LIBERIA: After 14 years of civil war, Liberia has experienced a year of peace President Gyude Bryant talks to Deaglán de Bréadún
There are two words that keep recurring in conversation with the President of Liberia, Mr Gyude Bryant: "civility" and "determination".
By civility, he means the normal day-to-day life of a democratic state. Looking back on the "oppressive" former regime headed by Charles Taylor, he says it "lacked civility, accountability and transparency and many of those things that we are trying to bring back to our society - respect for civil liberties, respect for individuals and people's rights to do what they desire, whether it is to speak or to write or to move about freely".
When he speaks of determination, he has the ordinary Liberian people in mind. After many years of conflict, war fatigue has taken hold. "They are determined that they are not going back down that road any more.
"We've been at peace now for over a year, not because I want peace but because the Liberian people want peace. They are resolved that this time around, the war's over. We've seen over 100,000 persons disarmed and the Liberian people are determined that they are just tired of war. The people said it, they want a new beginning, they want to be given a new chance and they want good leadership that can help them get the opportunities to make a new beginning in support of civility, in support of their basic rights, in support of democracy and all the good things that any free people want to have."
Under the terms of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) agreement, which brought an end to the Liberian conflict, a transitional government, with Mr Bryant at its head, was established to prepare the way for elections next October.
Although he headed the Liberia Action Party, Mr Bryant's background is in business. Under the terms of the peace agreement, the head of the transitional administration is precluded from standing in next year's elections.
During his three-day visit to Ireland he met the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, the Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea, and the Minister for Education, Ms Hanafin. He also met the President, Mrs McAleese, who is due to visit Liberia in mid-December.
Some 500 Irish troops are in Liberia on UN peacekeeping duty and, according to Mr Bryant, they are "very resolute" in the performance of their duties. "When asked to go into an area with problems, they go in there, clean it out and get out, and the problems are solved." But the Irish peacekeepers are also playing a social role, repairing children's playgrounds, for example, or helping out in other ways.
The social dimension is badly needed because Liberia is in a very poor state. "It is coming out of 14 years of civil crisis. All of the basic social infrastructure is in ruins: electricity, water, bad roads, poor hospitals, poor schools." But Liberia is a poor country and cannot afford the schools, clinics and hospitals that are so badly needed. It is alleged, however, that Charles Taylor enriched himself as head of state and was a multimillionaire by the time he went into exile in Nigeria.
Mr Bryant says he is aware of the claims about Mr Taylor's wealth: "We hear the same thing and we are asking anybody who can help us find it to please come forward because we are looking for it." Taylor is wanted by Interpol, has been indicted by a UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, and Nigeria has promised to send him back to Liberia if requested to do so by the government that is due to be elected next October.
As if the country did not have enough problems, some 19,000 refugees arrived recently from neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire. "People are running out of fear," says Mr Bryant. "We have opened our borders for that and, along with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme, we are providing them with assistance to get out of harm's way."
On the question of amnesty for ex-combatants, he says, "When you are coming out of a war like this you need a lot of reconciliation, and in the spirit of reconciliation there may be some amnesty but it depends on the level of atrocities that one commits and how the Liberian people feel, because they are the final determinators of whether or not we grant amnesty to anybody."
In line with the terms of the peace agreement, steps have been taken to establish a truth and reconciliation commission.