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5 - Monrovia, Liberia: After months of civil war between the national forces
of President James Taylor and the rebel forces of LURD (Liberians United
for Reconciliation and Democracy) James Taylor has set August 11 as his
day to leave Liberia so West African peacekeepers can take control of a
chaotic, and war stricken land. Nigerian forces entered Liberia
earlier in the week, and have begun to bring in relief supplies and take
control of key strategic positions. For the past three years LURD forces
have been attacking government forces in an attempted to overthrow President
Taylor, an attempt that gave them control over 60% of a country the size
of Ohio, near control of the capital city of Monrovia, and complete control
of the coastal city of Buchanan. In the interim, most of the country’s
3.3 million people are starving or sick and at least 1 million are homeless. |
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On August 1, the UN Security Council approved a US backed resolution
that authorizes a West African multinational peacekeeping force to take
control of Liberia for two months until a UN peacekeeping force can be
assembled and deployed no later than Oct. 1. The West African peacekeeping
force will consist of troops from primarily Nigeria, but also Ghana, Togo,
and Senegal. Taylor will receive asylum in Nigeria. A UN-backed war crimes
court in Sierra Leona indicted Taylor for war crimes stemming from his
involvement that country’s civil war. According to Amnesty International,
Sierra Leone’s civil war “ was characterized by some of the
worst abuses known: widespread deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians,
torture, including rape and deliberate amputation of limbs, and abduction
and forced recruitment of large numbers of people, including children.”
In all at least 50,000 people were killed. Liberia has been under UN sanctions
since 2001 because of the government’s alleged support of the rebels
and reputed trafficking in diamonds from rebel-held areas in Sierra Leone.
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