Moses Blah Ordered the Execution of RUF Commander Sam Bockarie

Alpha Sesay

Source: allafrica.com


Charles Taylor's former Vice President Moses Blah ordered the execution of a Sierra Leonean rebel commander in Liberia who was already a subject of an indictment issued by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2003, a former radio operator in Charles Taylor's Special Security Services (SSS) unit today told the Special Court for Sierra Leone judges in The Hague.

Arms Agent Set To Dump Allies, Sleepless nights befall President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and others

US authorities push a bargain with weapons agent Viktor Bout in which he could unveil many of his secret arms deals around the world, including those in Africa, with Liberia on the list as a prime recipient, according to the New York Times.

Sleepless nights befall President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and others who helped to finance the Liberian civil war in which over 250,000 innocent women and children as well as five Americans were killed.   - Bernard Gbayee Goah

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Rules Out Victims' War Reparation

Source: allafrica.com

Some aspects of the controversial Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report should be sent to a committee of experts under the Ministry of Education, while reparations for victims have been ruled out, and those for communities and institutions proposed.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in a letter to the Legislature reporting the document, said the TRC report, with its historical dimensions, should be taught in classrooms. President Sirleaf calls for "formulating a road map to guide the' process of implementing the report given the quantity and complexity of the recommendations at hand."

Is Anyone Listening to UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon?

Source: New Democrat Monrovia

UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, in his various reports on prevailing security and economic conditions in Liberia, has been issuing the same warnings and making the basically the same observations: progress is undeniable, but not all that glitters is gold.

Delta Airlines to start direct flights to Liberia on Saturday, September 4th

Source: RunningAfrica

Atlanta, Georgia-based Delta Airlines will this Saturday, September 4, 2010 start a direct international air service from the United States to Liberia’s Roberts International Airport.

This will be the first direct international commercial flight between the United States and Liberia in twenty years.

This is the second go around with the Delta flight arrangement to Liberia. In June 2009, the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) denied Delta Airlines direct flight to Monrovia, Liberia and to Nairobi, Kenya.

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafi who helped former rebel leaders Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and Charles Taylor to destroy Liberia wants EU cash to stop African migrants

Gaddafi wants EU cash to stop African migrants
Source: BBC News


Despite historical tensions Col Gaddafi has forged friendlier relations with Italy

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi says the EU should pay Libya at least 5bn euros (£4bn; $6.3bn) a year to stop illegal African immigration and avoid a "black Europe".

Speaking on a visit to Italy, Col Gaddafi said Europe "could turn into Africa" as "there are millions of Africans who want to come in".

Italy has drawn criticism for handing over to Libya migrants it intercepts at sea, without screening them first.

Far fewer now reach Italy from Libya.

“Start Quote

We don't know... what will be the reaction of the white and Christian Europeans faced with this influx of starving and ignorant Africans”

End Quote Col Muammar Gaddafi

European Commission figures show that in 2009 the number of people caught trying to enter Italy illegally fell to 7,300, from 32,052 in 2008. The data was collected under the EU's Eurodac fingerprinting system.

19 Americans Sworn-in as Peace Corps/Liberia Volunteers

SOURCE: allafrica.com

PRESS RELEASE

Nineteen Americans were sworn-in as Peace Corps/Liberia volunteers on August 27 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia.

Court worry at Omar al-Bashir's Kenya trip

Source: bbc news

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has reported Kenya to the UN Security Council over a visit to Nairobi by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Liberia- Mandingo Community Dissatisfies

Aloysious T. Makor
Source: allafrica.com

Ganta — The Mandingo Community in Ganta, Nimba County, is said to be unhappy with the latest decision the Liberian government has taken in the land dispute in the county.

South African president heaps lavish praise on authoritarian China

I think the ICC should start worrying about Liberia.  

With China’s influence in Africa especially Liberia, could China be an obstacle to justice in Liberia given her world economic strength? Now that the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf led government has  become China’s guinea pig, will the Liberian leader ever go to court for the role she played during the Liberia civil war that resulted into the death of over 250,000 innocent women and children??? Or would China simply play don’t care role and just work with agents of death in Liberia?? - Bernard Gbayee Goah

Immigration declares support for dual citizenship

Written by Charles Gbollie

Source: Star Radio Liberia

The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization has given its official position on the contentious Dual Citizenship Bill at the Legislature.

BIN Commissioner, Chris Massaquoi told reporters the entity is in full support of the proposed dual citizenship Act.

Police officer commits suicide in Grand Gedeh

Written by Wlekumon Degbe
Source: Star Radio Liberia

An officer of the Liberia National Police has allegedly committed suicide in Pouh Town, Grand Gedeh County.

Officer Sammy Seoh allegedly shot and killed himself due to constant disagreement between him and his detail commander, Albert Shad.

In a letter allegedly written by the deceased, officer Pouh complained of continued misunderstanding between him and his boss.

Our correspondent gathered the disagreement existed between the two men even while they were assigned at the Putu District police detail.

An eyewitness account said Seoh fired a warning shot and threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to take the gun from him.

As people began running helter-skelter Seoh set the barrel of the gun under his cheek and fired it with his toe killing himself instantly.

Grand Gedeh Police Commander Prince Gballeh who refused to release the letter admitted officer Seoh allegedly committed suicide.

According Mr. Gballeh, police are investigating the incident to establish the cause of Seoh’s alleged action.

The incident happened during the morning hours of Thursday.

Unlike the Liberian Leader Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who supported a rebel group that involved in the killing of over 250,000 innocient Liberians without being brought to justice. Madagascan leader Ravalomanana sentenced to life in prison with hard labor for ordering the killing at least 30 people in February 2009

Liberia is one of the only countries on earth where people who supported the killings of over 250,000 innocent people walk around freely as leaders without being brought to justice for the crimes they  committed.


President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf spoke on BBC ordering the NPFL Rebels led my Charles Taylor to level Monrovia the capital city of Liberia to the ground while thousands of innocent women and children were seeking refuge there. Charles did as ordered by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf


Madagascar is a complete opposite of Liberia. Madagascar was able to bring their former president to justice for ordering the killing of at least 30 people in February 2009 while President Ellen Johnson-Sir leaf and others work around freely in Liberia.  Read below:

Source: bbc.co.uk

Madagascan leader Ravalomanana sentenced

Mr Ravalomanana fled Madagascar in March 2009

Madagascar's exiled former president has been sentenced to life in prison with hard labour for ordering the killing of opposition supporters.

Marc Ravalomanana was sentenced in absentia for the February 2009 murders of at least 30 people by his presidential guard.

Mr Ravalomanana has been living in South Africa since March 2009.

Those killed were supporters of Andry Rajoelina, who has now taken over the government.

Mr Ravalomanana was charged with murder and being an accessory to murder, along with 18 other people, some of whom are also in exile.

Crisis

The former president's defence lawyers walked out on the trial shortly after the hearings began, saying the court was being used by Mr Rajoelina's administration.

"The aim is to sentence him so he can't return to Madagascar and run in future elections," lawyer Hanitra Razafimanantsoa told news agency AFP.

Madagascar has been in the midst of a political crisis for the past 19 months.

It is the third sentence given to Mr Ravalomanana by a court since he left the country.

Extradition battle over Viktor Bout

By Alastair Leithead


Source: BBC News Thailand

 A court in Thailand has ruled that the Russian Viktor Bout - suspected of being one of the world's most notorious arms dealers - be extradited to the US. But arguments involving the US and Russia mean he is still in Bangkok, as Thailand does its best not to upset two important allies.

The small private jet has been sitting on the tarmac at a Bangkok airport all week now - with the meter running.

It was hired by the US government and arrived on Monday to pick up valuable cargo, as did the 50 armed men sent to make sure the goods - Viktor Anatoliyevich Bout - made it safely from maximum security prison to American soil.

But there was a snag, a last-minute hitch, a technicality.

Viktor Bout knows quite a bit about aircraft and he also knows a lot about paperwork and bureaucracy.

He ran a logistics business, flying Soviet-era transport planes around the globe.

Those who accuse him of being the world's most notorious arms dealer say the cargo he delivered was UN-sanction-busting guns, his buyers were rebel armies: that he fuelled civil wars across Africa in the 1990s.

'Merchant of death'

They say the nimble way this big, imposing Russian switched flight plans, ownership documents and inventories enabled him to exploit loopholes in the law and avoid the authorities for more than a decade.

Until he was lured to Bangkok with an offer he seemingly could not refuse.

Despite the shackles and chains, he was certainly light on his feet hopping out of a prison bus and into a Thai courtroom for his latest - and some thought final - appearance.

But then he is used to it. Two and a half years he has spent in prison here, going to and from court, fighting extradition, after US agents posing as Colombian Farc rebels arrested him at a Bangkok hotel, after he allegedly tried to sell them weapons.

Not just AK-47s or Kalashnikovs but hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and heavily armed attack helicopters.

That is what is on the charge sheet and that is the case the Americans want him to answer - conspiracy to provide arms to a group Washington considers "terrorists".

The allegations against a man once described as the "merchant of death" by a British politician have been piling up for years.

They come from UN weapons investigators, intelligence agencies, governments and investigative reporters, but Bout denies them all.

He was rumoured to have half a dozen passports and many more aliases.

This version of his shadowy life is said to have inspired the Nicholas Cage character in the movie Lord of War.

Cold War

What is complicated is his relationship with the Kremlin and the Pentagon.

As a former Russian air force officer, his contacts are strong. He is accused of buying arms from the state as the Soviet Union collapsed.

Thailand has found itself in the middle of a battle between two of its allies, wanting to do the Thai thing and keep everyone happy

He not only took supplies into Iraq for the Americans, he also flew to Kosovo for the British Ministry of Defence.

While Viktor Bout has been sitting in the dock - looking a little thinner on each appearance - the courtroom scene has been a throwback to the Cold War, as Russian and American officials have huddled with their lawyers in different corners eyeing each other suspiciously and playing tug of war with Viktor.

Russia is perhaps worried he might turn state witness, and there may be some secrets they would rather not have him spill.

The US wants to see him on trial.

And this is not a game confined to the court - the two nations are lobbing hard behind the scenes.

Thailand has found itself in the middle of a battle between two of its allies, wanting to do the Thai thing and keep everyone happy.

The first court ruling last year was "Advantage: Moscow". Extradition was rejected.

But a week ago, came the appeal.


'Advantage Viktor'

America lodged two new charges including money laundering and fraud as an insurance policy, in case he got off.

But judges ruled he should be extradited within three months. "Game, set and match: US of A".

Officials in court punched the air.

And so they sent a plane.

The Russian foreign minister called it "unjust", and said it could affect relations with Thailand.

Mr Bout's wife blamed American pressure but his Thai lawyer secretly celebrated.

"God saved us," he grinned, with his knowledge of the legal system here.

Those new charges have to be dropped before America can have him.

Viktor Bout now wants the money laundering and fraud charges to come to court because, if that case can be dragged out for three months, the extradition order will expire and a two-and- a-half-year process will have to start all over again.

And from the Thais' perspective, if Mr Bout stays in prison here. they will not be upsetting one big ally any more than the other.

Advantage Mr Bout.

If he is the world's most notorious arms dealer, he will have some very big friends in some very high places.

Liberian Government Announces Agreement with Chevron to Explore Liberian Waters

Source: The Executive Mansion, Liberia


Monrovia, Liberia - The Government of Liberia announced Friday, August 27, that it has entered into an agreement with the Chevron Corporation to explore three deepwater concessions in Liberian waters. Under the agreement, the company will conduct a three-year exploratory program that is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The agreement has been approved by the Executive Mansion and submitted to the Legislature for consideration and ratification.

These investments, along with the rehabilitation of the Freeport of Monrovia and the first direct flights from the U.S. to Monrovia in 20 years starting September 5 through Delta Air lines, will provide real economic opportunities for the people of Liberia.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said: “We are delighted to welcome Chevron as a partner for Liberia to explore our oil and gas assets. Along with its investment, Chevron will bring the latest technologies, best practices in transparency and efficiencies, and an excellent record of community and social responsibility.”

The Liberian President continued: “Energy is one of my top priorities, and with Chevron’s technical skills, we will be able to build our own capacity in the sector, making a meaningful contribution to economic growth and job creation. This is a crucial partnership for Liberia.”

Chevron’s entry into Liberia consolidates a growing trend of major international investment projects in the country’s strategic sectors. It is a further vote of confidence in the nation’s future, adding to the list of Liberia’s other business partners, including ArcelorMittal, Firestone, BHP Billiton, Sime Darby, Anadarko Petroleum, China Union, and, most recently, a $1.6 billion agreement with Golden Veroleum.

Liberian Government Signs Up Chevron as Oil Exploration Partner

Source: allafrica.com 

Moving closer to joining the growing ranks of African oil producers, Liberia has selected one of the world's largest oil companies as lead partner to explore potential offshore reserves. The announcement puts the spotlight on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's pledge that Liberia will use its natural resources for growth and development and avoid the pitfalls that have plagued many oil- and mineral-rich nations.

The government said a statement on Friday that a three-year exploration agreement with the Chevron Corporation involving three deep-water concessions in Liberian waters "has been approved by the Executive and submitted to the Legislature for consideration and ratification."

"We are delighted to welcome Chevron as a partner for Liberia to explore our oil and gas assets," Johnson Sirleaf said in the Executive Mansion statement. "Energy is one of my top priorities, and with Chevron's technical skills we will be able to build our own capacity in the sector making a meaningful contribution to economic growth and job creation."

"This is a crucial partnership for Liberia," she said in an apparent appeal to the legislative branch to act promptly so exploration can begin before the end of the year. She said Chevron would bring to the country not only an important investment but also "the latest technologies, best practices in transparency and efficiencies, and an excellent record of community and social responsibility."

But ratification may not come easily. Many legislators have been less-than-eager to support the popular president's ambitious agenda, and political tensions are on the rise as the country moves towards elections in October 2011. Johnson Sirleaf, who is seeking a second term, is likely to be opposed by several contenders, including George Weah, the soccer star who was lost in a 2005 run-off in the country's first elections following 25 years of disruption and civil war.

Following a visit to the United States in May, Johnson Sirleaf said she had met Chevron executives to encourage the oil giant "to come and do business," which she said "will send a big signal" that Liberia is a place investors should take seriously. Negotiations continued in Monrovia between a team of senior Chevron officials and the Liberian leader and her advisers.

The Executive Mansion statement called the agreement "a further vote of confidence in the country's future" and cited other major investors who have committed to projects in the country, including ArcelorMittal, Firestone, BHP Billiton, Sime Darby, Anadarko Petroleum, China Union and Golden Veroleum, an Indonesian firm which this month approved a $1.6 billion palm oil deal.

The statement also pointed to the September 5 launch by Delta Airlines of service between Atlanta and Monrovia - "the first direct flights from the U.S. to Monrovia in 20 years." The flight, which will also stop in Accra, will operate on a 215-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, Delta has said. The service had been scheduled to begin in June 2009 but was delayed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pending completion of upgrades at Roberts International Airport outside the capital, Monrovia.

Since taking office in 2006, Johnson Sirleaf has made the fight against corruption a cornerstone of her platform. In a May 2010 AllAfrica interview, she said corruption "systemic" in Liberia and said: "The only way to solve it is to take it from under the carpet and deal with it." She expressed confidence that the country is "moving in the right direction and that, in a few years, we'll solve this problem."

Chevron currently has major operations in Africa's two largest oil producing nations, Nigeria and Angola, and also is engaged in exploration and production in Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.

Exploration in Liberia to date has been carried out by the U.S.-based independent producer Anadarko and UK-based Oranto, which operates in Nigeria and has interests in several other West African countries. Seismic data produced by Oranto from two offshore blocks showed prospects for sufficient undersea petroleum reserves to interest a big player like Chevron.

Liberia sits at the western edge of the Gulf of Guinea, which extends along the coast to Nigeria, a major producer since the 1960s. Oil prospects have risen for Liberia's neighbors to the east, including Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, where production is slated to begin later this year in a large offshore field called Jubilee.

Advances in both exploration and production techniques have opened the way for expanded oil and gas production across Africa. According to a U.S. Geologic Survey Fact Sheet issued in February, there have been more than 275 new fields discovered in West Africa since 2000.

Government Announces Agreement with Chevron to Explore Liberian Waters

Source: allafrica.com


The Government of Liberia announced Friday, August 27, that it has entered into an agreement with the Chevron Corporation to explore three deepwater concessions in Liberian waters. Under the agreement, the company will conduct a three-year exploratory program that is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 201

The agreement has been approved by the Executive Mansion and submitted to the Legislature for consideration and ratification.

These investments, along with the rehabilitation of the Freeport of Monrovia and the first direct flights from the U.S. to Monrovia in 20 years starting September 5 through Delta Air lines, will provide real economic opportunities for the people of Liberia.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said: "We are delighted to welcome Chevron as a partner for Liberia to explore our oil and gas assets. Along with its investment, Chevron will bring the latest technologies, best practices in transparency and efficiencies, and an excellent record of community and social responsibility."

The Liberian President continued: "Energy is one of my top priorities, and with Chevron's technical skills, we will be able to build our own capacity in the sector, making a meaningful contribution to economic growth and job creation. This is a crucial partnership for Liberia."

Chevron's entry into Liberia consolidates a growing trend of major international investment projects in the country's strategic sectors. It is a further vote of confidence in the nation's future, adding to the list of Liberia's other business partners, including ArcelorMittal, Firestone, BHP Billiton, Sime Darby, Anadarko Petroleum, China Union, and, most recently, a $1.6 billion agreement with Golden Veroleum.

President Ellen-Johnson-Sirleaf, Widows of Doe and Quiwonkpa, and Thomas Woewiyu's letter of September 15, 2005

One reason those who reject punitive justice as the way to peace and reconciliation are right is that the intrigue and the path of the Liberian conflict are so deep-seated, so mutually suspecting, and so convoluted that one Liberian’s hero is another’s evil-incarnate. But that does not mean that choosing the “bygone-be-bygone” path is not an elusive trap, even though it remains tempting. Yesterday, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf fell into that trap when she attempted to reconcile the Does and the Quiwonkpas, staging the latest drama in Liberia’s search for peace and reconciliation. The Analyst, reports. To read more go to allafrica.com

Did the President actually apologize to the two women??????? Read Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu letter of August 30, 2005 below:





An open letter to Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf


Thursday, September 15, 2005

By Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu

Source: theliberiandialogue.org

Dear Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf:

The Rest of Your Apologies

I write this letter to first compliment you for finally mustering the courage to apologize to the Liberian people for the callous and deadly statement you made on the BBC in 1990 while prosecuting the second and Taylor led version of NPFL wars. You said "Level Monrovia, we will rebuild it," and not "Level the Executive Mansion" as contained in your statement of apology. As you said, you regret making what you now term as a "stupid comment." If you truly regret making a statement that resulted in the death of thousands of your fellow countrymen and women, why replace it now with a false one?

I am also writing this letter to refresh your memory about other reckless and deadly statements you made in the past that must be included in your apology if you are honest in seeking forgiveness from the Liberian People whom you are also seeking to rule.

Your Level of Involvement

First, let us clarify the matter of what level of involvement and part you played in the founding of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and the prosecution of its wars: The Quinwonkpa failed coupe in 1985 and the version led by Charles Taylor which started in December of 1989. As you know, the NPFL organization was the same but operated with different foot soldiers in each version under your stewardship as we will see later on in this letter.

Your position in that organization, especially the Taylor version, was not as petit and as limited as you continue to describe it to have been. "Level Monrovia we will rebuild it" could have only come from the real Head of State and Commander-in-Chief whose Army was the NPFL as you saw yourself. You issued the order, and it was executed. It included the notorious Octopus, which finally wrecked Monrovia. Fifteen years have gone by and Monrovia is still without water and electricity. During the course of this period, you were the second most powerful person in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP); but zero came to Liberia by way of your influence. You even undermined the promotion and employment of qualified Liberians in that UN organization during your tenure. For now, I will leave your UN record to speak for itself.

Preparation for Invasion

My first trip to the Ivory Coast to meet with Charles Taylor, Harry Yuan, Moses Duopu and others to assess the level of military plan of action for the purpose of removing Doe was sponsored by you and others in the wake of the failed Quinwonkpa coupe in which you played a major role. At the time, you were personally supporting Harry Yuan in the rapid re-recruitment of his fellow Nimbaians and Clarence Simpson was supporting Moses Duopu, the late Counselor Gbaydiah and others in the Ivory Cost to launch another arm attack on the Doe Regime following the botched Quinwonkpa coupe.

If you can recall, after my visit, to the Ivory Coast, the three men split up in search of a possible training base and support. Duopu went to Nigeria, Harry Nyan went to Senegal and Taylor went to Burkina Faso. It was Taylor who first found the possible avenue to accomplish the mission.

With your knowledge and support I again went to Burkina Faso to ascertain the truth to Taylor's claim that he had found the ultimate opportunity to train men for another attempt to remove the Doe Regime by force of arm. The sponsors, especially Thomas Sankara, wanted to know that there was a political support for an arm rebellion by civilians to remove the Samuel Doe's military junta. With your knowledge and consent, I gave the sponsors the assurance they needed to kick off the process of recruitment and training.

Upon my arrival back in the United States, I went straight to your sister's house on Long Island where you were living. While we were discussing the issue of Taylor leading this round of arm rebellion, Byron Tarr arrived. When you told him what you were putting Taylor up to, he was totally opposed on the ground that Taylor was corrupt. He gave in only when you asked him if he had any other viable alternative, given that you people had tried more than 10 times to get rid of Doe but failed.

The Libyan Connection

You accepted and agreed to create a political alliance to replace the junta. Since you could not go to Tripoli, Libya, during the training of the men and the planning stage, you appointed a Special Envoy, Mr. Harry A. Greaves Jr. For reasons not necessary to be stated here neither you nor Mr. Greaves ever went to Tripoli but you stayed abreast of the progress of the training until it was completed.

Following the training of the men and while they were waiting in the Diaspora you and I met with Taylor in Paris where you promised to arranged for a ship to drop the men in Liberian waters from the Sierra Leone side. There was also talk about you arranging with President Momo of Sierra Leone for the offensive to be launched from Sherbro Island. I believe, relying on that, Taylor went to Sierra Leone to follow up and he wound up in jail. What a way to treat your General.

Major's Involvement

At the beginning of the war, a meeting of all the political stakeholders was held in the home of Mr. Taylor Major, Virginia, USA, in February or March of 1990. We demanded the meeting because we suspected that you were holding back from the other politicians as to the political alliance that was expected to be formed by you as was agreed upon in the beginning. At that meeting, Dr. Sawyer and others were surprised and angry because you had kept them in the dark for more than two year. Dr. Sawyer was particularly angry and vocal. Following a long hectic discourse from the beginning of the meeting, it was grudgingly agreed by the participants that the Alliance would take form and provide the political plan of action to be put in place when the regime was deposed.

But we discovered later on that the political alliance never took form because of your personal ambition to directly assume power when the regime was removed. Following that meeting at the home of Taylor Major in Virginia, USA, you invited me to another meeting with Clarence Simpson and Taylor Major in the home of the late Mr. Chris Maxwell. We spent the whole night with the four of you trying to convince me to agree that we should forget about the alliance idea and let the government be given to the Liberian Action Party because the party won the 1985 elections. I said it was a very bad idea. I maintained that these were the very types of maneuvers that always destroyed all of our efforts in the past.

A Secret Meeting with Charles Taylor, and Jackson F. Doe's Disappearance

A few months after the meeting in Virginia, in my absence, you went to the war front at Gborplay, Nimba County, where the NPFL still had its headquarters and told Charles Taylor and other leaders of the organization that you and I had agreed that the government would be given to Liberian Action Party once the Doe regime was deposed. Upon my arrival at that forest headquarters, I was confronted with a Court Marshall of a life threatening nature for supposedly selling out the revolution in advance while others were still fighting and dying. Only God and my friendship with Taylor saved me. I was able to walk away with my life.

I have always wondered as to what this careless and selfish statement of yours had to do with how Jackson Doe ended up when he crossed over to NPFL land. Did those people see Jackson Doe as the LAP you wanted the government turned over to? How come Jackson Doe's disappearance was never really a big concern of yours until lately? When Jackson Doe crossed over from Fendell to Kakata in mid 1990, I was in Sierra Leone at a peace conference. Taylor told me it was a big day of jubilation in Greater Liberia. To let you know he was well; that he had been given a nice and fitting home in Buchanan. A month or so later, Jackson could not be found. I did not hear of your outrage as you were in the "Level Monrovia, we will rebuild it" mode. Say something to the Jackson F. Doe family.

Your break from the NPFL was not so much on account of what happened to your colleagues as you claim. You know, I know, and some of your people know that it was about your determination to take power directly from the war front. By late 1990, the NPFL controlled 90% of Liberia. At one of the peace talks in Sierra Leone, it was agreed by all the politicians and an agreement was signed that the NPFL should form an Interim Government and call for elections as soon as possible. The only exception was that Taylor should not lead that Interim Government; that he should run for President if he wanted to. Taylor asked me to go to Washington and convince you for us to convene an All Liberian Conference in Greater Liberia to determine the issue of who should head the next government. I spent a week in Washington. You invited several persons to that meeting. They included Dr. Gaywhea Macintosh, Dr. Edward Clinton, and Dr. Byron Tarr who was then working in Lesotho. Doctors Clinton and Macintosh and I made it to the Ivory Coast in anticipation of your arrival for us to proceed to Liberia.

A Double Crossing and Back Scratching

While waiting for your arrival in the Ivory Coast, you called to say that the venue of the meeting had been changed to Banjul, The Gambia. I found out later that after I left, you had another meeting with some people including Randall Cooper who then represented the NPFL in the U.S. at the home of Ethelbert Cooper. At that gathering you masterminded a petition to President Jarwara of The Gambia to host the meeting. Randall, not realizing that this was a double cross, signed the document on behalf of the NPFL.

Dr. Gaywhea, Clinton and I advised that you come with us to meet with Taylor and the men so that we could convince them to move the meeting to Banjul since you said this was what the African Leaders wanted. You refused. In anger, Dr. Gaywhea continued his journey to Greater Liberia and helped to form the National Patriotic Reconstruction Government, and Clinton returned to Ethiopia. You thought that the Banjul meeting would have given the government to you as the sole heir of Liberian Action Party. When it did not appear likely, you decided to skip the meeting.

From a distance in Washington, D.C., you did the next best thing which was to maneuver to give the interim leadership to "Moose," Amos Sawyer. Liberians say, "You scratch my back I will scratch your back." It should not be a surprise that Moose is scratching your back today with his support for your presidency despite your history.

Your Financial Contributions to the War Efforts

Let me refresh your memory on the financial contributions to the Taylor war efforts from you and your sources. Twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) was the initial amount by your consortium (Clarence Simpson and Taylor Major), when the war started. I am the founding Chairman of the Association for Constitutional Democracy of Liberia (ACDL).

I do not recall any of the two persons named above being members. I do not also remember any money coming to the NPFL from ACDL. What I recall is that you asked me to let Dr. Sawyer take over ACDL so that he could revive it since he was doing nothing. I did. Yet, you keep saying that you and some ACDL friends made a $10,000.00 contribution to the NPFL. Come to think about it, maybe the $10,000.00 you gave one time came from ACDL. That says even what became the Doctor's Club also supported your NPFL war efforts.

Let me not forget the $50,000.00 contribution that you passed through Mr. Allen Brown Sr. who was then running an insurance business in the Ivory Coast. You had earmarked the money to specifically buy rice for the fighting men and it was done. Another $150.000.00 was contributed by some of your friends and delivered to Dew Mayson, Ethelbert Cooper and Emmanuel Shaw to be forwarded to the NPFL. If you recall, those bad boys ate the money and we were only able to recover $75,000.00 of it six months later. Needless to mention your other undocumented financial and personal contributions made before and during the wars. The trip to Paris by you and me to meet with Charles Taylor must have cost you a pretty penny. Several trips you made to the Liberian boarder to meet with Taylor and the fighting men should add up to a substantial sum.

Monies you gave Taylor in Paris and on each of the trips you made to the frontline should also be far substantial. A conservative estimate of your contribution to the NPFL should be about half of million United States dollars. How you managed to reduced that to $10,000.00 is perhaps one of you "stupid comments," but I hope that this letter clears it up for the public.

Other Overdue Apologies

The account of events above should clarify your involvement and contribution to the two NPFL wars. The following are other events that involved a series of your "callous and stupid comments" and behavior that you must include in your apology to your fellow Liberians if you wish to be taken seriously:

" Between 1983 and 1987, I was President of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA); 1988-1990 I was Chairman of the Board of ULAA. It was I who invited you to Philadelphia to deliver the keynote address during our annual conference in 1984 when you called the President and officials of Government in the Doe regime a bunch of "fools and idiots"; another one of your series of "stupid comments." With a Harvard degree, I am sure you could have said the same thing without using those street words to make the point. Liberians should be able to recall the financial, emotional and human lives it cost to free you from that lion's den. Say sorry.

" In an effort to get you out of the country following the court proceeding against you for the "fools and idiots" comment, friends and supporters of yours arranged your secret exit out of Buchanan. In the process, the immigration officer named Jackson who assisted you to leave through Buchanan killed himself so as to avoid the cruel death that awaited him at the hands of the Doe death squad. Have you ever met to console the family of that poor man who gave his life for you? To this day, more than 20 years later, you have not shown any appreciation for his ultimate sacrifice. Something as simple as looking for his wife and children and consoling them would have gone a long way. Very costly, stupid and inhumane behavior. Say sorry.

" In 1985 or so, the Massachusetts Chapter of ULAA under the leadership of Mr. John Grupee arranged a rally and meeting at Northeastern University. I, along with other officials of ULAA and the Liberian Community around the United States, attended that conference to hear our most famous lady speak. During the question and answer period of the program, a young man made a brief statement and asked a question which went like this: "Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf, no station is permanent in life. I used to be a wheelbarrow boy in Liberia and today, I am graduating from Northeastern University this summer.

"When you were Minister of Finance, we wrote you a letter and you stamped it 'BULLSHIT!' and sent it back to us. When you become President," the fellow continued, "would you tolerate the views of others without calling them bullshit?" The fellow asked. To my and the dismay of the entire audience, your answer was, "Yes, when I was Minister of Finance, I had a stamp which had BULLSHIT on it. During that time, if someone sent me some communication I did not like, I would stamp it 'BULLSHIT' and send it back to them."

In fact, someone told me recently that you also sent such a stamped letter to Baccus Mathews back then. Is there any amount of apology that you can give to your fellow citizens for such an insulting and demoralizing treatment? You need to honestly apologize to the wheelbarrow boys and to all of your fellow citizens whom you insulted with your "BULLSHIT" stamp.

" Immediately following the 1997 elections you declared your intentions not to recognize President Charles Taylor and in a childish-tantrum manner you ran out of the country, in President Taylor words, "like a cut tail dog" leaving the thousands who had risked their lives to campaign and vote for you to fend for their lives. You cut speech from those of your partisans who made it to the National Legislature because they refused to boycott the government to which they were elected by their people in defiance of your childish demand. Apologize to them and your fellow Liberians for such uncivilized behavior. Promise your current supporters that you will not run away again when you lose this election, which is sure.

" Samuel Dokie was one of your ardent supporters during the 1997 elections. In the face of the adversity between him and his former rebel comrade, Charles Taylor, he called you "a God sent leader." Dokie and his entire family didn't make it after you ran and left him holding the bag. A few weeks before Dokie and his family were wiped out, Taylor was making a joke in his innermost circle that you had abandoned Dokie; that you accused Dokie of embezzling your campaign funds in Nimba; that you were complaining about Dokie personally eating the cow that you gave him for your arrival feast in Sanniquelle instead of cooking it for the feast. All of this pointed to Dokie's enemies that they didn't expect any problem from you for whatever they did to him. Sure enough, when Dokie and his entire family were brutally murdered, the silence from you was as expected. It took more than 30 days before your party put out a one-paragraph statement on the Dokie murder. Say sorry to the Dokie family for selling him out with your cow meat talk.

" Do you remember another Nimba man you sent to his untimely death? In 1985 or so, you had been safely evacuated to the United States following your trial for calling General Samuel Doe and his government officials a bunch of "fools and idiots." During one of our many meetings, you mentioned to me that General Quinwonkpa wanted to see and confer with me concerning an up coming mission he was being asked to make. You said that apparently the General needed my blessing. At that time the General lived somewhere in the Washington, D.C., area of the United State after also been rescued from the ravage of the Doe regime. I asked you as to what the mission was about. You said "The boys have been working on a fool-proof program to remove Doe through a 'surgical military operation.' Men have been trained in Sierra Leone and are in waiting." You said further that "The only problem is that the boys do not have a popular figure to lead the incursion for the acceptability of the military guys in Monrovia.

"They have asked me to convince General Quinwonkpa to lead the incursion," you said. I also asked you for the names of some of the players behind the plan. You said 'Moose' (Amos Sawyer) Boima [Fahnbulleh Jr.] and others." For reasons that have no bearing on this letter, my first reaction was that I had nothing to say to the General. I told you that I thought the General should enjoy the hospitality of his host whose kindness landed him in the United States. That was the end of that discussion.

I challenge you therefore, Mrs. Sirleaf, to pick up the Holy Bible and swear that you and I never had the conversation as outlined above. You sent Quinwonkpa anyway. Needless to deal with the reasons while the mission failed because it boils down to the same double crossing syndrome. It suffices to say that 20 years later his wife is looking for answers for what happened to her children's father from the mission on which you sent him. They had made it to the great United States where you got your Harvard degree, but you sent him back in the fire to fetch you power. Don't you think you owe his poor widow and children an apology? I know you do. Say I'm sorry, Mrs. Quinwonkpa!

I truly hope that the factual and historical events I have outlined in this letter will help to jar your memory so that you can do the right thing - tell the truth.

Sincerely,

Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu

August 30, 2005

Jerome Verdier Applauds Withdrawal of Two Human Rights Commissioners

Source: allafrica.com

The Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC), Counselor Jerome J. Verdier, Sr commends the President of Liberia, H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for withdrawing the nomination of two prominent figures of the Independent Human Rights Commission.

The President’s wise move points to the faultiness of the process leading to the nomination of these individuals and the need to give serious considerations to public interest processes like the human rights commission which will most significantly impact the peace and stability of the nation now and in the future as it strives for genuine reconciliation.

In a release issued today, Cllr Verdier said that “…in all matters involving the greater interest of the people, it is important that the processes are transparent and fair, otherwise the product or the outcome of the process will be faulty and unrepresentative of the best interest of the people in whose interest these processes are instituted.”

Chairman Verdier is urging the Honorable Liberian Senate to closely scrutinize the other nominees to ensure that the best results come out of this very important process. He is convinced that greater scrutiny is essential because the selection process was not transparent and therefore faulty, for reasons that:

1. The Human Rights Commission Act requires that the Chief Justice in consultation with civil society appoints members of the vetting panel to select nominees for the human rights commission. Unfortunately, the vetting panel was constituted by the Chief Justice without broad or public participation of the greater civil society. This resulted to the constitution of a panel of friends and associates in a manner and form less than transparent.

2. The Panel announced that some 200 persons either applied or were recommended for nomination to the Commission but failed to publish the listing of all those who applied or were recommended for the post. The absence of this left the public with no opportunity to vet the process of selection or access the level of independence and objectivity put into the work by the panel. This would have given the public an opportunity to also compare the final selection with the poll of applicants and independently determine whether the final selection was the best of the pool.

Under these circumstances, the process of selection was neither transparent nor credible; it is therefore not surprising that the President was misled into nominating very unsuitable candidates to hold such auspicious offices.

The TRC Chairman then observed that when conducting matters of interest to the public and not the individual, the standards of objectivity, competence and transparency must be at all times upheld over personal and parochial interest.

He further recommended that the Advice of National Security Advisor Dr. H. Boima Fahnbulleh be taken seriously when he said at the TRC Public Hearings that people who hold important public offices should be subject to psychiatry test to determine the extent of their lunacy.

Drama at the Mansion - Sirleaf Reconciles Widows of Doe and Quiwonkpa

Source: allafrica.com
One reason those who reject punitive justice as the way to peace and reconciliation are right is that the intrigue and the path of the Liberian conflict are so deep-seated, so mutually suspecting, and so convoluted that one Liberian’s hero is another’s evil-incarnate. But that does not mean that choosing the “bygone-be-bygone” path is not an elusive trap, even though it remains tempting. Yesterday, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf fell into that trap when she attempted to reconcile the Does and the Quiwonkpas, staging the latest drama in Liberia’s search for peace and reconciliation. The Analyst, reports.

The Executive Mansion, yesterday, announced that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has successfully reconciled the widows of slain President Samuel K. Doe and former army commanding general, Thomas G. Quiwonkpa, who fell in an attempt to overthrow Doe.

Background

The two widows, Nancy Doe and Tarlor Quiwonkpa, are at the head of the most mutually blaming families in the Liberian conflict, and some say for good reasons, perhaps the most feuding families the Liberian conflict has produced.

Troops loyal to President Doe allegedly killed Mr. Quiwonkpa in action when he led a crack commando force into Monrovia from neighboring Sierra Lone in 1985 to dethrone the Doe government, which he had accused of abusing human rights and practicing tyranny.

Since that incident, Mrs. Quiwonkpa has not forgiven President Doe as well as those, including Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (then political activist), whom she said threw her husband into harm’s way for their own political benefits.

Mrs. Nancy Doe, on the other hand, has not forgiven the Quiwonkpas for “betraying the cause the People’s Redemption Council” and siding with the enemies of the state thereby stirring up a campaign of terror that eventually led to the slaying of her husband in September 1990.

Both women, at least from their public utterances and articles in Liberian newspapers and Diaspora news outlets, have blamed President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for reaping the presidency on the corpses of their family breadwinners.

Piecing the intrigue and the line of blame-shifting, analysts say the President is firmly in the circle of suspicion several members of the Doe and Quiwonkpa families hold to their chest, even as they hold one another accountable for the fate of their families.

An Executive Mansion statement signed by Press Secretary Cyrus Badio said it was these two women – who critics say have no genuine reasons to be bitter given their husbands’ roles in the Liberian conflict at various times beginning with the slaying of President William R. Tolbert in April 1980 – that the President has reportedly reconciled.

“But just how was she able to achieve this so fast and so effectively without getting her hands seared?” is he question observers are asking.

The Executive Mansion statement provides an answer that beats the imagination of observers:

Peace Executive Mansion style - how far reaching

“President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Thursday, August 26, convened a meeting between Mrs. Nancy Doe, widow of the late President Samuel Kanyon Doe, and Mrs. Tarlor Quiwonkpa, widow of the late Brigadier-General Thomas G. Quiwonkpa, former Commanding General of the Armed Forces of Liberia and member of the erstwhile People’s Redemption Council,” the Executive Mansion statement declared.

The statement said having praised the two women for honoring her invitation to reconcile, President Sirleaf prevailed on them to “bury their differences and work together for the growth and development of the country”.

This, the President reminded the women, was because “All of us can hold together and make this country better.”

“We can be a part of one family to hold our country together for our children and grandchildren,” she said, further reminding the widows of the crucial roles their deceased husbands played in the service of their country.

Whether those roles were ones that edified the nation or drove it into the ditch, the President preferred to avoid that route, but she told the women that it was the duty of all Liberians – victims and suspected perpetrators – to ensure that peace prevailed throughout the nation by engaging in healthy ventures rather than seeking revenge.

The sincerity of the President’s message, according to the Executive Mansion statement, resonated with the two widows who immediately agreed to put years of suspicion and feeling of being robbed and betrayed behind them and beginning anew.

It said Mrs. Quiwonkpa and Mrs. Doe welcomed the reconciliation meeting and commended the President for the initiative.

The statement noted that the two women, in separate remarks, recalled the ‘close bond between their husbands’, and hoped the meeting between them would help to further reconcile the people of Grand Gedeh and Nimba Counties.

“We are all one people,” the statement quoted Mrs. Quiwonkpa saying, as she reportedly struggled to contain her emotions.

For her part, the statement said Mrs. Doe reflected on past events and told the peace meeting that it was time to reconcile and set bitter memories aside.

“I have nothing against anybody. It was the will of God. When He signs something, nothing can stop it,” Mrs. Doe, who had met in similar meeting with the President, was quoted as saying.

It said she recalled that Messrs Doe and Quiwonkpa were “very good friends” from the mid-70’s before things went awry.

“The enemy went between them and we lost them today,” she reportedly said, urging Liberians whose lives God spared to work together in peace and harmony.

She then thanked the President for organizing the first-ever meeting between Mrs. Quiwonkpa and her since the death of their husbands.

“You are the mother. You put us together. We will always be with you,” the Executive Mansion statement quoted the former First Lady as assuring the Liberian leader.

During the meeting, which was attended by Rep Zoe Pennue of Grand Gedeh County; George Wright, a cousin of the slain president; and Vorga Geh, a maternal aunt of General Quiwonkpa, Ms Geh reportedly praised President Sirleaf for always responding to the needs of the Quiwonkpa family.

She recalled the President’s assistance in the burial of her sister and described her as a “mother” for organizing the meeting, which she said, would go a long way in the healing process amongst all Liberians.

Thursday’s discussion followed a meeting on Monday, August 23, between President Johnson Sirleaf and Mrs. Quiwonkpa during which the President emphasized that reconciliation remained a priority on her national development agenda since infrastructural development could only be meaningful and sustainable if it were built on a foundation of freedom, peace, and unity.

At that meeting, the President reportedly encouraged Mrs. Quiwonkpa, who is based in Minnesota, in the United States, and other professional Liberians in the Diaspora to consider returning home to contribute their quotas towards national healing, economic empowerment, and infrastructural development.

Acknowledging the President’s “many humanitarian contributions to the Quiwonkpa family over the years,” especially since the death of her husband, according to the Executive Mansion statement, Mrs. Quiwonkpa expressed satisfaction over what she called the marvelous infrastructural development projects the President has undertaken in a short period.

Mrs. Quiwonkpa also reportedly welcomed the President’s decision to run for a second term, and expressed her willingness to return home during the 2011 elections to help mobilize votes for the President’s re-election.

The Dramatic Irony

President Sirleaf may have managed to bring together the voted heads of Liberia’s feuding families for the first time since 1983 when their husbands, who until then were the power towers of the military junta, fell apart.

But observers say it still remained to be seen how far what they reportedly achieved in Thursday’s drama would go in reconciling the citizens of Nimba and Grand Gedeh, and yea Liberia.

They said it was important to go beyond the glare of the cameras and the glamour of the Office of the President and look at what they did on Thursday because several questions remained unanswered, specifically regarding the President’s role in the peace equation, which was supposed to be triangular.

By setting herself aside as peacemaker while apparently overlooking the suspicion with which both women were regarding her, observers say, the President has deliberately or inadvertently, staged the most peace drama in the nation’s question for peace and reconciliation, since Prince Y. Johnson “reconciled” with the Doe family at a Nigeria church sometimes in 2004.

“This is a dramatic irony at its best, even if the results will hold,” said one observer.

Without underrating or discrediting the President’s efforts, he said, what happened at the President’s office yesterday was at best that “the women were cowered into playing to the chord of the presidential drama”.

“Here’s why. These women are not ordinary. They are holding the President variously responsible for the slaying of their husbands, and they are not shy about that. Mrs. Quiwonkpa is holding her for sending her husband into harm’s way unprepared; and Mrs. Doe is holding her for sponsoring a war that eventually led to the slaying of her husband. Both women have not withdrawn their statements at least as far as the nation knows. Now how in Heaven can one say a meeting, which did not allow for direct confrontation, allegation making, confession exacting, and forgiveness giving result into permanent peace?” the observer wondered.

In order for the President to make such headway as the Executive Mansion statement claimed, he said, she must first have met each of these women, ironed out the suspicions, and reconciled with them before bringing them together in public forum to make the declaration of peace of the sort announced by the Executive Mansion.

Another observer, who had been following Mrs. Quiwonkpa’s rating of President Sirleaf, agreed, noting that as bitter a woman as the widow’s utterances have indicated, it was doubtful that she would make such about-face, unless she wanted to avoid a brush with the President while in the country.

“Integrity and credibility are very important in leadership. Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf lacks the credibility to lead Liberia because of her failure to level with her past,” Mrs. Quiwonkpa once told The Perspective magazine’s Winsley S. Nankpa in September shortly before the 2005 presidential elections in October.

That “past”, the Perspective September 27, 2005 article noted, has to do with the death of Quiwonkpa and the support of Charles Taylor’s invasion of Liberia to overthrow the Samuel Doe government vis-à-vis Thomas Woewiyu’s open letter that also attacked candidate Sirleaf’s credibility at the time.

She told the magazine at the time that of those she was holding responsible for her husband’s death, only Mr. Harry A Greaves Jr., made a “condescending reference” to her letter.

She wants the President to explain what she, Harry A. Greaves, Jr., Harry Yuan, Dr. Amos Sawyer, Dr. Boima Fahnbulleh, and others “know and when they knew it”.

The President has confessed to initially supporting Taylor’s war efforts and withdrawing her support when the NPFL resorted to unconventional war tactics.

She however, have not said whether she was connected with Quiwonkpa’s September 1985 invasion, which came a month ahead of the presidential elections of that year in which Mrs. Sirleaf was candidate for senator.

But the silence has not perturbed Mrs. Quiwonkpa’s suspicion that she betrayed her husband to his death at the hands of Doe’s death squad.

“Mr. Woewiyu’s letter clearly establishes the link between the destabilization of Liberia and Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf. [She] has to take personal responsibility for the destruction of Liberia, and she has to also be held accountable,” she reportedly told The Perspective magazine.

In the “Open Letter” to the President, Dr. Sawyer, H. Boima Fahnbulleh, and others dated August 9, 2005, however, Mrs. Quiwonkpa sounded a bit conciliatory without necessarily appealing to the “bygone-be-bygone” illusion.

“One of the primary reasons for this open letter is to help bring final closure to the emotion and agony surrounding the death of General Thomas Quiwonkpa. As I have reflected on my husband’s death, I still have many unanswered questions. I have waited for 20 years for the people who were closed to my husband, including his best friend, Harry Yuan, whom he considered his brother, to tell me the untold story about his death,” she wrote.

The “untold story” was yet to be told, up to yesterday’s Executive Mansion peace conference that produced such resounding results.

The closest the President had come to reconciliation with any section of the country, which may have problem with her role in the Liberian conflict, was the statement she made during the recent TRC Thematic public hearings.

“If there is anything that I need to apologize for to this nation is to apologize for being fooled by Mr. Taylor in giving any kind of support to him. I feel it in my conscience. I feel it every day,” the Liberian leader said.

That generalized apology and disclaimer however seemed to have fueled Mrs. Quiwonkpa’s suspicion.

“Since the President is proclaiming to be innocent of the 1985 coup and was busy with ‘the world organization’, has anyone wondered why she continued to affiliate herself with individuals named in my open letter? Also, if the President alleged to have been fooled by Mr. Charles Taylor, in what way and by what means? So, did Taylor outsmart her following the killing of Jackson Doe, who should have been the one to be sworn as president if the “enterprise” was successful?” wondered an article titled, President Ellen Johnson Is Heartless and Deceptive.

A Tarloh wrote the article based on a BBC story dated February 9, 2009. Whether that “Tarlor” is Mrs. Quiwonkpa, remains a puzzle, but it reiterated her 2005 position regarding the President’s leadership credentials.

She said she requested a meeting with President Sirleaf back in 2005 when she perhaps soliciting campaign finances in the US but that she “left before we had a chance to talk”.

Whether there had been any other opportunity to meet and iron out differences prior to yesterday’s meeting is not clear.

But she revealed that as candidate, President Sirleaf secretly asked for forgiveness from her step children. She did not say how the secret meeting ended, but alleged that President Sirleaf “coerced her stepson Jlateh” during a 2005 campaign tour in Nimba to say that she had no hand in his father’s death.

In all these campaigns to present her husband as victim and bring Mrs. Sirleaf’s credibility into question and perhaps deny her the presidency, not once had she responded until perhaps yesterday when she brought the bitter Tarloh to reconcile with Mrs. Doe, two widows whose impression of each other had not been a matter of public knowledge.

“That’s the dramatic irony of the Liberian peace process in which the public knows much and expected much from the meeting with widows of Mrs. Doe and Quiwonkpa, than the President was able to pull together,” said another observer.

The bitterness of the two widows seemed to be about politicians, of whom they say the President is the leader, sacrificing their husbands by pitting them against each other in a bullfight for their political benefits.

“They believe the President and others owe their present privileged positions to the blood of their husbands without acknowledging the sacrifices through reparation to their families,” said another observer.

Analysts say if that is the issue, then President Sirleaf may have to do more than she has done if, in her words, “Liberians must work together to build a better Liberia”.

They however say doing more required knowing exactly what to do lest the administration opened a Pandora Box of apologizing to the families that many other Liberians families see as the perpetrators of violence and mayhem upon their family members.

“When that happened, it will start a spiral of blame game in which each apology will spark up allegations of conspiracy,” said another observer.

By pushing aside the grief the two widows hold against the President and instead focusing on the less intense probable bitterness between them, analysts say, the President has, also deliberately or inadvertently put the cart before the horse.