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Meddling in West Africa
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Charles Taylor
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Introduction Charles Taylor had many reasons to meddle in the domestic affairs of neighbouring West African countries. Some of them go back to the 1990 ECOWAS meeting, hosted by President Sir Dawda Jawara of the Gambia. In Banjul the ECOWAS Monotoring Observer Group (ECOMOG) was created and the ECOWAS meeting eventually led to the creation of the interim government of President Amos Sawyer. The West African peacekeeping ECOMOG soon turned into a peace enforcement military force. ECOMOG was very instrumental from withholding Charles Taylor's NPFL forces seizing the Liberian capital ('Thanks God for ECOMOG' was a common expression in Monrovia in the 1990s). Charles Taylor's hatred against the Nigerian-led ECOMOG resulted in his support for domestic opposition groups, financing armed rebellions, coups and assassination attempts. He particularly focussed on the governments of the countries providing military to the ECOMOG force: Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Gambia. His relations with Burkina Faso were of a different nature. He had become friends with Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaoré in Khadaffi's Lybia in the 1980s. President Blaise Compaoré had supported the 1989 Christmas invasion of the National Patriotic Forces of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor. Burkina's President also supported Taylor by allowing arms trader Victor Bout to transship arms through Burkina Faso to the NPFL forces in Liberia, allegedly in exchange for diamonds ('Arms for Diamonds'). Both this introduction and the background information below do not pretend to be exhaustive on the subject.
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"By March 1990, law and order had virtually broken down in most parts of Liberia (Monrovia was clearly threatened). (...) The Economic Community of West African States in response to the total break down of law and order in the country, the humanitarian catastrophe and the growing threat to sub- regional peace and security met in Banjul, the Gambia and established a Standing Mediation Committee to resolve the crisis. (...) ECOMOG deployment was vehemently opposed by the by Charles Taylor who saw ECOMOG as a ploy by some West African counties (particularly Nigeria) to deprive him from taking over Monrovia. NPFL thus launched immediate attack on ECOMOG as the troops landed in Monrovia. In response, ECOMOG was forced to change its operational mandate from peace keeping to peace enforcement within a month of deployment with specific order to create a buffer zone between NPFL forces and Monrovia. While in Liberia, ECOMOG were involved in various types of missions-peace keeping, peace enforcement, mediation, disarming of rebel groups, and the protection of humanitarian aids. ECOMOG peacekeeping operation ended in February 1998 (...)" Source: University for Peace |
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"(...) Investigators from several countries concluded that President
Charles Taylor of Liberia received a $1 million payment for arranging to
harbor the Al Queda terrorists who were in the region for at least two
months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
The terrorists moved between a protected area in Liberia (the Gbalata
training camp) and the palace of president Blaise Compaoré of
neighboring Burkina Faso, investigators say. (...)" Washington Post, December 29, 2002 |
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Victor Bout A Russian arms dealer and former KGB officer who is undermining international sanctions by supplying arms for diamonds to rebel forces in Africa is named and shamed in a ground-breaking report published by the UN yesterday. Victor Anatoliyevich Bout, who holds at least five passports and uses as many as seven aliases, is identified as the businessman responsible for fuelling civil wars across Africa, including conflicts in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is accused of ferrying heavy weapons, automatic rifles and ammunition from eastern Europe to rebel groups that control diamond mines. (...) Earlier this week a separate UN report claimed that Mr Bout's fleet of ex-Soviet planes, registered as Air Cess, had been used to deliver attack helicopters, armoured vehicles and anti-tank mines to Liberia, which supports the RUF rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Source: The Guardian, December 23, 2000 |
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The Guinea conflict explained The wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and the threath of war in Guinea create a complicated situation: Charles Taylor fomenting the RUF rebellion in Sierra Leone, the RUF army invading Guinea from Sierra Leone and Liberia, whereas the Guinea army on various occasions crossed the borders with both countries. To make complications worse, the death of ailing president Conte may unleash civil unrest in Guinea where opposition leaders have already commenced the struggle for power. Guinea Conflict-Global Security
Guinea: Threat of a military takeover? |
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Charles Taylor
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