Vol.8 No.146 Wednesday, August 22, 2018.Cdr
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The French Version Inside Remembering ew Ellen’s 12 N TRULDYa INDEPENDENTwn Yrs Rule VOL. 8 NO. 146 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018 PRICE LD$40.00 2006 - 2012 “What have we done to them?” -Mrs. Yormie demands justice a g P11e Mrs. Cythia Yormie Mr. & Mrs. Yormie in happy mood WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22 2018 www .thenewdawnliberia.com NEW DA WN 2 Continental News Priest arrested after ‘drug gangs’ curse 9 4 - y e a r - o l d traditional priest has Abeen arrested in Nigeria after cursing the alleged perpetrators of a recent spate of violence. Anazo Ilomuanya was hired by a group of youths attempting to end killings affecting Ozubulu town, in the south-east of the country, police say. The police arrested the traditional priest after local people complained. The conflict, thought to be between rival drug gangs, led t o t h e k i l l i n g o f 1 3 churchgoers last year. It is believed that the perpetrators mistakenly thought the intended target of the attack was attending the St Philip's Church. At the time, police said the shooting was the result of a feud between Nigerians from Ozubulu who were living abroad and that the violence THE killing of 13 people at the St Philip's Church last year was thought to be connected to rival drug gangs could be linked to drug- trafficking. in seeking a means to end the police spokesperson Haruna priest and the youths to the unclear what they will be "The youths of the town, killings, consulted the Muhammed told BBC Igbo. police, Mr Muhammed added. charged with as it is not a under the name of Concerned traditional priest to lay curses But others in the town were Those arrested are due to crime to lay a curse on Indigenous People of Ozubulu on the people involved," unhappy and reported the appear in court, but it is someone under Nigerian law.- BBC Comoros ex-president Russia and CAR deepen ‘taken into custody’ military relations h m e d A b d a l l a h But an investigating judge reforms on the Indian Ocean Sambi, the former has now ordered he be archipelago.Last month, the Ap r e s i d e n t o f formerly detained. opposition called for a boycott Comoros, has been taken into Mr Sambi denies the of a referendum on changing custody amid an investigation accusations levelled at him the constitution to stop the into an economic citizenship linked to money that has rotation of the presidency programme introduced by his allegedly gone missing from a between the islands every five government, his family says. scheme to sell passports to years. He has been under house fund development. The successful “yes” vote arrest since May and denied Observers say his arrest means current President Azali a c c e s s t o p h o n e s a n d came amid a crackdown on Assoumani can seek another computers. opponents of constitutional five-year term.-BBC CAR's President Faustin-Archange Touadera made his second trip to Russia in less than a year in May he Central African train the forces and some Republic (CAR) has security agents to be part of Tsigned a military co- President Faustin-Archange operation agreement with Touadera's presidential guard. Russia, deepening relations The Russian journalists who less than a month after three were killed were investigating Russian journalists were killed Russian mercenaries alleged in the African nation. to be active in CAR. Russian Defence Minister R u s s i a n a n d C A R Sergei Shoigu said the deal authorities labelled the killing would "help strengthen ties in as a robbery, but exiled the defence sphere" after a former tycoon Mikhail signing ceremony in Moscow Khodorkovsky, who was with his CAR counterpart funding the journalists' Marie-Noelle Koyara. investigation, said the A UN arms embargo on CAR argument did "not stand up to The former president has been under house arrest since May was lifted for Russia in 2017. scrutiny", the Reuters news Moscow sent specialists to agency reports. WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22 2018 www .thenewdawnliberia.com NEW DA WN 3 Editorial Commentary By Shlomo Ben-Ami Escaping war crimes Colombia’s Peace responsibility Agreement Is Under Siege PRESIDENT GEORGE MANNEH WEAH and his ruling Coalition Thanks to the historic peace agreement reached by his government seem unwilling to yield to increasing demands both predecessor, Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez now in Liberia and from abroad for the establishment of a war crimes court for Liberia to prosecute ex-warlords and other key actors in presides over a country that, after more than five decades of hideous crimes committed during the 14 years of civil war here. violent conflict, is on the path toward lasting peace. But Duque THE PRESIDENT HAS every reason to feel uncomfortable seems determined to derail implementation of the deal. whenever calls for a war crimes court for Liberia is raised, because senior members of his government, including his ADRID – In 2016, Colombia’s government massive size, the country’s peace and stability have personal advisors are members and leaders of defunct warring reached an historic peace agreement with always depended on the state’s ability to provide factions. Mthe Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia services and institutional support to historically (FARC), ending a 52-year-old war that had killed marginalized areas. more than 265,000 Colombians and displaced THE SECOND IN command of his government, Vice President another seven million. The deal has been hailed as a Now, areas that have been evacuated by FARC lack Jewel Howard Taylor, is not only former First Lady and former new model for resolving seemingly intractable such support, leaving them vulnerable to renewed Senator, but estranged wife of jailed former President Charles conflicts. But it is now being tested like never volatility, reflected in a rise in politically motivated Ghankay Taylor. Mr. Taylor currently serves a 50 years sentence in before. assassinations. Small landowners, intimidated by the Britain for aiding and abetting disbanded RUF rebels in Sierra violence, are now being forced to sell at bargain Leone. He led a rebel invasion of Liberia through the disbanded Eradicating the root causes of such a protracted prices the stolen lands they recovered as part of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) in 1989 that conflict would be difficult enough in the best of Law of Victims and Land Restitution – another pillar of decapitated the despotic regime of President Samuel Kanyon times. With Iván Duque Márquez taking over the peace agreement – to major agro-industrial Doe. Colombia’s presidency, however, it will become companies. much more so. Duque’s mentor was former NOT ONLY THAT, a breakaway faction of Mr. Taylor's rebels – President Álvaro Uribe, the political nemesis of Such companies are also gaining access to areas of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia under the Duque’s immediate predecessor, Juan Manuel Colombian Amazon evacuated by the FARC – areas command of Field Marshall Gen. Prince Yormie Johnson, now a Santos, the architect of the peace accord. covered in virgin forests that are now in danger of senator in Weah's government, captured Doe in the Freeport of being destroyed. Last year alone, Colombia lost Monrovia in September 1990 and butchered him to death. Senator Already, Duque has refused to recognize key pillars almost a half-million hectares of forest cover – a 46% Johnson is a former presidential candidate and key political ally of the deal, beginning with the FARC’s status as a increase over the previous year. The destruction of of Weah. legitimate political party that can participate in this vital ecosystem threatens to accelerate climate democratic elections. He has also rejected the change. JOHNSON'S MOVEMENT FOR Democracy and Reconstruction Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), a new (MDR) party supported Weah in the 2017 runoff presidential extrajudicial court system created as part of the These are serious challenges, which can be overcome elections and the party is member of the ruling Coalition for deal to manage transitional justice – the legacy of only with deep and long-term structural reforms. But Democratic Change likewise Mr. Taylor's former ruling National abuses by FARC guerrillas and the right-wing that is no excuse to give up on the peace deal. After paramilitary organizations that fought them. all, such challenges were to be expected: unlike Patriotic Party (NPP) of which Vice President Jewel Taylor is peace deals between functioning states – which former standard bearer. Colombia’s powerful conservative establishment would focus on, say, delimiting borders – agreements has never been happy with the liberal spirit with non-state actors are virtually always followed by BUT IN SPITE of his apparent sympathy for war criminals, underlying the JEP, which aims to be more complex and protracted state-building efforts. President Weah is under immense pressure to halt the culture of restorative than punitive, putting the victims – and impunity in Liberia with the latest from Mrs. Cyenthia Yormie, the truth – front and center. The results might Consider the Good Friday Agreement that brought widow of the late John Yormie. Mr. Yormie was a senior member of include reparations and acknowledgements of peace to Northern Ireland after three decades of the dreaded rebels INPFL, commanded by now Senator Prince perpetrators’ guilt. But top FARC leaders would be violence. The deal was signed in 1998, but it was only Johnson. Yormie was bundled away by Mr. Taylor's frontline able effectively to avoid prison sentences for their seven years later that the Irish Republican Army commander, fugitive Gen.