Americans Go to Africa

The American administration imposes an ultimatum on the Liberian president

Liberia, a small country in the west of Africa, has attracted the attention of the world media again. However, Liberians are not happy with the news: the civil war has been going on in the country for several years already. The UN tried to stop the war, having sent peacekeepers there, but the attempt did not bring any results, and the international community gradually forgot about Liberia.

Liberian civilians are desperate, it is impossible to ignore their trouble. As if by magic, the notorious public opinion demanded the Americans should interfere to stop the bloodshed. American officials decided to dispatch 2,000 marines to Liberia to establish law and order there. They also demanded Liberian President Charles Taylor should leave the country within 48 hours.

The Liberian president is a person, who can surprise anyone, although such people are common on the African continent. Charles Taylor has been recently charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. In addition to it, the president is known for his pedagogic novelties: he once hit his little daughter with a stick ten times in public - the girl had not been allowed to go to school for some misdeed. Charles Taylor explained his action that he, as the president, was responsible for the children of his whole nation, although the action was very unusual for a statesman, to put it mildly. Apparently, the Liberian president believes that grown-ups must be confident of who is going to rule their country after them. However, it is up for Americans to decide now, who is going to get the power in Liberia. Taylor will not dare to contradict to them, taking into consideration the fact that he will have to be on trial soon. It would be much better for him to go to some distant place. However, Americans have not interfered in Liberian affairs before.

The military operation in Iraq was meant to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime. A lot of experts were saying that it was the beginning of the new era, when one would be allowed to interfere in other countries' internal affairs for humanitarian reasons. It goes without saying that it is a noble thing to do - to save people's lives. On the other hand, it seems that the American administration is acting on a selective basis, when there is an opportunity to gain either economic or political profit.

The ultimatum to the Liberian president has coincided with George W. Bush's visit to several African countries - Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria. The American president is to tour these countries on July 7-12th.  It is hard to say that it is a mere coincidence. There are too many coincidences: the American administration needs to prove that it is capable of defending human rights all over the world; it wants to let everyone know that it is aware of African problems.