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CNN Live At Daybreak
President Leaves Later Today on Five Nation Tour of Africa
Aired July 07, 2003 - 05:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The president leaves later today on a five nation tour of Africa. Mr. Bush says he'll be carrying the message that America cares about Africa. The president will talk about his $15 billion plan to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. He'll also bring up anti-terrorism and education initiatives for Africa.
The president will make stops in Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria and Uganda.
Well, the president's trip may be overshadowed by events in Liberia you've likely heard of by now. A U.S. military team, an assessment team, is heading there, and its president may be heading out.
CNN's Brent Sadler is in the Liberian capital of Monrovia with the latest -- good morning to you, Brent.
What is the latest on this supposed deal with Nigeria? Is this a done deal yet or no?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kris.
Many elements to get resolved here. First of all, it's a done deal in the sense that Mr. Taylor says he will accept the offer of political asylum in Nigeria. But it is certainly not a done deal as to the precise mechanics of how and when Mr. Taylor might leave the presidency here.
I'm reporting live from the sea front on the Monrovian capital here. This is where, behind me there, that H, painted H on the tarmac behind me is where we expect to see, in an undisclosed time, an arrival of a U.S. helicopter that'll be bringing in 20 military members of a humanitarian assistance special survey team. They'll be coming in here with their own Marine guard of about another 15 officers, men, 35 in all, landing here some time in the next two or three hours, we expect, at about the same time as President George W. Bush is leaving the United States to begin his five nation tour of Africa.
So a lot of timing and symbolism going on on this day.
The kind of things this mission, this special survey team, will be doing is laying the groundwork for the kind of report that U.S. military commanders will need to decide what action, if any, to take next as far as U.S. participation in a stabilization force on the ground here. U.S. officials are making clear that this is a humanitarian military mission and this survey team will be going out pretty quickly, I believe, looking at the kind of problems, the massive humanitarian problems that Liberia faces, not least in the fields of water, preventive medicine, roads, construction and logistics. Really many chronic problems and difficulties in this nation.
This is not, however, not, I must stress, the beginning of a troop deployment here in Liberia. This is an assessment mission, but it is the first step towards what might unfold later if the order is given for the U.S. to send in troops, along with other states from West Africa, for, perhaps, totaling as many as 5,000.
But all this, of course, is dependent on Mr. Taylor's maneuverings and just yesterday he was meeting with the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo. The two leaders met in a very important meeting. Asylum was offered, asylum accepted. But Mr. Taylor making it quite clear, and having support from his Nigerian counterpart, that Mr. Taylor does not want to leave office and create a vacuum and hand over a chaotic situation.
He wants to see elements of peacekeepers on the ground before he quits -- Kris.
OSBORN: And about that chaos you were describing and the assessment, in addition to, of course, the immediate question of peacekeepers, I imagine the assessment team will be looking into safety questions, because so many aid workers haven't been able to get in, of course, due to the violence.
SADLER: Indeed. I mean the thrust of this is being referred to as a humanitarian mission. But, of course, this is going to be the first time that U.S. eyes and ears will be able to get out into the streets of Monrovia and see for themselves and make the kind of humanitarian assessment that's needed to help make this crucial decision about U.S. involvement here or not -- Kris.
OSBORN: CNN's Brent Sadler live in Liberia.
Thank you very much for the very detailed report, as always.
Now, you can go to our Web site for an interactive gallery of the history of the U.S. involvement in Liberia -- there is a lot of history between the U.S. and Liberia -- along with a profile of President Charles Taylor, elected in 1997 in an election that many saw as corrupt. Go check it out for yourself. Look into the history. Cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Africa>
Aired July 7, 2003 - 05:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The president leaves later today on a five nation tour of Africa. Mr. Bush says he'll be carrying the message that America cares about Africa. The president will talk about his $15 billion plan to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. He'll also bring up anti-terrorism and education initiatives for Africa.
The president will make stops in Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria and Uganda.
Well, the president's trip may be overshadowed by events in Liberia you've likely heard of by now. A U.S. military team, an assessment team, is heading there, and its president may be heading out.
CNN's Brent Sadler is in the Liberian capital of Monrovia with the latest -- good morning to you, Brent.
What is the latest on this supposed deal with Nigeria? Is this a done deal yet or no?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Kris.
Many elements to get resolved here. First of all, it's a done deal in the sense that Mr. Taylor says he will accept the offer of political asylum in Nigeria. But it is certainly not a done deal as to the precise mechanics of how and when Mr. Taylor might leave the presidency here.
I'm reporting live from the sea front on the Monrovian capital here. This is where, behind me there, that H, painted H on the tarmac behind me is where we expect to see, in an undisclosed time, an arrival of a U.S. helicopter that'll be bringing in 20 military members of a humanitarian assistance special survey team. They'll be coming in here with their own Marine guard of about another 15 officers, men, 35 in all, landing here some time in the next two or three hours, we expect, at about the same time as President George W. Bush is leaving the United States to begin his five nation tour of Africa.
So a lot of timing and symbolism going on on this day.
The kind of things this mission, this special survey team, will be doing is laying the groundwork for the kind of report that U.S. military commanders will need to decide what action, if any, to take next as far as U.S. participation in a stabilization force on the ground here. U.S. officials are making clear that this is a humanitarian military mission and this survey team will be going out pretty quickly, I believe, looking at the kind of problems, the massive humanitarian problems that Liberia faces, not least in the fields of water, preventive medicine, roads, construction and logistics. Really many chronic problems and difficulties in this nation.
This is not, however, not, I must stress, the beginning of a troop deployment here in Liberia. This is an assessment mission, but it is the first step towards what might unfold later if the order is given for the U.S. to send in troops, along with other states from West Africa, for, perhaps, totaling as many as 5,000.
But all this, of course, is dependent on Mr. Taylor's maneuverings and just yesterday he was meeting with the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo. The two leaders met in a very important meeting. Asylum was offered, asylum accepted. But Mr. Taylor making it quite clear, and having support from his Nigerian counterpart, that Mr. Taylor does not want to leave office and create a vacuum and hand over a chaotic situation.
He wants to see elements of peacekeepers on the ground before he quits -- Kris.
OSBORN: And about that chaos you were describing and the assessment, in addition to, of course, the immediate question of peacekeepers, I imagine the assessment team will be looking into safety questions, because so many aid workers haven't been able to get in, of course, due to the violence.
SADLER: Indeed. I mean the thrust of this is being referred to as a humanitarian mission. But, of course, this is going to be the first time that U.S. eyes and ears will be able to get out into the streets of Monrovia and see for themselves and make the kind of humanitarian assessment that's needed to help make this crucial decision about U.S. involvement here or not -- Kris.
OSBORN: CNN's Brent Sadler live in Liberia.
Thank you very much for the very detailed report, as always.
Now, you can go to our Web site for an interactive gallery of the history of the U.S. involvement in Liberia -- there is a lot of history between the U.S. and Liberia -- along with a profile of President Charles Taylor, elected in 1997 in an election that many saw as corrupt. Go check it out for yourself. Look into the history. Cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Africa>
