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MONROVIA, July 15: US President George W. Bush has said he is open to a “limited” deployment of US troops to prop up a ceasefire in turbulent Liberia, where protracted warfare has destabilised the region.
Liberia’s main rebel group on Tuesday urged the United States to rush a huge force into the war-torn country and “flex its muscles” to push President Charles Taylor into exile and end a brutal four-year civil war.
“The overwhelming presence of the US troops in Liberia before the arrival of west African peacekeepers is highly desirable,” Kabineh Ja’neh, a spokesman for the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels, told AFP from Ghana. “The earlier the better.”
Below are key facts about Liberia:
• 1847 - Freed American slaves proclaim independent republic on land bought for them by US groups.
• Capital Monrovia named after US President James Monroe.
• Population: 3.3 million (2003 UN figure).
• Languages: English, 29 African languages.
• Religions: Christianity, Islam, indigenous beliefs.
• Liberia is Africa’s oldest independent republic, and its people feel a close historical bond with the United States.
• Liberia has a lucrative business offering world shipping owners flags of convenience.
• It once boasted the world’s largest rubber plantation — owned by Firestone — which resumed production on a smaller scale after the war.
• Descendants of the slaves, known as Congos, dominated political power for most of Liberia’s existence.—Reuters
