Monrovia
A Liberian businessman has taken over the monumental task of heading up an interim government in war-scarred Liberia. The three warring factions, who ended their 14-year conflict in August after President Charles Taylor stepped down, picked Gyude Bryant, a longtime campaigner against warlordism. “Thank you for your energy,” Bryant told cheering crowds. “I hope you will use this energy to help me turn this country around.” But forging agreement in Liberia will not be easy. Working with a Cabinet whose members are bitter enemies, Bryant must get hundreds of thousands of refugees back home before elections in 2005. Meanwhile, he’ll have to oversee the disarmament of 45,000 fighters—half of them children.
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