence of this national nightmare by taking practical steps to restrain the aggressors.

I therefore call on the people of Liberia to demand the establishment of a War Crimes Court without further delay. They must pressure their government by any necessary means to implement the justice component of the TRC recommendation in relations to the establishment of a War Crimes Court. Such step is necessary because it offers the best opportunity and remedy to end the era of violence and launch Liberia into the age of sustained peace, stability, and economic prosperity.

The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes court that is capable of dealing with atrocities perpetrated against defenseless men, women and children during the country's brutal war. Without justice, peace shall remain elusive and investment in Liberia will not produce the intended results.

Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf And Others Must Pay For Their Crimes...

Writing By Bernard Gbayee Goah
Bernard Gbayee Goah

“Children were conscripted as soldiers when I fought Liberia’s battle”, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf admits. According to FrontPage Africa online news, in her 2017 Annual Message, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia mentioned the following:

"I am seventy-eight years old. I have been fighting Liberia’s battles for more than half a century – all my adult life – and our nation’s struggles have blended into and are indistinguishable from my own. I have been a witness as our country has gone from civil unrest, dictatorship, anarchy and war; from the abuse of children conscripted as soldiers, pervasive sexual violence, and economic collapse; and then, finally, to peace, elections, development, and an open and dynamic civil society."
Source of Information: http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/politics/3157-president-2017-annual-message-accounting-for-our-stewardship

Now that the president has finally admitted children were conscripted as soldiers, and that pervasive sexual violence took place while she fought her war, I would like to hastily remind the President that an estimation of more than two hundred thousand innocent people were killed, hundreds of thousands uprooted from their homes, and hundreds of thousands more displaced in foreign lands as a result of the war she and others initiated and fought. 

Atrocities committed in Liberia are so grave; a personal experience of the war is not required to understand the magnitude of what took place. YouTube Recorded videos of the level of madness Madam Sirleaf and others brought upon the Liberian people, and how countless number of innocent people were raped, tortured, enslaved, and killed are so dehumanizing; there can be no statue of limitations. 

As such, the demand for justice by those of us who have experienced such nightmare is genuine, and must be respected and not brushed aside as Madam Sirleaf has done this whole time.
With such merciless acts carried out against us as a people, it is unbelievable that not a single person has been held accountable! Worse of all, those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity are the ones running the affairs of victims of war in Liberia today. Suspects of war crimes and crimes against humanity are now dictating the pace of a “government favored so-called justice process” that holds no one accountable. 

Irrespective of the headaches and ruckus that may come with it, we must hold accountable those bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Liberia. And surely the International Community could help by standing with war victims as well. Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf And Others Must Pay For Their Crimes. We Want The Establishment Of A War Crimes Court For Liberia!