The gentleman went to witness the swearing in of transitional ruler Gyude Bryant. He will, for two years, attempt to get groups, which are as friendly to each other as chicken and cobras can be, restore some normalcy in Liberia.

Mr Bryant has a couple of things in his favour. The United Nations is deploying a 15,000 strong force in Liberia. Most important, he was chosen by delegates from the warring factions following two months of talks in Ghana to end a 14-year civil war.

The deal also dispatched the conflict’s chief architect, former President Charles Taylor, to a blissful exile in Calabar, a coastal town in south eastern Nigeria. 

There he continued to violate a condition for his asylum: To shut up. Not so, he said last week. He was giving his successor, Moses Blah, advice on peace. That’s as logical as a lactating lioness tutoring a gazelle on peaceful grazing. 

Suspicions don’t vanish quickly. Not after 14 years of human slaughter. Mr Sekou Conneh, leader of the largest anti-Taylor force, the Liberians United for Democracy, skipped the inaugural ceremony. He was reportedly unwell. He chatted with reporters the day after. If only Liberia were to so quickly recover. 

The Ghana agreement dished out ministerial posts. But squabbles about assistant ministers cropped up. The composition of the nominated legislative assembly hit a snag after chief mediator, General Abdusalami Abubakar, rejected candidates for Liberia’s 15 counties. Monrovians, he called them. Yet the 76-member legislature is to confirm top transitional government officials.

Nonetheless, Mr Bryant was upbeat. He told Liberians the war is over, never again. Well, never is a long time. Mr Thomas Nimely, leader of the second rebel group, chimed in. The belligerents, he said, had signed a good enough peace deal. 

The shooting, at least in Monrovia, has subsided. On the surface, Mr Obasanjo and Mr Kufuor had good reasons to attend Mr Bryant’s inauguration. They laboured hard for Liberia. Ghana hosted the talks to get Mr Taylor out of the way. Mr Obasanjo gave Mr Taylor a comfortable refuge. Twice in as many months, he lectured Mr Taylor on manners befitting an exiled former president.

Trouble is the Special Court for Sierra Leone, backed by the United Nations, has indicted Mr Taylor for war crimes in that country’s conflict. It ended not very much due to UN presence, whose troops were sitting ducks, but rather to tough stance British forces took.

Mr Kufuor was presiding over Liberia talks when UN marshals sought to arrest Mr Taylor. Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States, Ecowas, sent the marshals packing. The UN made no fuss. It would have been loudly accused of interfering in a search of an African solution to an African problem. 

Critics of Mr Kufuor and Mr Obasanjo over the Taylor affair insist Nigeria and Ghana are signatories to international conventions and treaties that required them to hand over Mr Taylor to the United Nations. That, critics shout from mountain tops, is according to international law.

Unfortunately, nations interpret treaties and conventions on the basis of national and regional interests. It’s usually what’s good for me. Nigeria and Ghana, fronting for Ecowas, were telling the world: We can take care of our backyard. That’s braggadocio. Ecowas existed long before Sierra Leone and Liberia conflicts began. Were it not for the French, Cote d'Ivoire would be another graveyard. 

By showing up in Monrovia, Mr Obasanjo and Mr Kufour, for a second time, rubbed their noses at the United Nations. In long term, that might turn out to be infamous in the prevailing international diplomatic manoeuvres.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United Nations has metamorphosed into the entity to counteract the sole superpower, the United States. It’s not that the United States is inherently evil. But too much power, like liquid, overflows. Swamped nations need a plumber. The French, Russians and Chinese, who singly have more clout than Ecowas, are telling Uncle Sam: Not without UN sanction. He is listening. A time may come when the UN might tell Ecowas: Remember Liberia!

Luckily, Mr Obasanjo is quick at mending fences. He told Liberians Ecowas and the international community wouldn’t allow any of them to go back to the bush and take up arms. Mr Taylor had better finally shut his mouth.

Mr Mbitiru, a freelance journalist, is a former Sunday Nation Managing Editor

E-mail: cmbitiru@hotmail.com

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