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Monrovia – The call for the establishment of a war crimes court for Liberia continues unabated both in Liberia and across the globe, with the most recent coming from Liberian female musical star MC Caro, who is demanding that ex-president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, former dreaded warlord Prince Y. Johnson, and others suspected of perpetrating atrocities be made to speedily answer before a tribunal for their actions in the country decade-plus fratricidal crisis.
MC Carol, in her latest video that has begun making the hit on social media, insists that Sirleaf must be made to face justice for her role in the war the claimed over 250,000 lives, displaced several others and witnessed the wanton destruction of millions of dollars’ worth of private and public properties.
“War crimes court’s coming for justice”
The youthful Liberian female musical star in her video that has gone viral on Facebook, with closed to a million views and thousands of shares, is optimistic of the establishment of a war crimes court for Liberia, alarming that the court will be established to ensure justice is served for all the crimes committed during the war.
“War crimes court is coming for justice,” MC Caro says, indicating that she envisages seeing former dreaded warlord, now Nimba County senior senator, Prince Y. Johnson at the international criminal court (ICC) at The Hague.
Senator Johnson’s Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) captured, tortured and butchered slain former president Samuel K. Doe during the war.
MC Caro also reminded former president Sirleaf that during her reign, she turned over ex-president Charles Taylor to the international community to face trial at the ICC under an indictment unsealed by the Sierra Leone war crimes court, stating that now was the time for Sirleaf to face justice as in the case of jailed former president Taylor.
She posted on her official Facebook page on Tuesday: “His [Taylor] companions need to join him asap – Justice. Justice, justice – World [war] crime court I support it,”
Taylor is serving a 50-year sentence at the Frankland prison in the northern English city of Durham, for aiding and abetting atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during that country’s decade-long war.
However, since the end of Liberia’s war that displaced millions of Liberians, left a quarter of a million dead, and countless more raped, disabled, and traumatized, recommendations from the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report presented to former president Johnson-Sirleaf, is yet to be implemented, and not a single Liberian has been prosecuted for alleged atrocities committed during the war days.
“Ellen Johnson [Sirleaf] that’s your time now – ehn you were sending Taylor, you didn’t know it would come back? MC Carol said in her wildly circulated music video.
Following an investigation that sought to unravel the causes and consequences of Liberia’s conflict, the TRC collected more than 20,000 statements and released a 370-page report, in which Sirleaf is among 50 people the Commission recommends should not be allowed to hold public office, a recommendation the former leader flouted while in power.
The TRC report also recommends that dozens of individuals who bear greater responsibility of the war should face further investigation and prosecution, though the Commission does not include Sirleaf on those lists, many Liberians including MC Caro believe the ex-president should be made to face a war crimes court for her role in funding the carnage in Liberia.
In her testimony when she appeared before the TRC, Sirleaf admitted that during the early years of the war she supplied Taylor with food and financial assistance in the tune of some US$10,000, stating at the time that she wanted to see an end to the tyrannical regime of slain former President Samuel Doe, adding that she did so unwittingly.
But according to the TRC, Sirleaf didn’t go far enough, by showing remorse for her role in the war, with the TRC indicating that by not apologizing or showing more remorse, Sirleaf denied both her own responsibility and undermined the TRC process.
Playing the voice of the voiceless
In an interview with PUNCH online service Tuesday, MC Caro disclosed the motivation for her latest video calling for Sirelaef, PYJ, and others to be dragged before a war crimes court was garnered from the thousands of Liberians, who may want to speak out against the atrocities perpetrated during the war years, but are unable due to several factors.
“I see myself as the voice of the voiceless,” said MC Caro, adding, “music has to do with being the food of the soul – what others want to say and are unable to express, an artist can reach out for them and portray it through song.”
The rising Liberian female musical star, MC Caro, believes she’s inspired by Liberians regarding spiritual, political, social, economic and moral happenings in the country, indicating that from the look of things, Liberia and Liberians need a war crimes court.
“We don’t want it, we need the war crimes court,” MC Caro added, saying, if the process leading to the establishment of a war crimes court for Liberia is to be delayed, until majority of the citizens consent to same, the court may not be set up – “we need the court – people need to pay for what they did.”
Born Caroline Moore, alias MC Caro, the 24-year-old made her entry into the music world seven years ago, but came to limelight two months ago, when she released her music video titled: “Pro-poor”, in which she slammed the Liberian government under the rule of footballer turned politician, George Weah, for among others being responsible for the country’s current economic woes.
MC Caro’s “Pro-poor” song made a hit and continues to do so, in and out of the country, with the video announcing her on the bigger stage in no small way. On her official fan page on Facebook, the video has so far received close to a million views.
