Sirleaf told her country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Thursday she initially supported former president Charles Taylor's rebellion, but was fooled by the man who is now on trial for war crimes.
"If there is anything that I need to apologize for to this nation, it is to apologize for being fooled by Taylor in giving any kind of support to him," said the 70-year-old president. "I feel it in my conscience, I feel it everyday."
"I will admit to you that I was one of those who did agree that the rebellion was necessary," she told the commission. "But I was never a member of the NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia)," Taylor's army.
Sirleaf said she sent Taylor money in the early years of Liberia's civil war, which began when the warlord's militia invaded the country in 1989. But after she had found out what Taylor's real plans were she changed her mind.
Sirleaf also denied any role in Taylor's break out from a Boston prison in 1989, before he became a rebel against Samuel Doe. Instead, she said US officials were aware of Taylor's plans in Liberia. The country's civil war triggered an intertwined conflict in Sierra Leone.
Taylor is now being tried for war crimes for his role in Sierra Leonean war in The Hague. He is accused of arming, training and controlling Sierra Leone's notorious Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in exchange for diamonds used to fund warfare (1991-2001). However, he does not face any charges for alleged crimes in his home country.
Liberia is recovering from years of conflict characterized by widespread rights abuses, including massacres, use of child soldiers and rape and sexual violence. Out of a population of 3 million, an estimated 300,000 Liberians were killed, with as many as 1.5 million displaced.
The TRC is probing Liberia's brutalities between 1979 and 2003 and seeks to promote national peace, unity and reconciliation. It has been holding public hearings for nearly a year and hundreds of victims, as well as perpetrators have appeared before its panel.
In January the commission said it would be recommending that a special court try those responsible for war crimes and human rights abuses.
- Charles Taylor verdict expected next year
- Former Liberian warlord warns truth commission
- Charles Chuckie Taylor gets 97 years for torture in US
- Liberians disillusioned with truth and reconciliation commission
- Charles Taylor won't appear before Liberia's truth commission
- The Liberian TRC - immunity versus prosecutions
- Liberian truth commission hearings in the US
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Tags: charles taylor, ellen johnson sirleaf, liberia, RUF, samuel doe, sierra leone, truth commission, war crimes
