…Verdier Clarifies; Presents Final Report With Additional Names
By: Bill K. Jarkloh
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Although there was no alteration in the lists of categories of perpetrators contained in the Undited Final Report of Liberia’s Truth & reconciliation Commission, the Chairman of the TRC, Cllr. Jerome Verdier at the official presentation of the Commission’s Final Edited Report clarified that the TRC report did not sanction the “President of Liberia”.
Cllr. Verdier, flanked by two other commissioners of the TRC, Commissioners John Stewart and Gerald Coleman, said the TRC’s Edited Final Report (https://www.trcofliberia.org) recommended sanctions against individuals for their respective roles in the Liberian political platform from 1979 to 2003 as per the mandate of the commission.
Although the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, while releasing its final edited report Tuesday, said it has added more names to the "Most Notorious Perpetrators, Public Sanctions, and Economic Crimes" lists it had published earlier in its "unedited final report,” Chairman Verdier did not name those added to the lists.
However, it was hinted by insiders the listing of former Maryland County Superintendent and Internal Affairs Minister Dan Morias; NPFL leader Charles Taylor’s close associate and chief strategist John T. Richardson; former Speaker of the House of Representatives during the Taylor administration, Nyondueh Monokomanah; and Benedict and Tiagan Wontee, were amongst those added to the "Most Notorious Perpetrators" list. Others listed on the list have been identified as Edwin Voker, Charles Breeze, Gola Red, Joseph Montgomery, Moses Samukai, and Momolu Jibba.
Edward Massaquoi, Wilfred Clarke, and Cllr. Momo Kpaka Rogers, amongst many others, were added to the "Lustration and Debarment from Holding Public Office" list. TRC also added Roland Massaquoi, former Agriculture Minister under the Taylor administration; Nathanial Barnes, Liberia's Ambassador to the US who served as finance minister in the Taylor government; Myrtle Gibson, former Senator of Sinoe County; Mark Keshen, and Bell Dunbar, former director of the Liberia Petroleum Refinery Corporation (LPRC), to the list of those accused of economic crimes.
Only two percent accountable
The TRC Chairman indicated that out of the several hundreds of persons that participated in the Liberian civil conflict, only 300 of them have been held accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity and others, a figure which he noted is just two percent of the total number of perpetrators.
The recommendations in the final report, Chairman Verdier further indicated, take into consideration the resources spent by the international community, the flood of those killed by perpetrators and buried in mass graves and the concerted engaged by all to ensure that impunity does not overtake Liberia.
According to him, now that the final edited report of the TRC is submitted, it behooves the Liberian people to ensure its implementation by engaging their representatives in the government. “It is now left with the people. If they people say the report should be brushed aside, it will be. If the people say those buried in mass graves should be for nothing, it should be. If the people wants women raped and abused, children drugged and fathers killed should go without impunity, then it will be. Or if we Liberians agree our resources plundered by perpetrators should be for nothing, then so it be,” Chairman Verdier exclaimed.
He however said it would concern him as any other peace-loving compatriots because Liberia is his country and he has nowhere to be called his home. Commissioner Verdier told newsmen that the TRC had information on those added to the list prior to the editing and finalization of the consolidated final report. Chairman Verdier, flanked by two of nine commissioners - Gerald Coleman and John Stewart both of whom were members of the report writing committee - also revealed that the Commission has added 100 names of foreign fighters to that of the previous list, ascribing to them mercenaries title.
According to Chairman Verdier, the commission whose three-year mandate ended some five months ago, was able to compile the report in three volumes with Volume One being the preliminary report presented in December 2008; Volume Two being the Consolidated Final Report released in June of this year; and Volume Three being a set of appendices attached to the overall report which included detailed and specialized report on the issues of women, children, and conflict, amongst others.
Sourced documents for achieve
Commenting on what should be done to preserve other important work germane to Liberia, he said there were sourced documents generated over the years that needed to be properly archived , stressing "It is the plan and intention of the Commission to have them properly archived."
"Experts have come and told us that the papers we used to record those documents will not last more than five years. So it has been planned to have them digitized so that they will be in electronic form and they can be preserved for all us to view, to research in the future," Cllr. Verdier told the news conference attended by interested international partners.
The Consolidated Final Report released by the commission, according to Chairman Verdier, has not been subjected to alterations as many have at least thought, noting "the edited version is in no significant way different from the previous report".
"They are one and the same report. But what we did is we corrected some grammatical and structural errors. During the period of editing, we didn't do any new investigation; we did not take any new information or evidence; we did not hold hearings; we did not cite anybody. We only worked based on the information we already had at the time the unedited version was released. So all of those mistakes, all of that information that was left out of that report were included," he said.
Significance of final report
Apparently fearing fierce public reaction to the final report, as there is already an ongoing heated national debate, Chairman Verdier said it was important that Liberians understand the perspective from which the report was compiled.
The final report comes months after the release of the second volume of the commission’s report entitled unedited that caused stir in Liberia with many, mainly politicians recommended to face prosecution and other forms of punishments expressing indignation at the report.
Cllr. Jerome Verdier, Chairman of the TRC releasing the final report Tuesday in Monrovia said the commission is satisfied with the final work and it is now left with the Liberian people to decide what to be done with the in-depth investigation.
“The report of the TRC has been released and here we have copies, the process of dissemination has begun and at the TRC we have dedicated the report to the people of Liberia. That the report is the people of Liberia property”, Cllr. Verdier officially released the final TRC report.
In what was seen as a tribute to the thousands that died during the nearly 15 year fratricidal civil war fought in Liberia, Cllr. Verdier dedicated the report to victims of the civil crisis.
“This report belongs to all of those who died, all of those who as a consequence of the war are buried today in unmarked graves, all of those who have lost potential sources of income or to earn income, all of those who have lost their properties and all of us who are today hoping for a better Liberia”, Cllr. Verdier accentuated.
The report of the TRC, he said is written in three volumes-volume one containing the preliminary report presented December 2008, the second being the consolidated final report released last June and the final volume a set of appendices that are attached to the report that include detail studies and specialized reports on issues regarding women, children and the Liberian conflict.
He described the final report as comprehensive and a credible document that will help Liberia attain genuine peace and reconciliation if the recommendations contained within are implemented.
“What you have is a comprehensive work of the TRC that is being presented to the people of Liberia today. We regret that because of time and the lack of resources, there are three other volumes that should have been attached to this that are not included in the report because we did have the time and the resources to that”, Cllr. Verdier stated.
Another volume of the TRC work, volume four, Commissioner Verdier said is unpublished because of resource constraints, indicating that the final volume contains 10,000 pages of transcripts from the hearings carried out by the commission in Liberia and the Diaspora.
Cllr. Verdier indicated that experts have disclosed that the papers used by the commission have a lifespan of just five years and the commission is looking forward for support to digitize the report to be used for future research and other purposes.
The final report he said is in no significant way different from the previous one released in June but there were grammatical errors and structural problems that were corrected.
“During the period of editing, we did not do any new investigation, we did not take any new information or evidence, we did not hold hearings, we did not cite anybody”, Cllr. Verdier explained
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