Liberia held a historic symbolic reburial for former President William Tolbert and 13 members of his cabinet, 45 years after they were killed during the 1980 military coup. President Joseph Boakai led the ceremony, which sought to address one of the most violent chapters in the nation’s history.
Tolbert was murdered in the uprising led by Sergeant Samuel Doe, and his top officials were famously executed by firing squad on a beach in Monrovia shortly after. Because the original burial sites remain unknown and no remains were recovered during recent excavations, the graves at the state funeral were left empty and unsealed in the hope that their bodies may one day be found.
The event was marked by deeply symbolic gestures intended to promote national healing and respect for the deceased. At the request of the families, the traditional 21-gun salute was replaced by 21 trumpets to avoid the sound of gunfire that had ended the lives of their loved ones. Each family was presented with a national flag as a formal recognition of the officials’ public service.
This ceremony follows a similar state funeral for Samuel Doe himself, who was killed in 1990, as part of President Boakai’s broader effort to reconcile the various factions of Liberia’s past and move toward a collective national conscience.
For the descendants of those executed, the day represented a vital but long-overdue step toward closure. Family members expressed that while the pain of the brutal public executions remains fresh, the state funeral offered a way to honor their fathers as heroes rather than victims of a political “kangaroo court.”
These acts of remembrance come at a time when Liberia is taking more concrete steps toward justice, including recent executive orders aimed at establishing a special court to prosecute historical war and economic crimes, moving the country closer to the goals set out by its Truth and Reconciliation Commission years ago.