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American Morning

Interview with Susan Rice, Former Assistant Secretary of State, African Affairs

Aired July 07, 2003 - 09:11   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The big question here in America is: Should the U.S. get involved in Liberia, and if so, how soon and how deeply?
Earlier today, Bill talked to the U.S. ambassador to Liberia, John Blaney, and asked him if there was a need for troops in Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN W. BLANEY, U.S. AMB. TO LIBERIA: That's a decision that the president of the United States will make. Our mission here right now is to just provide the information and the access for this team to take a look strictly at the humanitarian situation. They'll be going to hospitals. They'll be going to these camps. They'll be meeting with non-governmental organizations and other experts in the humanitarian area in Liberia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Susan Rice of the Brookings Institution, a former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, is in CNN's Washington bureau for us this morning.

Good morning, Susan. Thanks for joining us.

SUSAN RICE, FMR. ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Liberian President Charles Taylor has accepted, we are told, an offer of asylum from the Nigerian president, Obasanjo, but with no timetable. Now, President Bush says that Taylor needs to leave now. Realistically, how quickly could Taylor leave and not leave Liberia to essentially implode?

RICE: Well, I think we have to be somewhat skeptical of Charles Taylor's motives when he says he's concerned about the people of Liberia. He hasn't been for his entire tenure, but I think there is a genuine security risk. That is, if Taylor leaves precipitously, the rebels could move in and restart the conflict if there are not peacekeepers present to quell the situation. So, I think there does have to be some careful orchestration here. And surely, the United States, if in fact it intends to participate in the peacekeeping fashion, wants to move quickly and get there to fill this void that may open.

O'BRIEN: If indeed Charles Taylor, though, is allowed to leave for Nigeria, basically it frees him from any kind of prosecution for war crimes in Sierra Leone. It comes down to basically two options, then, doesn't it? I mean, stability in the region versus justice for Charles Taylor.

RICE: I think it's unfortunately the case. Because the U.N. War Crimes prosecutor issued his indictment at a time when the negotiations for peace in Liberia were ongoing, it essentially gave the region and the international community, and indeed the United States, no good options. Taylor either has to die fighting in Monrovia or go back into the bush to live to fight another day, or agree to go to Nigeria, in which case he's most likely, although not certain, to escape the jurisdiction of the war crimes tribunal.

O'BRIEN: And, in fact, though, if he does disappear into the bush, as you say, he would then probably continue to gather support from his rebel army, and to some degree that is a bigger problem, isn't it?

RICE: Absolutely. That's the worst-case scenario, where he would not only elude the indictment, but he would be able to reconstitute his rebel army and come back to destabilize Liberia and the sub-region. That's why Nigeria's decision to offer him asylum is unfortunately going to get criticized by human rights groups. But the Nigerians are taking a bullet for Liberia and for the sub-region in order to keep Taylor from destabilizing the region further.

O'BRIEN: The African nation has strong ties to the U.S. In fact, it was settled by ex-slaves 150 years ago. They very much, the people who live there, see themselves with very strong ties to the U.S. Give me a sense of the other strategic interest that the U.S. has in Liberia.

RICE: Well, Liberia is sort of the cancer which has infected the rest of the sub-region. The conflict there has been exported by President Charles Taylor to Sierra Leone, to Guinea, to the Ivory Coast, and it has destabilized all of West Africa. That matters to us for two reasons. One, we get a lot of our imported oil from that sub- region, particularly from Nigeria. But also, that whole arc of conflict has created sort of regional super-failed states that terrorists and criminals have exploited and used to base their operations, as well as to exploit the very precious diamond resources there. And so, we have a history of al Qaeda trading diamonds and using them from that sub-region to finance its operations.

O'BRIEN: All right, Susan Rice, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, thanks for joining us this morning.

RICE: Thank you.

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





State, African Affairs>


Aired July 7, 2003 - 09:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The big question here in America is: Should the U.S. get involved in Liberia, and if so, how soon and how deeply?
Earlier today, Bill talked to the U.S. ambassador to Liberia, John Blaney, and asked him if there was a need for troops in Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN W. BLANEY, U.S. AMB. TO LIBERIA: That's a decision that the president of the United States will make. Our mission here right now is to just provide the information and the access for this team to take a look strictly at the humanitarian situation. They'll be going to hospitals. They'll be going to these camps. They'll be meeting with non-governmental organizations and other experts in the humanitarian area in Liberia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Susan Rice of the Brookings Institution, a former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, is in CNN's Washington bureau for us this morning.

Good morning, Susan. Thanks for joining us.

SUSAN RICE, FMR. ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Liberian President Charles Taylor has accepted, we are told, an offer of asylum from the Nigerian president, Obasanjo, but with no timetable. Now, President Bush says that Taylor needs to leave now. Realistically, how quickly could Taylor leave and not leave Liberia to essentially implode?

RICE: Well, I think we have to be somewhat skeptical of Charles Taylor's motives when he says he's concerned about the people of Liberia. He hasn't been for his entire tenure, but I think there is a genuine security risk. That is, if Taylor leaves precipitously, the rebels could move in and restart the conflict if there are not peacekeepers present to quell the situation. So, I think there does have to be some careful orchestration here. And surely, the United States, if in fact it intends to participate in the peacekeeping fashion, wants to move quickly and get there to fill this void that may open.

O'BRIEN: If indeed Charles Taylor, though, is allowed to leave for Nigeria, basically it frees him from any kind of prosecution for war crimes in Sierra Leone. It comes down to basically two options, then, doesn't it? I mean, stability in the region versus justice for Charles Taylor.

RICE: I think it's unfortunately the case. Because the U.N. War Crimes prosecutor issued his indictment at a time when the negotiations for peace in Liberia were ongoing, it essentially gave the region and the international community, and indeed the United States, no good options. Taylor either has to die fighting in Monrovia or go back into the bush to live to fight another day, or agree to go to Nigeria, in which case he's most likely, although not certain, to escape the jurisdiction of the war crimes tribunal.

O'BRIEN: And, in fact, though, if he does disappear into the bush, as you say, he would then probably continue to gather support from his rebel army, and to some degree that is a bigger problem, isn't it?

RICE: Absolutely. That's the worst-case scenario, where he would not only elude the indictment, but he would be able to reconstitute his rebel army and come back to destabilize Liberia and the sub-region. That's why Nigeria's decision to offer him asylum is unfortunately going to get criticized by human rights groups. But the Nigerians are taking a bullet for Liberia and for the sub-region in order to keep Taylor from destabilizing the region further.

O'BRIEN: The African nation has strong ties to the U.S. In fact, it was settled by ex-slaves 150 years ago. They very much, the people who live there, see themselves with very strong ties to the U.S. Give me a sense of the other strategic interest that the U.S. has in Liberia.

RICE: Well, Liberia is sort of the cancer which has infected the rest of the sub-region. The conflict there has been exported by President Charles Taylor to Sierra Leone, to Guinea, to the Ivory Coast, and it has destabilized all of West Africa. That matters to us for two reasons. One, we get a lot of our imported oil from that sub- region, particularly from Nigeria. But also, that whole arc of conflict has created sort of regional super-failed states that terrorists and criminals have exploited and used to base their operations, as well as to exploit the very precious diamond resources there. And so, we have a history of al Qaeda trading diamonds and using them from that sub-region to finance its operations.

O'BRIEN: All right, Susan Rice, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, thanks for joining us this morning.

RICE: Thank you.

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





State, African Affairs>