[allAfrica.com]  [Africa_2006]


Taylor Not Priority for Now.

The NEWS (Monrovia)
EDITORIAL
January 29, 2006
Posted to the web January 30, 2006
Monrovia
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf last Friday told journalists that there are
more serious challenges facing the government than the long running case of
exiled President Charles Taylor. The Chief Executive made the statement during
her maiden press conference held at the Executive Mansion.
Barely a day after she was declared winner of the presidential run-off
elections held on November 8, 2005, by the National Elections Commission (NEC),
the European Union announced that the surrender of Taylor to the UN Special
Court in Sierra Leone, was one of the many preconditions for any form of
financial or economic assistance to the incoming Government. The EU later
denied the statement, and said that it was only trying to underscore the
importance of the Taylor's case, and was not making it a pre-condition for
economic assistance.
The massive destruction of the country and the near total collapse of its
economy, have created enormous challenges for the Johnson-Sirleaf
Administration.
The lack of basic services - electricity, water and sanitation, communication,
health care delivery, the high unemployment rate, the level of abject poverty
which has given rise to the threatening level of HIV/AIDS and related
illnesses, are all critical issues that the new Government must confront as a
matter of premier priority, and with due haste and expediency. The Liberian
people are very anxious and have high expectations for President Ellen Johnson-
Sirleaf and her Government. They are gravely hopeful that their Leader will
improve these conditions and make things better for them. Civil servants want
to get their salary arrears dating back, in some cases, to fifteen months;
mothers and their children want basic health services at affordable cost;
parents want to earn more so that their young girl children will not turn into
prostitutes, thereby running the risk of contracting and spreading the deadly
HIV/AIDS; citizens want to drink safe, pipe-borne water; and industries want
steady electricity to replace the noisy and expensive generators which they are
compelled etc. These are the immediate priorities that matter most to our
people for now. This is why all well meaning development partners and friends
of Liberia and this Government should try to give us the fullest financial and
economic assistance that we need to meet these overwhelming challenges.
We realize the need to send Mr. Taylor to the Special Court, as a deterrent to
future perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Yet, we hold the view that this
hurdle, as important as it is, cannot and should not be ranked above the more
important priorities of our people, for now.
We urge all friends of our beleaguered country, disciplined by a devastating
war, and a bitter peace, to consolidate their support without which Liberia
could not have come this far, in order to help this country in meeting the more
critical challenges facing it. The surrender of Charles Taylor to Sierra Leone
is essential, but not a leading priority for Liberia, at least for now.

   

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