Communicating Justice

Monrovia, Liberia, 9th Nov. 2007 - Liberia has chosen the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a way of addressing its immediate past civil conflict aimed at reconciling and healing its people. 

However, not everyone here thinks that the TRC is the best way forward. Some people think the process will not only dig out old wounds but also have the propensity of returning the country back to its ugly past.

James Gbeyah is an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) at the Morton Corner Displaced Center in Brewerville, outside Monrovia, whose brother was killed during the war. He says the TRC is not a bad idea, but he fears that the process would dig out old wounds and if not managed well could plunge the country back into another round of conflict.

James believes that the money being spent on the entire process could be used to address victims’ needs rather than on staff serving at the TRC.

Street scene, Monrovia, Liberia. May 2007.
Photo: © Julia Crawford.

“The TRC is not a bad thing they are trying to bring,” James told me recently at his camp, “but the money that they are supposed to use for the TRC, let the UN take the money and convert it to developmental aspects and let the victims at least have access to these things,” he said.

James says he has his elderly mother and three of his late brother’s children as well as two of his own to take care of, and that going before the TRC to tell his story will not bring back his brother or cater for his dependents. 

“Why should the man who killed my brother, burned down villages be compensated, to go to school while we the victims cannot even get a place to stay or even find food to eat,” he said. 

The United Nations Development Program has awarded some scholarships and allowances to ex-combatants in Liberia as part of its Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) activities. 

James has been staying at this camp since 2002. He says going back to his native village, which was destroyed by rebels loyal to former president Charles Taylor, is not an issue but his home like many parts of the country is not accessible. 

He says if the money is used to build roads and schools destroyed during the war and scholarships are offered to victims, then their minds would be developed and once their minds are developed it will help them to forget the past and move on with their lives. 

On the other hand, James says if the TRC wants to ensure justice for victims, than it should go all out for a war crime tribunal and drop the reconciliation aspect.

“For me, I don’t even want you (a perpetrator) to even come in front of me to say you killed my aunty. Although the Bible says we should forgive, you cannot forget,” he said, adding: “The act has been done already, coming back to me at this time to say yes, I did it, will certainly bring back old feelings.”

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