LIBERIA: History will be harsh on Bush, Obasanjo and African leaders
By CHIDO NWANGWU
"Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy,
national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of
their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the
universe."
Elie Wiesel, recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace seems to have had U.S. president George W.
Bush and the humanitarian disaster in the war-battered west African country of Liberia in mind when he
spoke those remarkable words. Hence, the decision on Friday July 25, 2003 by Bush to station a warship
"off the coast" of Liberia and that the "United Nations assume the responsibility for peacekeeping" does
not meet the Wiesel test.
No; it's a half-measure for a situation which calls for bold and decisive leadership by the U.S. I'll not bore
you with U.N's failures to halt similar destruction of countries. The U.N does not have the means and the
capabilities to bring the needed military enforcements ahead of peace-keeping in Liberia.
Now, let's go back to September 20, 2001.
Following the aero-mechanized murder of almost 3550 Americans (and a few others from other countries)
by the fundamentalist al-Qaeda network, here in the U.S., I watched the tv as Bush said in his address to
a joint session of Congress and the American people, ³Americans are asking: What is expected of us?²
Although, he spoke of al-Qaeda¹s terror that historic evening; today, it seems fitting for the today¹s
Liberia, Africa's oldest republic founded in 1847, and America's only colonial outpost in Africa which has
remained ungovernable since December 1989.
Here¹s a thumbnail picture of why there has not been any recent or significant military and humanitarian
intervention by the U.S. in Liberia: Bush demands a halt in the local conflict, a ceasefire and that Taylor
leaves his country. Only after that would he send in troops. Until then, Bush says, he¹ll be ³monitoring the
situation.² On the other hand, Taylor says he¹ll not leave until international forces step in. He¹s told many
lies before; no one believes him.
Fact is while they speechify and stake out positions, continued failure by Bush, Nigeria¹s president retired
Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, and other African leaders to cause the immediate, decisive and catalytic use of
roughly 5000 armed forces to halt the human carnage and deaths of women, children and stop the
maddening shredding of all manner of civilized standards of life and living in Liberia will cause history and
historians to hold them in poor reckoning as men who failed to live up to the higher challenge of saving
lives of poor folks who can neither afford K-street Washington DC lobbyists nor have rubber, oil and
other resources to give the U.S.
For all the personal and professional fondness persons of African descent such as myself have directed
toward U.N Secretary-General, Ghana-born Kofi Annan and former president of the U.S. Bill Clinton,
our informed opinion must show that their failure of leadership to intervene early and decisively in Rwanda
in 1993-1994 allowed the escalation of the ethnic killings into an orgy of hateful, genocidal slaughter and
ugly chapter in world history.
Recall that within 100 days only (April-June 1994), an estimated 800,000 Rwandans (mainly Tutsis) were
killed by Hutus. In one day, on Monday July 21, 2003, 600 Liberians were reportedly killed. Yes; one
long, dreary day! We hear voices of mothers who cry and shed tears of blood and are not allowed any
quiet corner in the hell that Liberia has become to bury
Their kids, their sons and husbands. Since that terrible December 1989 Christmas, Liberia and Liberians
have faced deaths by installment, wars without end prolonged by armed gangs of morons, village idiots
and rag-tag armies of zombies and goons in two-a-penny-uniforms.
With Mondays like July 21 going unchecked, even-handed historians will assess Bush harshly for failing to
use the other side of the weight, power and influence of the American presidency: the responsibility of
doing good by fighting for a good cause. It will be no less for retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who likes
to be dressed in the over-sized robes of a regional ³statesman.² He was been condemned 5 times in 4
years by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty for using Nigeria¹s armed forces to suppress workers,
minorities rights and students. He should send the soldiers into necessary combat in Liberia, instead.
It reflects poor judgment and misplaced priority for Nigeria¹s ruler, Gen. Obasanjo, to unilaterally award
Liberia¹s fox-in-chief, president
Charles Taylor asylum even with ?war crimes¹ charges facing him. Taylor says he¹s just ³going to have
some rest.² And, what next?
Fact is Liberians are the chief architects of their own problems. They must be determined to be vital to the
solution and stop the carnage that has made their homeland, at best, a ghost of a nation and worse, a
geopolitical non-entity.
For now, Africans and most of humanity will remember that Bush, Obasanjo, Annan and others were
merely ³monitoring² the situation on that sad Monday of July 21. It¹s never too late to make a difference
even for our ³compassionate conservative² president.
---------
Published with author's authorization.
Chido Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of USAfricaonline.com
http://www.USAfricaonline.com
USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
713-270-5500 wk
713-270-6500
Cell: 832-452-4436
________________________________________________________________________________
___________
©2003 The African Independent, Inc.