http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/ivory-coast-truth-or-justice
27 April 2011
How salubrious and healing are Truth and Reconciliation Commissions? This question rears its head again in Ivory Coast. The country’s new president hopes such a commission would restore the calm needed for a future of peace. At the same time, it could offer Ouattara the possibility of not having to appear in court.
By Thijs Bouwknegt, Amsterdam
One of the first statements made by Alassane Ouattara as president, after he had finally crushed his rival, was: ‘a truth and reconciliation commission is going to heal the wounds of the civil war’. Ouattara is facing the emblematic problem of political transition: he has to rebuild the country and settle the past.
Ivory Coast’s much divided population must find a way to live side by side, while the two former presidential rivals must bear responsibility for possible crimes against humanity their troops might have committed. Is it a matter for a TRC, or for judges in a court of law?
Ouattara looks at South Africa, which serves as the classic example of dealing with a brutal past without the interference of judges. Desmond Tutu’s truth commission in the 1990s uncovered the atrocities of Apartheid. Victims were heard in public, while perpetrators were offered amnesty in exchange for confessions. The commission’s purpose was to document past atrocities, reconcile the black and white populations, and reach justice. In South Africa, healing was more important than retribution in court.
Global trend
They became a global trend: official probes into large scale human rights violations, repression or disappearances. Often these commissions dealt with recognising the victims’ suffering, documenting crimes and reconciling former rivals.
Historically, TRCs have been popular in dealing with military juntas in Latin America. Reconciliation initiatives after the war in the former Yugoslavia, however, failed. The US city of Greensboro looked into racial unrest in 1979, while in Canada a commission is currently probing the treatment of its indigenous people.
TRCs were also set up in Asia. Earlier this year, the South Korean commission published an extensive report on human rights violations dating back to the 1950s. Last year, Thailand created a commission which examined the country’s bloody political unrest earlier that year.
Africa
Africa has the highest number of TRCs. Often these proved to be a façade for impunity. The world’s first truth commission was set up by Uganda’s mass murderer Idi Amin. Conclusions from a number of other TRCs remain obscure to this day. Who would still remember Robert Mugabe’s murderous campaigns in Matabeleland in the 1980s? A commission of inquiry examined the matter, but its report remained confidential.
In Liberia, Ivory Coast’s neighbour, the TRC was seen as the only solution for answering the question of justice after a decade of civil war. However, notorious warlords consequently escaped prosecution.
Other TRCs were doomed to fail. Burundi was too divided to discuss its genocidal episodes, while in Eastern Congo the examiners had blood on their hands. In Kenya, where hearings started last week, political wrangling overshadows the content of the subject matter. Chad reached a small victory: documented atrocities formed the basis of a court case against former President Hisséne Habré.
West-Africa
Ouattara does not mention TRCs in the region. Yet West Africa has shown that it has the capacity for self reflection, albeit not as effective as that of Tutu’s South African commission. Neighbouring Guinea announced an investigation in January into the mass killings and rapes at Conakry’s largest stadium two years ago.
The TRC in Sierra Leone published a substantial report on child soldiers and blood diamonds, but reconciliation was hardly present. Potential perpetrators stayed away from the hearings, afraid of prosecution by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown. The report, ‘Witness to Truth’, is gathering dust as the cash-strapped government of Sierra Leone is unable to follow up on the report’s recommendations.
Ouattara could reach out towards the east. In Ghana, efforts towards a TRC led to limited reparations to victims by a succession of corrupt regimes.
ICC
While Ouattara considers his options, the ICC prosecutor is looking over his shoulders. Luis Moreno Ocampo will point out to the new president that recent ethnic killings could not just be dealt with by truth commissions. Judges, preferably in Ivory Coast but otherwise in The Hague, must look into these crimes against humanity, the prosecutor said.
Truth commissions are good sources of material for prosecutors, but impunity is a taboo for Ocampo. His credo is that “one does not cancel out the other.” Both Laurent Gbagbo and Ouattara are well aware of The Hague. Both men – Gbagbo already in 2003 and Ouattara a few weeks ago – have sent a letter to the ICC giving Ocampo the mandate to carry out an investigation.
And now we have to wait to see whether Ouattara could realise his concoction of truth, reconciliation and justice. Ivorians and the international community will closely watch his promises.
