Liberia Peacekeeping Plan Falters
UNITED NATIONS — Plans for Nigerian troops to spearhead a multinational peacekeeping force in Liberia have stalled as the United States and Nigeria face off over paying for the intervention.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said 1,500 Nigerian soldiers were ready to go into Liberia but needed more than the $10 million in financial support the U.S. has offered.
Concerned that the mission might be falling apart, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to divert funds from a peacekeeping mission in neighboring Sierra Leone to sustain the Nigerian troops. He also urged the United States to lead the force.
Washington wants to see West African leaders pitch in before committing more money or any troops. U.S. forces en route to Liberia would be sent into the country only after a cease-fire was in place and Liberian President Charles Taylor had stepped down, U.S. officials said.
Obasanjo said that the estimated price tag for keeping 3,000 African peacekeepers in Liberia for six months is $110 million and that the African countries needed more assistance. He questioned how useful the U.S. troops would be.
"If your house is on fire and somebody says, 'Here I am, I have my water, my fire engine. Now, when you put the fire out in your house, I will come in,' I wonder what sort of help that is, with all due respect," Obasanjo told the BBC in London on Tuesday after meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"What we are saying is, give us adequate material and logistical support and we will do the job," Obasanjo said.
As discussions dragged on for the third week since Nigeria first offered its troops, Liberia's capital, Monrovia, has collapsed into chaos and cholera. Hundreds of people have been killed in the last week, and the fall this week of Buchanan, a strategic port city, cut off the starving capital's last aid lifeline.
"George Bush should send his men," said Teeta Wilson, a 29-year-old police officer backing up the government forces fighting rebels near Monrovia's Waterside Market. "We are appealing to him to stop this war. Our people are dying."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher insisted that Taylor leave, as he has promised.
President Bush announced last week that three U.S. ships carrying 4,500 troops would head toward Liberia's coast, but he stopped short of ordering the soldiers into the country.
