ECOWAS Lauds Liberia on Rewriting History

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lauded the Government and people of Liberia on the decision to re-write the history of the country. 

The commendation was made recently in Cotonou, Benin at the Regional Consultation on Strengthening Reparation Measures in Transitional Justice Process in the ECOWAS Region by the Head of Democracy and Good Governance of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Eyesan  Okorodudu. Liberia was represented at the Consultative Meeting by Commissioner George W. Howe Jr. of the Governance Commission.

During the meeting, the delegates recognized the immense challenges of Member States emerging from mass atrocity or violent authoritarian rule and the need to confront  what is often a sizable number of victims and thus to decide to what extent reparations can be provided.  ECOWAS maintains that victim’s reparation remain a critical aspect of the transitional justice process because they recognize the importance of victims’ rights and serve to make amends for past harms suffered.

Moderating one of the sessions, Commissioner Howe said that as Liberia celebrates 200 years of its founding, the focus of the Weah led government was to mitigate the wrongs of the civil conflict that engulfed Liberia for several years.

He said the Governance Commission of Liberia was tasked to take the lead in rewriting the history of Liberia to correct historical flaws and antecedents. Commissioner Howe said the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on war crimes and reparations were presented to the Liberian Senate by President Weah to advice his government on the way forward.

He however hastened to inform the gathering that President Weah’s approach to reparation in Liberia was through the “palava hut” settlement. 

The Governance Commissioner said healing of the wounds of victims and the remorse of the perpetrators are delicate issues the government of Liberia is dealing with. He thanked ECOWAS and other international partners for the cooperation and collaboration in assisting Liberian closing its ugly past.  

At the end of the session, Dr. Okorodudu thanked Liberia for the strides in maintaining the peace the approach it is taking to address the issues of war crimes and reparations. He informed the audience that he was part of the Liberian peace process and worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its formative years. He said ECOWAS was proud and happy that at long last, the history of Liberia, Africa’s oldest independent republic will be rewritten to reflect its true African values, struggles and culture. He pledged the Commission’s support to this laudable effort.

Commissioner Howe has since returned home.