After a five-year prosecution, the international criminal court
reaches a verdict this week in the trial of former
Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is accused of
war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Here Jewel Taylor, his former wife,
now a Liberian state senator,
says the peoples of Sierra Leone and Liberia need to move on from their pasts
The Taylor prosecution at the Special Court delivers a strong message to all perpetrators of atrocities, including those in the highest positions of power, that they will be held accountable.
Written by Laura Golakeh
Source: Frontpage Africa
April is a month Liberians can never forget. April 26, 2012 is also a day Liberians will never forget. This is the day, Mr. Charles Ghankay Taylor, “the people’s man” was convicted for 11 counts of war crimes he committed in Sierra Leone. What interests me is not only the political and physical side to the announcement of the verdict but the natural side
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor was convicted of war crimes this week by the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone, SCSL. Simon Jennings, IWPR's Africa editor, looks at the trial and its significance.
What are the wider implications of this verdict for west Africa, and also for international justice?
Without Justice there can be no peace!!
The presence of United Nations troops has afforded Liberians the opportunity to find solutions to the ills plaguing the nation. Knowing full well these troops will not remain indefinitely; it is imperative Liberians lay the foundation for the rule of law because it offers the best remedy for human rights violations, and other pressing issues.
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Bernard Gbayee Goah
President, Operation We Care for Liberia |
I welcome the United Nations-backed court decision to convict former Liberian President Charles Taylor for aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Serra Leon. I believe justice is served in favor of the people of Serra Leon.
While I welcome the court’s decision on Serra Leon, the abiding mystery for me is why hasn’t Charles Taylor been tried for what he did in Liberia whereas there are mountains of evidences available. Why haven’t the Liberian people receive justice up to now? What’s wrong with the Liberia case, and who is behind all of this?
Today, Liberia is infested with war crimes suspects. These are those holding top positions in government including the Presidency. It looks like the whole World is not in any hast to talk about crimes committed in Liberia? Why hasn’t the African Union, France, the UK, and the US, mentioned anything about justice for the Liberian people? What is the civilized World's position on crimes committed in Liberia? Why is the Free World of Justice not saying anything at all? Who are the World leaders, and why are they not doing anything about the case of Liberia? Will justice ever be served in Liberia? Are the killings of over 200,000 people not worth talking about?
Bernard Gbayee Goah
Robin White finally met Charles Taylor in 2000
A UN-backed war crimes tribunal has convicted Liberia's former President Charles Taylor of aiding and abetting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. He first came to international prominence after an interview on the BBC's Focus on Africa programme with its then editor Robin White, who looks back at Charles Taylor's rise and fall.
By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch | Reuters
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A United Nations-backed court convictedformer Liberian president Charles Taylor of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity, the first time a head of state has been found guilty by an international tribunal since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg.
Taylor, 64, had been charged with 11 counts of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, during which more than 50,000 people were killed.
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| Charles Ghankay Taylor, Right |
Charles Ghankay Taylor awaits the dubious honour of becoming the first former head of state to be judged before an international criminal tribunal.
The former Liberian president's apprehension is the jewel in the crown of international justice, but his criminal case on eleven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity is hardly clear-cut.
Critics claim Taylor's prosecution was straitjacketed by the trial's limited time frame, thus neglecting to address many issues. Whether or not he is found guilty of a campaign of terror in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Thursday's verdict will leave a trail of questions about atrocities and his relations with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s.
BY COLIN WAUGH Source: allAfrica.com
ANALYSIS
Tomorrow in The Hague the judges in what has been one of the lengthiest and most unusual legal battles ever to have been fought on the international stage are due to deliver the verdict on a man who over the past decade has variously been a deposed president under house arrest in Nigeria, a prisoner awaiting trial and a defendant in the dock of a specially-convened international court.
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| Mr. Bernard Gbayee Goah |
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| Charles Taylor |
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| Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf |
Written By Bernard Gbayee Goah
Email: bgoah76@yahoo.com
Even, with her Controversy win at the polls, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf could not and has not revive Liberia as president because like other Liberian warlords, this “Nobel price winner” is in large part responsible for the cold-blooded murders of tens of thousands of defenseless civilians. Considering this fact, it is unlikely that justice would be served in Liberia on Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s watch.
Freetown — Judgement in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor will be delivered at 11:00 a.m. Hague time (9:00 a.m. GMT) on Thursday, 26 April 2012.
Thursday's judgement will be delivered by Trial Chamber II, consisting of Justice Richard Lussick of Samoa (presiding), Justice Teresa Doherty of Northern Ireland, Justice Julia Sebutinde of Uganda, and Alternate Judge Justice El Hadji Malick Sow of Senegal.
Prior to the Taylor trial, Trial Chamber II sat on the trial of three former leaders of Sierra Leone's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).
MONROVIA, Liberia — As judgment day nears in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, many Liberians are wondering whether he will ever face justice for brutality in his own country.
“There were more atrocities that occurred in Liberia under [his] leadership as compared to that in Sierra Leone,” said Nathan F. Gull, a 33-year-old businessman in Monrovia.
Written by E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor
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| Senator Isaac Nyenabo |
Senator Isaac Nyenabo of Grand Gedeh County has categorically accused President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of breaching the 2011 National Defense Law, which calls for the dissolution of the Ministry of National Security and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Despite the law, President Sirleaf recently appointed Mr. Al Karley as Director of the National Bureau of Investigation. Senator Nyenabo said the two institutions had earlier been ear marked for disbanding by the government.
Written by Tom B Nyenur
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| Alex Tyler |
The Legislature has accused the executive of not being
transparent about its deals with multinational oil companies over its oil
blocks, foreshadowing a potential battle between the two branches of
government.
The legislators on Tuesday released findings of an
investigation they said showed the presidency was failing to adhere to
accountability and transparency procedures in negotiating deals for Liberia’s
offshore oil blocks.
Fierce of the Fearless in the face of danger
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| Bernard Gbayee Goah |
Written by: Bernard Gbayee Goah
President Operation We Care for Liberia
A Liberian female Journalist, Mae Azango, unveiled to the public the hidden sagas of the deepest and most forbidden secrets of the Liberian Grebo bush. She wrote a story about the health implications of female genital cutting within a secret society of women in Liberia. Since the time of publication by the Liberian Newspaper, FrontPage Africa, Mae Azango has lived in fear as a result of threatening messages she received from anonymous callers. Mae fled for her life and is now in hiding.
Key members of ex-President Charles Taylor's family including some closed allies amongst them a journalist, have been invited by Mr. Taylor to attend his verdict due on April 26, this month.
Though the exact number of invitees is not yet known, this paper gathers that individuals heading for the verdict have already began making travelling preparations.
Sources closed to Taylor told this paper that the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone will underwrite the travelling expenses.
Source: Front Page Africa
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| George E, S. Boley |
Former Warlord, - George E, S. Boley, former leader of the defunct rebel faction the Liberia Peace Council (LPC) is undergoing counseling following his deportation from the United States of America (USA).
Sources informed FrontPage Africa Tuesday that the former head of the LPC is undergoing counseling at the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN).
"The United States has always been a place of refuge and freedom from oppression for millions. We must ensure that those who come here seeking freedom and the rule of law do not have to fear that their persecutor may become their neighbor." - US Immigration Judge John Reid's
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Monday, 02 April 2012 01:00 E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor
Source: The New Dawn Liberia
Fate and time have a way of dealing with every man no matter his past or current roles so it has been with former Liberian rebel leader Dr. George Boley, who has been held at a federal detention facility outside Buffalo since 2010, under a U.S. 'Child Soldiers Accountability Act'. Boley has been finally deported to Liberia after spending two years in federal custody.
He arrived at the Roberts International Airport on Friday onboard a Delta Airlines flight and was immediately handed over to officers of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN).
Everyone is a genius
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – A Einstein
Drawing the line in Liberia
Crimes sponsored, committed, or masterminded by handful of individuals cannot be blamed upon an entire nationality. In this case, Liberians! The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes tribunal or some credible legal forum 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. - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Men with unhealthy characters should not champion any noble cause
They pretend to advocate the cause of the people when their deeds in the dark mirror nothing else but EVIL!!
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
If Liberia must move forward ...
If Liberia must move forward in order to claim its place as a civilized nation amongst world community of nations, come 2017 elections, Liberians must critically review the events of the past with honesty and objectivity. They must make a new commitment to seek lasting solutions. The track records of those who are presenting themselves as candidates for the position of "President of the Republic of Liberia" must be well examined. Liberians must be fair to themselves because results from the 2011 elections will determine the future of Liberia’s unborn generations to come - Bernard Gbayee Goah
What do I think should be done?
The situation in Liberia is Compound Complex and cannot be fixed unless the entire system of government is reinvented.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Any attempt to institute the system mentioned above in the absence of rule of law is meaningless, and more detrimental to Liberia as a whole - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's Natural Resources
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia needs a proper system
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Solving problems in the absence of war talks
As political instability continues to increase in Africa, it has become abundantly clear that military intervention as a primary remedy to peace is not a durable solution. Such intervention only increases insecurity and massive economic hardship. An existing example which could be a valuable lesson for Liberia is Great Britain, and the US war on terror for the purpose of global security. The use of arms whether in peace keeping, occupation, or invasion as a primary means of solving problem has yield only little results. Military intervention by any country as the only solution to problem solving will result into massive military spending, economic hardship, more fear, and animosity as well as increase insecurity. The alternative is learning how to solve problems in the absence of war talks. The objective of such alternative must be to provide real sustainable human security which cannot be achieved through military arm intervention, or aggression. In order to achieve results that will make the peaceful coexistence of all mankind possible, there must be a common ground for the stories of all sides to be heard. I believe there are always three sides to every story: Their side of the story, Our side of the story, and The truth – Bernard Gbayee Goah
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