United Nations, July 18: The United States will not make a decision on whether it sends troops to Liberia until West African troops deploy to the war-ravaged nation and Washington sees the size and seriousness of the region's commitment to restore peace, the new UN special envoy to Liberia has said. Jacques Klein, an American diplomat with extensive military experience, gave the most detailed scenario yet of the agreement reached by UN, US, and leaders from the economic community of West African states, the regional group known as ECOWAS which is deploying the troops.

Klein, who accompanied Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Washington on Monday for talks with US President George W Bush and other US officials, said that the current scenario calls for West African troops to deploy as quickly as possible and the Americans to make a decision soon after.
"They are willing to engage. I was very taken by President Bush's commitment to doing something, but they're looking to see now what the region will do first, and I hope that the ECOWAS movement occurs very, very quickly," he said yesterday. "They're saying, 'Is there a commitment, a serious commitment by Ecowas, and in what numbers?"

Once the African troops deployed, there could be an American presence - and on the day us troops arrive President Charles Taylor would hopefully go to Nigeria where the government would ensure he had less visibility, Klein said. Taylor has said he will not leave until US troops arrive.
Bureau Report