Ex-Minister Waritay applauds JNB’s Ecowas Memorial Policy—calls for a new governance mindset in post conflict Liberia
Former Information Minister, Lamini A. Waritay, has described as “very commendable” the government’s decision to erect a national memorial as a symbol of appreciation for the sacrificial services made by soldiers of ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) during Liberia’s bloody and long-running civil war.
Waritay opined that the Jospeh Boakai administration’s policy decision to embark on the memorial project, “some 28 years after the formal exit of ECOMOG forces “is one that should be viewed by all Liberians as a consequential government action,” never mind his regret that “such recognition did not come about sooner enough–especially during the 12-year administration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.”
Prof. Waritay, who served in the Interim Government led by the late Dr. Amos sawyer and extensively interacted with ECOWAS and ECOMOG forces during the bloody civil war years in the 1990s, observed that “only those who do not know about, or cannot recall the sacrifices of ECOMOG soldiers during those years, would take lightly “the significant nature of the government’s memorial decision.”
Waritay holds the view that “If our West African brothers had not effectively and selflessly intervened to save Liberia as a nation-state, during its ferocious civil crisis in which tribes and neighbors turned on each other, and where inane brutality reached its zenith with consequences that still reverberate in the country and the subregion, the country would have become a wasteland.”
The former Minister recalled how he and a few other Interim government officials had the “very unforgettable and painful burden of attending some of the very solemn state-sponsored funerals of ECOMOG soldiers as they were laid to rest in the cemeteries of their respective countries.”
Waritay recalls one such ceremony at the Osu cemetery in Accra, where he came face to face with the young children and spouses of some Ghanaian soldiers who had been killed by rebel forces back in Liberia. That experience, he recalled, left him “struggling to hold back his tears” at the event—which was attended by the late Ghanaian leader, Jerry J. Rawlings, the late Interim Government leader, Dr. Amos C. Sawyer, and top military brass of the Ghanaian army.
He said such state and military burials took place also in other ECOMOG troop contributing countries (Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, and Sierra Leone). He also recalled having seen Nigerian casualties being brought to Lagos during the heat of the war even while more Nigerian soldiers were at the same time being readied to be sent to the theater of war back in Liberia—which he described as “a show of incredible spirit of African solidarity, brotherhood and sacrifice.”
The erstwhile University lecturer observed that “Only those Liberians who did not live in Liberia during those devastating conflict years and had no idea about what the ECOMOG soldiers went through will minimize the gallantry of ECOMOG forces in their efforts to put an end to the generalized violence that left Liberia as a failed state in the 1990s.”
The former minister expressed deep regret that “While our brothers and sisters came to help put an end to the inferno that had engulfed the entire country, in their role as peacekeepers, the rebel forces, in particular the NPFL led by Charles Taylor, saw the ECOMOG soldiers as enemy combatants who should be eliminated in whichever way possible.”
Waritay said this incredible level of hostility led to instances where NPFL fighters deliberately ambushed peacekeepers and slaughtered them. He recalled a particularly gruesome case in which drugged up NPFL rebels ambushed an ECOMOG vehicle on the Roberts Field highway, captured a senior officer, and slit his throat, The story goes that they left his body there, along with those of a few soldiers he had with him to show ECOMOG and the interim government that the rebels meant business, and that they were determined to fight the peacekeepers by all means.
Waritay pointed out that “despite such brutal provocations by rebels against ECOMOG, the sub regional force never lost its bearing by going on the rampage in Liberia. He noted that given his intimate knowledge and experience regarding ECOMOG at the time, the West African military outfit had the requisite capabilities to wipe out the NPFL and destroy all areas they were then occupying. But, he pointed out, “the West African leaders and their military officers knew all along that ECOMOG’s mission was not one of belligerence, hence its designation as the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG)”
Such an all-out ECOMOG offensive, Waritay argued, “would have needlessly cost tens of thousands of more innocent lives and massive destruction to property country wide.” He said ECOMOG’s inalterable mission was to keep the peace, and for this they endured all kinds of untold violence and humiliation, including the capture of some of its young soldiers by NPFL who were taken to the NPFL headquarters in Gbarnga, held hostage there, anecdotally drugged and sexually molested.” Those who resisted were said to have been summarily executed at the back of Taylor’s headquarters, he recalled.
Waritay clarified that citing some of the atrocities committed against ECOMOG is not meant “to rekindle the bloody past, but to highlight the relevance and the necessity of the Boakai administration’s memorial policy decision, while educating those Liberians about the immense sacrifices made by ECOMOG troops to deserve such a national recognition—as long-awaited as it has been in coming.”
Waritay noted though, that while constructing a monument in appreciation of sacrifices made by ECOMIOG soldiers is “indeed a very thoughtful decision by the Boakai administration, Liberians (especially politicians) should learn from the past and ensure that those bad governance styles and behavior patterns that ultimately led to the catastrophic war in the first place, warranting the ECOMOG’s intervention, are intentionally and permanently banished from our body politic going forward.”
He called for a more progressive governance approach and mindset that will guarantee application of justice to all, irrespective of social, partisan, ethnic and religious status; respect for rule of law; fostering unity of purpose; facilitating political tolerance and accommodation; enhancing honest, transparent and judicious utilization and fair distribution of national resources and wealth for the benefit of all (to prevent alienation of any segments of the population); rejecting greed, selfishness and ethnic or county bias in national/governmental affairs; and eschewing political arrogance–attributes which, according to Waritay, led to the kind of conflagration that necessitated the deployment of ECOMOG in the country some 35 years ago.
