Global Policy Forum

Peace Plea to Liberian Rebels

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BBC
August 12, 2003

Liberia's interim president, Moses Blah, has used his first full day in office to urge rebels to lay down their weapons and help to rebuild the country. But his call coincided with reports of renewed fighting on the road between the capital Monrovia and Liberia's second city, Buchanan, involving government forces and the rebel Model group.


United States forces positioned off Monrovia are poised to help move urgently needed relief supplies out of the city's rebel-held port. Three American warships could be seen off the coast for the first time as former President Charles Taylor went into exile in Nigeria on Monday.

Mr Blah is expected to meet the US commander, General Thomas Turner, on Tuesday which many people hope will lead to the US forces helping Nigerian peacekeepers in the war-ravaged country. Mr Blah also emphasised the critical situation in the capital which he said was desperately short of food and fuel.

Mr Taylor - who handed over power at a ceremony in Monrovia on Monday - arrived early on Tuesday in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar, where he has been offered a hilltop mansion home. US President George W Bush welcomed his exit, calling it "an important step toward a better future for the Liberian people". Tens of thousands of people in Monrovia have been isolated by weeks of fighting, while a humanitarian crisis has also been reported by the International Red Cross in the port city of Buchanan, to the east.

The US has still not committed to sending the marines ashore. But on Tuesday the commander of the US task force flew into the US embassy in Monrovia to meet the US ambassador, the commander of the West African peacekeeping force and the head of the Lurd (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) rebels.

UN role

The United Nations has said it will return to Liberia on Tuesday to resume humanitarian operations if the security situation permits. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hoped Mr Taylor's departure would "at last mark the beginning of the end of the long nightmare of the Liberian people," Mr Annan's spokesman said.

Mr Blah - who was sworn in as Mr Taylor's successor on Monday - is set to rule Liberia until October, when a government of national unity, currently being negotiated at peace talks in Ghana is due to take over.

The BBC's Barnaby Phillips in Monrovia says that Mr Blah has struck a conciliatory tone in his first speech after taking charge of a caretaker government and the onus is now on the rebels to play their part. The rebels have previously rejected his appointment saying they would not recogise him or his government. Our correspondent also says that in the wake of Mr Taylor's departure, a heavy responsibility will fall on the West African peacekeepers in Monrovia.

Defiant exile

Celebrations erupted in Monrovia on Monday as Mr Taylor relinquished power. Mr Taylor's supporters wept as he boarded the Nigerian-bound plane, waving goodbye with a white handkerchief.

The former warlord, wanted for war crimes in Sierra Leone, and pressed to resign by Washington and by West African leaders, adopted a defiant tone as he left office, describing himself as a "sacrificial lamb". "History will be kind to me. I know I have fulfilled my duties," he said. "God willing, I will be back," Mr Taylor added.


More Information on Charles Taylor
More Information on Liberia

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.