| America's Lost Colony |
23 June 2003
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No Peace Yet for Liberia
Liberia's warring factions may have signed a peace accord, informed parties have to see an end to fighting before believing it. As the rebel surrounded the capital of Monrovia, and as accused war-criminal Charles Taylor prepared to become the ex-president, the White House was painfully quiet about what should come next. Having been founded by freed American slaves, Africa's oldest republic should expect some kind of US support.
Colonialism won a bad name for itself in the twentieth century, but the incompetent regimes of independence have ensured that the former colonial powers must continue their interest in their former holdings. From a Leninist perspective, imperialism should have given way to socialism as it was the most developed form of capitalism, but it failed to demolish the traditional power structures in the colonial societies. Comrade Lenin, in this instance, was right; independence came too soon.
And so, a country that should be wealthy and stable has gone through years of war only to find that there are no indigenous forces capable of establishing order and getting the economy running again. Unless the US finds some kind of policy or even a hint of one, a vacuum will persist in Liberia which will only result in more fighting. And perhaps a training ground for terrorists.
America has no interest in instability for Liberia. It does have an interest in a quiet and developing West Africa. Mr. Bush's moves to address the AIDS situation that kills thousands of African a day suggests there is hope for African issues at the White House. Either he must send in the US Army or fund some other nation's troops to go in. Small problems left untended become big ones, and Mr. Bush could be the first American president to have an African policy if he acts.