Liberia In the Heart of Darkness

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Whether Taylor has actually arrested Guinean soldiers or captured Nigerian weapons, the neutrality of the peacekeeping force is very much compromised by political friendships and tribal affinities. The stated purpose may be to restore order, but Liberia's rival leaders suspect that some peacekeepers are actively supporting the other side. Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida has been a longtime ally of Doe's and has reportedly offered him asylum. Guinea and Sierra Leone are home to a large number of Mandingo, a tribe that has supported Doe and his Krahns.

The Ivory Coast, a supporter of Taylor's and one of West Africa's dominant economies, did not bother to attend last month's summit. When the peacekeeping forces were deployed last week without having first achieved a cease-fire, Togo refused to participate. President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso promised to aid Taylor with his own troops if asked. Even the U.S. withdrew its original approval of ECOMOG, saying that without a cease-fire, there was no peace for any international force to keep.

Taylor dismisses all criticism of his refusal to accept a cease-fire. "Why negotiate?" he says. "Is there any group that has taken nine-tenths of a country and then negotiated? Who's providing food to the people? Who's providing water? Who has put drugs in the hospitals? Haven't you seen my soldiers everywhere? We surround Monrovia. We are the government. Doe is the rebel."

Taylor is called the President by more than just his followers and has named a cabinet of ministers. He travels in a presidential-style convoy, riding in a bulletproof taupe-colored Mercedes with the red flag of his army fluttering on the left fender and the Liberian flag on the right. A white police motorcycle stolen from Doe leads the motorcade, while two or three cars stuffed with armed men trail Taylor's car. Bringing up the rear is an antiaircraft gun balanced on the back of a pickup truck.

The "President" receives visitors in his "executive mansion" -- the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Paynesville, a suburb east of Monrovia -- wearing a bulletproof vest, surrounded by gun-toting bodyguards garbed in strange, looted clothing. Groups of soldiers await his bidding nearby in the garage; they are mostly children in dirty T shirts and ragged shorts, a rifle in one hand, a bottle of Sprite in the other.

The war has taken a heavy toll. In Nimba County the villages were never heavily populated. Now they are deserted: some people have joined Taylor, some are dead, most have fled in fear. The county produces 25% of Liberia's rice, and a few paddies along the road still flourish, but there is no one to harvest the crop. The iron-ore mines at Yekepa once earned 70% of Liberia's foreign currency, but work has been suspended since late January. Whatever glory the war once held here has dimmed. At checkpoints the youthful soldiers who jauntily display human skulls with sunglasses perched over the empty eye sockets are themselves dull-eyed with hunger. Before they let a car pass through, they ask for bread.

Taylor's so-called capital is Kakata, about 35 miles northeast of Monrovia. He has distributed thousands of bags of stolen Pakistani rice there, and the rebels say volunteer doctors from the relief agency Medecins sans Frontieres are working in the hospital.