MONROVIA – Liberia’s Ambassador Lewis Brown has warned that peace agreements, while necessary, do not by themselves guarantee lasting peace, stressing that peace must be built and sustained daily within communities, institutions, and local economies if post-conflict societies are to avoid relapse into violence.
Speaking at an Arria Formula Meeting on peacebuilding convened by the Federal Republic of Somalia on Monday, January 12, 2026, Brown said Liberia’s own experience following two decades of conflict demonstrates that peace negotiated in conference rooms often collapses when it fails to reflect the lived realities of ordinary people.
“Liberia comes to this conversation shaped by two decades of transition from war to peace,” Brown stated, adding that the country’s journey since the 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement revealed a hard-earned lesson: “A peace agreement is not peace. Peace has to be made and remade every day in homes, markets, villages, and institutions.”
He cautioned that post-war mistrust does not automatically disappear when fighting ends, noting that unresolved land disputes, lingering grievances, and perceptions of exclusion can quietly reignite instability. According to Brown, conflict often returns not through open warfare, but through entrenched social and economic tensions left unaddressed.
Drawing from Liberia’s recovery process, Brown emphasized that inclusion was not optional but essential for survival. He said women’s groups, youth leaders, religious figures, and traditional authorities were not passive observers during Liberia’s peacebuilding phase, but active architects of stability at the community level.
“In Liberia, inclusion is not a slogan; it has been a survival strategy,” Brown said, pointing to community peace huts, local mediation mechanisms, and the Palava Hut system as examples of culturally grounded approaches that enabled dialogue, forgiveness, and dispute resolution when formal institutions proved ineffective.
Brown also reflected on Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, describing it as a critical but incomplete tool in the peacebuilding process. He said while the TRC helped expose painful truths and amplify victims’ voices, its limited implementation weakened public confidence in national healing efforts.
“One key lesson remains clear: truth without follow-through weakens confidence,” Brown noted, stressing that peacebuilding efforts must link acknowledgment of past abuses to tangible reforms in justice, accountability, and governance.
Addressing governance, Brown said Liberia’s decentralization efforts revealed a strong connection between peace and how power and public services are distributed. He argued that bringing decision-making closer to communities reduces frustration and enhances participation, making decentralization a core peacebuilding strategy rather than a technical reform.
Land disputes, he added, remain among the most volatile triggers of post-conflict violence. Brown said Liberia’s progress in resolving land conflicts through community-based mediation and the integration of customary authorities with formal legal systems helped reduce tensions that once fueled instability.
Turning to broader regional dynamics, Brown said modern conflicts are increasingly complex and prolonged because they are rooted in inequality, exclusion, and social fragmentation. He warned that elite-driven peace deals and checklist agreements are no longer sufficient in addressing these challenges.
“Processes must be grounded in communities’ lived experience,” Brown said, emphasizing that women and young people must be meaningfully involved from the outset rather than added as an afterthought once decisions have already been made.
He further highlighted the importance of aligning local peace initiatives with regional and continental efforts, noting that Liberia views cooperation with the African Union and sub-regional bodies as a practical necessity, not symbolic diplomacy.
Brown concluded by urging international actors to abandon compartmentalized peacebuilding approaches, arguing that justice, governance reform, livelihoods, and social cohesion are inseparable. He said policies and funding decisions must be shaped by realities on the ground, not only by reports and frameworks.
“Peace endures when citizens recognize themselves in the process,” Brown said, reaffirming Liberia’s commitment to people-centered, accountable, and locally rooted peacebuilding as the only sustainable path to long-term stability.
