Moses Blah: unassuming, dress-down mechanic with an
appetite for war

Agencies in Monrovia
Tuesday August 12, 2003
The Guardian

Blah's roots lie in the northern Nimba county, whose
ethnic Gio and Mano fighters made up the bulk of
Taylor's fighting force.
The region had felt oppressed under dictator Samuel
Doe since thousands of people were murdered there in
response to a failed coup by an officer from Nimba in
1985.

Blah trained with Taylor in Libya for three years
during the late 1980s and was among the first 200
forces who crossed from neighbouring Ivory Coast to
launch the uprising against President Doe.

The war killed more than 100,000 Liberians, and left
the once-prosperous country in ruins.

Despite his fearsome reputation, he is a quiet, unas
suming man who wears flowing African robes and drives
himself around Monrovia in a Jeep - in contrast to the
flashy motorcades of other government officials.

A mechanic by training, Blah travelled extensively as
a student in Germany, and later as ambassador to Libya
and Tunisia.

A signed photograph of Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy
hangs among snapshots of his wife and 10 children in
the red carpeted reception room of his rambling house,
still under construction amid green marshes on the
eastern outskirts of Monrovia.

He was named vice-president after the death in 2000 of
Enoch Dogolea, another of the old guard from Nimba
county.

Many Liberians believe Dogolea was poisoned.

In June Blah was arrested for 10 days on charges of
conspiring with Americans to overthrow Taylor. But he
puts the incident down to a misunderstanding. Sources
close to Blah said he had been contacted by US
diplomats about taking power, but that he refused and
told the security forces.

Blah has always insisted he has no political ambitions
and expresses nostalgia for his army days when he was
"very close to the action".

The main rebel faction, Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy, has vowed to continue
its war if Taylor hands over to Blah.

Blah said he would invite the rebels to his house
after taking office and that he was "100% sure" he
could bring about peace. "Let bygones be bygones ...
If there is power, we can share it," he said in a
recent interview.

Special report
Conflict in west Africa

Interactive guide
Liberia - a brief history

The issue explained
04.08.2003: War in Liberia

Timeline
30.07.2003: Conflict in Liberia






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Printable version | Send it to a friend | Save story











Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~