The Solidarity & Trust for a New Day (STAND) and Liberia NGOs Network have expressed their unwavering support to Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia.
In a joint resolution released on Thursday, July 4, 2024 at a news conference in Monrovia on behalf of the group, STAND Executive Director, Mulbah K. Morlu recalled that twenty-one years have passed since the end of Liberia’s civil war, yet the country continues to grapple with significant national challenges, including violent crime and human rights abuses, which pose grave threats to its peace and stability under successive governments.
He indicated that at the core of this complex issue lies a longstanding reluctance to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable adding that Liberia’s dark history of 14 years marked by brutality saw infamous warlords, many of whom have since entered politics, and their followers turning the nation into killing fields, resulting in the senseless deaths of a quarter-million innocent citizens, predominantly women and children.
As he presented the resolution, this is what he had to say “NOW THEREFORE, by the power vested, as stipulated and authorized by our various leadership structures, The Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND) and the Liberia NGOs Network (LINNK), which comprises dozens of civil society organizations, do hereby declare support for the appointment of Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director of the office of War and Economic Crimes court in Liberia.”
Morlu stressed that while STAND rallies Liberians to reject all appearances and symbols of undemocratic takeovers in a few West African countries, “We also believe this negative regional experience should serve as a cautionary tale for our own government to prioritize the socio-economic and human resource development of its people to strengthen their support for democratic governance.”
“WHEREAS, it has been established that as a consequence of the deliberate, criminal, greedy and thoughtless actions of warring factions, all institutions within the Republic collapsed; and these various armed factions partitioned the country and governed their respective enclaves where combatants, acting on the command of their leaders, violated the conventions of war by engaging in rape, torture, mass executions, slavery, as well as the use of children in active combat,” the joint resolution added.
Morlu stressed that being cognizant of domestic and international responsibility to address egregious crimes and ensuring that individuals bearing the greatest responsibility for heinous crimes are held to account, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai used his constitutional authority to appoint an Executive Director of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia.
He also noted that acknowledging a joint resolution of the Legislature, which strengthened the authority of President Boakai to begin the scrupulous implementation of the TRC recommendation, the Liberian leader wasted no time to exercise his authority by appointing Cllr. Massaquoi.
