SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Michelle Reyes Milk, Human Rights Watch point person for Liberia
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court and national anti-corruption court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with experts and stakeholders about how the courts will work.
In this interview, I speak with Michelle Reyes Milk, senior counsel in the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch and the new point person for Liberia. We spoke on the sidelines of a justice conference in Monrovia.
Michelle has extensive experience in international criminal justice, including in her home continent of South America. She served as regional coordinator for the Americas at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Binta Mansaray, former registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives, Okay FM and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As planning for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with experts and stakeholders about how the courts will work.
In this interview, I speak with Binta Mansaray, Registrar of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone,Â
She served as Registrar during the court’s prosecution of those bearing the greatest responsibility for atrocities committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war. 13 people were indicted and nine were ultimately convicted — including Liberia’s former president, Charles Taylor.
We spoke on the margins of an international justice conference in Monrovia.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Fatou Bensouda, former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court and national anti-corruption court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts will work.
In this interview, Anthony Stephens speaks with Fatou Bensouda, a former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the sidelines of the African Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg this month. A Gambian and the only woman to date to hold the role, Bensouda led the Court’s prosecutorial team from 2012-2021.Â
Some notable prosecutions took place under her watch included former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo; Kenya’s former president Uhuru Kenyatta; and William Ruto, now Kenya’s sitting president, who at the time had just been elected deputy to Kenyatta. Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was also prosecuted under her watch.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Lofa County Senator Joseph Jallah on Why He Has Introduced a War Crimes Court Bill to the Legislature Now
In this interview, I speak with Lofa County Senator Joseph Jallah — who along with Pro-Tempore Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence – has introduced two bills to establish Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts. Â
The bills have surprised the court’s proponents because they have seemingly come out of nowhere and they have some controversial elements that contradict a bill submitted to the legislature in 2021 by Liberian Bar Association. That bill had buy-in from most of the court’s advocates and was seen to be a starting point for new bills that must go to the legislature soon to trigger the start of the court. Critics say Jallah’s bills could slow down or undermine years of advocacy to establish the courts.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Cecil Griffiths, security expert, on the challenges of protecting witnesses and national security during a war crimes court
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview, I speak with Cecil Griffiths, head of the Liberia National Law Enforcement Association and a key adviser on national security issues. Griffiths trains Liberian security personnel and has a good understanding of the country’s security sector.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
“Leaders Need to Love People More Than Their Foreign Bank Accounts” – A SPECIAL INTERVIEW With Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Laureate
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview, I speak with Leymah Gbowee, one of two Liberians who won the Nobel peace prize in 2011. Gbowee has had a huge impact on Liberia’s peace process. She’s principally remembered for leading a non-violent women movement, women of Liberia mass a ration for pace.Â
The group pressured warring parties to sign a peace agreement in Accra, Ghana to eventually end the country’s civil wars nearly twenty-two years ago.
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
Special Interview: Rosemary Mbabazi, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Liberia, On What the World Can Learn from Rwanda’s Journey from Genocide
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview, I speak with Rwanda’s Ambassador to Liberia, Rosemary Mbabazi after a thirty first anniversary commemoration in Monrovia, of its 1994 genocide of the Tutsi people.Â
Many consider Rwanda a post-conflict success story. It’s shaken off the horrors of the genocide that killed as many as one million of its citizens. Â
In the years since, Rwanda has instituted a robust program of reconciliation, justice and commemoration, and a strong rule of law that has attracted investors and delivered strong economic development to its people. Many justice activists think it has a lot of lessons for our own country.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Jallah Barbu, newly appointed Executive Director of the Office of War and Economics Crimes Court
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
In this exclusive interview, I speak with Jallah Barbu, newly appointed executive director of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts. Dr. Barbu will lead Liberia’s long overdue effort to hold those who upended the country and left 250,000 dead, accountable at last. Just a month into the job Dr. Barbu has already faced a host of challenges, chief among them, a lack of funds.Â
But he says he is honored to have the role and understands the weight of expectation he carries for the millions of Liberians still suffering the aftermath of the war.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Interview with Seidu Swaray, of Liberian Association of Psychosocial Services On Liberians’ Mental Heath Post War and Self Care as a Court Gets Underway
In this interview, Anthony Stephens speaks with Seidu Swaray, a leading mental health counsellor and executive director of the Liberia Association of Psychosocial Services. Swaray’s group provides psychosocial services to Liberians, including victims of the civil wars. He describes the profound mental health challenges facing the country after the civil wars and advises people how to deal with trauma that the upcoming court may trigger.
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Interview with Peterson Sonyah, Head of Liberia Largest Survivors Group
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview, I speak with Peterson Sonyah, head of Liberia’s largest victims and survivors’ organization, Liberia Massacre Survivors and Association. Peterson is a survivor himself having narrowly escaped his own death at the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in 1990 in one of the bloodiest massacres of Liberia’s civil wars. While he escaped witnessed the murder of his father and six other members of his family by troops with the Armed Forces of Liberia.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Stephen Rapp, Fmr. Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone and US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Crimes
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
Special: Hassan Bility, Long Time Justice Advocate and Head of Global Justice and Research Project Shares His Thoughts on Liberia’s War and Economics Crimes Courts
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview, I speak with prominent Liberian human rights advocate, Hassan Bility. The Director of Global Justice and Research Project, Bility’s role in Liberia’s transitional justice process has been immense.Â
His organization has partnered with Swiss justice activists, Civitas Maxima to investigate and bring evidence to prosecutors in Europe and the US that has been used to prosecute more than a dozen individuals accused of war-related crimes in Liberia.Â
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Tennen Tehoungue, Liberian Transitional Justice Expert, on the War and Economics Crimes Court
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview I speak by zoom with Liberian transitional justice expert Tenneh Dalieh Tehoungue. She’s is undertaking a PHD in transitional justice, peacebuilding, and reconciliation at Dublin City University in Ireland.Â
Tehoungue has some novel ideas for a court. One idea is for the Boakai administration to forgo international funding for the courts and ask the country’s diplomatic partners to, instead, return funds frozen from alleged Liberian criminals to support the court….
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Alain Werner, Director of Civitas Maxima on Liberia’s War and Economics Crimes Courts
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
 As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international transitional justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.Â
In this interview I speak by zoom with Alain Werner, a prosecutor with the Special Court for Sierra Leone and head of Civitas Maxima, which has had a key role in the cases against accused warlords in Europe and the United States over the last decade.
Werner also represented victims in the historic trial of former Chadian president, Hissène Habré, who was prosecuted in an extraordinary chamber in Senegal set up by the African Union…..
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org
SPECIAL: Reed Brody, Leading Human Rights Lawyer and Victims’ Lawyer in Habre Trial
Welcome to this special edition of Democracy in Focus, a collaboration between New Narratives and Front Page Africa. I’m Anthony Stephens.
As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts get underway, we are running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international justice experts and stakeholders about how the courts could work.
In this interview I speak by zoom with Reed Brody, a leading international human rights lawyer who represented victims in the landmark trial and conviction of Chadian dictator Hissen Habre.Â
Brody has played a key role in the quest by Gambians for a court to try perpetrators of the Jammeh regime and led United Nations teams to investigate massacres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish and US embassies in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org