Recent events in Liberia highlight the stupid and neolithic charge by
Charles Taylor that Sierra Leone was plotting to over-throw his
government.  My earlier reference to this charge implied that Tayulor
had more to fear from his own countrymen as a result of his avarice and
reckless comportment as leader of his country than to worry about a plot
from a neighboring country.

For our part, Sierra Leoneans are more concerned with our own rebels
whose membership is infested with thugs from Liberia (many of whom have
been caught with weapons inscribed "property of the armed forces of
Liberia") than to plot a coup against a legitimately elected government.
Charles Taylor will add credence to his plea for the return of Mr.
Johnson if he would first return the fugitives of Sierra Leone's  last
military government who a now his guests. After that we will begin to
talk about the return of the loot and other stolen personal property
that were siphoned to Liberia during the inauspicious reign of the said
military government.

I need to remind Mr. Charles Taylor of Mark Anthony's eulogy at Caesar's
funeral (in part) that "the evil that men do lives after them and the
good is often interred with their bones".  It is grievous to connive,
condone and harbor enemies of your neighbor, which leaves Sierra Leone
(eans) no choice but to grievously reciprocate.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: E. Aggo Akyea [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 6:50 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Liberian dissident remains in US embassy
>
> Liberian dissident remains in US embassy
>
> Peackeepers guard the US embassy in Monrovia - President Taylor vowed
> not to
> attack
>
> The American embassy in the Liberian capital Monrovia says it has been
> instructed by Washington not to hand over an opponent of the
> government who
> has taken refuge there.
> The ethnic Krahn leader Roosevelt Johnson, a long-time rival of
> President
> Charles Taylor, arrived at the embassy with some associates on
> Saturday,
> after fleeing from government troops who had been deployed near his
> house to
> try to arrest him.
>
> Roosevelt Johnson - not invited, but US will not hand him over
> "We have instructions from our government not to hand him [Mr Johnson]
> or
> the others over at the moment," one diplomat at the embassy said.
>
> "Negotiations are continuing and he is being held with some other
> people in
> a confined area," he said.
>
> The American diplomats have sought to make it clear though, that Mr
> Johnson
> was not invited into the embassy, but arrived in a chaotic hail of
> bullets.
>
> Americans advised to leave
>
> The United States has advised all of its citizens to leave Liberia. An
> embassy statement said the presence of Mr Johnson in the diplomatic
> compound
> had severely limited its ability to provide any assistance to American
> citizens.
>
> The State Department has also authorised non-emergency personnel and
> family
> members of embassy employees to leave the country.
>
> President Charles Taylor - " will not get engaged in war"
> The embassy has been on alert since Mr Johnson took refuge there, and
> according to a reporter within the mission, US military reinforcements
> have
> been flown in to guard the building, although President Taylor has
> vowed not
> to attack the diplomatic compound.
>
> "We will not get engaged in war with the Americans. They are our
> allies and
> are a superpower," he was quoted as saying.
>
> Arrest warrant
>
> Mr Taylor wants to arrest Mr Johnson, because, he says, he has been
> plotting
> against the government.
>
> Mr Johnson made his was into the embassy during a shoot-out at the
> embassy
> gates, in which at least three of his retinue were killed.
>
> A senior diplomat at the embassy, John Baumann, said two American
> employees
> were also injured, one very seriously.
>
> This is not the first time that Mr Johnson attempted to avoid arrest
> by
> fleeing to the US embassy.
>
> History repeats itself
>
> In 1996, following months of bloody fighting sparked by Mr Taylor's
> attempt
> to arrest his rival, Mr Johnson eventually took shelter at the
> American
> mission. He later flew out from the country in a helicopter, and fled
> to
> Ghana.
>
> When Mr Taylor won the presidential elections in 1997, he returned to
> become
> Liberia's rural development minister. But tensions between the two
> have
> persisted and forces loyal to both sides have clashed several times in
> recent months.