• The Office plans to begin the anti-corruption court –which would try crimes committed since the war – in 2026 – a year ahead of the start of the war and economics crimes court.
• Chief U.S. diplomat in Liberia has held a meeting with the minister of justice on a range of issues, including the war crimes court.

By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives

Leading justice advocates are urging the government of President Joseph Boakai to make the creation of a war and economic crimes court its top priority and remove the proposed anti-corruption court from the mandate of the Office of the War and Economics Crimes Court, the body tasked with creating the tribunal that will try those accused of war related crimes.

The Boakai government has pledged to break with previous post war administrations to establish a war and economic crimes court as well a national anti-corruption court. The first would prosecute individuals and institutions accused of international crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and international economic crimes committed during Liberia’s civil wars from 1989 to 2003. The second would exclusively try corruption cases that fall under domestic laws outside of wars dating back to 1979. 

In a roadmap submitted to Boakai in July, the Office of War and Economic Crimes Court said the anti-corruption court would be created first, starting in November 2026, with the war and economic crimes court following exactly a year later. Jallah Barbu, executive director of the Office, first announced the proposed dates of the courts at a New Narratives’ transitional justice workshop in February in Bong County.

The economic crimes court would try those accused of international economic crimes during the wars, including bribery, resource pillaging, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds and illicit enrichment among others. Though the 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings will not by itself be considered grounds to bring cases, the report recommended 26 people be prosecuted, including Lewis Brown, Liberia’s current ambassador to the United Nations; Edwin Snowe, a Bomi County senator; Roland Massaquoi, a former agriculture minister under convicted war-criminal and ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor; Oscar Cooper, a former senator of Margibi County; Benoni Urey, a maritime chief under Taylor, businessman and 2017 presidential candidate; Emmanuel Shaw, an advisor to former president George Weah, and Nathaniel Barnes, a former ambassador to the U.N.

The anti-corruption court would try bribery, economic sabotage, collusion, tax evasion and extortion among other crimes. Among those likely to face that court are those who have been charged with corruption such as Samuel Tweah, an ex-finance and development planning minister under Weah; Jefferson Karmoh, a former national security advisor to Weah, and Abdullah Karama, an ex-acting telecommunications chief under current president Joseph Boakai. Experts say those who have been placed on the U.S. sanctions lists, including Tweah, Sayma Syrenius Cephus, a former solicitor general under Weah; Jefferson Koijee, Monrovia mayor under Weah, and Nathaniel McGill, a senator of Margibi County and the minister of state under Weah, could also face prosecution in the court.

At a workshop for journalists last month, Barbu defended the decision.

“The amount of money we need to establish the war crimes court is not the same amount of money we need for the anti-corruption court,” said Barbu. “We are looking at it from the perspective of which is more feasible. In other words, which is the low hanging fruit. And the low hanging fruit in this case is the national anti-corruption court.”

Barbu said it was not his decision to include the anti-corruption court in the Office mandate.

“If the authorities decide that the Office for War and Economic Crimes Court has the capacity to do what we are doing and they gave us that mandate, we do not just sit in the Office and develop the statutes,” said Barbu. “Why the Office for War and Economic Crimes Court of Liberia? That is a question for the President of the Republic of Liberia who has expressed explicit confidence in those who work at the Office at least the person he appointed.”

But the inclusion of the domestic court in the Office’s mandate has outraged Liberia’s many justice activists who have labored to bring a reckoning for egregious war time crimes.

“It’s better to do the heavy lifting first because the most difficult court to establish is the war and economic crimes court,” said Tiawan Gongloe, a Liberian human rights lawyer and expert, in an interview. “And that’s what people are concerned about. Anti-corruption, all these things are not as controversial as establishing the war crimes court. There are people who don’t believe that the war crimes court will ever be established. I think the government’s credibility on the issue of accountability will be stronger if there is a greater emphasis on establishing a war and economic crimes court first.”

Also in an interview, Adama Dempster, another leading advocate, warned that “victims are dying, alleged perpetrators are dying. You don’t have the luxury of timing. Some evidence will be lost along the way, and political interest may change as we move toward [general and presidential elections in] 2029.”

The Office has moved fast to pursue the anti-corruption court. It pledged to submit a statute for the national court to Boakai this month, following stakeholders’ consultations. That contrast with the slow pace of a bill to establish the war and economics crimes court has advocates concerned that the Office will be distracted. They also fear that political uproar that might be ignited as indictments are issued by the anti-corruption court will dampen enthusiasm for the war crimes court.

One of the most vocal opponents of the war crimes court is Thomas Nimely Yaya, a former rebel leader, who warned last year that the court would “dismantle” Liberia’s peace. Nimely is now a senator for Grand Gedeh County. Experts say although Nimely lacks the influence of his former ally Prince Johnson, the Nimba County senator and ex-warlord who died in November, his opposition could ignite fear among the public. They say the war and economic crimes court should be treated with urgency.

“This is a necessity, not a choice,” said Hassan Bility, director of Global Justice and Research Project, a Liberian nonprofit that gathers evidence of war crimes. “We need to make more concrete progress and very quickly. Without that, there’s no long-term guarantee for the establishment of the court.”

Funding questions continue to cloud the court. Last year, one leading expert estimated the court would cost about $US60 million, with America, Liberia’s single largest donor, expected to provide a large share. But U.S. support evaporated in January when Donald Trump, in his second term as U.S. president, came to power. Trump has cut almost all U.S. foreign assistance, including for transitional justice around the world. He also limited U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, compelling European donors to divert funding from Africa to Ukraine’s defense.  

Mark Toner, who resigned his role as U.S. ambassador to Liberia in July, told FPA/NN in an  exclusive interview that “we’re looking at ways we can continue to provide that technical assistance (to the court), but no funding now.” Toner urged the Boakai government to put up the funding for the court itself.

“At some point you need to decide whether the war and economics crimes court is a priority and if it is, fund it as such,” said Toner. “And then from there you can start really putting the pieces together.”

Karl Backéus, Sweden’s ambassador, said the war crimes court process “needs to be Liberian owned.” Credit: Anthony Stephens/New Narratives.

The lack of U.S. funding has left Sweden as the only donor to the Office’s operations. Sweden gives its support through the U.N. Human Rights Office, which does not give cash, but funds activities such as outreach, workshops, and stakeholders’ meetings. Karl Backéus, Sweden’s ambassador to Liberia, urged the Boakai administration to take full ownership of the court.

“It needs to be Liberian owned,” he said at the journalists’ workshop. “We can be supportive, but we cannot be the ones doing the heavy lifting.”

Nona Deprez, the European Union’s ambassador, also speaking at the workshop, said there would be technical support, including training of court officials, but she was blunt about the limits of international support. 

“There will be very little international funding available. This will really need to be funded by Liberia,” Deprez said. But she voiced optimism that the government’s recent adoption of several T.R.C. recommendations, including an official state apology, along with a promise to provide $2m a year funding for the Office, signaled a commitment to the process. “From what I have seen over the summer, with the government’s reconciliation activities, it seems there is sufficient political will to allocate resources to this court.”

Nona Deprez, EU ambasador to Liberia, says there will be “very little international funding available” for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court. Credit: Anthony Stephens/New Narratives.

The Swedish embassy and European Union are also providing funds to civil society and media, including New Narratives, to support the transitional justice process.

Barbu told August’s workshop that the court would cost more than $US20 million. Advocates interviewed for this story, urged the Boakai government to trim salaries and allowances to free up funds.

In a photo taken during the second civil war in 2003, a Liberian child soldier carries a gun in Monrovia [Nic Bothma/EPA]

The U.S. may not be providing any immediate funding to the court, but it said it remained committed to Liberia’s push for accountability for wartime atrocities. The U.S. embassy said in a recent Facebook post said that Joseph E. Zadrozny, its chargé d’affaires and the highest ranking official in the embassy when there is no ambassador as in Liberia, met with N. Oswald Tweh, Liberia’s minister of justice. The post said they “addressed recent measures to curb visa fraud, which undermines legitimate Liberian travelers, and ongoing conversations about establishing a war and economic crimes court.”

Bility welcomed the embassy’s latest statement. He “urged the U.S. to bring some pressure to bear on Liberian authorities, especially, the Legislature, to prioritize this.”

“What the Liberian people want is the prosecution of war crimes, first before anything else,” said Bility. “The spirits of hundreds of thousands of slaughtered Liberian victims do have rights to justice. Their spirits are also watching the process.”