Charles Taylor Sworn In As President Of Liberia

Former warlord Charles Taylor was sworn in as Liberia’s president Saturday, a position he sought for seven years on the battlefield and finally achieved at the ballot box.

Two weeks after winning 75 percent of the vote in the country’s first postwar election, Taylor, dressed in flowing African robes, promised to immediately set up commissions aimed at guaranteeing human rights and promoting reconciliation in the troubled west African nation.

“Liberia has burned itself for seven years but will rise from the ashes again,” Taylor, 49, told an audience that included eight African heads of state. Among them was the Nigerian leader, Gen. Sani Abacha, whose troops composed the bulk of an African peacekeeping force credited with ensuring security during the peaceful, largely trouble-free vote.

Peacekeeping troops maintained a heavy presence around the Centennial Hall in central Monrovia, one of the few buildings not badly damaged in fighting that engulfed the capital from April to June 1996.

The battle, which killed hundreds and prompted the U.S. military evacuation of about 2,000 foreigners, was the final explosion in a war that Taylor began on Christmas Eve in 1989 when he launched an invasion to overturn President Samuel Doe’s dictatorship.

Doe was toppled and killed by a rival faction, one of several that sprang up as the war raged on, killing about 200,000 people and leaving half the country’s 2.6 million people homeless.

Last year’s fighting in the capital led to international condemnation of the warlords and brought pressure on them to sign the peace accord that led to July 19 elections.

Taylor, despite his history as a warlord, trounced a dozen other candidates after running a relatively sophisticated and well-financed campaign. His nearest opponent was former U.N. official Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who received only 9.5 percent of the vote.

The losing candidates included two other ex-warlords, and Taylor called upon them and his other rivals to join in rebuilding the country.

In his speech, Taylor also vowed to crack down on corruption and make Liberia an exporter to end its long reliance upon outside aid. The country is rich in diamonds, timber and rubber.

Thousands of Liberians turned out to watch Taylor as he cruised through the streets in a victory parade in his bulletproof jeep.

International observers, who included ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter, praised the election as free and fair, but have warned that Taylor’s biggest challenge will be guaranteeing security. Despite national disarmament exercises last year, faction leaders are believed to have hidden many weapons in case the war resumes, and rivalries run deep.