TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/092490/0924006.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.3 KB | 118 lines

                Q                                                              WORLD, Page 61

LIBERIA

Death of a President


As the regional peacekeeping force dawdles, rival rebel forces
brace for a showdown


    Like vultures fighting over a corpse, the various factions
in Liberia's bloody civil war vowed to continue their armed
struggle despite the death of President Samuel K. Doe last
week. Since removing Doe was a common goal of the rebels, there
was a faint glimmer of hope that his death might open the door
to peace. But instead of signaling the end of the carnage,
Doe's demise only set the stage for a new contest for military
dominance between Prince Yormie Johnson, leader of a
several-hundred-member force that captured and killed Doe, and
Charles Taylor, head of the 10,000-member National Patriotic
Front of Liberia.

    Doe's death came after he abandoned his fortified
presidential mansion, where he had been bunkered since rebels
captured most of Monrovia in June. He paid an unexpected visit
to the headquarters of the five-nation peacekeeping force that
had been sent into Liberia by its West African neighbors. There
is speculation that Doe was seeking safe passage out of the
country or that he may have been there to scold Lieut. General
Arnold Quainoo, the Ghanaian commander of the peacekeeping
force, for not paying him a courtesy call at the presidential
mansion.

    But before he could meet with Quainoo, Doe and his
bodyguards became engaged in a battle with the forces of Prince
Johnson, who had declared a truce with Doe less than a month
earlier. During the hour-long battle, Doe was wounded in both
legs by machine-gun fire and captured by Johnson, who
immediately declared himself President. Doe loyalists, for
their part, remained at their posts under the command of
Brigadier General David Nimley, head of the presidential guard.

    Next day came reports that Doe died while being interrogated
on the whereabouts of millions of dollars of state funds that
had disappeared during his 10 years in power. In an effort to
downplay Johnson's reputation as a ruthless rebel, his official
spokesman, Marcus Dahn, attributed Doe's death to loss of blood
and denied that the President had been intentionally murdered.
"As a matter of fact, Doe's death is a regret," Dahn said,
"because we have maintained that we would not use the same
brutal means by which the man ruled the country."

    Shells exploded and gunfire crackled in Monrovia through
most of Monday as Johnson's troops hunted down the fragmented
remains of Doe's army, which was almost entirely made up of
Krahn, one of the two main ethnic groups that are involved in
the fighting. Doe was a Krahn, while Johnson and Taylor are
aligned with the Gio tribe. More than 5,000 Liberians have been
slaughtered by the three factions, often because of tribal
affiliations.

    In an effort to prevent another massacre, Gambian President
Sir Dawda Jawara, the chairman of the Economic Community of
West African States, which had organized the peacekeeping
force, asked troops to intercede in the evacuation of Doe
loyalists who had barricaded themselves inside the presidential
mansion. Two weeks ago, ECOWAS representatives met in Ghana to
select an interim government for Liberia, to be led by Amos
Sawyer, a political scientist who in 1984 drafted the country's
present constitution. Both Nimley and Johnson have indicated
their willingness to turn power over to Sawyer once he has been
installed in Monrovia.

    Taylor, however, vows to keep fighting. The rebel leader
decries the interim delegation as a "puppet" of ECOWAS and
contends that the credit for Doe's overthrow should be his,
since Johnson and his army were trained under Taylor's command
before they splintered off into their own faction last March.
Taylor last week ordered his troops, which have been bogged
down in eastern Monrovia for the past three months, to take the
rest of the city at all costs.

    Responding to the crisis, Ghanaian Foreign Secretary Obed
Asamoah told the BBC in London that it's time the peacekeeping
force showed its teeth. Asamoah said the West African troops
should enforce the peace and install Sawyer's interim
government. His statement contradicted an earlier report that
Ghana might withdraw from the regional force. A pullout by
Ghana could spell the end of the organization, since it might
encourage other member governments with second thoughts to
follow suit. ECOWAS, meanwhile, is considering doubling its
3,000-member contingent to Liberia and orderits troops to take
a more active role in enforcing the peace. The future of the
peacekeeping force was scheduled to be discussed over the
weekend at a meeting of foreign ministers in Gambia.

    By week's end Taylor's troops had moved to within firing
range of the executive mansion, where Doe loyalists remained
dug in. A few blocks away, Johnson's group was holding its
position at the city's main barracks. People fleeing the area
reported fierce but confused fighting between the presidential
guard and both rebel groups. Johnson's forces, while better
trained, are much smaller than Taylor's. As long as the
regional peacekeeping force remains paralyzed by political
indecision, Taylor stands a good chance of taking power -- but
not without a lot more bloodshed.


By Guy D. Garcia.