19 May 2000
Jackson Travels to Liberia for Discussions with Charles Taylor
(Envoy says goal is to defuse Sierra Leone crisis) (970) By Jim Fisher-Thompson Washington File Staff Correspondent Monrovia, Liberia -- Jesse Jackson, accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Howard Jeter, the former special envoy to Liberia, arrived in Monrovia May 19 to explore with President Charles Taylor how the crisis in neighboring Sierra Leone might be ended on a lasting basis. Jackson told journalists, upon his arrival at the airport, "We are glad to be in Liberia again on this very substantive mission to preserve the integrity and sovereignty of democracy in Sierra Leone." Central to that task is gaining the release of hundreds of United Nations peacekeepers who were taken hostage more than a week ago by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a movement that Jackson, special envoy of the president and the secretary of state for the promotion of democracy in Africa, has characterized as more a criminal enterprise than a political movement. Jackson added, "We are appealing to West African nations and the United Nations to use their collective strengths" to restore security and stability in Sierra Leone, stop the depredations of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and force the immediate release of U.N. peacekeepers taken captive by RUF. Jackson said that when ECOWAS heads of state met recently, "they made the decision to appeal to President Taylor to be the lead person to speak to RUF leaders, since he had had some association with them across the years, and appeal for the release of U.N. hostages who are being held." Jackson praised Taylor for doing a "commendable outreach job" in negotiating the release of about one-third of the soldiers and civilians who made up part of the U.N. peacekeeping operation known as UNAMSIL (U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone). Jackson said that for Taylor "this is a great opportunity to assert statesmanlike behavior by negotiating the release of the hostages, and by encouraging RUF leaders to disengage, demobilize, and disarm," all of which would amount to "a real leadership factor for the good in this region." Before meeting with Taylor in Monrovia, Jackson criticized RUF for perpetrating a campaign of slaughter and intimidation in Sierra Leone. "This fratricide and genocide is maiming the innocent. It is a bestial form of war ... and humanity must cry out and say no to such barbarism and meanness," he said. Asked if he planned to travel to Sierra Leone, Jackson said: "We have not made that determination. I talked to President [Ahmad] Kabbah today [by phone] and told him that what was critical right now for our mission is not so much going into Freetown," but to get support for democracy within Sierra Leone and among its neighbors. Jackson said it was "critical" to get "real and unequivocal support" for redeploying peacemaking forces to Sierra Leone. "They have the power to remove RUF as a military consideration in the negotiations," he said. RUF, Jackson said, is mired in "moral squalor." Its leader, Foday Sankoh, who was recently captured by Sierra Leonean police, has "operated as a bandit," and both he and the organization "must no longer hold the military option over the head of Sierra Leone's democracy." Around the time Taylor met with Jackson, the Liberian also conducted a phone interview with CNN that was broadcast live on the "World News" program. Asked about the release of the U.N. hostages, Taylor said: "We are doing everything possible to secure their release. We have information that some 30 to 40 peacekeepers are injured and that is our priority now in trying to get them evacuated ... so we have arranged for a 'neutral' (quote unquote) helicopter to go in and get them out." He added: "We have made it very clear to the RUF ... that there can be no linkage between the release of the U.N. hostages and whatever other points of disagreement in the [Lome] agreement, including the holding of Foday Sankoh right now." Thus far, of about 500 hostages, Taylor said, "we have already had some 139" released on the first occasion and "and additional 13" later released. "We are very satisfied with that, but that is far from sufficient. We believe that probably over the next 48 hours," results may occur. "As pressure is on, our negotiators are in there and have made it very clear that these people must be released without any preconditions. ... We've told the RUF that time is not on their side and that they must do everything to release these hostages right away and without any preconditions." Asked what he believed should happen to Sankoh now, Taylor said: "I am not going to be the judge of this one. I think the leadership of ECOWAS, working along with the United Nations, should look at this particular matter. I think all the parties to the [Lome] agreement must adhere to the agreement. Without getting into the details of Sankoh, I want to have all of the opportunity to release these hostages before we deal with the critical problem of what should or should not happen to Sankoh and the [peace] process." Asked if he was prepared to cut off the flow of diamonds into Liberia that helps fund RUF, Taylor said, "That is not factual." But if one asks, "Are we prepared to assist if that were occurring," the answer is yes, he said. "It is ludicrous for anyone to believe that Liberia would be involved in the smuggling of diamonds and gun running across the border. That's what you see in Western cowboy movies, but that's not the case." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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