Liberians Want Deployment of US Soldiers

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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It’s getting real hard to keep up with who wants the US to send troops into their country and who doesn’t. A couple things of interest in Liberia. First, it is the country originally founded by former US slaves. Second, the current leader is under indictment for war crimes allegedly committed in Sierra Leone. Third, Nigeria has offered him exile and promised not to turn him over for war crimes prosecution.

Here’s the latest news.

U.S. Military Team Lands in War-Wrecked Liberia
Mon July 7, 2003 01:16 PM ET

By David Clarke
MONROVIA (Reuters) - A U.S. military team flew into Liberia on Monday to look at how best to bring stability to the broken West African country as President Charles Taylor prepares for exile.

The humanitarian survey team touched down in helicopters at the heavily-fortified U.S. embassy in the steamy coastal capital Monrovia, where hundreds were killed in fighting last month. Gun-toting U.S. Marines leapt out in flak jackets and helmets.

The 20-member team is seen as a possible precursor to a larger force, which the United States is considering and Liberians are praying will come in to save them from nearly 14 years of violence.

“We are here to see what we will need to bring with us to provide humanitarian assistance,” said the commander, Captain Roger Coldiron. “I am not here to assess the military situation, but I am here to assess the security situation.”

President Bush, due in Africa on Tuesday, has not yet decided whether to send peacekeepers to the country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. He insists that the first step should be Taylor’s departure.

Besieged by rebels and wanted for war crimes by an international court, Taylor said on Sunday he had accepted an offer of asylum from regional giant Nigeria and just wanted to make sure an international force was in place to prevent chaos.

West African countries have pledged 3,000 troops and want U.S. forces to help them bring that up to 5,000, but Washington well remembers a bloody withdrawal from Somalia 10 years ago after a humanitarian intervention went awry.

HUMANITARIAN ROLE

The U.S. team that flew in from Europe will get down to work on Tuesday, visiting camps for tens of thousands of refugees from Liberia’s war. It includes experts in water purification, preventive medicine, construction and logistics.

But Liberians hope for a much larger U.S. military presence.

“What are they waiting for?” growled one man after learning that the team that flew in on Monday were not the longed-for peacekeepers to keep apart the warring factions.

Any bigger operation would be certain to raise questions in the United States given heavy commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has said Congress should vote on sending any troops to Liberia.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Britain and France all want a leading U.S. role and ministers preparing an agenda for the upcoming African Union summit in Mozambique also piled pressure on the United States.

** Liberians want U.S. peacekeepers because they fear that no others will win the necessary respect from fighters often stoked on drugs and drink and with a casual attitude to murder, rape and theft. **

The big worry – as Taylor has pointed out himself – is that fighters and rebels would run wild if no force was in place by the time he left.

Pressure for Taylor to step down has grown since rebel attacks on Monrovia left 700 dead last month. He is accused of masterminding wars across West Africa, holds barely a third of Liberia and is wanted by Sierra Leone’s war crimes court.

Taylor emerged as the dominant faction leader after a war that left 200,000 dead in the 1990s and won an election landslide. Foes from that conflict started a new one three years ago while Liberia was still on its knees.

Although Sierra Leone’s war crimes court has vowed to pursue Taylor even if he goes to Nigeria, Obasanjo made clear on Sunday that he would not be pressured. Nigeria has no law under which Taylor could be extradited to face the court. (Additional reporting by Alphonso Toweh in Monrovia, Manoah Esipisu in Maputo)

Edited - with link: http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3048879

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What a mess. With commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq it puts the United States in that much harder of a position. With Taylor on his way out it's time to send the troops in and hope for the best. 'Hope for the best' doesn't sit well with many Americans, but it's the right thing to do.

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Don't look now, but Colonial states UK, France and US have all been asked to return to Africa. Try as I might I am unable to find any real success story in Africa. Even the states that boast robust Democracies have horrible AIDS problems. I fear the entire continent is slowly going down the drain. I fear Geo. W. is too little too late....

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Myeb those who are older and wiser, or just wiser can tell me if the colonies of a particulart country did better than the colonies of another power. Speaking of the usual suspects, britain, france, italy, germany, spain, portugal etc. I think that former British colonies are doing much better than the rest, and the former french colonies are doing the worst.

Its just an impression that I have with no real scentific study to support my views. maybe it was the type of colonies, how they were before the colonization that matters as well.

also..was colonization good for some of these places? because otherwise they would be worse off since they would not get any benefit of the knowledge that the colonists brought?

anyone know more?

P.S, I did not include US here because I dont really think US is a colonial power.

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Mail deliver and schools in British colonies are generally excellent! Police usually have very snappy uniforms......

The US is not a colonial power? So nice of you to say that!

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ohioguy: *
The US is not a colonial power?

[/QUOTE]

well according to my HT guests here it is, but in my view its not. with all its weaknesses in foriegn policy, US still has accomplished more for itself, and its allies through policy than through outright colonization, which is admirable.

P.S. I think I will be lynched soon by the Ht types :)

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Amazing. Now the Liberians are running around chanting for US military troops.

Liberians Storm Airport in Plea for U.S. Peace Force
Wed July 9, 2003 01:59 PM ET

By David Clarke
MONROVIA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Liberians chanting “We want peace, no more war” burst onto an airport runway on Wednesday to urge a U.S. military team to send peacekeepers as soon as possible.

West Africa’s regional bloc said it planned to send 1,000 soldiers to Liberia within two weeks and expected help with logistics from the United States, which has yet to decide if it will join a peacekeeping force.

President Bush, on an African tour, has promised to work with the United Nations and African countries, but he has not committed himself to sending troops to a republic founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century.

Liberians hope he will help save them from hardened fighters on all sides who casually kill, rape and loot. Rebels control some 60 percent of the country of three million after nearly 14 years of violence.

“We want Bush,” chanted some of the Liberians who tried to reach a U.S. reconnaissance team in Monrovia on Wednesday. Liberian forces kept them clear as they stormed onto the tarmac at the James Spriggs Payne airport in the pouring rain.

Bush has told President Charles Taylor to quit as a first step to peace, but the former warlord has warned of chaos if he steps down before peacekeepers arrive. Taylor has already accepted a Nigerian asylum offer.

Bush reiterated his position on Wednesday after talks in South Africa with President Thabo Mbeki, saying: “(Mbeki) asked whether or not we’d be involved and I said ‘yes, we’ll be involved’. We’re now determining the extent of our involvement.”

WEST AFRICA PLEDGES TROOPS

A spokesman for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it planned to get 1,000 troops on the ground within two weeks. The bloc has pledged 3,000 troops and wants U.S. forces to help bring that up to 6,000.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said more assessment teams like the 32-strong team in Monrovia would be sent to ECOWAS members to help in deciding whether it should send its own peacekeepers.

“Until the assessment teams come back, it seems to me that we will not have a good grip on what we would propose to the president” for Liberia, Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Washington well remembers a bloody retreat from Somalia a decade ago after a humanitarian intervention went awry.

Taylor told CNN that Liberia, with its strong ties to the United States, would be insulted by any comparison with Somalia.

“Everything here is American, everything, everything. We are educated in America… I have my nephews in the Marines and everything. We can never be anti-American. So Somalia – don’t even mention it,” he said.

Taylor has not yet set a timetable for leaving and quarrelling over a transition government is heating up.

Taylor’s negotiators at talks in Ghana said they had proposed that Vice-President Moses Blah take over when Taylor goes and that elections be held as planned in October, but the main LURD rebel faction said that was preposterous.

The rebel group, which has said its sole aim was to get rid of Taylor, made clear it would like the chance to lead the government.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=K312WENTCDR1UCRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3062791

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by myvoice: *
Amazing. Now the Liberians are running around chanting for US military troops.

[/QUOTE]

Yeah i suggest that we give Taylor a deadline to leave or we attack with our coalition partners and instill a more representative govt.

P.S. first time i read the title of this thread as "librarians want deployment of US soldiers"..thought that highschool crimes in inner cities have become even bigger issues so national guard and military presence on schools is needed.

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Moving in shortly, hope the UN is ready to assume their duties.
…
Bush: U.S. Ships Positioned for Possible Liberia Duty

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has ordered the Pentagon to position “appropriate military capabilities” off the coast of Liberia to support a West African peacekeeping mission in the war-torn country, the White House said on Friday.
“The U.S. role will be limited in time and scope as multinational forces under the United Nations assume the responsibility for peacekeeping and as the United States arranges a political transition in Liberia,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a written statement.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3160974

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Thank God!!

Some of the pictures of this civil war are horrific.

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Why isn't Russia or China sending peacekeepers? Why does it always have to be America that has to free people and keep the peace?

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Imdad Ali makes an excellent point, why aren't these countries sending troops in? Where is the UN?

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[QUOTE]
Originally posted by underthedome: *
Imdad Ali makes an excellent point, why aren't these countries sending troops in? **Where is the UN?*
[/QUOTE]

Probably struggling to meet its current commitments given that the USA still owes the UN over half a billion dollars.

Pay up before you start expecting it to be effective.