Religious groups press Bush on African issues

WASHINGTON — Religious groups urged President Bush to deploy peacekeepers to the war-torn county of Liberia as the president tours Africa and weighs American involvement in the peace process. Bush, who is making his first official visit to Africa, said July 8 that the United States would get involved, but didn’t say what would be “necessary” to ensure the peace. “I assured (the president of Ghana) we’ll participate in the process,” Bush said during a stop in Senegal. “And we’re now in the process of determining what that means.”

Bush has said repeatedly that Liberian President Charles Taylor must step down and leave Liberia. But Bush didn’t say whether U.S. participation there hinged on Taylor’s exile. Taylor said Sunday he might accept asylum in Nigeria but hasn’t said when he will leave.

Three aid groups — Catholic Relief Services, the humanitarian relief branch of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church; Church World Service, the humanitarian relief arm of the National Council of Churches; and the U.S. Committee for Refugees. — said the deployment of U.S. peacekeepers to Liberia would help stabilize the situation in the war-torn country.

The Catholic aid group said the deployment of troops would be necessary before Taylor leaves, because his departure would create a power vacuum and “unleash even more chaos and bloodshed.”