Anthony Stephens

Senate Unanimously Confirms President Boakai’s Controversial UN Pick, But Advocates Dismisses It as “a Serious Threat to Justice”

By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Liberian Senate has confirmed Lewis Brown, President Joseph Boakai’s controversial pick for Ambassador to the United Nations, despite opposition from leading voices in the human rights community in the country. Advocates had argued that Mr. Brown, recommended in Liberia’s 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commision report as one of 26 individuals who should face prosecution…

Anthony Stephens
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A Range of Security Challenges Will Face War Crimes Courts But Experts Say Accused Perpetrators Are Not Among Them

By Anthony Stephens, Senior Justice Correspondent with New Narratives Summary: One of the most important issues for designers of Liberia’s war and economic crimes court will be security. Opponents of the court, including Thomas Nimely Yaya, an ex-rebel leader, now a senator of Grand Gedeh County, have long threatened a court would “dismantle” peace, stir up old…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

War Crimes Court Office Receives Part of Promised Government Funding as Office Head Prepares for Important Meeting with Ecowas President

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Office of War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia said Thursday that it had received $US300,000 or 15 percent of President Joseph Boakai’s promised $US2 million for 2025, for its operations. The president pledged the funding in late April when he extended the mandate of the Office…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Liberia Pauses for National Day of Prayer to Honor Dead and Living Victims of the Country’s Civil Wars  

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Joseph Boakai, Liberia’s President, offered a special prayer for the nation at a national service Wednesday at the Effort Baptist Church in Paynesville, where Boakai also serves as a deacon. As Liberians with formal employment took advantage of a surprise last minute public holiday, the president…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

President Boakai Pledges To Build a National War Memorial and Declares Day of Prayer, Drawing Cautious Praise

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives President Joseph Boakai announced his government would soon commission a national war memorial to honor the victims of Liberia’s brutal civil wars and the peacekeepers from the Economic Community of West African States who died in the conflicts. The president made the announcement during the official celebration of…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

War Crimes Court Office Launches Outreach Campaign Even as Promised Government Funding Fails to Arrive

By Anthony Stephens senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Office of Liberia’s War and Economics Crimes Court launched its official outreach campaign at an event at the Office’s headquarters in Mamba Point, Monrovia on Saturday, despite having still received none of the $US2 million in funding promised by President Boakai in April. The campaign…

Anthony Stephens
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President Boakai Apologizes to Civil War Victims, Pledges National Memorial, and Recommits to Criminal Accountability

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives President Joseph Boakai has issued an official apology on behalf of the Liberian nation “to every victim of our civil conflict”— ending more than two decades of waiting by victims, survivors and advocates seeking accountability for wartime atrocities. The president apologized on Saturday during a state-sponsored “National…

Anthony Stephens
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U.S. Aid Cuts Likely to Put More Liberians at Risk of Human Trafficking

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Trump administration’s sweeping freezes on foreign aid continue to undermine a range of programs in heavily aid dependent Liberia. The cuts to health, education and agriculture have received substantial attention but cuts to the country’s anti-human trafficking work has so far gone unnoticed.   Now…

Anthony Stephens
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Rights Groups Praise Reburials of Doe and Tolbert but Urge Inclusive Reconciliation and Support for War Crimes Court Office  

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Leading Liberian human rights organizations have praised the government for symbolically reburying Samuel Kanyon Doe and William Richard Tolbert, the country’s two presidents who were separately killed while in office. Doe, who ended more than a century of Americo-Liberian dominance by a military coup in 1980 was…

Anthony Stephens
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War Crimes Court Office Submits Roadmap to President Boakai With 2026 Start Date for Economic Crimes Court

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia has formally submitted a national roadmap for the country’s transitional justice process to President Joseph Boakai, a move experts say is a key step toward long-delayed accountability for war-era atrocities and systemic corruption. Among the…

Anthony Stephens
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Liberia Named on Proposed U.S. List of Countries for Third-Country Deportations as Funding is Cut for Global Vaccine Program

By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Liberia has been included on a proposed list of 51 countries that have been identified by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to accept deportees, including criminals, who are not their own citizens, according to the New York Times, a U.S. media outlet. The effort is part…

Anthony Stephens
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U.S. Embassy in Liberia Orders Visa Applicants to Make Social Media Profiles Public

The U.S. embassy in Monrovia says the social media accounts of all applicants will be screened and approved before their travel. By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: The U.S. embassy in Monrovia has “requested” all visa applicants from Liberia to change their social media settings from private to “public to facilitate vetting necessary to…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

War Crimes Court Office Submits Long Awaited Bills to Justice, Amid Dispute With Civil Society

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: The Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia on Tuesday submitted its long-awaited draft legislation for a war and economic crimes court and a national anti-corruption court to the country’s justice minister, following weeks of public disagreement with leading civil society groups…

Anthony Stephens
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Liberia and Ghana Stand Almost Alone in Region as U.S. Travel Ban Hits Neighbors, Experts Cite Acceptance of U.S. Deportees and Other Strategic Factors

By Anthony Stephens, senior reporter with New Narratives Summary: Liberia’s exclusion from the Trump administration’s latest travel ban has drawn a mix of praise and caution from foreign policy experts, who say it reflects warming relations with Washington as the Trump administration shift its focus from aid to U.S. national interests. The revised policy, announced…

Anthony Stephens
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Liberia Included on a List of 36 Countries for Potential US Travel Ban; Foreign Minister Nyanti Says Government Is Engaging The Trump Administration on the Matter

By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has included Liberia on a list of 36 countries whose citizens could be banned from traveling to the US according to a draft memo obtained by The Washington Post, a U.S. media outlet. The memo “signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio…

Anthony Stephens
Frontpage Africa

Liberia Overwhelmingly Wins UN Security Council Seat as Diplomats Say It Shows Country’s “Growing Regional Influence”

By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Liberia has overwhelmingly won a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council—64 years after it first held the role. One hundred and eighty-one of the 188 member states of the UN voted for Liberia. The vote marked a historic milestone for the country, coming nearly 22…

Anthony Stephens
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U.N. Chief Reaffirms Support for War Crimes Court Office; Urges Civil Society to Unite as Internal Rift Goes Public

Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Christine N. Umutoni, the United Nations resident coordinator in Liberia, reaffirmed the U.N.’s support for the Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia at an event in Monrovia marking International Human Rights Day, as a dispute between the Office and a bloc of…

Anthony Stephens
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War Crimes Court Office Gets Promised Government Funding as Director And Activists Engage in Public War of Words

Summary: By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives The Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia, the body tasked with establishing a war and economic crimes court and a National Anti-Corruption Court, has dismissed a newly submitted civil society bill to establish a war and economics crimes court as “mischief”…

Anthony Stephens
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