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Rights Advocate Says
Taylor is a "Despot"
George Soros, the millionaire founder of the humanitarian and
pro-democracy group, Open Society, says Liberia's President Charles
Taylor is a "despot" who is "destabilizing"
the West African region.
Jailed Men
Get Ten More Years
Liberia's Supreme Court has added 10 years to another 10-year
sentence of opposition politicians and others found guilty for
overthrowing the government of President Charles Taylor, a warlord
who rose to power after a seven-year war that left 250,000 dead
and ruined the country, according to reports from Monrovia.
UN Blames Liberia
for Guinea War
The United Nations has blamed Liberia for the war in Guinea,
where tens of thousands of refugees have been caught in vicious
battles. This is the second time in a week that Liberia has been
singled out for regional destablisation.
Britain Wants Screws
Tightened on Taylor
With UN report calling for tough sanctions against Liberia, British
Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Peter Hain, has urged that
the current arms embargo on Liberia to be "maintained and
tightened and strengthened".
Liberia Dismisses
UN Sanctions
Liberia's presidential spokesman has warned the international
community to let "sanity" prevail and avoid imposing
sanctions on the country. He said sanctions would not bring down
the Taylor regime because it is backed by the people.
Justice for Sierra Leone's
Children
The UN Panel investigating Liberia's role in diamonds for guns
syndicate tearing West Africa apart has reached its conclusions:
Charles Taylor's Liberia is the source of the horrors. This acknowledgement
and the recommended actions serve as a great Christmas gift from
conscientious humanity to the children and people of Sierra Leone.
Thirtieth Woman
Dies In Three-Year Series Of Mystery Killings
There is rising anger in Ghana after the discovery of yet another
murdered woman - the thirtieth to be found in three years around
the metropolitan area of the capital, Accra.
Tackling The Niger Delta's Problems
- With Oil
The government in Abuja has announced that several marginal oil
fields in the Niger Delta which have remained unexploited for
years are to be put to good use. They are to be allocated to
indigenous, Nigerian companies.
Laurent Gbagbo: Awaiting
the Dagger
The rising current of iviorite, a destructive and self-serving
doctrine which determines who is or is NOT Ivorian, may be the
dagger plunged into Laurent Gbagbo's heart as northerners threaten
to secede, since they are regarded as foreigners and therefore
disenfranchised.
Embargo on "Blood
Diamonds" from Liberia
The United Nations panel established by the Security Council
"to investigate the link between illicit diamond sales and
arms trafficking" is recommending the imposition of embargo
on blood diamonds from Liberia until that West African Nation
stops supporting and fueling the war in Sierra Leone though the
RUF.
USCR Wants Taylor Tried
An American humanitarian committee, calling for the imposition
of sanctions on Liberia, wants Liberian president Charles Taylor
tried for alleged war crimes in efforts to halt his alleged destabilization
plots within West Africa.
The Curse of Mercenaries
When the respected Muslim cleric Sheik Kafumba Konneh, in a startling
show of courage, recently demanded the expulsion of mercenaries
from Liberia, he was not only battling with a dangerous Liberian
problem, but a West African dilemma with larger implications
for a continent already on its knees before unstoppable wars
of fortune.
The Sick Evicted from JFK
John F. Kennedy Hospital, Liberia's largest hospital, is closed
due to neglect. The employees of the hospital started a go-slow
due to lack of drugs, equipment and electricity at the hospital
to arouse government attention. The go-slow by the employees,
who have not been paid for several months, has failed to yield
desired results.
Conte's Trumpet of Doom
When one of Guinea's Fulani opposition politicians, Mamadu Ba,
this week told President Lansana Conte to negotiate with the
insurgents currently engaging his troops and leaving horrors
behind, he was saying more than words could allow.
Did President
Taylor Lie?
President Charles Taylor's claims, that an ECOWAS military team
investigating Guinea-Liberia border raids has been blamed on
Guinea, has been denied by ECOWAS Secretary General Lansana Koyateh.
Civic Groups Want
Mercenaries Expelled
Liberian political, human rights and religious organizations
have demanded the expulsion of foreign mercenaries, including
officials and loyalists of Sierra Leone rebel Revolutionary United
Front (RUF), from the country.
Where Jesse
Jackson Sees Best
African-Americans are agonizing over their blatant disenfranchisement
in Florida long after believing that the era when they were considered
non-persons was over. And as usual, there are few living men
in America capable of representing and advocating their public
cause than the tireless activist Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Liberia Becoming
a Superpower in West Africa?
Perhaps it is naivete, insincerity or simply a "don't care
attitude" on the part of West African leaders when it comes
to the way Charles Taylor is terrorizing the sub-region. Hundreds
of West African troops (ECOMOG forces) were slaughtered during
the Liberian civil war launched by Mr. Taylor in his efforts
to become president of Liberia.
Ex-President
Accuses Regime of Attacks
Former Interim President Amos Sawyer has accused President Taylor's
security forces, including the Army, of the recent attacks on
his Executive Director in which the latter sustained serious
injuries.
RUF Slams New
Agreement
Sierra Leone rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has issued
new "nonnegotiable" demands, including the release
of their imprisoned leader Foday Sankoh and all other rebel prisoners,
before submitting to the terms of the November ceasefire agreement
calling for the deployment of UN troops behind RUF lines.
Ghana's Opposition
Wins Elections
On Thursday, December 7, 2000, millions of Ghanaians turned out
at polling stations to elect their new president and 200 members
of parliament.
"I'll Use Dogs
to Hunt Dogs"
A fascinating development in Liberia is that it is coming to
terms with insecurity of the individual as a fact of life and
a precondition for peace. We want peace" was one of the
hymns popular amongst disciples of candidate Charles Taylor during
the 1997 elections with the hit "You killed my ma, you killed
my pa (but) I will vote for you" as an unequivocal indicator
of the willingness to accept terror in exchange for "peace."
In Ruined Liberia, Its Despoiler Sits Pretty (New
York Times)
MONROVIA, Liberia Soon after the sun sets, the
road into this capital, which has had no electricity in nearly
a decade, disappears into the dark night.
Rawlings Remembered
After about two decades of dominance on the Ghanaian political
scene, charismatic Flight Lieutenant Jerry Johns Rawlings will
follow few African leaders who have bowed in peace instead of
to the gun. And despite JJ's many violent and gray political
spots, his place in Ghanaian history will certainly be near that
of the legendary Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Selling Deception
The end of the Cold War and the collapse of command economies
have placed emphasis on private investment as the locomotive
necessary for economic efficiency and thus political stability.
So developing countries, former Cold War client states, are slowly
realizing that the era of grants and aid is gone.
ECOWAS' New Liberia
Gambles
Signals of West African troops returning to Liberia are looming
after their failed adventure in ensuring peace and regional stability
following years of brutal conflict. President Charles Taylor,
burdened with repeated incursions, now battling with his fourth
insurgency since the 1997 Abacha elections, wants West African
troops to police his porous borders with his uneasy neighbors.
LPP-USA Condemns Attack on Sawyer, Wesseh
On Tuesday, November 28, 2000, Liberians and the entire world
were shocked but not surprised over news that about 100 former
NPFL combatants heavily armed with cutlasses, knives, sticks,
rusty irons, etc. stormed the offices of the Center for Democratic
Empowerment (CEDE), a democracy organization.
Further Logistic Support Arrives
In Freetown
The British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship (RFA) SIR BEDIVERE arrived
in Freetown [over the weekend] as a further contribution to the
UKs military presence in Sierra Leone.
"Keep it Up,
Mr. President"
No one is without admirers. And even when the handwriting of
doom becomes all too evident within an increasingly thuggish
society like Liberia, praise mongers of civility multiply.
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