Liberia Swears In New Leader

Businessman Gyude Bryant was sworn in as leader of Liberia's postwar government Tuesday, beginning a 2-year term meant to bring peace to a country devastated by years of war under ousted warlord Charles Taylor.

Bryant, 54, pledged to take Liberia from a "state of despair," he said as he took an oath of office as chairman — not president — of the transitional power-share government.

"Never again will we Liberians use war as a way of addressing our concerns," declared Bryant, standing before West African leaders and Liberians in the Capitol rotunda of bullet-riddled Monrovia.

Expectations are high among Liberians that the administration led by Bryant will revive what was once one of Africa's wealthiest countries, but where most people now live on less than one dollar a day.

But, as CBS News Radio reports, nobody in Liberia has forgotten more than a dozen peace deals signed and broken during nearly 14 years of violence.

There is huge potential for discord within a cabinet drawn from two rebel factions and Taylor's former government, as well as some of his political opponents and members of civic groups.

Dressed in a black suit, Bryant placed his left hand on a Bible held by his wife, and swore to "faithfully, conscientiously and impartially discharge the duties of the office of chairman of the national transitional government, to the best of my ability, so help me God."

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was among the West African leaders — some of whom just two months ago had ushered Taylor into exile — attending ceremony.

"Liberia needs to be pulled up by all of us," Obasanjo told heavily guarded rebel leaders, figures of Taylor's toppled government and international diplomats.

"If there's no peace in Liberia, there's no peace in West Africa," he said.

Bryant, a longtime campaigner against warlords who stayed in Liberia during years of fighting under Taylor, was selected by rebels, Taylor allies and civilian leaders to lead the interim administration, formally ending Taylor's government.

A heavy-equipment dealer and leader of a small political party, Bryant led a 1997 effort to unite political parties behind a civilian candidate in Liberia's first elections after the 1989-1996 civil war.

The six-party alliance's effort failed, and Taylor won the presidency. Fighting continued, and in the 2 1/2 months before Taylor's exit, sieges in the capital killed more than 1,000 civilians.

Taylor's first insurgency in 1989 ushered in 14 years of bloody fighting and power struggles in Liberia that left at least 150,000 Liberians killed. Aid groups estimate that the country's entire population was forced to become refugees at one time or another.

In August, Taylor ceded to pressure from international leaders and rebels, passing the presidency first to Moses Blah, his vice president. Leaders from across Africa bid Taylor farewell as he flew into exile in Nigeria Aug. 11, giving him the pomp-filled send off he had demanded as a condition of yielding power.

One week after Taylor's departure, rebels and government signed a peace deal.

"Peace is all we need," read placards held by women lining the streets outside the ceremony, before a cordon of white U.N. armored-personnel carriers.

Heavily-armed, blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers stood guard as Bryant, rebel leaders and government officials arrived for the ceremony.

The U.N. military mission moved in earlier this month, replacing an emergency 3,500-strong peace force led by Nigerian forces.

Obasanjo, who was widely considered instrumental in helping to negotiate Taylor's departure, drew the loudest cheers at Tuesday's ceremony.

Taylor issued a statement on the eve of the inauguration lauding Bryant and himself.

"My coming to Nigeria is an integral part of the peace process," Taylor said, in a statement read over the telephone by spokesman Vaani Passawe.

"I congratulate (Taylor)," Taylor said, "for I believe he is a good man who will work with all Liberians toward attainment of peace, solidarity and socio-cultural integration."

"I love Liberia and Liberians and we must work together," said Taylor, who now lives with his family and dozens of staff in three heavily guarded villas in the remote jungle town of Calabar.