Liberia News: America Ready For War Crimes Court In Liberia

Liberia-The United States of America, Liberia’s greatest ally, is signaling its readiness to bolster the country’s efforts towards the establishment of war and economic crimes court to bring to justice those who bear the greatest of war crimes and crimes against humanity for the respective roles during Liberia’s fratricidal civil war that killed thousands of citizens and left the country completely barefooted.

True to commitment, the President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has been showing significant determination in getting such legal institution, since longed by Liberians, on the grounds evidenced by the different topnotch actions taken, including signing of the Legislature-supported Resolution as well as the establishment of an Office for War Crimes Court.

Beginning preparations for such court has since received international approbation, mainly from the United States who share longstanding interest in Liberia’s affairs and even provided enormous support to the country when it got inflamed by gun fire.

Latest information coming from the US government arena speaks of massive preparation of a high-power interagency delegation of representatives from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Criminal Justice, Homeland Security Investigations, Department of Justice (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Philadelphia), and Federal Bureau of Investigation will visit Liberia to strengthen U.S.-Liberian cooperation across the justice sector and contribute to Liberian efforts to establish a War & Economic Crimes Court.

While in country, the US delegation will meet representatives from the Liberian government, as well as Liberian counterparts in law enforcement, the legal sector, and civil society, to build partnerships, exchange ideas, and share experiences with regard to prosecuting complex cases in a trauma-informed and victim-centric way, the statement said.

In what appears as a sheer boost of the country determination to undertake such a Herculean task, the US delegation “brings extensive experience investigating and prosecuting war crimes and other atrocity crimes, as well as victim support.”

“We commend Liberia’s commitment to build a War and Economic Crimes Court, and we are proud to send this delegation to Liberia to support local efforts towards justice and accountability,” said Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Beth Van Schaack.

Van Shaack went on saying that “We stand ready to be a partner as Liberia takes on this challenge, and we hope this visit will be the start of a productive relationship, where both U.S. and Liberian officials can learn from each other.”

The Boakai administration will be praised with the visit of the US delegation, counting as an essential push for the country’s desire to close its ugly chapter of unaccountability for alleged crimes committed during the civil war, which many experts likened to other senseless wars of highest dimension.