Justice & Peace Commission rejects smear campaign charge

The national chairman of Liberia's Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), Stephen Wreh-Wilson, told IRIN on Tuesday his organisation's disclosure of wrong-doing by security forces and the poor treatment of prisoners was aimed at alerting government to take corrective measures. "Government is not fulfilling its promises to the people, especially on security issues," he said. Wreh-Wilson described as untrue accusations by ranking government officials and bodies - such as the Ministry of Information, the police and the youth wing of the ruling National Patriotic Party - that the commission was conducting a smear campaign to discourage foreign aid to the government. He said the commission wanted government to act against security bodies that molested the public. Wreh-Wilson said dozens of civil war veterans had ransacked last week the home of the executive director of the Centre for Democratic Empowerment, Commany Wesseh, because Wesseh had said it was not the United Nations' responsibility to help the ex fighters. Human rights abuses blamed on security operatives, he said, included the murder of a Criminal Investigation Department officer , George Yalley. "We say that the culture of impunity must not be encouraged," he said. Wreh-Wilson also decried the conditions in the nation's prisons and detention centres as being inhumane. In Kakata's Carter High Prison, he said, inmates urinated and defecated in their cells, which exposed them to all sorts of diseases. In Sanniquellie others slept in the same space as goats, others prisons had no roofs or windows, prisoners often lacked food and some were beaten, he said. "The mentality is that once a prisoner you've lost all your rights," he said. Rights group calls for action against lawlessness The National Human Rights Centre, for its part, has urged Liberia's government to end increasing incidents of lawlessness in the country, Star Radio reported on Tuesday. The Centre cited Yalley's death, the attack on Wesseh's home and persistent reports of harassment and intimidation by state security in Lofa County. It said these acts of lawlessness were creating fear among area residents. The Centre urged the government to outlaw weapons in public places and, eventually, to make Liberia an arms-free society.