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| Africa: West |
| Liberia’s Taylor Names His Successor |
| 2003-08-07 |
| EFL. All hail... President BLAH???? President Charles Taylor submitted his resignation and named his vice president to take over the reins of the embattled government Thursday as throngs cheered the first West African peacekeepers to enter the besieged capital. ...and , yeah, Franco’s still dead. Vice President Moses Blah said the handover is planned for Monday, but rebel leaders warned they will not accept any ally of Taylor holding power as Liberia tries to find a way out 14 years of bloodshed. Actually the real reason is, well, would you want a President Blah? Outside Monrovia, peacekeepers reportedly seized a new weapons shipment from Libya that apparently was destined for government forces in violation of a U.N. arms embargo. Well can ya beat that? Libya violating an arms embargo. Rebels and government troops are fighting in several parts of the country, and a two-month battle over Monrovia has killed hundreds of civilians and left the 1.3 million people crowded into the divided city short of food and water. That’s "war torn" Monrovia. Let’s get those cliches right. Blah told The Associated Press he received a telephone call Thursday morning from Taylor who said he would be sworn in as president Monday. "He congratulated me, and he said he is hoping I will cope with the situation on the ground," Blah said. "A lot of people are suffering." Blah blah blah... blah blah blah... Taylor indicated he would go into exile "very shortly," said Blah, who was a feared Taylor ally in the 1988-96 civil war that killed 100,000 people and put Taylor in power over a nation left in ruins. "Very shortly". Sure. Really. Well... maybe. However, Taylor has repeatedly hedged on when he will take up an offer of asylum in Nigeria. I hear Idi has a nice place in Saudi Arabia which may be available soon. Maybe I’ll check that out. His government said that would happen only after enough foreign peacekeepers were on the ground — and if a war crimes indictment was dropped. A U.N.-backed court alleges Taylor supported a brutal rebel group in neighboring Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war. Oh, let Chuck slide. All he wants to do is come back to Boston and pump gas. It’s the simple life for him from now on. In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said Taylor would not get out of the war crimes charges. "If Mr. Taylor leaves Liberia, as we expect him to do in the very near future, and is given asylum in Nigeria, this does not remove the indictment in any way," Powell said. At the airport 30 miles from Monrovia, peacekeepers intercepted a plane carrying an arms shipment that landed overnight in defiance of a U.N. arms embargo, according to airport workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. West African officers confirmed only that a Boeing 707 arrived from Libya and that its cargo was seized. Nigerian soldiers were seen guarding two navy blue shipping containers — one empty, the other locked. Must’ve mixed it up with the baby food shipment, right Mo? |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #3 Oops - that was Capt.Bligh |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-7 10:46:33 PM |
| #2 He was in Mutiny on the Bounty - I saw him...looked like an old English Commodore-type with the white wig...no dress....yet |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-7 10:43:14 PM |
| #1 We are definitely going to get some real mileage out of Pres. Blah........ I can also see that Libya has totally reformed from its wild and sordid past and is now part of the |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-7 10:11:18 PM |