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SLUG: 2-306410 Bush Liberia (S-O)
DATE: NOTE NUMBER: |
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DATE=08/12/03 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=BUSH LIBERIA (S-O) NUMBER=2-306410 BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: The White House says U-S officials are working to improve the humanitarian situation in Liberia now that the country's president has left power. V-O-A's Scott Stearns has the story. TEXT: White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan says President Bush welcomes the departure of Liberian President Charles Taylor, whose resignation Mr. Bush demanded as a precondition for U-S involvement in a West African peacekeeping force. Ms. Buchan says U-S ships offshore and a small contingent of U-S Marines are working with the regional alliance ECOWAS to speed the arrival of much-needed relief supplies. /// BUCHAN ACT ///
We are working to ensure that humanitarian relief gets to those who need it. The people of Liberia have endured great suffering and we will work with ECOWAS partners to help ensure that that humanitarian relief gets to the people. /// END ACT /// President Taylor left Liberia Monday after protracted negotiations over his exile in Nigeria, complicated in part by Mr. Taylor's indictment on war crimes connected to the war in neighboring Sierra Leone. Ms. Buchan says the Bush Administration believes "all parties responsible for the atrocities in Sierra Leone must be held accountable," but she would not say whether Washington will now press Nigeria to turn Mr. Taylor over to the U-N tribunal. (SIGNED) NEB/SS/RAE/FC |
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