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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Leader in Liberia Facing Humanitarian Crisis

Aired August 12, 2003 - 05:34   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: Shifting focus now to Africa, a new leader has taken control in Liberia and he's facing a humanitarian crisis. There's no food, water or fuel in the war ravaged capital city of Monrovia and the new president, Moses Blah, is appealing to the international community for help.
Live to Monrovia now and the latest from CNN's Gaven Morris -- hello, Gaven.

GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you.

And just to remind Liberians that their leader may have changed, but their plight hasn't, it's begun absolutely teeming down here this morning. You can see people taking shelter in the gas station behind me. It really is a reminder that while politically things may have changed, the desperate humanitarian situation in this city and across this country goes on.

That really now becomes the focus of attention here, because just sitting off the coast, three U.S. warships that came in from further out to sea yesterday. Now, they're there to remind Liberians that the Americans are still interested in their plight and also to remind the LURD rebels that currently control the port that everybody here would quite like them out of there now.

Charles Taylor, on leaving yesterday, said, "I've done my part. The U.S. asked me to leave. West African leaders asked me to leave. I have done that. It's now up to the rebels and the international community to come to our aid."

And the aim of those ships being there is hopefully to encourage the LURD rebels to pull out of the port so that ships can come into the port with desperately needed food, desperately needed fuel and desperately needed supplies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hate to keep you out in that miserable weather, but I do have a question for you. The new president, Moses Blah, has offered a role in the government to the rebels.

Is that a good idea?

MORRIS: It is a good idea if he can pull it off. I'm not so sure he can. The rebels don't like Moses Blah as a leader. They say he's too closely connected to the former regime of Charles Taylor and they want him to be a very, very temporary president. They really are pushing for the process to move very quickly to bring in a transitional arrangement that both sides can agree on. So, I mean I'm only a betting -- if I was a betting man, I would say that the rebels won't take him up on that offer, but hopefully in the next few days, in those peace talks that are going on in Ghana, we might see some sort of arrangement come through whereby Moses Blah may step aside before the October deadline that he and the government here have set himself. And if that happens, hopefully the security situation, which is still quite fragile here, can be fixed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Gaven Morris reporting live from Monrovia.

Let's talk more about the rebels taking a part in government now, because Liberia's new president has offered to share power with the rebels, who forced President Charles Taylor into exile. Mr. Blah says he'll considering offering the vice president's job to a rebel leader and he called on them to lay down their arms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. MOSES BLAH, LIBERIA: My number one priority is peace and trying to encourage my friends, be it LURD or MODEL, to lay down their arms and come to Monrovia so we can talk peace, to bring sanity to the people of Liberia. Please, President Bush, come and save Liberia. We have a long, long ties. Please save us from this nightmare. We are suffering. We are dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Blah, who was President Taylor's deputy, predicted he would make progress toward ending 14 years of bloodshed within two or three days.

Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us now -- and that seems impossible, doesn't it? Two or three days, peace to Liberia, food, water, prosperity?

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. Miracles can happen, but not usually in Liberia, you know, and I mean one of the things we want to talk about today is, you know, you hear people talking about how it's the summer and it's a slow news environment, that's rubbish. It's always been rubbish and it's rubbish now. It's completely rubbish, particularly on the international side.

I mean the abrasive suicide bombers in Israel, the West Bank today clearly showing that violence hasn't gone away there. It's not so clear whether this means there's really an end to the truce on the part of the large Palestinian militant groups, but certainly there are people out there who are prepared to do suicide attacks. And in the meantime, practically no real progress on the road map for peace.

Now, having said that...

COSTELLO: Well, one thing has already happened, Israel is going to delay the prisoner release of Palestinians.

CLINCH: Right, and the prison...

COSTELLO: And...

CLINCH: ... release isn't even in the road map. It's a separate thing. It's...

COSTELLO: Well, he was just in Washington talking to President Bush about that.

CLINCH: Correct. It's a confidence building measure. But they haven't even really got to the full implementation of the road map. There is a road map, though, and the U.S. envoy, William Burns, is in Israel today meeting with Sharon. It's not all over, but it's definitely a big story and it's not going away.

In Iraq, again, I mean we talked yesterday about the literally hot story in Iraq. And I was just talking to Jane Arraf in Baghdad today, or actually in Tikrit today, about filing a story at some point today, if we can do it, on the heat in Iraq and the U.S. soldiers suffering from that. We talked about how at least one U.S. soldier had died from heat stroke within the last couple of days.

That heat is, I think it's 120 in the shade today. Miserable conditions for Iraqis, obviously, and particularly for the American soldiers in their uniforms. They are hot, literally, excuse the pun, on the trail of Saddam Hussein.

But, again, a story that's not going away.

You know, the summer break for Congress and for the U.S. president, he is going to come back to those stories. They will still be there. And Liberia, obviously, is very much on our minds at the moment. The U.S. troops are off the coast there. You can, practically, you can see them there in the video there in the ships. But there's no clear indication that the U.S. is ready to bring those Marines onshore and really get truly involved in Liberia.

COSTELLO: That's a touchy political situation for the United States.

CLINCH: Absolutely. And we're not here to say that they should, either. And nobody, I don't think the Bush administration wants to hear me or anybody else on CNN report the first U.S. death in Liberia or anything like that. It's a very serious decision and they are being very cautious about it. But that's a big symbol, a U.S. warship off the coast.

And then, of course, there's the other hot story, not a political story, but the hot story of the heat wave in Europe that we're also following. It's becoming very much more serious, though, very deadly. In France, in particular, as many as 50 people reported to have died within the last few days in France, particularly amongst the elderly and the very young.

So a story that we make fun of sometimes, but apparently becoming very much more serious. If the heat goes on for much longer, the death toll could really get serious in Europe.

COSTELLO: Yes, good enough. And we're going to talk more about the weather with Chad in just a bit.

CLINCH: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Thank you, David.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

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 - 05:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Shifting focus now to Africa, a new leader has taken control in Liberia and he's facing a humanitarian crisis. There's no food, water or fuel in the war ravaged capital city of Monrovia and the new president, Moses Blah, is appealing to the international community for help.
Live to Monrovia now and the latest from CNN's Gaven Morris -- hello, Gaven.

GAVEN MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to you.

And just to remind Liberians that their leader may have changed, but their plight hasn't, it's begun absolutely teeming down here this morning. You can see people taking shelter in the gas station behind me. It really is a reminder that while politically things may have changed, the desperate humanitarian situation in this city and across this country goes on.

That really now becomes the focus of attention here, because just sitting off the coast, three U.S. warships that came in from further out to sea yesterday. Now, they're there to remind Liberians that the Americans are still interested in their plight and also to remind the LURD rebels that currently control the port that everybody here would quite like them out of there now.

Charles Taylor, on leaving yesterday, said, "I've done my part. The U.S. asked me to leave. West African leaders asked me to leave. I have done that. It's now up to the rebels and the international community to come to our aid."

And the aim of those ships being there is hopefully to encourage the LURD rebels to pull out of the port so that ships can come into the port with desperately needed food, desperately needed fuel and desperately needed supplies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hate to keep you out in that miserable weather, but I do have a question for you. The new president, Moses Blah, has offered a role in the government to the rebels.

Is that a good idea?

MORRIS: It is a good idea if he can pull it off. I'm not so sure he can. The rebels don't like Moses Blah as a leader. They say he's too closely connected to the former regime of Charles Taylor and they want him to be a very, very temporary president. They really are pushing for the process to move very quickly to bring in a transitional arrangement that both sides can agree on. So, I mean I'm only a betting -- if I was a betting man, I would say that the rebels won't take him up on that offer, but hopefully in the next few days, in those peace talks that are going on in Ghana, we might see some sort of arrangement come through whereby Moses Blah may step aside before the October deadline that he and the government here have set himself. And if that happens, hopefully the security situation, which is still quite fragile here, can be fixed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Gaven Morris reporting live from Monrovia.

Let's talk more about the rebels taking a part in government now, because Liberia's new president has offered to share power with the rebels, who forced President Charles Taylor into exile. Mr. Blah says he'll considering offering the vice president's job to a rebel leader and he called on them to lay down their arms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. MOSES BLAH, LIBERIA: My number one priority is peace and trying to encourage my friends, be it LURD or MODEL, to lay down their arms and come to Monrovia so we can talk peace, to bring sanity to the people of Liberia. Please, President Bush, come and save Liberia. We have a long, long ties. Please save us from this nightmare. We are suffering. We are dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Blah, who was President Taylor's deputy, predicted he would make progress toward ending 14 years of bloodshed within two or three days.

Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us now -- and that seems impossible, doesn't it? Two or three days, peace to Liberia, food, water, prosperity?

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. Miracles can happen, but not usually in Liberia, you know, and I mean one of the things we want to talk about today is, you know, you hear people talking about how it's the summer and it's a slow news environment, that's rubbish. It's always been rubbish and it's rubbish now. It's completely rubbish, particularly on the international side.

I mean the abrasive suicide bombers in Israel, the West Bank today clearly showing that violence hasn't gone away there. It's not so clear whether this means there's really an end to the truce on the part of the large Palestinian militant groups, but certainly there are people out there who are prepared to do suicide attacks. And in the meantime, practically no real progress on the road map for peace.

Now, having said that...

COSTELLO: Well, one thing has already happened, Israel is going to delay the prisoner release of Palestinians.

CLINCH: Right, and the prison...

COSTELLO: And...

CLINCH: ... release isn't even in the road map. It's a separate thing. It's...

COSTELLO: Well, he was just in Washington talking to President Bush about that.

CLINCH: Correct. It's a confidence building measure. But they haven't even really got to the full implementation of the road map. There is a road map, though, and the U.S. envoy, William Burns, is in Israel today meeting with Sharon. It's not all over, but it's definitely a big story and it's not going away.

In Iraq, again, I mean we talked yesterday about the literally hot story in Iraq. And I was just talking to Jane Arraf in Baghdad today, or actually in Tikrit today, about filing a story at some point today, if we can do it, on the heat in Iraq and the U.S. soldiers suffering from that. We talked about how at least one U.S. soldier had died from heat stroke within the last couple of days.

That heat is, I think it's 120 in the shade today. Miserable conditions for Iraqis, obviously, and particularly for the American soldiers in their uniforms. They are hot, literally, excuse the pun, on the trail of Saddam Hussein.

But, again, a story that's not going away.

You know, the summer break for Congress and for the U.S. president, he is going to come back to those stories. They will still be there. And Liberia, obviously, is very much on our minds at the moment. The U.S. troops are off the coast there. You can, practically, you can see them there in the video there in the ships. But there's no clear indication that the U.S. is ready to bring those Marines onshore and really get truly involved in Liberia.

COSTELLO: That's a touchy political situation for the United States.

CLINCH: Absolutely. And we're not here to say that they should, either. And nobody, I don't think the Bush administration wants to hear me or anybody else on CNN report the first U.S. death in Liberia or anything like that. It's a very serious decision and they are being very cautious about it. But that's a big symbol, a U.S. warship off the coast.

And then, of course, there's the other hot story, not a political story, but the hot story of the heat wave in Europe that we're also following. It's becoming very much more serious, though, very deadly. In France, in particular, as many as 50 people reported to have died within the last few days in France, particularly amongst the elderly and the very young.

So a story that we make fun of sometimes, but apparently becoming very much more serious. If the heat goes on for much longer, the death toll could really get serious in Europe.

COSTELLO: Yes, good enough. And we're going to talk more about the weather with Chad in just a bit.

CLINCH: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Thank you, David.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com