After 20 years of inaction, the new president has a responsibility to take action – and fast

Joseph Boakai, who secured a narrow victory against incumbent George Weah in a November run-off election, is set to be inaugurated as Liberia’s new president on January 22.

The 78-year-old political veteran won the tightly contested race on a promise to address corruption, work towards societal “peace and reconciliation” and deliver justice to the many victims of Liberia’s civil wars (in 1989-1997 and 1999-2003), which killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions of others.

As two decades have passed since the end of the latest round of conflict, and as many accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity are now in their old age, Boakai’s upcoming six-year term as president may be Liberia’s last window for meaningful war crimes accountability and justice.

The task at the hands of the new president, however, is neither straightforward nor easy.

In the past 20 years, several attempts have been made to try and hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable, with little success.

In 2005, following in the footsteps of neighbouring Sierra Leone, which was recovering from its own conflict (a conflict that was very much intertwined with that of Liberia), the Liberian parliament enacted a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Four years later, in 2009, the TRC released its final recommendations, including reparations to victims of the civil wars, reforms to prevent atrocities from reoccurring, the establishment of a special court for war crimes, and the banning of certain implicated individuals from holding office until their names are cleared. The commission’s list of persons to be “barred from holding public offices” for “being associated with former warring factions” was extensive and even included then-President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.