[August 11,2003]

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. Let me say a word about Liberia before taking your questions.

We are very pleased at the developments we saw in Monrovia today: the peaceful and constitutional transfer of power from Charles Taylor to now President Blah and the departure of Mr. Taylor for Nigeria. We hope that all of the parties to this conflict will now recognize that it is time for the conflict to end. We will be working hard to fix the ceasefire in place, working with the peacekeeping forces that have already arrived. I congratulate the Nigerian forces for the work they have been doing. In the few days that they have been there, they have accomplished a lot.

As you know, our task group, the Iwo Jima Task Group, the Marine Expeditionary Unit, is now just offshore and visible, and I expect within the very near future the commander of the task force will be coming ashore to coordinate with the Nigerian commander, Brigadier General Okonkwo, and Ambassador Blaney and other representatives on the ground how we might be able to assist the ECOMIL forces in opening up the port of Freeport in order to facilitate the arrival and distribution of humanitarian aid and thereby allow the Nigerian and other forces that will be arriving as part of the international intervention force, assist them in making sure that the ceasefire stays in place and that routes are opened up so that humanitarian supplies can be distributed as they arrive. There are ships off the coast now carrying humanitarian supplies and the UN organizations and other international nongovernmental organizations are prepared to swing into action. And this is the time for all of the parties to commit themselves to a ceasefire, commit themselves to peace, and let us begin the task of relieving the suffering that has afflicted the Liberian people for so long.

I would like to offer my congratulations to my colleagues in ECOWAS, the ECOWAS leaders who were in the forefront of the political transformation that we saw today. We have been in very close touch with them, on an hourly basis, as well as in very close touch with the United Nations through our conversations with Secretary General Annan, and we will remain in close touch and try to do everything we can to assist in the transition to an interim government and then, ultimately, to elections so that the Liberian people, in a free and open way, can decide their new leadership.

Thank you.