Reminder: Centre of African Studies Monday Seminar Transition and Justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia Gerhard Anders, University of Edinburgh Monday 18 November at 5pm, Room S1 ARB In sub-Sahara Africa, recent debates about political new beginnings have often been framed in terms of transitional justice and criminal responsibility. These debates are not limited to truth commissions and international criminal tribunals. The problem of new beginning after violent conflict or political oppression has shaped controversies and contestations in a range of sites including re-education camps for demobilized combatants, village meetings, parliaments and domestic courts. In Sierra Leone and Liberia, the new beginning after the end of the civil wars has been a contradictory and contested process. In both countries, truth commissions were established to address past injustices. In addition, in Sierra Leone an international criminal tribunal was set up to hold accountable ‘those bearing greatest responsibility’ for war crimes and crimes against humanitarianism. The focus on these institutions, however, does not reflect the complete story of the messy new beginnings in Sierra and Liberia. Although not labelled as transitional justice mechanisms, there have been detentions and trials in the national courts that have to be seen in the context of the debates about how realize more justice and a break with the past. My analysis will, on the one hand, situate the truth commissions and the Special Court for Sierra Leone in relation to conflicts and negotiations about the terms of the new beginning and, on the other, examine the detentions and domestic trials in the context of debates about transition and justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Refreshments will be served after the seminar and there will be the opportunity to accompany the speaker for dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:37:58 +0000
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