South Africa Pledges High-Powered Technical Mission to Support Liberia’s Peace and Reconciliation Museum
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA:— The Government of South Africa has pledged to send a fully funded, high-powered technical, tourism and cultural delegation to Liberia to support the establishment of a proposed National Peace, Reconciliation and Memorial Museum.
The commitment was made during high-level discussions between South Africa’s Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Hon. Gayton McKenzie, and Liberia’s Minister of State without Portfolio, Hon. Hadja Mamaka Bility, who led a delegation appointed and dispatched by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. as part of his Administration’s broader efforts to advance national peace, reconciliation, historical preservation and healing.
Minister McKenzie directed that the South African mission include senior experts from the country’s leading museums, memorial sites, archives, cultural institutions, artifact-repatriation initiatives and institutions with experience in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.
The delegation will travel to Monrovia to conduct technical workshops, share expertise and support Liberia in developing credible systems for collecting, preserving and presenting the country’s history while maintaining the truth and integrity of its past.
Welcoming the commitment, Minister Bility said Liberia looks forward to working closely with the South African Government and its technical institutions as the museum initiative moves toward implementation.
She said the planned South African mission will coincide with efforts to convene the inaugural steering committee for the proposed museum, creating an opportunity for several days of intensive technical engagement between Liberian and South African experts.
Minister McKenzie described Liberia and South Africa as “brother and sister nations,” recalling Liberia’s historic support for South African freedom fighters during the anti-apartheid struggle.
“We are not going there only to teach. We are also going there to learn from the Liberians,” Minister McKenzie said, emphasizing that the planned engagement would be based on mutual learning and cooperation.
During the four-day South African phase of the study tour, the Liberian delegation held discussions with senior officials responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as representatives of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
The delegation also met with the leadership of the University of South Africa (UNISA), where both sides agreed to explore opportunities for knowledge-sharing, specialized training and postgraduate education for Liberians in museum development, archives, peacebuilding and reconciliation.
As part of the tour, the delegation visited the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Hector Pieterson Museum, Mandela House, Freedom Park, Apartheid Museum, UNDP South Africa and other major cultural and historical institutions.
UNDP Resident Representative in Liberia, Ambassador Aliou Mamadou Dia, described the outcome of the engagement as a major boost to Liberia’s museum initiative and reaffirmed UNDP’s support for the Government of Liberia.
The South African commitment follows the successful completion of the Rwanda and South Africa phases of the study tour undertaken by the delegation at the direction of President Boakai.
The delegation is expected to return to Liberia to brief President Boakai on the outcome of the engagements, consolidate lessons from the study tour and begin preparations for the arrival of the South African technical mission.
The proposed National Peace, Reconciliation and Memorial Museum forms part of President Boakai’s broader reconciliation efforts to preserve Liberia’s history, promote national healing and provide present and future generations with an accurate account of the country’s past.
