Liberia celebrates

2003-08-11 20:02

Monrovia - Groups of heavily-armed teenage gunmen belonging to both the forces loyal to Charles Taylor and the country's main rebel group danced together on Monday after the Liberian president stepped down.

The group of gunmen, who carried booming heavy stereo equipment, were seen dancing together at the Gabriel Tucker Bridge, also called the New Bridge, scene of the heaviest fighting in the capital.

In government-held central Monrovia, people said they were glad that Taylor had gone because they believed it would usher in peace.

Vowfee Jabateh, 35, an unemployed former journalist, who has been trapped in central Monrovia for three weeks said: "It's very, very good that he is gone."

"It will bring peace to Liberia - the problem was his leadership and the LURD only rebelled because he broke his promises," he said referring to the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement.

"He should leave Liberia and never come back. He should go to Sierra Leone and answer for what he has done," Jabateh said in reference to the UN-backed court that has indicted him for war crimes in the neighbouring country.

Declaring "history will be kind to me", Taylor handed over power Monday after 14 years at the center of two bloody wars that have brought Liberia to its knees.

Vice President Moses Blah was sworn in as Taylor's successor at a ceremony held in the presidential palace and attended by African leaders keen to ensure a smooth transition in Monrovia, a hub of instability in the region for decades.

The long-awaited handover is seen as vital to ending nearly 14 years of almost uninterrupted war in Liberia beginnning with a seven-year rebellion sparked by Taylor in 1989 that left 200 000 dead.

- AFP