The CPA says the TR process was launched in post-war Liberia to “to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity, as well as an opportunity for both the victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences, in order to get a clear picture of the past to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation”.

	• Mr. Cyril Allen

It is not clear where the commission overseeing he process went wrong, but its hearings have become a parrying ground for rhetoric and self-justification with those testifying carefully painting themselves as heroes rather than as the recruiters of the marauding bands of hooligans that ravaged Liberia from Robertsport to Cape Palmas and from Lofa to Sinoe.

They even turn on one another and take the mudslinging to the international community that rescued Liberia from their evil grips.

Now it is the turn of notorious NPFL chief strategist and NPP chairman emeritus, Cyril Allen. The Analyst Staff Writer, reports.

The former politico-military strategist of NPFL, Cyril Allen, has accused ECOWAS of frustrating the militia group’s violent takeover of Liberia not because it is concerned about Liberia’s welfare, but because of vested interest.

Then alluding to Taylor’s continued popularity in Liberia, the chairman emeritus of the National Patriotic Party (NPP), the political brainchild of NPFL, warned the TRC that his appearance in Liberia to testify would subvert the Sirleaf administration.

ECOWAS vested interest

Mr. Allen, often referred to by admirers as “Chief Cyril Allen” made the claims, yesterday, when he appeared before the TRC to testify to the role he played in the more than a decade-long devastation of Liberia and the maiming, murdering, and displacing of more than 250,000 of its citizens.

ECOWAS held a path-finding dialogue with Liberian stakeholders in an extraordinary summit in the Gambian capital, Banjul, in 1990 and came up with a peace formula that called for the cessation of hostilities; the demobilization of combatants, followed by the installation of an interim government that comprises civil society and faction representatives, which will not be headed by Liberia’s warring faction heads; disarmament, and general and presidential elections – all in 24 months.

The NPFL initially welcomed the deal, called “the ECOWAS Peace Formula”, but then decided to stand up to it, albeit alone, when it realized that Taylor was about to lose to politicians in the Diaspora the political trophy for which he carefully planned and made sacrifices.

ECOWAS in the awkward situation of making a choice between enforcing the peace formula largely endorsed by Liberians, the United Nations, and the then OAU and now AU, or surrendering to NPFL plan to perpetually militarize Liberia, a founding member of ECOWAS, to the detriment and security concerns of Liberia’s neighbors.

ECOWAS chose the former, and some of its well-off members contributed to the formation of an inter-positional military force christened, ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG).

Under hails of NPFL bullets, ECOMOG touched down at the Freeport of Monrovia on the morning of August 24, 1990 to rescue millions of Liberians who had been without food and medication for more than five months and to secure the capital for the inauguration of the interim government.

Observers say there is no shortage of witnesses and gratitude for ECOWAS’ magnanimity and ECOMOG sacrificial role in saving the lives of millions of Liberians from their own kinsmen marauding as killer “commandos”.

But Mr. Allen said that rescue mission that was concededly frustrated by NPFL propaganda and international double standard and intrigue was not without benefits.
He said not only did the intervention prolonged the war that the NPFL was poised to win in a matter of months, but that it also benefited those who claimed to have made sacrifice for the welfare of Liberia.

Mr. Allen said all of the countries that contributed troops to the hybrid ECOMOG were pursuing egotistic interest to protect or defend themselves against the threats of those they claimed were within the ranks and files of the NPFL that posed threats to their national securities.

“The Guineans sent troops to ECOMOG to fight the NPFL because of a Guinean dissident who wanted to dethrone the Conte’s government.

The Sierra Leone sent troops because of the presence of Foday Sankoh in the NPFL. The Gambians sent troops because of the presence of one Samba Sanyah who was with the NPFL and feared in The Gambia.

The Senegalese sent some troops from Operation Desert Storm because they wanted to protect the interest of The Gambia. All of these had toils on the war because these people were involved in all sorts of activities that contravened their peacekeeping initiatives,” he said.

Cyril Allen is a highly placed reservoir and repository of information in terms of the operations of the NPFL because he served in key capacities, first with the National Patriotic Reconstruction Assembly Government of “Greater Liberia,” the controlled areas of the NPFL.

He headed the National Carbon Oil Corporation of the pseudo NPRAG government and chaired the Liberia Mining Company.

He said he was instrumental in transforming the NPFL from the war machinery to a political institution and as a reward for his efforts served as Secretary General and then National Chairman of the National Patriotic Party (NPP).

Allen was forced by the NPP neo-militants to relinquish the post of chairman on policy differences with former President Taylor, then first partisan of the NPP.

Allen told commissioners of the TRC that apart from these countries sending troops for egotistic reasons, those in the hierarchy of ECOMOG at the time such as the field commanders traded in arms with the warring factions for financial benefits.

He claimed that General Sanni Abacha, then President of Nigeria, had to recall top generals and replace them because of their engagement in arm deals, outside of their mandate of restoring peace and sanity to Liberia.

He said Abacha did not know there was an orchestrated initiative on the part of the powerful countries to confuse the process and cause more havoc for the Liberian people.

“Some of the arms used against NPFL were those brought into the country by ECOMOG. They [went] to peace conferences to push their case for some of the bombs that did not explore.

It was indicated where those bombs were made,” Allen claimed, adding, “The whole thing was a gimmick intended to elongate the conflict because certain nations were not satisfied with the play of events in favor of the NPFL.”

Allen told the TRC that some members of the international community were fanatical about ending the war because “they too had their interests one way or the other to protect.”

Apart from the military aspect of prolonging the war, he also indicated, Liberians politicians played “lethal and controversial roles” in the war for self aggrandizement to the extent that even those who were not part of any warring groups flew to peace conferences to hustle for political posts.

“At some point in time, they will tell you I am for you; the next day you see them interacting with others on the other side of the divide. This is the kind of politics they played the prolonged the war,” the former NPP Chairman said.

He did not name any politician that did that, but largely blamed members of the “progressive class” for the war and its attending effects, saying “the progressives are solely responsible for the problem that befell Liberian.”

He blamed members of the progressives for indoctrinating the masses about their social and economic rights and what they needed to do at the time. He did not say what was wrong with civic education of the Liberian citizens, neither did he say whether he and his comrade in violence, Charles Taylor, were amongst those brainwashed by the progressives.
But he retorted to one TRC commissioner’s inquiry regarding his specific role in the war that unsettled Liberia and plummeted its economy.

“Some of them came here and informed you that they were involved in training Liberians for subversion. Fahnbulleh came here and told you that he trained people.”

He accused the progressives who testified before the TRC of failing to show remorse for their roles in the destruction of Liberia even though he himself did what he was accusing others of doing – painting himself as a hero rather than a perpetrator of violence against the Liberian people that badly needs forgiveness from former victims.

It was wrong, in his view, for anyone to brush aside remorse for wrong done and instead display ‘arrogance and contentment’ for what they did. It may be recalled that Dr. H. Boima Fahnbulleh, one of the progressives who testified before the TRC brushed aside the issue of expressing apology in general, saying “I will not apologize to the True Whig Party,” but did not say that to those Liberians whose children he led into war and who died in the process.

Some of those trained by Fahnbulleh died in prison in Sierra Leone following their arrest and detention by the government of Sierra Leone.

Threat to democracy

Mr. Allen says he does not support the idea that former President Charles Taylor should leave his cell in The Hague to come to Liberia and testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) because it would undermine the security of Liberia.

According to him, should Taylor come to Liberia, as the TRC wants, the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would be overthrown, but did not say by whom and for what.

To the outmost surprise of the audience and commissioners, Allen in a relaxed mood, said, “If Taylor should come here; sycophants and hooligans would get in the streets, burst stores and begin to loot in the name of the “Papay.”

He also did not say why this would happen, but observers see it as an allusion to Taylor’s supposed continued popularity in Liberia and the readiness of hooligans and former rebels to do anything in his name and on his behalf.

A fortnight ago, the TRC dispatched two of its commissioners, John Stewart and Pearl Brown Bull to Sierra Leone to meet with officials of the Special Court for Sierra Leone for the appearance of the former president before the TRC to testify to his role in the Liberian conflict as others are doing presently.

Allen used the occasion to appeal to the TRC to ensure that strategic Liberians who played major roles in the war appear before them and explain their roles and avoid what he called “selective invitations.”

According to him, the TRC is cleverly avoiding inviting some people because of their links with Western powers, most of whom are sponsoring the process financially. He did not call names, but the TRC, it is learned has invited almost all key players in the country.