Liberia, June 26 -- Liberia's Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, Claims and Petitions this week began consultations on six competing bills to establish a war and economic crimes court and a national anti-corruption court, the first step in an effort to harmonize the legislation before public hearings expected to begin in July.

The consultations come after years of competing legislative proposals and months of delays over the Office for the Establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court's own draft bills. The session was not open to the media. But advocates who attended the opening meeting Wednesday said they were encouraged by senators' willingness to address key differences among the proposals before they are presented to...