Liberia looks to create war crimes court to help it heal from two brutal civil wars

MONROVIA, Liberia — Julia Kiamue was 25-years-old and living in north-central Liberia when rumors started around her about a civil war. Kiamue told Black News & Views recently that she and her family members did not know what to do. Then, the rebels came. “They killed my father right before my own eyes,” remembers Kiamue, now 60. “It was on the order of their commander, a huge dark-skinned man. The rebels starting shooting. By that time, my son, there was no pick and choose. They just killed anyone who was in their way.” Kiamue’s experience is just one of many atrocities that took place in Liberia during two civil wars between 1989 and 2003. That time period was marked by mass killings, widespread torture and rape, and the recruitment of children as soldiers. Two war victims are seen in wheelchairs at the launch of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, Thursday, June 22, 2006. Then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf officially launched Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying a full accounting of atrocities committed during nearly a quarter century of conflict will set the stage for long-term peace. Now, in 2024, Liberian lawmakers are pushing forward with...