New leader abolishes hated Taylor's hated controls

Gyude Bryant was sworn in as the head of a new transitional government in Liberia on Tuesday and began his two-year term by abolishing monopolies on imports of rice and petroleum products, which former president Charles Taylor had awarded to his cronies. Bryant also scrapped a much hated requirement for Liberians to obtain an exit visa before leaving the country, This restrictive measure had also been introduced by Taylor, who dragged Liberia through a 14-year civil war before he was forced to quit and go into exile in August. "The war is over, my people. Never again," Bryant said in a speech shortly after taking the oath of office. "Let us now work together to seek an amicable resolution of the grievances. Let us now work together to move our country forward into an era of sustainable peace and human development," he added. Bryant, a 54-year-old businessman and veteran campaigner for democracy, was appointed by a Liberian peace conference in August to lead a broad-based government of national unity for two years and guide the country to fresh elections in 2005. Taylor stepped down on 11 August under strong international pressure as rebels advanced into the capital Monrovia. He went into exile in Nigeria and handed over power to his vice-president, Moses Blah, who signed a peace agreement with two rebel movements a week later. Blah passed on the presidential sash of office to Bryant after after just two months in office. Bryant's immediate decision to abolish the rice and fuel monopolies and scrap exit visas represented a symbolic break with the past. Introduced by Taylor in 1997, the visa system was suspended after human rights groups condemned it, but it was reintroduced last year. The Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission said it contravened Liberia's constitution and was being used to prevent "perceived critics of the Taylor's government from leaving the country." Bryant told a cheering audience in the parliament building that included rebel representatives: "There shall be no monopoly on rice, gasoline, kerosene and fuel." He said the current prices of rice, fuel and gasoline were "unnecessarily high and impact on the living standard of ordinary Liberians". Taylor gave his Lebanese business cronies exclusive rights to import rice and petroleum products, saying these were "strategic commodities". As a result the market price for a 50 kg bag of rice rose to US $20, while a gallon of petrol was sold at a pump price of US $2.50. Presidents John Kufour of Ghana and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria attended Bryant's swearing-in ceremony amidst tight security provided by UN peacekeepers. Ghana hosted two and a half months of talks between Taylor and the rebels that led to the signing of a peace agreement on 18 August and Nigeria has provided most of the troops for a West African peacekeeping force which now controls security in Monrovia and has been given a UN mandate. Obasanjo warned Liberians not to "take for granted the peace for which ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and international community is trying to restore in Liberia." "When this peace is attained, we in ECOWAS and the international community will not allow anyone to go back to the bush and take up arms. If you have disagreements with your government, talk to them or wait for elections to vote it out," Obasanjo said. Sekou Damate Conneh, leader of the main rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) failed to attend the ceremony, but Thomas Nimely, head of the second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), was present. A LURD delegate told IRIN: "Our national chairman, Sekou Damate Conneh, is not feeling well, that is why he is not here today." Conneh's only previous attempt to enter central Monrovia in a heavily guarded motorcade on 1 October was abandoned after it led to disturbances in which at least nine people were killed. The ECOWAS chief mediator at the Accra peace talks, General Abdusalami Abubakar was expected to meet leaders of the new government, LURD, MODEL and unarmed political groups in Monrovia on Wednesday to discuss the composition of the new cabinet. Meanwhile Taylor denied UN accusations that he was continuing to meddle in Liberia's affairs, declaring his only interest was to see the return of peace. Taylor admitted in a press statement issued from his new home in Calabar in southeastern Nigeria that he had remained in telephone contact with Blah after leaving Liberia. But the former warlord said he had only intended to try help his successor who had been "plunged into the presidency so suddenly". Since Taylor's departure from Liberia, the UN special representative in Liberia, Jacques Klein, has repeatedly accused him of meddling in his country's affairs. Klein accused Taylor of keeping in almost daily telephone contact with government officials, some of whom visited him in Calabar. But Taylor said in his first public statement since going into exile: "My conversations were peaceful and certainly in support of peace." He added: "I never envisaged that such conversations, as positive as they were, would be termed disruptive. I regret the twisted perception." Nigerian officials said Obasanjo summoned Taylor to a meeting last Saturday to warn him to stop interfering in Liberia. It was the second such warning delivered personally to Taylor by the Nigerian leader since Taylor arrived in Calabar two months ago. "I have no hidden agenda, I certainly have no secret plans," Taylor said in his statement. "If these were so, I would never have left Liberia where I had and enjoyed the loyalty of at least 35,000 combatants, several hundreds of thousands of partisans and a supporting populace. But yet I left." Taylor has been indicted for war crimes by a UN-backed court in Freetown for supporting for rebel forces blamed for vicious atrocities against unarmed civilians during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war. Nigeria has so far refused to surrender Taylor to the court. The former president said he wished Bryant well as Liberia's new leader.