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