This week Special Court for Sierra Leone people have been in Liberia doing outreach stuff–dispelling rumors about how they are operating. Today Charles Taylor’s prosecutor and principal defender took questions at the Gender Ministry from local civil society groups. The prosecutor is the white guy on the left. He’s an American who used to worked with the tribunal in Rwanda. The defender is the black guy on the right. He’s a Nigerian.

There are a lot of critiques I could offer about the Special Court. But I’m focusing this entry on a guy named Peter Ballah. Peter is a Liberian comedian. He “translated” stuff said by the Special Court people into Liberian English. It was hillarious. Well, on the one hand it was kind of condescending. The people in the room understood the Special Court people just fine–they didn’t need stuff translated into simpler English. But the whole event was recorded on radio…so I guess people in the interior might benefit from this.

Some examples of translations (roughly transcribed):
One of the Special Court (SC) people: We are only going after the people who ordered the killings, we are not going after the people who took the orders.
Peter: Da Special Court, dey goin’ aftah big men, bossmen, dey not goin’ aftah da small-small man who took da awdah, da small potatoe.”

SC person: We want everyone to understand what is happening at the Special Court. Even the people on the street. Even the people in the farm.
Peter: Da Special Court, dey want da book people and da people who don’t know da book to know what happenin’ in Special Court.

SC person: Some people say Charles Taylor is not being treated well at the prison in The Hague. This is not true. He gets food, medical check-ups, if he needs an operation we will give him an operation.
Peter: Cha’ Taylor i’ ok.

SC person: I used to work in Rwanda after the genocide that killed about 800,000 people.
Peter: He wen’ to Rwanda. He pu’ it under control. He gonna come he’ and make sure no more wa’ here.

There were some great questions asked by audience members:

(After being told that the trial is expected to last 18 or 19 months, beginning on June 4, 2007, plus an appeal if necessary in the second half of 2009, someone asked…) Q: What assurances can the Special Court give us (Liberians) that we will not have to bury Taylor before 2009?

Q: You say that you will protect witnesses who agree to testify. But when so many people have such large extended families, how will you protect them?

Q: Why is Taylor being judged as an individual if his alleged support of the RUF dates back to while he was president? Why isn’t he being tried as a former head of state? (The somewhat satisfactory answer to this is that Taylor allegedly committed the crimes extra-judicially, not in his capacity as a head of state. i.e. He didn’t ask the National Legislature for permission to arm the RUF.)

Q: Could Taylor come back to Liberia if he is found innocent? (Answer: Yes)

I just finished reading this great article by Tim Kelsall (sp?). The article argues that Sierra Leoneans, after being screwed over so often, have developed a defense mechanism that involves withholding information. People don’t want to offer all of the information they have because it could be used against them in the future. The article shows how this has been a major problem for the Special Court, because people refuse to pin down events by time and location, or refuse to offer details. (Kelsall argues that there can be other reasons for this as well.) Often people have nothing to hide, but they are so used to keeping information to themselves for security reasons that the process of offering precise information, and then being cross-examined and asked to confirm precise information is not conducive to their way of interacting. I notice this sometimes here too. Here, more than any other place I have been to, information is power.