The TRC and the Mandingo Factor-A Mockery
Dec 11, 2007 Varfley A. Dolleh

Introduction:

Opportune to have been selected as one of the guest speakers at a recent program in honor of a visiting commissioner of the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia”, Ms. Oumu Syllah, held at the African Islamic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under the auspices of Union of Former Students of the Moslem Congress High School of Monrovia, Liberia. Although, intended to help sensitize the Mandingo Community, mainly in getting involved in the “Statement Taking Process” which is exceedingly esteemed. Nevertheless, I beseech to differ at the program for development against the Mandingo Community that I think are counter productive to the reconciliation process making it pointless for the community to get involved. I rest to be corrected being that I am human and susceptible to errors.

Historical Perspective of the TRC’s:

Picturesque adaptation of the South African model of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), formulated following the brusque demise of the autocratic apartheid system in South Africa. Having achieved the desired goal of having a broad based nation, an embodiment of the feuding parties, there became the need to initiate the process, so that the those elements of conflict that led to the crisis would have been avoided, plus ensuring that the oppressors faced the oppressed face to face, hoping to finally reconcile with each other and healing the wounds, in order to avoid the replica of the dark past of the motherland.

Comparable process went in gear in neighboring Sierra Leone, following the cessation of hostilities among the feuding parties. Although, unable to quantify the success or failure, but one thing is real the variables are different when it comes to the two countries cited supra. Unlike Liberia, those countries where physically and emotionally at peace with each other with many of the elements of conflict dismantled. In short, many of the seeds of discord were uprooted to the pleasure of the feuding parties making the playing field leveled for just dialogue in it’s true meaning. This is not the case with Liberia as we endeavor to elucidate.

Synopsis of Liberia’s TRC:

Imbued with the spirit of untainted peace in war torn Liberia, where, hundred of thousands had been butchered in senseless genocidal civil war, it became imperative following frantic efforts in establishing cease fire and the semblance of calm by the various actors that the peace package should have an element of the TRC taking the South African experience in to consideration. In short, it was no mistake that the International actors and peace facilitators meeting in the Ghanaian Capitol, Accra, infused the clause for the creation of the commission, hoping that objectively and equitably the desire beach marks would have been achieved, but to the contrary.

Elements of Concern for the Mandingoes:

We are bewildered that in spite of the warmth reception for the concept of the TRC, it appears to be mere cosmetic grandeur intended to appease the aggressors at the expense of the aggressed. We have been watching with dismay the lackadaisical position of the TRC in under amplifying the degree of miseries of the Mandingoes. While it is true that hundreds of thousands were killed during the senseless genocidal fighting, but what is not told until recently, is the fact that we are the single most victimized group of people affected during the civil war. It is a reality that over hundred thousand innocent Mandingoes were heinously killed for there “political neutrality, economic vibrancy, and their religious dogmatism”. We had hoped that the TRC would have catalogued the atrocities committed against Mandingoes the same way she does with the “Carter Camp, Duport Road, and Lutheran among others”. Whenever they point out carnage, they made no allusion of the “Infamous Barkidu Massacre, the Bahn Massacre, the Sinequelleh Massacre, Weasua Massacre among others”.

I was obliged to have called Commissioner Omus Syllah to order during the recent honoring program at the Mosques, when she gloomily or idealistically failed to cite any of the massacres that griped the Mandingoes. Her focal point was only on the “Carter Camp, Lutheran and Duport Road Massacres”. This was bizarre on the part of the Commissioner. Although, she is one of my friends, down the line from the Moslem Congress High School, plus, she being a victim of the transgression of the war, through the brutal killing of her Dad, when rebels combated the late President Samuel Kayon Doe forces for control of Monrovia on the side of Senator Prince Y. Johnson. The father, the late Alhaji Solouman Syllah was a prosperous businessman with an enviable humanism. Alhaji Solouman Syllah was viciously dragged from his home having been raided and hundred of thousands of dollars taken from his Front Street dwelling before being shot point blank by his tormentor. May his soul rest in perfect peace.

Specificity of the concerns:

•In the wake of the usurpation of the Mandingo Lands and properties in Nimba county, it would be an inconceivable reality that we can have genuine dialogues and reconciliation with out ensuring that there is equity, wherein, the Mandingoes Lands and properties are returned to the rightful owners with out any pre-conditions;

•How do you have the feuding parties meeting face to face when those that tormented us are still barring us from returning to our homes and the roots of our genealogy, mainly, Nimba county;

•How do you expect us to be part of the statement taking process when we are still languishing in refugees camps in the West African Sub-region, unable to return to the homes of our nativity;

•How long can we remain the target of the immigration and the police at the various points of entries, when other tribal groupings go scout free? Will we continue to be at the receiving ends, with out any due regards to our roles in ushering peace? These are the concerns that must be redressed if we are to form part of the any peace process that may be considered untainted.

These benchmarks must be met if they facilitators are really serious in the attainment of peace for the nation and the sub-region as a whole.


Verdia’s Fiasco:

Retrospection of the track political records of Chairman James Verdia, it had been anticipated that he would have infused some level of impartiality void of partisanship or political undertone. Deciphering the public utterances of the Mr. Verdia, never have we heard him mention in any manner or form carnages or massacres committed against our people. Apart, we are taken aback about his inability to visit any of the Mandingo towns and villages affected during the crisis, where massacres took place. Instead, he is bold enough to recklessly affirm that over five hundred persons were found in one mass grave in Lofa County. What a fallacy? It is irreconcilable that he would shamelessly announce a figure that is far from the truth. The most notable massacre in Lofa County took place in my hometown of Barkidu, where forces of fugitive Charles Ghankey Taylor spitefully killed more than six hundred innocent men and women. Why hadn’t he or any member of his commission visited this Mandingo District in Lofa County, which remains a beckon of hope and reservoir knowledge? It is laughable for the Chairman to have alluded that in one grave they found over five hundred dead Lofeans. What are the possibilities and what yardstick did he and his men use to arrive at the figure? This is mere concoction that shouldn’t be given credence. He is belaboring to prove that the money being received from the International Community worth justification. Sheer nonsense.

Condemnable Commission:

Political polarization has remained the hallmarks of the present composition of the Commission since the inception. Many of the commissioners have political lineages and had one way of the other supported a sort of political establishment. We believe that the establishment wasn’t done based on magnanimity and utmost inclusiveness. We believe that there is a need for the reconstitution of the commission to meet the present reality. We know how the Chairman has always been a political stooge of the present status quo in Liberia. The finding of this commission will and shall not be binding on our people. We say no to political arm-twisting. It is an open secret that at the formative stage of the Civil war, the focus was and remains up to the cessation of the brute military aspect the annihilation of the Mandingoes. Since this failed militarily, they have metamorphosed in another form to implement what they failed to do on the battlefront. Our eyes are open. We will never capitulate even with gun at our throats.

Mocking the Mandingoes:

Whether or not we should be part of the statement taking process is the sole responsibility of every citizen. However, as the wish an aspiration of the community, we feel behooved to guide the community when ever necessary. And one of such situation is the ongoing “Statement Taking Exercise”. In Philadelphia, I had initially agreed to tell my story to a member of the consortium of American lawyers from Princeton, NJ. But having pondered the inequities and the treacheries in the process, I have decided to abort the process. However, hypothetically, granted told to advice the community, I would have told them to abort the process as a means of protesting for the flaws and inequities against the community. This is in no way unpatriotic, but rather a mean of effecting positive change that would eventually augment the peace process finally bringing the feuding parties on a round table discussion for the amicable discussion of the burning issues.

Again, I stand to be corrected, but maintain the position that this is naked mockery against our people that must be abhorred by us all. If the Unity Party Government is serious about the reconciliation process, then let those contemptible conspicuous elements of the conflict detached as unearthed in this political exposition.

We want to hear your thoughts at Varfley1@yahoo.com or (215)-666-2506, PA USA