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CNN Live At Daybreak
Liberia Without Charles Taylor
Aired August 12, 2003 - 06:05 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Peace talks in a lowly hut in some small village outside of Monrovia, Liberia. It is a tradition there, and Liberia's new president, Moses Blah, says he will follow tradition to achieve peace.
Live to Monrovia and Gaven Morris.
Gaven -- what is Mr. Blah's first move?
GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, his first move is to try and establish lasting peace. There is peace here at the moment. There has been a cease-fire in place, certainly around Monrovia anyway, for the last little while, but it is very tenuous. And so, he is saying that that is what he must do first.
But let me take you to some developments this morning. A short time ago, not very long at all, a couple of helicopters flew into the U.S. Embassy here in Monrovia. Now, on those helicopters was the commander of the U.S. Marines, who are positioned off the coast of Monrovia.
Now, the three ships that contain about 2,500 U.S. Marines came much closer to Monrovia yesterday, just off the port now, clearly visible off the coast. That was a show of strength by the U.S. to say to the Liberian people and also to say to the LURD rebels that America is here and it's keeping a very close eye on developments.
Now, what it is really hoping to do here is to get aid into the port. The port has been cut off by the LURD rebels for the last couple of weeks. And that's meant that food and fuel and important supplies have been cut off from the people, and this desperately bad humanitarian situation in Monrovia is getting worse by the moment.
Now, we shouldn't be too encouraged by a force of Marines coming onshore. This is just a reconnaissance mission. We believe that the U.S. ambassador and that commander from the Marines will head to the port this morning to assess the situation and to try and find out just how they can make things right to get ships in with those much needed supplies.
Last night, Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state, talked about this, and basically was discouraging people from thinking that any grand Marine presence would be taking place just yet in Monrovia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: If the situation remains calm, as it's been for the last few hours, all of this should be done in a rather open and peaceful way, and that the cease-fire remains in place. I would not expect any large commitment of U.S. forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORRIS: It's a show of force, a show of their presence that the U.S. is here keeping an eye on things. But, really, something has to be done quite urgently to get the humanitarian situation fixed now that the political situation so far has been fixed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sort of fixed anyway. Gaven Morris reporting live from Monrovia, Liberia this morning.
And maybe you've heard about this: Liberia's new president has actually offered to share power with the rebels, the same rebels who forced President Charles Taylor into exile. He is also pleading with the United States and other countries to help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MOSES BLAH, LIBERIA: We are appealing to the international community to come to our aid. We need help from the great United States, the European Union, the African Union. They have been here, and they have seen our condition. This is our way of appealing to them to come to our aid immediately to see how best they can help with the situation in Liberia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As for when President Blah will meet with the rebels, the invitation has already been extended, so we'll have to wait and see.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 12, 2003 - 06:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Peace talks in a lowly hut in some small village outside of Monrovia, Liberia. It is a tradition there, and Liberia's new president, Moses Blah, says he will follow tradition to achieve peace.
Live to Monrovia and Gaven Morris.
Gaven -- what is Mr. Blah's first move?
GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, his first move is to try and establish lasting peace. There is peace here at the moment. There has been a cease-fire in place, certainly around Monrovia anyway, for the last little while, but it is very tenuous. And so, he is saying that that is what he must do first.
But let me take you to some developments this morning. A short time ago, not very long at all, a couple of helicopters flew into the U.S. Embassy here in Monrovia. Now, on those helicopters was the commander of the U.S. Marines, who are positioned off the coast of Monrovia.
Now, the three ships that contain about 2,500 U.S. Marines came much closer to Monrovia yesterday, just off the port now, clearly visible off the coast. That was a show of strength by the U.S. to say to the Liberian people and also to say to the LURD rebels that America is here and it's keeping a very close eye on developments.
Now, what it is really hoping to do here is to get aid into the port. The port has been cut off by the LURD rebels for the last couple of weeks. And that's meant that food and fuel and important supplies have been cut off from the people, and this desperately bad humanitarian situation in Monrovia is getting worse by the moment.
Now, we shouldn't be too encouraged by a force of Marines coming onshore. This is just a reconnaissance mission. We believe that the U.S. ambassador and that commander from the Marines will head to the port this morning to assess the situation and to try and find out just how they can make things right to get ships in with those much needed supplies.
Last night, Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state, talked about this, and basically was discouraging people from thinking that any grand Marine presence would be taking place just yet in Monrovia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: If the situation remains calm, as it's been for the last few hours, all of this should be done in a rather open and peaceful way, and that the cease-fire remains in place. I would not expect any large commitment of U.S. forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORRIS: It's a show of force, a show of their presence that the U.S. is here keeping an eye on things. But, really, something has to be done quite urgently to get the humanitarian situation fixed now that the political situation so far has been fixed -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sort of fixed anyway. Gaven Morris reporting live from Monrovia, Liberia this morning.
And maybe you've heard about this: Liberia's new president has actually offered to share power with the rebels, the same rebels who forced President Charles Taylor into exile. He is also pleading with the United States and other countries to help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. MOSES BLAH, LIBERIA: We are appealing to the international community to come to our aid. We need help from the great United States, the European Union, the African Union. They have been here, and they have seen our condition. This is our way of appealing to them to come to our aid immediately to see how best they can help with the situation in Liberia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As for when President Blah will meet with the rebels, the invitation has already been extended, so we'll have to wait and see.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
