LIBERIA: A US military team flew into Liberia yesterday to look at how best to bring stability to the broken west African country as President Charles Taylor prepares for exile.
The humanitarian survey team touched down in helicopters at the heavily-fortified US embassy in the steamy coastal capital of Monrovia, where hundreds were killed in fighting last month.
Gun-toting US Marines leapt out in flak jackets and helmets. The 20-member team is seen as a possible precursor to a larger force, which the US is considering and Liberians are praying will come in to save them from nearly 14 years of violence.
"We are here to see what we will need to bring with us to provide humanitarian assistance," said the commander, Capt Roger Coldiron.
"I am not here to assess the military situation, but I am here to assess the security situation." President Bush, due in Africa today, has not yet decided whether to send peacekeepers to the country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. He insists that the first step should be Mr Taylor's departure.
Besieged by rebels and wanted for war crimes by an international court, Mr Taylor said on Sunday that he had accepted an offer of asylum from regional giant Nigeria and just wanted to make sure an international force was in place to prevent chaos.
West African countries have pledged 3,000 troops and want US forces to help them bring that up to 5,000, but Washington well remembers a bloody withdrawal from Somalia 10 years ago after a humanitarian intervention went awry.
The US team that flew in from Europe will get to work today, visiting camps for tens of thousands of refugees from Liberia's war.
It includes experts in water purification, preventive medicine, construction and logistics.
But Liberians hope for a much larger US military presence. "What are they waiting for?" growled one man after learning that the team that flew in yesterday were not the longed-for peacekeepers to keep apart the warring factions.
Any bigger operation would be certain to raise questions in the US given heavy commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Liberians want US peacekeepers because they fear that no others will win the necessary respect from fighters often stoked on drugs and drink and with a casual attitude to murder, rape and theft. - (Reuters)