Liberia: November 2, 2003

Archives

The United States Congress authorized President George Bush to spend $2 million to "capture" former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Jacques Klein, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative in Liberia, has said that Taylor (wanted for war crimes by a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone) took an estimated $1 billion out of Liberia when he fled to exile in Nigeria.

However, the reports that the US Congress approved a $2 million bounty is raising fears that mercenaries may take up the challenge to kidnap Mr Taylor. At the end of August, an Anglo-American firm, Northbridge Services International, offered to "enforce the indictment and arrest warrant for President Charles Taylor". 

The real danger would be from trigger-happy amateurs, since Military Service Providers (MSPs) like the firm Intercon (which guards the US Embassy) are already in Liberia. Retired Marine Horacio Hernandez noted that his personnel fought like soldiers during rebel sieges, at times lifting guns from slain rebels. Under the former US/African military partnership called the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI), the firm MPRI trained African peace enforcers who are currently serving in Liberia. - Adam Geibel


 

Article Archive

Liberia: Current 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close