Washington, DC — Following a 90-minute meeting at Monrovia's International Airport Sunday afternoon, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Liberia's President Charles Taylor announced that an "exit" for Taylor from Liberia has been agreed.
Appearing at a press conference telecast live by CNN, Obasanjo said "Liberia needs a lifeline" to resolve its conflict and said the transition to a new government "must be orderly and peaceful." Taylor said he would accept the invitation from Obasanjo to go to Nigeria but refused to say when his departure might take place. Referring to what he said was a "window of opportunity," Taylor said his key concern was that the changeover contribute to peace and not make the situation worse.
President George Bush, who leaves on a five-nation trip to Africa Monday evening, has called on Taylor to step down, and Taylor has previously agreed but has said he wants to wait for a peacekeeping force to arrive. Bush is considering options for a U.S. role in the peacekeeping effort and has dispatched a military team to Monrovia to access the situation and increase security at the American embassy there.
"We believe that the participation of the United States right now is crucial. We embrace it," Taylor said. "We invite the United States to come full force and assist in the process to bring peace back to Liberia." Saying his exit should take place "in haste," he said: I did understand President Bush that this must be done quickly."
Obasanjo said Taylor's departure could take place "anytime," but that it must not lead to chaos and confusion. "We are here as brothers, as neighbors and those who feel that what is happening in Liberia could happen anywhere in Africa, and Liberia needs a lifeline to solve its problems." If no one stepped forward to help, the whole region would suffer, Obasanjo said.
After their opening remarks, the two leaders took a couple of questions before turning to leave the podium. Obasanjo returned to the microphones with one additional comment, delivered with considerable emphasis, saying: "Nigeria and I will not be harassed by anybody or any organization for this humanitarian gesture," which he said was "necessary" to bring peace.
His remarks were a reference to Taylor's indictment on war crimes by a United Nations-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone, Liberia's neighbor, where Taylor is accused of supporting and profiting from a brutal insurgency during the 1990s.
Earlier in the press conference, Obasanjo said the announcement of the indictment on June 4 "disturbed us a little bit", coming as it did while he and other West African presidents were meeting in Ghana with Taylor and other parties to the Liberian conflict to forge a peace agreement.
Neither leader offered an explanation for how the indictment might be handled in the agreement they reached Sunday. U.S. officials said on Friday that they would like for the indictment to take a back seat to efforts to get Taylor to leave and to get peacekeeping troops from West Africa on the ground.
The Economic Community of West African States, which has pledged 3,000 troops for an intervention force, with Nigeria likely providing the largest share, has invited South Africa and Morocco to contribute troops as well. Ecowas leaders, along with Britain and France, have asked the U.S. government to take a leadership role during at least the first-phase of an operation designed to separate and disarm the warring factions and make it possible for a Liberia-led interim administration to take control of the country.
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Leaders from 16 Liberian political parties and from religious and women's organizations have been meeting in Ghana to draw up a peace plan and agree on the membership of a transitional government, which is expected to run the country for 18 to 24 months before elections can be held.
The nation of Liberia, which was settled more than a century ago by freed American slaves, with backing from the U.S. government, served as a staunch American ally throughout the Cold War, hosting a powerful VOA transmitter, a CIA listening station and an operational post for the CIA's anti-Qaddafi campaign during the 1980s.
In an interview with AllAfrica and three African journalists Thursday, President Bush said the United States has a "unique history with Liberia" that has "created a certain sense of expectations." But he said he needed to gather additional information "that will allow me to make a proper decision as to how to bring stability to that country."
