Word: sirleaf
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...years on from the end of Liberia's long and bloody civil war, the country is finally on the mend. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund regularly applaud President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Africa's first elected woman leader - on the huge strides she's making to stamp out corruption and rebuild her shattered country. (Read: "Rebuilding Liberia...
...That image has now taken a hit. In its final report, released yesterday, Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a body modeled on South Africa's historic truth commission, says Johnson Sirleaf should be banned from government for 30 years for her early support of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Taylor, who played a central role in Liberia's conflict, is on trial in the Hague for crimes against humanity that stem from his part in the civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. (See pictures of death and life in Sierra Leone...
...took three years and several million dollars to complete. It investigates the causes and consequences of Liberia's conflict, a war that displaced a third of the people in the small West African country, left a quarter of a million dead, and countless more raped, disabled, and traumatized. Johnson Sirleaf is among 50 people the Commission recommends should not be allowed to hold public office. The Commission also says that dozens of individuals should face further investigation and prosecution, though does not include Johnson Sirleaf on those lists. Still, to name the president as the TRC does, is tough censure...
...Perhaps. But in a conflict that went on for nearly two decades, it's hard to find any Liberian officials whose hands are completely clean. When she testified at the TRC, Johnson Sirleaf admitted that during the early years of the war she had brought food, supplies and financial assistance to Taylor. At the time, she said, she wanted to see an end to the repressive and tyrannical regime of President Samuel Doe. If she cast her lot with a war criminal, she said, she did so unwittingly. (Read a Q&A with Johnson Sirleaf...
VIDEO AT TIME.COM To watch a video interview with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and subscribe to the 10 Questions podcast on iTunes, go to time.com/10questions...