With ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor's departure from the country into Nigerian exile, the prospects for peace appear to be better. But only if international peace-keepers move in, writes Gamal Nkrumah The defining moment for Liberia is at hand. The meeting on Tuesday of Liberia's interim President Moses Blah and the United States Commander in West Africa General Thomas Turner comes at a time when Liberians are pleading with Washington to put an end to the factional fighting. The two men discussed the precise nature of the role expected to be played by United States peace-keepers in war-ravaged Liberia. Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is at loggerheads with US Secretary of State Colin Powell over whether or not to intervene in Liberia. Powell has officially made a promise that the US will send peace-keeping troops into Liberia once Taylor is removed from office. Now that Taylor has actually left the country, Washington is under intense pressure to live up to its pledge. The US Department of Defence and the US military is quite reluctant to intervene militarily in Liberia. With such divergent views, it is not surprising that the faintest signal emanating from Washington is read in West Africa as confirmation of one viewpoint or the other. Washington now finds itself in a West African quandary. Two interpretations of Washington's confusion over Liberia contend for pride of place in the minds of Liberians and fellow West Africans. One is upbeat. Washington's confusion stems from grave concern about how best to serve the interests of the long- suffering Liberian people. The other sees a host of ulterior motives. Official declarations of anxiety over Liberia's future is seen as so much noise. Given past performance, there is every reason to take seriously the view that Washington is not very interested in Liberia simply because the country is not sitting atop a vast oil reservoir. Unlike Iraq, neither North Korea nor Liberia possess oil, and therefore there is no real incentive for the US to get bogged down in conflicts that will not pay dividends. The trouble is that the security situation in Liberia is fast deteriorating. Humanitarian conditions have hit rock bottom. Two thirds of the country's 3.5 million people face starvation and are denied access to medical facilities. Food supplies are dwindling fast. Put simply, there can be no dithering over sending peace-keepers into Liberia. "I am being forced into exile," declared Liberia's ex-President Charles Taylor before he stepped down from office on Monday. By Tuesday, Taylor was in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar. The British colonial authorities once used to rule southern Nigeria from Calabar, an old slave-trading port. Taylor took up residence in the Old Residency, Diamond Hill, in Calabar's old historic quarter. Before his departure Taylor waved his weeping supporters good-bye in his trademark white safari suit and handkerchief. His entourage was pitifully small. Taylor, who won a landslide victory in the 1997 presidential elections promised to return to the country at a future unspecified date. All eyes are now turned on his successor Blah. Few Liberians are acquainted with Blah's background. With the sudden demise of Taylor's former Vice President Enoch Dogolea in June 2000, Blah was named Taylor's surprise successor and catapulted to the second most powerful position in the country. Blah hails from Nimba County in the northeastern part of the country bordering Ivory Coast. Nimba is widely regarded as a stronghold of Taylor's National Patriotic Front. Blah confesses to being a Taylor loyalist, but the two men fell out in June, when rumours that Blah was conniving with the Americans to oust Taylor from power. Blah professed his innocence, but was forced to tend his resignation. He was, however, reinstated as Taylor's chosen successor shortly afterwards. Blah, who had military training in Tanjoura, Libya, between 1985-89, calls Taylor his "Revolutionary Brother". He has been Liberia's ambassador to Libya in the past and is fluent in Arabic, English, French, German and several indigenous Liberian languages. The Liberian armed opposition groups have announced that they will not accept Blah as president of Liberia. They say that he is one of Taylor's henchmen and cannot be trusted. Peace talks between the Liberian government and armed opposition groups are being held in neighbouring Ghana under the auspices of the 16-nation Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS). Under the terms of an agreement to be signed at the end of the Liberian peace talks, Blah is to step down as interim president and a civilian successor from one of the political parties not affiliated to either the government or armed opposition forces is to be installed as president. The two main armed opposition groups, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), which control about two thirds of the country are under increasing pressure from ECOWAS and the US to seriously negotiate an end to the Liberian civil war. All political groups in Liberia are urged to accelerate the peace process.
