By Anthony Stephens, Senior Correspondent with New Narratives PELEBO TOWN, Maryland County—Alvin sits under the shade of a mango tree outside a health clinic here coming to terms with the news he has just received. Though he had barely heard of Donald Trump before now, Alvin has just learned that the American president, coming into…
Deep Concerns as Trump Freezes Aid; Experts Warn War Crimes Court in Jeopardy
By Anthony Stephens With New Narratives In one of its first moves the Trump administration has frozen all government assistance programs across the world for 90 days. Though much remains unclear, the new administration has indicated most of those programs – funded by USAID and the State Department – will be shuttered. Liberia is not…
War Crimes Court Advocates Say President Boakai Made a “Serious Mistake” by Appointing Accused War Profiteer to UN Post
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Leading human rights advocates have condemned President Joseph Boakai’s decision to commission Lewis Brown, a former national security adviser to Charles Taylor, as Liberia’s ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Brown was recommended for prosecution by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and could be one of those prosecuted…
Champion of War and Economics Crimes Court Leaves Post as US War Crimes Ambassador
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Beth Van Schaack, US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice in the Biden administration has left the post as the second Trump administration took power on Monday. In a farewell message Ambassador Van Schaack called her work in Liberia, The Gambia and other countries “impactful,” and applauded the human…
US Trial of Accused Liberian Warlord, “K-1” Called Off as He Pleads Guilty to Immigration Fraud Charges
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The US Trial of accused Liberian warlord, Laye Sekou Camara, alias “K-1” or “Dragon Master” has been called off after he pleaded guilty to criminal immigration fraud charges. A former commander of a rebel group, Mr. Camara, 46, was due to go on trial on January 21st in a US…
War Crimes Court Office Finally Receives Government Funds But Reveals a Running Cost Three Times Budget Allocation
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MAMBA POINT, Liberia— Two months after the appointment of Dr. Jallah Barbu as the second head of Liberia’s Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court, the government has finally released $368,000 funding for Dr. Barbu and his team which has been working without pay or operations funding since…
UN Special Rapporteur Says “Poverty and Inequality Are Drivers” of Human Trafficking; Calls on Gov. to Fund Protection of Victims and Prosecution of Accused Traffickers
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives ONE UN HOUSE, Liberia—A United Nations expert has warned that poverty and equality are high among “children, women and girls” in Liberia and “are drivers” of human trafficking. Madam Siobhán Mullally, the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, said the issues were also fueling “sexual exploitation” among children “in rural and hard…
Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts to Be Evicted As Standoff Over Government Funding Escalates
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MAMBA POINT, Monrovia—The Office of Liberia’s War and Economic Crimes Courts is facing eviction in from its rental space as the ongoing battle with government for funding reaches a crisis point. Dr. Jallah Barbu, executive director of the Office, made the disclosure to Front Page Africa/New Narratives as he…
West African Regional Body Approves Special Tribunal in The Gambia Setting Precedent for Liberia’s War and Economics Crimes Court
By New Narratives justice correspondents Yankuba Jallow in The Gambia and Anthony Stephens in Liberia. In a potential precedent for Liberia’s transitional justice process, Ecowas, West Africa’s regional bloc, has finally approved The Gambia’s request to establish a Special Tribunal to try alleged crimes committed during the military dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh whose rule from…
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…
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…
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…
Unusual January Rains Signal Deepening Climate Crisis, Environmental Agency Warns
Unusual rains in January have flooded streets and fields across Liberia, disrupting what should be a dry season and prompting warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency that these erratic weather patterns are a clear sign of a deepening climate crisis, threatening agriculture, infrastructure, and the lives of families already living on the frontlines of climate…
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…
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…
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…
Liberian Start Up Launches the First Platform for Donations Direct to Liberian Nonprofits
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives For years people who wanted to donate money to nonprofits in Europe or the U.S.A have been able to do so with the click of a button on their computer or phone through well-known platforms such as GoFundMe and GlobalGiving. Now a new platform is allowing people…
U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Retires Early, Calls It “a Personal Choice,” Denies U.S. Pressure on Deportees
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives Mark Toner, the United States Ambassador to Liberia, is retiring from his role less a year into what was to be a two-year post. His announcement to embassy staff on Tuesday, came as a surprise, particularly as it came just a day before Liberia President Joseph Boakai…
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…
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…
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…