Bush praises new Liberian president

Deb Riechmann

WASHINGTON — Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Tuesday her impoverished nation can’t move beyond its years of civil strife until exiled former President Charles Taylor is given his day in court.

“I wish we had the luxury of time on this issue, but it has become an impediment to our being able to move forward — to being able to pursue our development agenda,” Sirleaf said outside the White House after a meeting with President Bush.

Sirleaf, the continent’s first democratically elected female head of state, has asked Nigeria to hand over Taylor, who has been indicted by a U.N. tribunal on charges of committing crimes against humanity. Taylor is accused of aiding and directing a Sierra Leone rebel movement and trading guns and gems with insurgents infamous for mutilating civilian victims.

“It is a known fact that Mr. Taylor continues to have people operate in our country — that he does, in fact, have business operations in our country,” Sirleaf said.

Taylor has lived in exile in southern Nigeria since being forced from power under a peace deal brokered in 2003. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was credited with helping end Liberia’s civil war when he helped arrange Taylor’s asylum, is consulting with other African leaders on how to respond to Sirleaf’s request.

“When they have reached a decision on the timing and the method, that will communicated and we hope action will be taken not only to ensure Mr. Taylor the day in court, which he has asked for, but to ensure that he does so in an environment that is free and fair to him and that enables him the full right of self defense,” Sirleaf said.

“President Bush only said that he, too, would consult with the African leaders so that a fair decision is taken,” she said.

She said Bush also reiterated his support for the African Union’s work in Darfur - a region of Sudan that the United Nations has described as the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis.

Bush has called for greater NATO involvement in Darfur where a conflict has left more than 180,000 people dead and 2 million displaced. But Bush said the African Union must request that its mission in Darfur be converted to a U.N. mission.

Earlier in the Oval Office, Bush called Sirleaf a “pioneer.”

“You’re the first woman elected president to any country on the continent of Africa, and that requires courage and vision and the desire to improve the lives of your people,” Bush said.

Sirleaf thanked the United States for its financial aid and interest in Liberia’s future. The House Appropriations Committee this month approved $50 million in new economic aid to the government.

“Liberia, we think, has the potential to become the U.S. success story in Africa,” Sirleaf said.

In January, first lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the inauguration of Sirleaf, a 67-year-old Harvard-educated former finance minister.

She inherited a devastated nation of 3 million with an 80 percent unemployment rate. Despite its diamond and timber wealth, Liberia is among the world’s poorest nations. It ranked 206th in per capita income out of 208 countries on a 2004 World Bank list.

“We’re confident that the Liberian people are ready to do what it takes,” Sirleaf said. “They’re back at work. Our country is open for business.” (Associated Press)