Liberia gets down to new era
2003-08-12 09:24
Monrovia - Liberia on Tuesday began its first full day without Charles Taylor as president, and efforts were to get a lasting ceasefire and begin distributing urgently needed humanitarian aid.
Taylor stepped down as president on Monday and left the country, a key demand of rebels who have taken over four-fifths of the country of 3.3 million people and laid siege to the capital for more than two months.
His departure for asylum in Nigeria sparked hope that peace would finally return to Liberia, ravaged by two bloody wars in which Taylor has been a key player.
The commander of the US task force of three warships sailing off the coast of the capital was expected to go ashore to co-ordinate reopening of the port of Monrovia to humanitarian aid.
The anti-Taylor rebels Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) control the port, which is key to resolving the humanitarian crisis in the capital, where about 250 000 people face acute food, water and medical shortages.
The rebels have earlier pledged to pull back after Taylor left the country.
'All must commit to ceasefire'
United States secretary of state Colin Powell said in Washington late on Monday that General Thomas Turner would go ashore by Tuesday to meet the US ambassador in Monrovia, the commander of the West African peacekeeping force and the head of the rebel force that controls the port.
"This is the time for all of the parties to commit themselves to a ceasefire, commit themselves to peace and let us begin the task of relieving the suffering that has afflicted the Liberian people for so long," Powell said.
The United States has resisted strong international calls to send peacekeeping troops to Liberia.
But it has moved the three amphibious warships - the USS Iwo Jima, USS Carter Hall and USS Nashville - within sight of Monrovia to send a "powerful message" to the warring factions on land, SAID a US defenCe official.
There are about 3 000 marines on the ships.
"I would not expect any large commitment of US forces," said Powell, but said some US troops might help the west African peacekeepers secure and put the port back into operation.
Senior United Nations' World Food Programme staff were also set return to Monrovia on Tuesday, for the first time since they were evacuated in June, to assess the population's needs.
Boarded plane to Nigeria
When handing over power to vice-president Moses Blah, Taylor made clear he felt pressured to step down and lashed out at the United States and regional powers for forcing his hand.
But "this should be the end of the war," he said.
Even as he boarded a Nigerian plane for exile, troops from Taylor's own government forces joined rebel gunmen to dance on a bridge across which they had been shooting at each other during the heavy fighting that has wracked the capital for weeks.
But prospects for co-operation were unclear as Lurd and a smaller rebel faction have yet to say if they will work with Blah.
He is a former guerrilla leader who fought alongside Taylor in the Libyan-trained rebel movement that triggered the 1989 conflict and eventually swept them to power.
In his first speech after taking charge as head of a caretaker government, Blah urged the two rebel groups to "work with us so the people of Liberia can know peace".