Bryant, a successful entrepreneur, has made significant progress during his four months at the helm of Liberia’s rebuilding efforts. At a disarmament drive in December, some 11,000 former members of deposed President Charles Taylor’s forces traded in their weapons for cash. In January, Bryant commissioned a new board of Supreme Court judges to redress Liberians’ grievances in an equitable and peaceful manner. Most importantly, Bryant seems to have infused the nation with a spirit of optimism for its future, even among those who were at one time sworn enemies of Liberia’s peace process. The leaders of Liberia’s two main warring factions wrote a statement condemning Bryant in January, but when their own followers began turning on them, they retracted it. On Monday one of them, the head of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy [LURD], handed his weapons over to the peacekeeping troops in a very public demonstration of support for Bryant.
Still, Liberia’s greatest challenges lay ahead. The schools, hospitals and utility services are in dire disrepair, and the national debt is estimated at $3 billion. There are still 50,000 armed dissidents to be dealt with, and there is always a risk that the disarmament process will turn violent, as it did in December. Over the next few months, the world’s largest U.N. peacekeeping forces will be assembling in Liberia, facilitating the demobilization that is essential to Liberia’s future. During his trip to New York, Bryant spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Karen Fragala about Liberia’s reconstruction and his plans to grant a general amnesty for war crimes committed before last August. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: What are your main priorities for budgeting the money you have been pledged this week?
Gyude Bryant: Disarmament. Take the guns away from all of the combatants who are carrying guns around the country and then put the money into education and skills training. Providing health services so that people can begin to have access to clinical services. Reduce the infant mortality rate. Another priority is basic utilities, clean water. Getting people resettled in their communities where they come from. We have a huge refugee community and internally displaced people. Ensure that the security system works, so that we can have a secure environment and [can] attract foreigners in the private sector to drive our economy.
How will you provide the most essential necessities to Liberians while rebuilding the nation’s economy and infrastructure?
We’ve done some basic things–[such as] pay civil servants since October. We’ve reduced the basic price of our staple, rice, and reduced the price of petroleum by taking on the excesses from previous governments. The best we can do is go back to implement programs of self help and get people to open up cash crops like rubber and cocoa. There will be some assistance, small loans to help people produce. That’s the best we can do. But people must be prepared to work.
One of the conditions laid out in the Liberia peace deal in Ghana last August stated that the two rebel groups will “be able to engage in politics if they turn themselves into political parties.” What is the difference between a political party and a rebel group?
Political parties don’t carry weapons or take arms. They advocate a policy, issues, a platform and are accepted by what they propose to offer the people. One of the things they do not advocate is “we will give you guns to shoot our way to political power.”
What are the ideological discrepancies between Liberia’s rebel factions, and what are you doing to iron them out?
No ideological differences. The biggest challenge to them is ensuring they will have their forces ready for disarmament, because they carry the responsibility to have their men ready to be disarmed. From reports I’m getting, I think their programs are going pretty well. I have a huge information program going out, an awareness program. Fighters are being made aware of the process.
For some former rebel fighters, a gun was their only power and their main means of procuring food. How do you intend to convert 50,000-plus former combatants throughout Liberia into responsible and peaceful democratic citizens?
The process that the disarmament is taking is that you be assembled at your camp, and you will be taken from that camp to a recruitment site. At that site, we will take your weapons. We’re mindful that people have a spouse and siblings. So when you deal with us, we’ll give you $75. That money is intended for you to take back to your wife and siblings and provide for them for the first three weeks while you are at the camp. After another week at the camp, they’ll give you a second $75 dollars. Now, this stay at the camp is intended to give you a clean bill of health, detoxify you and to prepare you to either be directly reintegrated because some of them are. But the vast majority of them will require a detraumatization period. The process ensures that we will provide for their siblings so that they don’t start running away from the camp.
Why is the demobilization of rebel troops taking longer than expected?
[When] we started disarmament [on] Dec. 7, we said we were going to begin with former [Liberian government] forces. The numbers overwhelmed us. We expected a few thousand, and [there] has been 12,000 to date. Delay has been on the government and U.N.’s side. We were simply not prepared. Troops have not come in fast enough, We need to have enough troops on ground to carry this out.
Will rebel fighters be retrained to work in the Liberian military or in the police force?
Criteria for serving in the new military have been drawn up and anybody who can satisfy it can serve. It requires a balance from all regions, gender balance, basic literacy. If the person is from warring factions, they must understand civil liberties.
According to U.N. mission chief Jacques Klein, Liberian children are less educated than their parents. What is your plan to educate and train Liberia’s youth?
Top priority. We are already beginning to spread resources and work on legislation for compulsory primary education so that we can bring a felony [charge] against parents who refuse to send their kids to school. We will put money to rehabilitate the university and make it ready for startup.
What about mending relations between Liberia and its West African neighbors?
We’ve spoken about how we intend to live at peace–all things must be behind us. We want to be at peace with our neighbors. We have expressed regret over atrocities that happened. Liberia played a major role in the independence of these countries. We have common borders. How can we be at war with ourselves? We must restore normalcy.
You have been quoted as saying that a U.N.-backed war-crimes trial of former president Charles Taylor would harm reconciliation efforts. What would be an appropriate way to address the allegations against him? Will he ever be prosecuted in Liberia?
At no point did I say that. What I have said is that Taylor’s removal is a part of the peace process, and that process is ongoing. That is why the president of Nigeria [Olusegun Obasanjo] has said [that] when an elected government comes in, then it can ask for Taylor’s extradition. Now is a transitional period. It requires that Taylor be taken out. Give us a chance to rebuild.
There have been numerous reports of atrocious war crimes in Liberia during the past 14 years–including widespread rape. How do you intend to punish these crimes, especially given that some ministers in the transitional government are members of the warring factions that allegedly committed these crimes?
We will punish war crimes that occurred since the peace agreement [in August 2003]. Before that, there will be general amnesty. Only those that took place after [that date] are punishable by law.
What is the greatest challenge ahead for Liberia and for you as chairman of the transitional government?
Keeping the peace process on track, implementing plans for which we’ve gotten a great response. Leaving in two years and returning to the simple life, the private life. I can’t wait.
