MONROVIA – Administration of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has been fulfilling his promise to heal the wounds of the country’s dark past and enhance reconciliation by giving proper burials to two of the country’s presidents who were commonly killed and buried in uncouth manners. Following last week re-burial of ex-president Samuel K. Doe, killed by rebels in 1990, Boakai has moved to initiating rites towards reburying ex-president William R. Tolbert also killed violently in 1980. Though it is said that final conclusions are being brought to a bleak chapter in the country’s history, the president’s moves are at the same time generating somewhat unintended upsurge of grief, doleful lamentations, and recharging pains for families, loved ones and supporters of the deceased. During a memorial service apparently serving as a build-up to the reburial of president Tolbert and members of his government also killed in 1980, the families of the deceased declared the mass murdering is not just a loss to them but ‘a stain on the conscience of the Liberian nation’. The Analyst reports.
The government of Liberia under the presidency of Joseph N. Boakai has embarked on a spree of giving benefiting burials to high-ranking public officials, prominent amongst them two presidents, brutally killed.
As a build-up to the reburial of President William R. Tolbert and 13 members of his government killed in the aftermath of the 1980 bloody overthrow of the 133-year hegemonic rule, a memorial services was held in Monrovia July 1, at which time families of the executed True Whig Party officials under the manner ‘April 22nd Memorial Group’ delivered a powerful statement.
The statement titled, “True reconciliation begins with truth, continues through justice, and grows in forgiveness and unity,” and read by a pioneering member, Cllr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh, the event refreshed “solemn remembrance of the injustice committed against our fathers, brothers, and uncles on that fateful day at the Barclay Training Center”.
“Their deaths were unlawful. They were executed in violation of every principle of due process and human dignity,” they group said, adding: “Their human rights were violated. Liberia is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights even to this day. The pain of those executions continues to ripple through our families and across generations.”
The April 22nd Memorial Group lamented that the deaths of their family members were not only a personal loss to them, their children and families, also “a stain on the conscience of our nation”.
“Besides the lack of due process and denial of the right to Appeal their case, death suffered was not the punishment under Liberian law for any of the crimes of which they were accused. Justice was denied, and with it, the principles of fairness and humanity that should define us as a people.”
Cllr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh who read the statement introduced the April 22nd Memorial Group, stating that they were standing “before you not just as a citizen of this great nation, but as the families of Liberia’s 20th President, William R. Tolbert Jr. who was assassinated on April 12, 1980, families of the thirteen men who were executed on April 22, 1980, families of President Tolbert’s Inner Security Detail and other named Dignitaries who were killed in 1980.”
On that dark day, she recalled, fathers were killed without due process, without legal representation, and without a chance to defend themselves.
“They were branded as enemies of the people, tried in secret and killed before their families could even say good bye. As those bullets tore through their flesh and killed them, they also tore through their families’ lives, tore us apart and broke our hearts,” he further narrated. “We stand before you in solemn remembrance of the injustice committed against our fathers, brothers, and uncles on that fateful day at the Barclay Training Center. Their deaths were unlawful. They were executed in violation of every principle of due process and human dignity. Their human rights were violated. Liberia is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights even to this day. The pain of those executions continues to ripple through our families and across generations.”
Pain in Silence, Justice for ‘martyrs’
For years, the statement further noted, the families of the fallen officials have continue to carry “the pain in silence”; they are speaking out “because we believe silence helps no one. Our wounds may not be visible, but they are deep.
“They are the wounds of daughters and sons growing up with unanswered questions. Wounds of widows who never saw their husbands return. Wounds of a nation still struggling to come to terms with its past,” they said.
“Yet our grief does not exist in isolation. We recognize that the injustice done to our loved ones became the gateway to even greater suffering for many others. The seeds of violence, once sown, gave rise to civil wars, ethnic divisions, and countless lives lost in the decades that followed. Our nation bears scars that go beyond our personal pain.”
According to them, they need justice and remembrance for their ‘martyrs’, calling for the inclusion of all those who suffered and died through Liberia’s years of conflict.
“From the massacre sites in Bomi to the victims of Monrovia’s streets, from unknown graves to forgotten villages, we remember you. Your stories are our stories. Your suffering must also be acknowledged,’ the group further said. “We also stand here with hope. Hope that our country can move forward, not by forgetting, but by remembering with purpose. We must acknowledge what happened. We must name the injustice. We must say: ‘This was wrong.’
“The April 22nd Memorial Group has turned its pain into purpose in our attempts to heal ourselves, thus our building of the April 22d Memorial Group Remembrance Park at the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary of a Mausoleum dedicated to the memories and legacies of our fathers, which we shall dedicate today, and our determination to construct a Research Center and Library which will be our contribution to the education of our nation so that this atrocity NEVER HAPPENS again.”
Day of Reflection, Justice
The group used the occasion to ask government to officially recognize April 22nd as a National Day of Reflection and Justice, and build a national memorial to honor the victims of political executions and civil conflict.
The April 22nd Memorial Group made other recommendations, including to implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in full; to provide psychosocial support to survivors and families of victims, to integrate reconciliation education in schools and communities to prevent future violence, and bring civics back into the schools so that citizens are educated to the purpose of a government and our responsibilities as those governed.
Gratitude to Boakai
The April 22 group also extended gratitude to the Government for the steps already taken toward national healing, indicating that they acknowledge President Boakai’s efforts, including his personal commitment.
“We encourage you to continue boldly and honestly,” they said of the president. “We greatly thank the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary for granting us such a beautiful and scenic place to lay our patriots to rest in the dignified manner they deserve.”
The April 22nd Group called on all Liberians to reconcile, “not by burying the past, but by facing it with courage, with compassion, and with a commitment to never repeat it.”
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