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CNN Sunday Morning
Taylor to Meet With Nigeria's President Today
Aired July 06, 2003 - 08:03 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, in just a couple of hours, the meetings between the Liberian president and Nigerian president could be taking place. Our Brent Sadler is in Monrovia and joins us on the telephone.
Brent, what are you hearing about any precursors to this potential meeting of these two presidents?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, Fredricka. I'm now at Monrovia's international airport where there's going to be a meeting in the next couple of hours. It should start between the Liberian leader Charles Taylor and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo. This is a really crucial meeting, and all eyes both inside Liberia and in West Africa and beyond, of course, not least, in the White House will be looking at what comes out of this meeting.
Now, there are very loose family ties between the Nigerian president and his Liberian counterpart. And it's expected that behind the scenes, the Nigerian leader will be trying to give Mr. Taylor some pretty firm assurances that if Mr. Taylor has a soft landing, as it's called in Nigeria, goes into exile, if the Nigerian leader can convince Mr. Taylor he'll have that soft landing, that the war crimes indictment will be put on the back burner, as Dana was saying, then maybe, still it's a big maybe, Mr. Taylor may go at the same time there's a transition of power.
But you know, Fredricka, it's all in the timing here. This country is very, delicately balanced right now. Rebels to the north of Monrovia, less than an hour's drive from the capital here, a crease fire still holding, another rebel group really in the south, inactive over the past few weeks. But it was only last month that bodies were strewn across the streets of Monrovia, capital. And it really is an extraordinary difficult, both political and military operation from if the U.S. is to commit forces here. That is why I think we're hearing mission shift in terms of humanitarian military presence here by the United States, not peace keeping per se.
So this meeting is expected to start in a couple of hours or so from now. We hope to bring you that arrival and meetings here live from Monrovia, crucially important as this nation's future hangs in the balance.
Back to you Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Brent, as this U.S. assessment team makes it way to Monrovia as well, apparently this body of about 10 to 15 people will be making their way directly to the U.S. Embassy there in Monrovia. How close is that to the location where the two presidents are going to be meeting?
SADLER: The U.S. embassy is about 45 minutes drive from the airport. The meeting between the Nigerian and Liberian leaders expected to be contained here at the airport. Security is not sufficiently guaranteed for the meeting to take place, frankly, anywhere else beyond the compounds of the airport. The airport itself, don't think, grand on any scale here. This is an impoverished nation, one of the poorest countries in the world, so this is not a five-star setting by any means. But it is a crucially important meeting.
The assessment team really is the first component of many components that will come into play. Assuming there is going to be a joint international stabilization force made up of representative troops from West African nations in conjunction coordination with United States forces. A very tricky operation to get off the ground. Assessment team here, a joint verification team would be coming into play as well, and then perhaps a joint military commission. And then somehow in the midst all this, if Taylor goes at the right time, a very quick deployment of forces on the ground. Not least the fact that there's expected to be an early securing of the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia itself.
The U.S. really is the last significant presence of any western nations here in the capital. I was with the ambassador yesterday. It's a fortress compound. Not many diplomats left, right down to skeleton proportions. And of course, concern about that embassy's security factor is of paramount importance. So you could see an early deployment of U.S. protection forces, Marines bolstering the guard that's already on station in the embassy here -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brent Sadler in Monrovia, thank you very much.
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 July 6, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, in just a couple of hours, the meetings between the Liberian president and Nigerian president could be taking place. Our Brent Sadler is in Monrovia and joins us on the telephone.
Brent, what are you hearing about any precursors to this potential meeting of these two presidents?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, Fredricka. I'm now at Monrovia's international airport where there's going to be a meeting in the next couple of hours. It should start between the Liberian leader Charles Taylor and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo. This is a really crucial meeting, and all eyes both inside Liberia and in West Africa and beyond, of course, not least, in the White House will be looking at what comes out of this meeting.
Now, there are very loose family ties between the Nigerian president and his Liberian counterpart. And it's expected that behind the scenes, the Nigerian leader will be trying to give Mr. Taylor some pretty firm assurances that if Mr. Taylor has a soft landing, as it's called in Nigeria, goes into exile, if the Nigerian leader can convince Mr. Taylor he'll have that soft landing, that the war crimes indictment will be put on the back burner, as Dana was saying, then maybe, still it's a big maybe, Mr. Taylor may go at the same time there's a transition of power.
But you know, Fredricka, it's all in the timing here. This country is very, delicately balanced right now. Rebels to the north of Monrovia, less than an hour's drive from the capital here, a crease fire still holding, another rebel group really in the south, inactive over the past few weeks. But it was only last month that bodies were strewn across the streets of Monrovia, capital. And it really is an extraordinary difficult, both political and military operation from if the U.S. is to commit forces here. That is why I think we're hearing mission shift in terms of humanitarian military presence here by the United States, not peace keeping per se.
So this meeting is expected to start in a couple of hours or so from now. We hope to bring you that arrival and meetings here live from Monrovia, crucially important as this nation's future hangs in the balance.
Back to you Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Brent, as this U.S. assessment team makes it way to Monrovia as well, apparently this body of about 10 to 15 people will be making their way directly to the U.S. Embassy there in Monrovia. How close is that to the location where the two presidents are going to be meeting?
SADLER: The U.S. embassy is about 45 minutes drive from the airport. The meeting between the Nigerian and Liberian leaders expected to be contained here at the airport. Security is not sufficiently guaranteed for the meeting to take place, frankly, anywhere else beyond the compounds of the airport. The airport itself, don't think, grand on any scale here. This is an impoverished nation, one of the poorest countries in the world, so this is not a five-star setting by any means. But it is a crucially important meeting.
The assessment team really is the first component of many components that will come into play. Assuming there is going to be a joint international stabilization force made up of representative troops from West African nations in conjunction coordination with United States forces. A very tricky operation to get off the ground. Assessment team here, a joint verification team would be coming into play as well, and then perhaps a joint military commission. And then somehow in the midst all this, if Taylor goes at the right time, a very quick deployment of forces on the ground. Not least the fact that there's expected to be an early securing of the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia itself.
The U.S. really is the last significant presence of any western nations here in the capital. I was with the ambassador yesterday. It's a fortress compound. Not many diplomats left, right down to skeleton proportions. And of course, concern about that embassy's security factor is of paramount importance. So you could see an early deployment of U.S. protection forces, Marines bolstering the guard that's already on station in the embassy here -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brent Sadler in Monrovia, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
