Thousands of Liberian refugees in the state of Minnesota will have a chance to share their harrowing stories on Thursday when the United States branch of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission is launched at the state capital.
Participants will be able to build a record that will reveal both sides of the Liberian civil war, said Jennifer Prestholdt, deputy director of Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. Prestholdt is helping to coordinate the commission’s efforts.
The statements will then be sent to Liberia to help the country uncover human rights abuses and hold those who committed the crimes accountable. The US programme is a mirror of the programme the Liberian government launched earlier this month.
It can be therapeutic for refugees to tell their stories, Prestholdt said. Volunteers will collect stories during one-on-one interviews this autumn from Liberian refugees in the US.
No other truth and reconciliation commission has used refugee statements in its projects, Prestholdt said, with only the Sierra Leone commission taking some statements.
The commission begins in the Twin Cities, with later stops in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey. Minnesota was chosen first because of the number of Liberian refugees in the state. Liberian activists estimate there are as many as 25 000 refugees in the state.
State demographer Tom Gillaspy said his office has not officially estimated the Liberian population in Minnesota, but he said it is clear the state is one of the centres for Liberians in the United States.
After the statements are collected, the reconciliation portion will begin with public hearings in both Liberia and the United States, including in the Twin Cities, Prestholdt said. During these hearings, victims are able to step up, vent their emotions publicly and talk about their experiences.
Liberia has been rebuilding following the eight-year civil war sparked by former President Charles Taylor’s invasion in 1989. An estimated 200 000 people were killed during the war, with more than 1,5-million Liberians displaced from their homes.
Last autumn, Liberia elected President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in the country’s first postwar elections, giving Liberians hope that the country can move beyond years of strife. ‒ Sapa-AP