RWANDAN EX-MAYOR JAILED OVER CHURCH MASSACRE
The UN-backed war crimes tribunal for Rwanda has sentenced
former mayor Gregoire Ndahimana to 15 years in prison after
finding him guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity in
connection with the killing of more than 2,000 Tutsi refugees
in his village in 1994.
Liberia’s TRC Presents Final Report READ MORE...
AFRICAN PANORAMA
WATCHING THROUGH THE BIRDS' EYES
France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was involved in a plot to kill the leader of Guinea's ruling junta, the country's military rulers say.
The Guinean Crisis: Why Ellen Sirleaf should be placed under a watch...
THE TROUBLE WITH OUR POSTWAR LIBERIAN POLITICS
THE TROUBLE WITH OUR POSTWAR LIBERIAN POLITICS
By D. Garkpe Gedepoh
Even though the UP Government has issued a strong warning to unknown trouble makers, the fact that no names were connected to the so-called sinister plan, doesn’t sit well in this atmosphere. However, Liberians must respectfully stand in solidarity and embrace political justice, not violence. Let us erase violence from our minds as a means of solving our disputes. Moreover, it will be a catastrophe for anyone to destroy the gains made towards the peace process by turning back the wheel of time. Furthermore, it is prudent that we chart the right course while exercising patience for the final results of the presidential elections. And if we determine with clear evidence that the work of the commission was marked by fraud, then we will have grounds to protest the final results, and take our grievances to the Liberian Supreme Court for redress. Let us apply all legal means in resolving our disputes or dissatisfaction so as not to rein anarchy on the nation. The peace and stability of the republic is paramount than a mere victory pronounced by the National Elections Commission.
Liberian opposition to boycott run-off
Liberia, a country ranked as the 2nd poorest country in the world, is set for a presidential runoff on NovAs part of the efforts to prevent another civil war, stakeholders and the World Bank instituted a capitalistic economic system which is guided by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was democratically elected. After five years and a half, coupled with huge donations in billions of dollars, and $16 billion dollar private investments, basic necessities such as safe-drinking water, electricity, roads, hospitals, etc are lacking in many parts of the country. In fact Global Witness and International Transparency said corruption is rampant in Liberia.
By J. Yanqui Zaza
Liberia: House Warns Incoming Lawmakers Against "Treasonable Statement"
LIBERIA'S ELECTION: MORE SWEET HEART DEALS FOR FIRESTONE, CHEVRON, ETC...
THE LIBERIAN 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: THE RESERVATIONS OF A CHEATED CANDIDATE
Dr. Manjierngie Cecilia Ndebe calls herself a patriotic daughter of Liberia. She is an American-educated Liberian woman with impressive academic achievements. Dr. Ndebe has worked in the United States as a nurse practitioner for several years. She later decided to return home and set up the Liberia reconstruction party to contest for the 2011 presidential election. Following the first round of the presidential election in which incumbent President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been declared the winner, Dr. Ndebe, who is said to have scored only 0.45% of the total votes counted, feels cheated – vehemently accusing the international community of robbing her of her votes to swell those of President Sirleaf.
The Liberian woman says she is flabbergasted, fiercely denouncing the alleged double standard of UNMIL and the foreign observers of the Liberian elections. She vents her spleen in a letter addressed to the United Nations and copies sent to the ECOWAS, UN Security Council, the U.S. President and President Sirleaf among others, Dr. Ndebe has expressed serious “reservations over the international community promotion of human rights abuse, abuse of power, corruption, and the rigging of presidential elections in Liberia”.
She says it is the International Community that has fomented the protracted war in Liberia. She has called President Sirleaf a warmonger for whom even the likeable U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the ubiquitous U.S ambassador to Liberia Linda Thomas-Greenfield are cheerleaders. African panorama publishes the letter below:
"The international community brought war to Liberia and kept it going for 14 years while exploiting our natural resources."
"Concerning matters of principle that border on the preservation of the democratic culture and the prevention of the re-emergence of the one party state, support for the Unity Party is not permissible. For the purpose of sustaining a viable opposition and obstructing the re-emergence of the one party state, we are for the CDC in the 2011 presidential runoff election, if it will occur."
IN THE RUNOFF OF THE 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: NDC ENDORCES CDC
ECOWAS STATEMENT ON THE EVE OF THE 8 NOVEMBER PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF ELECTION IN LIBERIA...
The United States is deeply disappointed by the decision of CDC...
The United States is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) to boycott Liberia’s presidential run-off election on November 8. The CDC’s charge that the first-round election was fraudulent is unsubstantiated. As evidenced by international and domestic observers, Liberia’s October 11 first-round presidential and legislative elections were fair, free and transparent.
The attention of the ECOWAS Commission has been drawn to an undated press statement titled “CDC Final Position on the holding of elections on November 8, 2011” and issued on 4 November 2011 by Ambassador Winston Tubman, standard bearer of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), in the aftermath of a meeting held a day earlier in Abuja with H.E. Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria and Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority.
APRIL 14 REVISITED AT CDC'S HEADQUARTERS
On April 14, 1979, a rally to protest the increase in the rice price ended when the police provoked the PAL members who had peacefully assembled at their headquarters. The rally had intended to discourage the importation of rice (Liberia's staple food) and to encourage the production of locally grown rice. The incident is wrongly referred to as “Rice Riot”.
Supporters of the Coalition of Liberian Opposition Parties in the Diaspora (S-CLOPD)
By Siahyonkron Nyanseor
Towards A More Accountable Government: Issues for the 53rd Liberian Legislature
The diversity of incoming members of the legislature, including the fact that sitting members lost out in colorful polls, symbolizes the people confidence in elections as the means of granting authority. That people who were in leadership at one point can be returned at another time shows that the people are ever ready to determine how they are governed. The results further show that the Liberian people are determined to allow a diversity of leaders, who will articulate their aspirations from varying perspectives. As many of the new comers contested the previous elections, the people may have been reviewing their choices to improve upon their decisions, all in the hope of making their communities better. Some of those who won this time around did not leave the communities, even after their defeat in 2005. This spurred the confidence of their people, thus the reward. This is further confidence in the electoral process, which would get better as the time goes forward and with more experiences in elections as the mode of evolving leadership in Liberia.
By K. Abdullai Kamara
ON THE BOYCOTT OF THE 2011 RUNOFF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, VERDIER SEES THE NEED FOR A POLITICAL DIALOGUE
Jerome J. Verdier is one of Liberia's activist lawyers. Having relentlessly fought Taylor's criminal gang, Verdier was made chairman of the defunct Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He subsequently submitted a report advancing plausible recommendations for genuine reconciliation in postwar Liberia. However, amidst the acquiescence of the international community including UNMIL and ECOWAS, President Sirleaf maliciously trashed the report. No chicken crowed in Liberia! Sirleaf then commissioned her thugs in Monrovia's underworld to render Verdier's family asunder and chase him into exile.
The idomitable Verdier has indeed taken cover to fight another day. Verdier has returned to the trenches calling a spade a spade in the looming political crisis in Monrovia. Following complaints of fraudulent election practices in the 2011 general elections which have been downplayed by President Sirleaf's powerful foreign friends serving as stakeholders in the international community, the head of the National Elections Commission has stepped down. The opposition, whose grievances are vertually ignored by the lame duck commission as well as the international community, is boycotting the runoff of the presidential race - leaving Sirleaf a lone contender in the race. Not only does the situation have some legal and political implications, but it also potentially undermines peace and stability in postwar Liberia. Hear Verdier out:
BLOOD AND VOTES IN LIBERIA...
By Amos Zumo
Blood of patriots spilled are never in vain. Make no mistake about it! Whether we like it or not a vote of no confidence has now been publicly and historically registered in Liberia.
Patience not complacency is required. Our hearts out to the wounded, deceased, and family of the deceased. The collective sacrifice and vigilance will and must continue
May God bless Liberia and may he continue to bless and guide those whose interests and struggles coincide with the bottom 95% of Liberians.
THE SPILLED BLOOD OF PATRIOTS
As African people, we continue to be haunted by our failure to find “African solutions to African problems”. Often times, we surrender our god-given rights to others who don’t understand or lived our experience, and often leave us vulnerable when a crisis erupts or flares-up.
By Tartay Pekin
"I publicly call on Cllr. Winston Tubman, Amb. George Weah and other leaders of the CDC to now step up, show guts, and condemn this cowardly act of brutality! The blood of those Liberians spilled at the CDC headquarters must not be in vain. The lives of those savagely and cruelly taken away by state police must not be in vain.
LIBERIAN JOURNALISTS FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES...
By Alexander Bealded
Armed police stormed the Kings FM premises at about 11PM and held the announcer at gun point. The on-duty radio announcer was tortured for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of other staff members. The police then dismantled the station's equipment and trashed out the entire premises before shutting down the facility.
UNMIL SOLDIERS CHASED LIBERIAN POLICE OFFICERS SEEN SHOOTING LIVE BULLETS AT CDC PARTISANS
Many Liberians stayed home for Tuesday's vote, either fearful of a repeat of election-related violence earlier this week or obeying Tubman's boycott.
Such a low turnout could undermine Sirleaf's authority during a second term and might even prompt her to open a dialogue with Tubman, analysts said.
The National Election Commission said it would begin releasing results from the second round late on Thursday.
Liberia's Tubman threatens to annul runoff
UN peacekeeper killed in Sudan's Darfur
A UN peacekeeper in Sudan's violence-plagued Darfur region has been killed and two others injured, according to a UN statement.
It did not identify the peacekeeper, who died on Sunday, but Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, extended "heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the government of Sierra Leone", indicating the peacekeeper was Sierra Leonean.
The soldiers came under attack while on patrol in south Darfur.
Ban condemned the attack near Nyala and said he expected the government in Khartoum to "swiftly bring those responsible for this reprehensible act to justice," his spokesperson said.
REMEMBERING THE 1984 INVASION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA...
S-COLPD Providing Support for the Opposition in Liberia
"ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT" Says Winston Tubman
Sudan rebels form alliance to oust president
Rebels in Sudan's Darfur region and in the troubled border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan have formed an alliance to overthrow the government of President Omar al-Bashir, a statement released by the rebels said.
BLOODY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7: A MISTAKE TO BE CORRECTED
I was present in a vehicle in front of the CDC headquarters that morning in the company of Counselor Winston Tubman and Ambassador George Weah, the Standard Bearer and Vice Standard Bearer of the CDC, respectively. We were discussing with an UNMIL General who was urging that the partisans return to the grounds of the CDC headquarters. As the conversation progressed, we were surprised when the security forces opened fire with tear gas. All of us then retreated inside the grounds of the CDC.
We, the members of The Coalition of Liberian Professionals for Grassroots Democracy (COL), a policy and research-oriented think tank and advocacy group, comprising Liberians of a diverse range of professional backgrounds, residing in the U.S. and Canada, issue this statement to strongly condemn the wanton murder of a number of unarmed Liberians at the November 7, 2011 peaceful rally of the CDC and to call for the immediate dismissal and eventual prosecution of Police director Marc Amblard. We condemn the continuing closure of media institutions in Liberia by the Sirleaf administration and reject the president’s shameful justification that this act was committed to “prevent the incitement of further violence and protect lives”. COL Professionals also calls on the people of Liberia not to recognize the results of the just-ended presidential round-off elections declaring Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as winner and president of Liberia. This run-off election is a sham and undercuts all efforts to establish a solid democratic foundation badly needed for a postwar society.
COL Condemns the November 7th Murder of Unarmed Civilians
By Dew Tuan-Wleh Mayson
AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT TO
“GOOD PLAYERS DON’T FIGHT OVER JERSEY”
By Siahyonkron Nyanseor
S-CLOPD Staff Writer
History makes strange bedfellows because it has the tendency to repeat itself. It repeated April 14, 1979 on November 7, 2011 with similar events which occurred when the government of William R. Tolbert, Jr. provoked peaceful demonstrators of the Progress Alliance of Liberia (PAL); its members, supporters and bystanders, causing the deaths of scores of unarmed people, wounding numerous more.
SEPP BLATTER SAYS SORRY FOR COMMENTS ON RACISM
"It hurts and I am still hurting because I couldn't envisage such a reaction," said the 75-year-old Swiss.
"When you have done something which was not totally correct, I can only say I am sorry for all those people affected by my declarations."
IS THIS THE REVOLUTION?
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRES. SIRLEAF, FAHNBULLEH, SAWYER, AND TIPOTEH...
IS THIS THE REVOLUTION?
By Jerry Wehtee-Maotee Wion
When US$600,000.00 was fraudulently wired from a computer in your private residence linked to the Willis Knuckles Email Scandal, and you blamed it on your “friend” who is the sister of the president of one of Liberia’s neighbors, but the “friend” publicly denied ever being in Liberia on the date of the money transfer with supporting evidence of dates with stamped entry and exit visas in her passport.
Amnesty has called on African authorities to arrest Bush during his visit for 'crimes under international law'
ARREST GEORGE BUSH...
A human rights organisation has urged Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to arrest and prosecute former US president George Bush for violating international torture laws during his African tour this week.
President Sirleaf AGAIN Promises to More Effectively Fight Corruption: Will It Hold?
By Joseph Gbaba, Sr.
And all Liberians shall shout with exceeding great joy as we say:
“To hell with the Nobel Rebel War Crime Prize. For it is a mockery of the sanctity of human life! We value the life God gave us. Therefore we will do everything humanly possible to protect it! And this is our humble prayer in the blessed name of Yaweh!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
(In simple English)
By D. Garkpe Gedepoh
It would have been better for the sake of credibility had the entire electoral process been delayed than to be carried out on a time table basis amidst transparent fraud. And the refusal on the part of the National Elections Commission to allowed local press to monitor the second round of voting speaks volumes about the fraudulent electoral process of 2011. And so regardless of which side of the rope Liberians are pulling, the nation has been robbed of a democratic process and the leadership to be installed lacks credibility. Moreover, a fraudulent leadership is not capable of minimizing corruption, restructuring the justice system, or implementing the rule of law because the leadership is deemed illegal and therefore lacks the mandate to govern the republic.
