By George Kun
07/18/2003
Circulated by INTERACTION

As an African, I was thrilled to hear President Bush state that the United States plans to play a greater role in ending Africa's many wars, which have been responsible for so much death, destruction and displacement. 

Previewing his trip to five African countries, Bush said:  "The first great goal in our partnership with Africa is to help establish peace and security across the continent."

As a Liberian refugee with political asylum in the United States, I was particularly glad to hear his declaration that Liberian President Charles Taylor "needs to step down so that his country can be spared further bloodshed."

Taylor escaped from a Massachusetts jail, where he was awaiting extradition on embezzlement charges, to return to Liberia. He has run the country through 13 years of intermittent war that has killed thousands, displaced hundreds of thousands and filled neighboring countries with Liberian refugees. He provoked and supported a war marked by amputations and mutilation in Sierra Leone and is aggravating a civil war in the Ivory Coast. 

West Africa is an area rich in fertile land, strong people and natural resources but Taylor's wars have turned prosperity to poverty.

The United States has compelling interests in ending the war in Liberia.  Bush cited "moral responsibilities" to help African countries reduce the ravages of HIV/AIDS, war and starvation.  In addition, the United States has a long historical association with Liberia, which was founded as a haven for freed American slaves.  Finally, Liberia has destabilized a part of oil-rich West Africa, a growing supplier to the United States.  For this reason, U.S. military commanders are talking of doing more to assure stability in the region.

"We are determined to help the people of Liberia find the path to peace,"  Bush said.  But he said little about what help the United States plans to provide.   Here are steps that the United States should take.

Force Taylor Out.   Recently indicted by a United Nations-backed special court in Sierra Leone for war crimes there, Taylor says that he will take asylum in Nigeria, but not until U.S. peacekeepers arrive.  What's more, he has threatened to return to Liberia in the future. Bush and West African leaders must intensify pressure on Taylor to resign and bar him from returning to Liberia.

If  Taylor refuses to resign, he could lose to an increasingly strong rebel attack, which is being fueled by support from the Ivory Coast and Guinea. Although Taylor has repelled serious attacks before, my friends in Monrovia, Liberia's once beautiful coastal capital, report that the current opposition appears more likely to succeed than previous attempts.

Lead a Peacekeeping Force.  To prevent a resurgence of fighting, the United Nations will have to send peacekeepers to Liberia. The United States should lead this force in order to deliver on Bush's pledge to help bring peace to Liberia.  Even a small U.S. contribution to an international force would send a strong message of United States commitment to peace in Liberia and stability in West Africa.

Insist on a Transitional Government.   Unfortunately, there are no good sides in the Liberian civil war. The government and the two main rebel groups have used child soldiers, killed civilians, raped and pillaged.    Neither of the opposition groups is fit to govern.  Therefore, the United Nations, backed by the United States and West African states, must design a transitional authority to govern until Liberia can hold elections.

Help Create a Regional Approach to Security.   Just as Liberia must stop meddling in the affairs of its neighbors, surrounding countries must stop arming and supporting groups attacking Liberia. West African countries, working with the United Nations and the United States, are ideally suited to broker a regional approach to stability.  Humanitarian programs, particularly the return of refugees, must also be handled on a regional basis.

The recent fighting in Monrovia breaks my heart.  Every evening I speak with my relatives; since the fighting started, I hear fear, worry and uncertainty in their voices. It reminds me of 1992 and 1996, when I was in a similar situation, walking in the streets terrified.  Everyday I feared for my life, wondering if I would see tomorrow.  Every day I struggle with the thought of innocent Liberians dying and going through the misery and strife that I experienced years before.

"It is not easy to get out; Taylor's soldiers are taking people from their homes and killing them," one of my relatives told me.

Bush says that he is "optimistic about the future of the continent of Africa."  With help from the United States, Liberia-and all of resource rich West Africa-- is one place where that optimism should be justified.  I hope so; I want to go home. 

George Kun is the McCall-Pierpaoli Fellow at Refugees International, a Washington, DC. Advocacy organization.