Friday, 1 April 2011 SHOW ME A WOMAN’S FRIENDS AND I WILL TELL YOU WHO SHE IS Mr. Editor: Today in Liberia, the popular saying, show me a person’s friends and I will tell you who that person is, is being played out in the inability of president Sirleaf to condemn the wholesale atrocities being perpetrated by President Gadaffi against his own people. It is no longer news that Gadaffi has unleashed an all out war against the Libyan people simply because they have dare to ask him to leave office after 42 years of, at best, eccentric rule over these most patient people. Appalled by the atrocities, most credible leaders have rushed to condemn Gadaffi and his dictatorial rule, but not president Sirleaf. Glued to Gadaffi by all kinds of shady deals and dependent on him to finance her shameless bid for a second term, (shameless because she had sworn to the Liberian people that she was going to serve only one term), Mrs. Sirleaf now seems tongue-tied and locked-jaw to condemn Gadaffi, even after the Americans, with whom she claims to be so friendly, had in no uncertain terms condemned Gadaffi and called on other countries to do likewise. President Sirleaf could only say that she hopes for an “amicable solution” to the Libyan crisis. Amicable solution? This is either a most naïve or heartless statement, or both; for what amicable solution can there be between a government bent on staying in power by brutally murdering its citizens, on the one hand, and the helpless and unarmed citizens, on the other hand? Counselor Jerome Verdier of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was one of the first to sound the alarm. He reminded the nation that president Sirleaf had throughout her term forged a close relationship with Col. Gadaffi resulting in benefits to a few, including “perhaps the party of the president”. The counselor went on to warn president Sirleaf that she is obliged not only to condemn the killings in Libya but also to assure that “Liberia will not be a safe haven… for human rights violators like col. Gadaffi”. But sorry, counselor Verdier, President Sirleaf is in a bind. She continues to be fed from Col. Gadaffi. That is why she continues to hesitate in condemning Gadaffi. The United States and the international community as a whole must take not that respect for human tights and respect for the correct position of the United States does not matter to president Sirleaf when her selfish and parochial interests are at stake. It is certainly true: show me a woman’s friends and I will tell you who she is! Look at some of the President’s other friends: That conservative US Senator, John McCain, whom she supported against our own brother President Obama; and the renegade president, Gbagbo, who she supports against the internationally recognized president Ouatarra. The president should be warned, however. If she thinks she can go against the will of the Liberian people in the forthcoming elections – as her friends Gadaffi and Gbabo are doing to their people – if she thinks she can do such, she is making a sad mistake. Liberians will stand up for their rights and ensure that their choice in the elections will be the one occupying the Executive Mansion. By: S. Civicus Barsi-Giah Intellectual Class
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:59:29 +0000
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