Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton, just returned from talks aimed at restoring order to civil war-torn Liberia, criticized President Bush on Friday for failing to send peacekeeping forces into that West African nation. Bush, who completed a five-day, five-nation African trip earlier this month, has positioned some 4,000 troops off Liberia's coast but has not committed them to the West African force that Liberians hope will end a decade-plus of internal bloodshed. "It seems this administration's foreign policy is different, absolutely different, when it comes to people of color," said Sharpton. "I can't imagine that there wouldn't be intervention in Europe if thousands were dying in war. Why are we dragging our feet?"
Sharpton asked "What was the meaning of Bush's trip (to Africa)?" Sharpton said he had hoped the trip indicated that Bush would make Africa a priority of his administration. Sharpton, speaking in front of the Liberian U.N. Mission, said the mere presence of American troops as a peacekeepers would stop the killings on the streets of Monrovia, Liberia's refugee-choked capital city of 1 million. "I do not believe in military invasion but I do believe in humanitarian outreach, especially when all factions are asking America to come in," Sharpton said.
| Actually, the shootings won't stop until one of those factions asking us to come in gets shot up and chased out of town... |
Sharpton said he had met with all sides during the peace meeting in Accra, Ghana, after arriving there last Friday. He said he let representatives of the rebels and of President Charles Taylor's beseiged government know that he was not taking sides. "I'm on the side of the children who can't get food," he said.
| "Sometimes I'm wishy, and sometimes I'm washy. But I'm with you. Both of you. Even though you're not..." |
He returned to New York late Thursday.
"Is he gone yet?"
"I think so. You can come out now..." |
Sharpton said he spoke to Secretary of State Colin Powell just before he left and would report to him later Friday on his meetings with African leaders. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher did not immediately return a call for comment.
Sharpton said the United States' historic relationship with Liberia and its political and financial interests there are major reasons to try to stop the fighting. |