Is it possible that the Truth and Reconciliation process in Liberia will have the effect of tearing the country apart (again)? This is a fear that some in the country share, at least in part because President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf rejects some of the TRC’s findings, largely because she is included in the report for allegedly having supported Liberia’s murderous former president Charles Taylor, which recommended a few weeks back (in a story I wanted to cover but was unable to for a host of reasons) that she and other politicians included in the findings not be allowed to run for future terms.
I am torn on the recommendations that would forbid Johnson Sirleaf holding office after her current term expires (the ban would be for thirty years, effectively life for most of those it covers). Whatever role she played in supporting Taylor (and accounts vary) she has done wonderful things for her country and had been widely hailed for her leadership. At the same time, by definition any recoonciliation process is tenuous. If the president can ignore or selectively acknowledge the TRC’s findings, what hope is there that the process will have any meaning whatsoever for bringing about any reconciliation? Then again, can Johnson Sirleaf not put herself forward as another path to reconciliation?
Truth commissions are not magic bullets. Even the most successful, South Africa’s, inspired a great deal of ambivalence. And imperfect ones have sometimes proven ineffective, and even deleterious. Liberians face several options, none of which represents the ideal. We can for now just hope that the country’s leadership has learned the lessons of the past. That, after all, is what reconciliation is supposed to be all about.