Liberian President Joseph Boakai has initiated a national reconciliation campaign, including memorials for two slain former presidents and an official government apology to victims of Liberia’s brutal civil wars.
The campaign marks the country’s most significant public reckoning with its violent past, over two decades after conflicts that killed an estimated 200,000 people and left a legacy of massacres, sexual violence, and the use of child soldiers.
At a remembrance event in Monrovia, Boakai pledged to make July 5 an annual day of reflection and remembrance for victims. The president has also taken part in ceremonies honoring former leaders William Tolbert, who was executed during the 1980 coup, and Samuel Doe, who was killed in 1990 during the civil war.
These moves come amid growing pressure from rights groups demanding accountability for war-time atrocities. While Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended prosecutions in 2009, no war crimes trials have been held domestically.
President Boakai signed an executive order last year to establish a war crimes court and renewed it in April to avoid expiration.
Activists have welcomed the apology and ceremonies but are urging the government to allocate funding and fully operationalize the court. Critics argue that long-standing impunity, exemplified by figures like the late Prince Johnson—Doe’s killer turned senator—must end for true justice to be served.
