Post-war Liberia’s ongoing quest to reverse the culture of impunity

Liberian senators have introduced two separate bills to establish a war crimes court and a specialised economic and corruption crimes court. This aligns with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) 2009 recommendation to establish an extraordinary criminal tribunal to prosecute former warlords and criminal perpetrators of Liberia’s 14-year civil wars, including for economic crimes.

Introduced in October 2025, four years after a draft bill was submitted to the legislature by the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), and 16 years after the TRC recommendation, the bills reflect the continued quest for justice and accountability, even though the war ended in 2003.

While some justice advocates say the bills’ provisions may enable perpetrators to go unpunished, their introduction offers an opportunity to draw lessons from challenges that impeded transitional justice, and to promote justice and accountability in Liberia.

Already, President Joseph Boakai’s administration has established the Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court (OWEC) to explore the possibility of setting up such a court.

The aim, he says, is ‘to provide an opportunity for those who bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity to account for their actions in court.’ On 12 March, the OWEC’s executive director announced plans to introduce a revised version of the LNBA’s bill.

The OWEC’s work has been challenged by a lack of national consensus on prioritising justice and accountability. This stems from a key dilemma that accompanied the signing of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement – the inclusion of former warlords in post-war governance.

Before his death on 28 November 2024, a notable example was Senator Prince Johnson who led the notorious Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia rebel group and became a powerbroker in post-war presidential elections.

Prosecuting Mr Johnson and other warlords risked antagonising their support base and destabilising Liberia. Mr Johnson remained a deeply popular figure in his native Nimba County and even ran for president in 2011, though he came a distant third with about 12% of the vote.

With the passage of time and Mr Johnson’s death, however, this risk has considerably subsided, offering Liberia an opportunity to ensure criminal accountability of perpetrators and deliver justice to victims and survivors.

Justice delivery is key to addressing the culture of impunity, some sources tell ISS Today, which has remained entrenched in post-war Liberia and continues to undermine public trust and confidence in governance institutions, including the courts. It is also necessary for reassuring victims, survivors and their families. It would contribute to national reconciliation, which has eluded Liberia through lack of prioritisation.

Moreover, Liberia’s laws do not provide for statutes of limitation for war crimes and crimes against humanity. So there are no deadlines for charging and prosecuting perpetrators, which allows the OWEC to follow through with its plans to issue the first set of indictments in 2027.

Trials in courts elsewhere that apply universal jurisdiction have continued to close the impunity gap for crimes committed in Liberia, as evidenced by convictions secured in courts in France, Switzerland, and The Netherlands, and the case against Martina Johnson in Belgium.

In April 2022, however, a Finnish court acquitted Gibril Massaquoi, former Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front rebel group commander, of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Liberia due to lack of evidence.

Aside from the difficulty of prosecuting politically powerful former warlords, Liberia also faced the challenge of balancing post-war reconstruction with justice and accountability. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s first democratically elected post-war president, who herself was recommended for a 30-year ban from public office for financially supporting former president Charles Taylor’s rebellion, prioritised economic recovery and infrastructural development.

Achieving these goals was contingent on attracting international support, including investments in the national resource sector and debt forgiveness.

Ms Sirleaf’s administration consistently argued that Liberians had moved on from war-era issues, although it sought to promote restorative justice through the non-prosecutorial Palava Hub programme. Her successor, George Weah, also de-emphasised justice and accountability.

Although he sought legislative advice to establish the court and voiced support for it in his speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2019, he retracted his support on returning to Liberia. Mr Weah reportedly argued that accountability had to be balanced with other imperatives, including development.

However, this focus on post-war reconstructive recovery and development did not result in improved livelihoods, even if it came at the expense of justice and accountability. Liberia remains among the world’s least developed countries, consistently ranking lowest in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index since the end of the war.

This has not only resulted in difficult living conditions and created public discontent, often leading to protests, but sources told ISS Today it had compounded the lack of national reconciliation.

While much of this underdevelopment is not entirely the doing of post-war governments and can be attributed to disruptions caused by the 2014 Ebola epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic, the situation shows that choosing reconstruction over justice and accountability does not guarantee positive outcomes.

Even if such an approach saw improved livelihoods, its sustainability would still depend on long-term stability that could only be guaranteed by meaningful delivery of justice.

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As Liberians debate the merits of the bills introduced in the senate, the government must fast-track its efforts to promote justice and accountability. In doing so, it must seek international financial and technical support to strengthen the OWEC to develop a roadmap based on lessons learnt from past challenges.

To ensure national buy-in, the roadmap should be developed through an inclusive consultative process involving all relevant stakeholders, including political actors, civil society, and representatives of victims and survivors.

Sampson Kwarkye, Regional Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Institute for Security Studies (ISS)

(This article was published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish.)