Military

Statement of Walter H. Kansteiner,
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs,
House Committee on International Relations
Subcommittee on Africa

U.S. Policy Toward Liberia

October 2, 2003

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am honored to appear before you today to discuss Liberia.  For the past year the U.S. government has had three overarching priorities in Liberia: to stop the killing, to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid, and to achieve a comprehensive, profound change in the way the country was governed.  We have worked long and hard, in cooperation with likeminded Liberians and the international community, in pursuit of these goals.

We are greatly encouraged by the results.  We actively supported and made possible the successful deployment of West African peacekeepers and played a key role in producing the Accra Accords.  We brokered the rebel withdrawal from Monrovia, opening the way for renewed humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of suffering people.  We did this with a small--but crucial--military footprint.  Liberia has taken the first steps toward stability.  Largely through our efforts, the killing of innocent civilians has been substantially reduced, and assistance is starting to reach those in need.

In my testimony today I will highlight the next steps to expand these gains.  But first I would like to discuss briefly the history of Liberia and its unique relationship with the United States.

Liberia and the United States have deep and longstanding ties.  This land on the coast of West Africa was founded at the initiative of Presidents James Monroe and Andrew Jackson, as well as Daniel Webster, Francis Scott Key, Henry Clay, and George Washington’s nephew Bushrod.  In 1819, Congress provided $100,000 for the effort.

In 1847, Liberia became the first independent African republic.  Liberians patterned their constitution, flag, attire, place names and architecture on U.S. models.  Liberia was a key ally during World War Two, when we used Liberian territory as a re-supply center for the campaign in North Africa.  During the Cold War, Liberia served as a relay station for Voice of America broadcasts, for tracking shipping, and for communications surveillance.  We also helped create Liberia’s shipping registry.  Today five percent of Liberia’s population is descended from freed slaves.  The remainder of the population of three million people comes from 16 ethnic groups.

Descendants of the original American settlers, or “Americo-Liberians,” ruled over the indigenous population until 1980, when Samuel Doe and a group of noncommissioned officers overthrew the government.  A decade of predatory rule contributed to the conditions for the 1989-1996 civil war, and Doe’s brutal death.

The new government, led from 1997 until August of this year by Charles Taylor, also terrorized the Liberian people.  Rather than work to improve the lives of Liberians, Taylor supported the bloody Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, fomenting unrest and brutal excesses in the region. Liberia’s new rebel groups, “Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy” and “Movement for Democracy in Liberia”, draw from factions that fought against Taylor in the early 1990s, and on support from neighboring countries that Taylor’s forces attacked using arms purchased through the trade in Sierra Leone’s conflict diamonds.

Today, we seek to help Liberians change the violent and negative course of their recent history.  During this summer’s fight for Monrovia, the capital, Ambassador Blaney and our Embassy staff kept our flag flying and refused to abandon their post, courageously enduring shelling and automatic weapons fire.  They offered a ray of hope for war-weary Liberians by not abandoning them to the combatants.  Meanwhile, in support of the International Contact Group on Liberia, we facilitated negotiation of a comprehensive peace agreement.  President Bush insisted that Charles Taylor step down and leave Liberia.  The presence of U.S. troops and our financial commitments were critical to the success of our diplomacy, and the United States will continue to participate in efforts to bring peace to Liberia.

Now that Monrovia is calmer, addressing the humanitarian crisis is the first order of business.  Of particular concern is the protection of 500,000 Internally Displaced Persons, 280,000 Liberian refugees in neighboring countries and 50,000 Sierra Leonean and Ivoirian refugees within Liberia, many of whom have fled their homes more than once.

The United States has played a significant role in mitigating the humanitarian crisis in Liberia.  USAID’s Office of Food for Peace has already committed $16.7 million in P.L. 480 Title II Food Assistance, or more than 24,000 metric tons of food.  With our help, the UN World Food Program is feeding more than 400,000 people.  Overall, the U.S. Government has provided $40 million to international and non-government organizations for water, sanitation, and shelter programs; for disease control and prevention; for medical services and work to combat sexual and gender-based violence; for logistical support and security for humanitarian workers; and, for food stocks.  However, much remains to be done.  Measles, malaria, cholera, and diarrhea are serious health issues.  Food security and reintegration of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons are also outstanding issues.

Security is key to resolving the humanitarian crisis, and preparing the way for the political transition.  In this respect the Economic Community of West African States - ECOWAS, led by Nigeria and seven other regional countries, is meeting the challenge.  The United States provides critical support to the 3,600 ECOMIL peacekeeping troops, without which the intervention forces never would have deployed to Liberia.  We have committed $26 million to transport all the contingents and to fund contracted logistics support and equipment for ECOMIL.  A UN peacekeeping operation, UNMIL, began operations October 1, subsuming ECOMIL units, at the same time that the direct support role by U.S. Marines deployed to Liberia ended, as ordered by President Bush.

Although the U.S. Joint Task Force established to support West African peacekeepers now has departed, the United States will remain involved in other ways in supporting the peacekeepers, and in restructuring and training a new and professional Liberian military.  In order to further support Liberia’s August 18 peace agreement, we drafted and endorsed UN Security Council Resolution 1509, which establishes a peacekeeping operation under Chapter VII authority.  In keeping with the UN Secretary General’s recommendations, it calls for a force of up to 15,000 peacekeepers, with 250 military observers and 160 staff officers, a robust police component of up to 1,115, and a significant civilian component and support staff.  The United States is seconding nine officers to UNMIL (two headquarters staff officers, seven military observers).

While we await the full UN deployment in Liberia, we keep a close eye on Charles Taylor and seek to ensure that he creates no further mayhem.  During his Presidency Taylor controlled every aspect of Liberia’s political system and economy; we have every reason to believe that if he has the means he will try to use his old connections in an attempt to undermine the fragile peace.  We recognize that Nigeria granted Taylor exile for the sake of regional peace.  We are working with Liberia and the international community to help ensure that Taylor no longer has any influence in Liberia, and we support Nigeria’s stern warning to Taylor not to have any contacts with Liberia.

We also seek continued cooperation from President Moses Blah, who assumed office upon Charles Taylor’s resignation.  President Blah has pledged to step down on October 14 in favor of a two-year transitional government.  So far, his government has supported the deployment of peacekeepers, the distribution of humanitarian assistance, and the observance of the Accra Accords.  Under those agreements, the Liberian delegates in Accra selected among the non-combatants a head of state, Mr. Gyude (pronounced “Judy”) Bryant.  The combatants, political parties, and civil society divided cabinet positions and within the next few weeks in Monrovia, they will select ministers and candidates for an interim unicameral legislature.

The Transitional Government will need a lot of help.  The UN will bring significant, but not enough, resources to the table, and it will take time for the UN effort to become fully operational.  The international donor community will respond to Liberia adequately only if the United States helps Liberia.  Continued US assistance for Liberia is critical in areas such as humanitarian aid; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all combatants; restructuring of the security services; economic recovery; environmental protection; national reconciliation; and good governance.  We need to continue to support programs to help refugees and displaced persons return safely to their homes and to set the stage for free and fair elections in October 2005.

Since August, Liberians’ spontaneous and heartfelt public expressions of joy at the intervention of U.S. troops have provided yet another example of the deep connection Liberians feel toward the United States.  They profoundly hope that their friendship with the United States will help lift them out of their current political and humanitarian crisis.  Both the leaders and fighters among government and rebel forces have stated explicitly that they are willing to give up their arms and seek peace only because of U.S. involvement.

A successful political transition leading to a stable Liberia will serve U.S. strategic interests.  U.S. follow-through on Liberia will affect our relations with Nigeria and the other 14 countries of ECOWAS.  The historically unique U.S.-Liberia relationship can be used in furthering the Global War on Terrorism.  Peace and security in Liberia will have a profound impact in the areas of human rights, good governance, the rule of law, environmental preservation, and opportunities for U.S. investors.  Liberia's disintegration, conversely, would have created a new terrorist and criminal training ground.

Liberia's stability is important not only for our relations with our African partners whom we depend on increasingly for security and energy assistance, but also for our relations with Europe.  Specifically, the United Kingdom and France, which have invested significantly in stabilizing Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire, have publicly called on the U.S. to take the lead in resolving the Liberia crisis.  Indeed, had the United States walked away from the country it created, many in the world would have doubted the depth of our commitment to Africa.  While humanitarian relief and the avoidance of further violence constitute more than sufficient reasons for us to remain engaged in Liberia, our strategic interests are also significant.

In sum, the United States has demonstrated leadership and humanitarian compassion.  The situation, however, is still fluid, and Liberians need to hear and see that the United States will stay the course.  Continued U.S. assistance and limited but visible U.S. support for the other elements as outlined above, including security, will send a clear message that we will remain involved in Liberia, and greatly boost prospects for the success of the Transition Government, ECOMIL, and the UN.  It would also encourage all parties to the conflict to work toward rebuilding Liberia, ending the industry of war.  Such U.S. actions would prompt international support for creating a new Liberia, and represent for us a memorable foreign policy success story.

Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with Congress, your Committee, and others to promote U.S. interests in Liberia and peace and stability in West Africa.  I will be happy to answer your questions.