War Crimes Advocacy Group Writes Pres. Obama 

27^th January 2009                                                         

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

The greatness of the United States, and the lofty democratic ideas upon which the pillars of your country have come to rest strong, well-reflected in your historic inauguration as the first African-American President of the free-world. As we revel in this wonderful achievement, we congratulate you and the farsighted electorates of the United States who transcended color barriers to elect you as the 44^th President of the United States of America .

The unmatched momentum that shrouded your campaigns, election and inauguration, unrestrictive to the United States, indicates the anchored hope in your presidency of billions of people around the world who look to you for wise leadership in resolving the critical challenges confronting the new world.

No doubt, your historic ascendance to the highest political office on earth speaks a million strengths into the minds of billions of humble-beginners scattered all over the planet, and gives you a dynamic opportunity to fashion a new meaning to America's fundamental beliefs of liberty, justice, equality and the pursuit of happiness.

With the understanding that the founding ideas (liberty, justice, and equality) of the United States are an inalienable component of the rights of all mankind, we believe your frequent quote on the campaign trail that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice" demonstrates your determination to recreate a world free of oppressions and injustices.

Interestingly, since your inauguration a few days ago, your recently signed executive orders establishing a single standard of humane treatment, end secret detentions, and a certain date for closing Guantanamo reaffirms your commitment to defend  human rights and justice, irrespective of geography and demography.

As we agree with you in your quote "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice", an expression made famous by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we wish to kindly draw your attention to the need for "The arc of the moral universe" to bend towards justice in Liberia due to the widespread commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violation of international humanitarian law, the aftermath of a 14-year senseless civil war led by Charles Taylor and others.

Mr. President, the period between 1989 and 2003 has entered the annals of our history as the darkest era since the founding fathers of this country signed the declaration of independence in 1847. Charles Taylor’s defunct NPFL rebels exerted all the strategies they could muster in ensuring the total dehumanization of most parts of Liberia after initiating a campaign of violence in 1989; districts and counties were transformed into killing fields, homes were desecrated with the remains of mutilated corpses after the slaughter, and child-soldiers were unleashed with carefully-taught lessons to decimate “Unwanted tribes”. 

Not even the presence of a West African Peacekeeping mechanism thereafter could deter the spread of violence. New warring factions soon emerged, all claiming to be “Freedom fighters coming to liberate the country from other warring factions”. Unfortunately, not a single belligerent group distinguished itself from massacres, summary executions, rape, torture, ethnic cleansing and other forms of systematic abuses that left a quarter-million innocent people murdered in cold blood. 

To cite an example in a thousand, the Tellewoyan hospital in Voinjama, Lofa County diametrically served as the roasting room for almost two hundred innocent people, mostly women and children; they were taken hostage, locked-up in the hospital and the building set ablaze. The anguish and distress of those innocent women and children, Mr. President, their cries of indescribable pains from the furnace of consuming fire is what that must awaken a new consciousness for "The arc of the moral universe" to bend towards justice in Liberia.

Mr. President, the ordinary Liberian, the international community, and regional leaders have been very eager to develop a workable architecture to resolve the cardinal issues pertinent to justice, lasting peace and genuine reconciliation in Liberia . This pivotal driving force created the need for the holding of the Accra Peace Conference in 2003, in Ghana where a mechanism was designed to lead Liberia from war to peace, and to democratic governance. The technical documented, or the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), adopted during this conference, birthed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Independent National Commission on Human Rights. Though the two institutions were ratified by the Liberian parliament in 2005, they are to serve the following goals and objectives, separately:

(a) The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

 The obligation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission evolves around three

significant elements:

·        Truth : establish the facts about violations of human rights that occurred in the past;

·        Justice : investigate past violations and prosecute the suspected perpetrators;

·        Reparation : provide full reparation to the victims and their families, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.

In the last two years, the TRC has substantively benefited from commendable international goodwill, including significant financial and logistical support from the United States ’ government, the European Union, and other external partners. Even though former warlords were most influential in formulating this institution, all efforts by the commission to encourage truth-telling and reconciliatory steps failed to materialize; leaders of the almost ten warring factions allegedly responsible for the widespread commission of heinous crimes refused to admit their wrongs. Instead, contrary to the full disclosure objective of the commission, ex-warlords applied the travesty of pretending to be war victims while their victims helplessly looked on.

Consistent with 26g of the Act creating the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, and in the face of the evidence of enormous atrocities committed in Liberia leading to the lost of nearly three-hundred thousand innocent souls, the TRC, under the signature of its Chairman, submitted preliminary recommendations to the National Legislature for the creation of a Special Court to prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In line with its legislated Act, Mr. President, all recommendations emanating from the TRC are “binding” and are not subject to legislative review or amendment.

To the astonishment of the Liberian people, several former warlords have rejected the TRC’s recommendation of a Special Court , and are threatening the peace and security of our country if indictments for war crimes are contemplated. We hope this will attract your immediate attention as instability in Liberia may threaten regional and U.S interest.

(b) The Independent National Commission on Human Rights

Mr. President, this expected violent reaction and threat to national security, which has been vocalized by former warlord and now Senator, Prince Johnson, has been complicated further by the reluctance of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to constitute and make functional, the Independent National Commission on Human Rights; hence, though the Act setting up the Independent National Commission on Human Rights came into force in 2005, the Commission is not operating due to continued Government reluctance in appointing its commissioners. Of much disappointment, we assume that the President’s reluctance to set up this very vital organ of reconciliation and justice, as well as her refusal to appear before the Truth Commission may be due to her well-documented partnership with Charles Taylor in destabilizing Liberia .

This reluctance and the President’s decision to amend the prosecutorial powers of the Commission is intolerable and a serious national security risk. If this action is not prevented, the intents and purposes of the TRC shall be jeopardized because;

Under Article X, REPORTING AND RECOMMENDATIONS, Section 46. “The Independent National Commission on Human Rights shall be seized with the responsibility to ensure that all the recommendations contained in the Report of the TRC are implemented and that civil society organizations and moral guarantors of the CPA shall have the responsibility to monitor, and campaign for the scrupulous implementation of all recommendations contained in the report…all recommendations shall be implemented.”

Therefore, Mr. President, we urge you to be a part of the voices calling for the unconditional and immediate setting-up of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights of 2005.

In furtherance, Mr. President, courageous men and women drawn out from our massive downtrodden bloc, have for the past years coalesced under the banner of the “FORUM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WAR CRIMES COURT IN LIBERIA, relentlessly campaigning for the creation of a Special Court to prosecute those bearing the supreme responsibility for atrocities committed in Liberia .

Leaders of this grassroots organization have often been targets of reprisals and arbitrary arrests carefully plotted by the incumbent regime of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Like on other occasions, the head of this organization was arrested and detained to prevent the organization from petitioning President George W. Bush, when he visited Liberia in 2008.  In spite of these challenges, the determinations of the organization and the macrocosm of the Liberian people to ensure prosecution for war crimes is unshaken, and has been strengthened by your historic inauguration.

Mr. President, unlike any country off the coasts of the United States , providence intertwined our country to yours from the very beginning of our existence; free American slaves seeking return to their homeland found a comfortable abode here, thereby jointly building a country with their indigenous compatriots, forming one body politics that traditionally stretched to the United States . Sadly, though our system of government is a direct copy of yours, our leaders for the most part, have failed to harness and redistribute our resources for public good. For too long, resources have and continue to be pillaged for the benefit of a few, while the ordinary citizens languish in the valley of utter despair. This practice of insensitivity, sadly enough, has not changed, even under the current regime.

For much of its history, Liberia has been ruled by a few; as a result, there is a feeling of entitlement within certain quarters. More often than not a pass is given to individuals that rob the national treasury in a suit and tie; while the poor and disenfranchised are arrested and jailed for stealing a loaf of bread.

After decades of immoral leadership, the concept of Justice is alien to most Liberians. We have been conditioned to believe that being gracious to our abuser is a sign of good citizenship. I tell you, this has been an evil manipulation intended for the sole purpose of dominating masses. And it has worked effectively. We consistently seek solution from the very same people responsible for 89% illiteracy, 85% unemployment, and a nation that lacks adequate health-care and school facilities.    

Subconsciously, we behave as though there are stations within the larger society reserved for specific groups; and members of these groups have come to expect preferential treatment. This behavior is a direct consequence of the unjust system of governance that has been in place since the founding of this nation.

The resultant bankrupt mentality is so ingrained it has become the shackles holding Liberia down. While the rest of the world advances, we cling to antiquated laws and proudly sing a National Anthem that refers to our race as “benighted”.

Laws regarding citizenship have earned us the unenviable title of racists, hindering the country’s growth and development. We hope to inspire you help us break free from these chains in order to be a true bastion of the freedom we claim to represent in Africa .

While we seek a way to move our country away from these excesses, our current body politics is largely influenced by ex-warlords in the three branches of government operating in the midst of spiraling corruption and impunity. Though the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to some extent, is making strives in road rehabilitation and has improved the image of Liberia internationally, peace-building, a good judicial system, reconciliation, the economy, unemployment, and violent crimes remain elusive. With threats of “Resisting arrest” coming from some ex-warlords led by Senator Prince Y. Johnson, leader of the defunct warring faction, the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia; and the ascendance of a military junta in Guinea , the Liberian people are once again living in a state of uncertainty and fear. This reality looms large when considering the prevalence of war crimes perpetrators parading the corridors of power.

Mr. President, as the evidence indicates, it would be a travesty of justice to have indicted former president Charles Taylor and removed him from office; but yet allow other similarly cruel war criminals to continue dominating our political sphere even though they are also suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially now that the TRC is recommending the creation of a Special Court.

This is why we hope your historic presidency will be the first amongst global leaders to declare support for the formation of a Special Court in Liberia . In this light, Mr. President, we have an avowed interest in the establishment of a mix-domestic court that should independently exercised jurisdiction over war crimes issues, and yet should function within the framework of our judicial system. We believe, the presence of local and international judges, a jury, trial and appeals chambers will lend credibility to the process, and reduce threats of conflicts of interests. Further, the experiences and proceedings during the course of the trials will leave a long-lasting effect on our judicial mechanism and strengthen the abilities of local judicial officers.

Mr. President, the time to give justice to the Liberian people has indisputably come; and the coincidence between your inaugural declaration that “your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy” is so great that morality requires of us all the strong will to judge the actions of former warlords in Liberia. 

To the credit of the United States , the UN, the European Union and others, the presence of United Nations’ troops has afforded us the opportunity to solidify the peace as well as find solutions to the ills plaguing this nation. Knowing full well these troops will not remain indefinitely, it is imperative we lay the foundation for rule of law; because it offers the best remedy for corruption, rape, land dispute, armed robbery as well as other pressing issues. And there is no better way to stabilize the country than to utilize the legal process to hold accountable those responsible for atrocities perpetrated against the Liberian people during the war.

Evil has gripped this nation, and it must be soundly defeated. You have heard the stories, including that of former president Moses Blah who testified that killing and eating human beings was a common practice amongst those that waged the war. They also drank the blood of their victims. And without provocation, they smashed the heads of innocent babies; ripped open the stomach of pregnant women; and set families ablaze in their homes. Not seeking punishment for these acts of cruelty will not only be criminal on our part, but sinful as well. Along these ideas, we must be reminded by a wise quote that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

Mr. President, we are asking you to stand with those who believe Liberians deserve better...those who believe rule of law must take hold before UN troops depart...those who believe in personal accountability…as well as those who believe there can be no peace without justice.  Besides, justice and accountability (which in a real sense means legal responsibility and punishment against criminal acts and omissions) have deep psychological impacts on individuals and, by extension, societies. When justice is done, and seen to have been done, it provides a catharsis for those who have been traumatized and physically abused.

Inclosing, Mr. President, we petition you to help us defeat the forces of evil which for decades have dominated this land, ensuring that justice is served in order to prevent a repeat of the senseless violence that reduced practically the entire population to beggars.  And much of what you may desire to achieve in Liberia will be largely reliant on the existence of peace and security. This unequivocally requires us to ask you to take additional steps in calling for the establishment of a United Nations’ backed panel of experts on Liberia to investigate and document the level of atrocities committed in Liberia and those bearing the greatest responsibility for such widespread commission of crimes.

 Mr. President, in this battle for the soul of this nation and its complete transformation, we have never retreated, and will not relent…never retreat now…and never surrender from the challenges, and have, in fact, solidified our hopes through your inspiring achievements.  And because the children are counting on us, our friends ceaselessly praying for our success; and because future generations deserve better, with a CHANGE President as leader of modern democracies, we have found answers to our most confronting questions:

Will justice ever come? Is hope real? Is change a possibility? Do dreams come true? Here in another enclave of great impunity, with enormous challenges and injustices…are we close to justice? Do dreams come true? Is change a possibility? Is hope real? In this trance, the scales fall from our eyes to the conception that the Obama Presidency is a gift to all, including war victims of Liberia . Destiny, Mr. President, looks forward to the change you will bring, and may you excel to unimaginable heights to the proportions of global prosperity, peace and mutual coexistence. 

Thank you very much for the time you have taken to read this letter, especially one coming from the group that led your campaign in Liberia and encouraged oversea voters.

Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr.

National Chairman