Fears about their safety keep exiles away, Kromah says

Opposition politician Alhaji Kromah has urged Liberia’s government to create the conditions needed for the return of Liberian exiles, independent Star Radio reported on Tuesday. Kromah, who led the ULIMO-K faction during the seven-year civil war that started in December 1989, said some 30,000 former fighters in exile wanted to return home but were concerned about their security. Kromah’s comments were in response to a recent appeal by Taylor for the former ULIMO-K leader and George Boley, another politician, to return and help rebuild the country. Star reported Kromah as saying that he and some prominent Liberian opposition politicians planned to return home this year if security improved. Star said he wanted government to make policy reforms that would foster genuine national reconciliation. The government could take decisive measures to encourage exiles to return, Augustine Toure, head of Liberia Democracy Watch, told IRIN on Wednesday. These, he said, included displaying tolerance for dissenting political views, and creating an independent judiciary “not only in name but in structure and action”. He added: “There has been persistent interference with the judiciary.” Toure said the government must also introduce a true free market and competition as an incentive to returning exiles who could engage in gainful employment. “We have very much an entrenched patronage system in this country where the ruling class has become the client of the foreign business class and they are busy extracting resources for private use and not for national development,” Toure said.