The blah-blah on Blah, Liberia's new leader

(This is the real title. :->)

August 11 2003 at 05:48PM



Monrovia - Liberia's President Moses Blah, who took power on Monday, entered the political arena in the same way as his predecessor Charles Taylor - from a Libyan guerrilla training camp.

The pair returned from Libya in 1989 as part of a 200-strong group dubbed the Special Forces Commandos, the military vanguard of Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).

They immediately took up arms against Liberia's government, launching a conflict in which 250 000 people were killed and regional powers were dragged into the conflict.

Seven years of failed peace deals followed, until Taylor was elected president in 1997 after threatening to restart the fighting.

The LURD and the other weirdly-named guerilla faction fighting the now former Taylor regime have already said they do not accept Blah and will continue to fight.

Blah blah blah?

Interesting, that it was just last month that Blah, a loyalist from the days of the bush struggle, was detained briefly on suspicion of involvement in an alleged U.S. instigated coup plot.

http://www.najaco.com/travel/news/saudi_arabia/2003/july/4.htm


and according to CNN last month:


Vice President Moses Blah was arrested and other senior officials detained. Sources close to Blah said Friday he had received a call from the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia urging him to take over while Taylor was in Ghana.

The sources said Blah declined and told the security services, but he was still detained after Taylor returned.


http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/06/06/liberia.fleeing/


I wonder how much Taylor's buddy, Pat Robertson had to do with helping the transition of power? I'm sure Pat will be happy with the new boss, seems that the status quo has been maintained, at least for the time being.