The deployment was accompanied by a show of U.S. military force. “Cobra helicopter gunships bristling with rockets circled the city all day,” reported the Washington Post. “Harrier jets screeched again and again over downtown in late morning,” while transport helicopters landed Humvees and pallets of razor wire to build checkpoints.

U.S. president George Bush claimed that the troops will back up the Nigerian-led force of 3,200 troops from countries in the Economic Community of West African States “They are in the lead, and we are in support,” he said. Some 750 Nigerian troops, the vanguard of two West African battalions, have already been deployed. The Nigerian commander of the West African troops has asked U.S. military officials to double the number of U.S. Marines in action.

“This operation today is going to be an important one. You are going to see American boots on the ground,” said John Blaney, the U.S. ambassador to Liberia. Blaney has been centrally involved in the deployment of the West African troops and negotiations with the armed groups in opposition to now-departed president Charles Taylor.

The same day the U.S. diplomat shook hands with commanders of the main opposition force, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), to seal the group’s agreement to lift its siege of Monrovia. LURD representatives agreed to hand over control of the ports, where the city’s main food reserves are warehoused. Blaney met with Liberia’s new president, Moses Blah, August 13. Following the meeting, Blah announced U.S. fighter planes would begin patrolling Liberian skies.

Taylor departed the scene two days earlier, taking refuge in Nigeria—a step that Washington had insisted on as a condition for the intervention of U.S. troops. In a parting speech Taylor accused Washington of backing the opposition. “They can call off their dogs now,” he said, referring to LURD.

Blah has agreed to hand power over to an interim government sometime in Octo-ber. On August 14 he met with leaders of LURD and a second opposition group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) in Ghana, where negotiations have been going on for a few months. Blah has already offered the opposition the post of vice-president in an interim government. But negotiations floundered as representatives of both LURD and MODEL escalated their demands for high posts in the government.  
 
 
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