Meanwhile, Liberia’s president Charles Taylor resigned August 11—a central demand of Washington before deploying substantial forces on the ground—and flew to neighboring Nigeria, which had offered him asylum. About 100 South African troops, along with forces from Nigeria, guarded the Executive Mansion in Monrovia that day. Several African heads of state were present in the ceremony where Taylor handed over power to his vice president.

Klein said the goal of the UN-sanctioned intervention is to establish a “government of technocrats” with a “sprinkling of international civil servants” to run the country for as long as two years before “free and fair elections” could be held. This government, he added, would restructure the banking system and foreign ministry and other governing institutions, and rebuild the infrastructure, including Liberia’s railroad from Monrovia to neighboring Guinea.

According to an Associated Press dispatch, the UN envoy appealed to about a dozen countries to provide troops and other resources. The governments of Bangladesh and Namibia have agreed to provide as many as 5,000 soldiers. Those of India, Pakistan, Ireland, and South Africa may also provide troops. So far the Pentagon has authorized only 20 U.S. Marines to go ashore.

Despite Washington’s posture of restraint, the U.S. ambassador to Liberia, John Blaney, has been centrally involved in the deployment of the West African troops and negotiations with the armed opposition groups. With Taylor still officially the head of state, Blaney escorted the commander of the Nigerian troops to a meeting to negotiate with LURD. “The meeting went well. We are on track,” reported U.S. military attaché Colonel Sue Ann Sandusky following the meeting.

Washington seeks a broader foothold against its imperialist rivals in Africa, especially in the oil-rich region of West Africa. A joint effort by Washington and London to impose international sanctions on the Liberian diamond trade in January 2001 was stymied by the former French colonies of Burkina Faso and Mali with backing from Paris. The French government also blocked imposition of sanctions on its interests in timber and maritime registry.

On August 11 Taylor handed over power to Liberia’s vice president, Moses Blah. In a televised speech the previous day Taylor blamed Washington for the country’s civil strife, calling it an “American war” motivated by Washington’s eagerness to get further access to the country’s natural resources. He said the U.S. government was backing the main opposition group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). “They can call off their dogs now,” he said, referring to the LURD.

The next day U.S. ambassador Blaney dismissed the charge. “We haven’t supported LURD,” he said.

“For us in LURD the war is over,” Sekou Fofana, a leader of the group, told Reuters August 11. “Once [Taylor] leaves Liberia today, we are not going to fight.”

Washington had pressed hard for Taylor’s departure. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell also made it clear that Washington backs “war-crime charges” against Taylor handed down by a UN court in the former British colony Sierra Leone because of his support for rebels in that country. “If Mr. Taylor leaves Liberia and is given asylum in Nigeria, this does not remove the indictment in any way,” Powell said.

Both opposition groups, LURD and MODEL, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, are made up of former government officials and military commanders in Taylor’s regime. “Old Foes Embrace New Liberian Truce” read the headline of a Washington Post article on the first meeting of commanders of government troops and the armed opposition. Liberian Col. Lewis Brah walked across a bridge leading into Monrovia that had been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting just days earlier to meet his old friend known to him only as Gen. Azim, the article reported. “We were hugging and shaking hands,” Brah said after the meeting. “We drink. We smoke. We talk about the past.”

LURD forces are armed and trained by the government of Guinea. The group has its diplomatic headquarters in Conakry, Guinea’s capital. Its leaders say funding for the group comes from exiles living in the United States, where some of its central leaders live and the group functions freely. According to an exposé in the Liberian Post magazine, LURD also receives indirect aid from Washington and London. Washington has increased military aid to Guinea, which in turn has increased supplies to LURD.

U.S. corporations enjoy the lion’s share of foreign contracts and investments in Guinea, which has the world’s second-largest bauxite reserves and more diamonds than Sierra Leone and Liberia combined.

MODEL emerged this year from a factional split in LURD and has its headquarters in French-dominated Ivory Coast. Both groups are divided along ethnic lines—with Mandingos supporting LURD and MODEL based largely among Krahns.  
 
 
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