Mission In Liberia Entirely Controlled By Nigerian Troops
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: The peacekeeping mission in Liberia is now entirely in the hands of Nigerian troops, that after 150 U.S. Marines left the country today. CNN's Chris Plante joins us now from the Pentagon with more on where they went and what they'll do next. Chris, they weren't on the ground very long?</s>CHRIS PLANTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. We were just talking 11 days ago about how 200 Marines went ashore. And that was in the midst of the civil war there or just a day or two after it stopped. President Charles Taylor was forced from office by a two-rebel groups that have launched an invasion of the capital city of Monrovia there. And 200 Marines went ashore. 150 stayed as part of a quick reaction force. And the violence had pretty much subsided there by the time the Marines went ashore. There were 750 Nigerian peacekeepers in the city at that time. And the number of peacekeepers from Nigeria now is up to 1500. So earlier today, the decision was made that the situation had stabilized sufficiently, that the U.S. Marines could head back to their ships which are steaming offshore, three ships. A total of 2300 Marines are aboard those ships. Very significant fighting force if they're called on to come into intervene in the situation. Now they're only there as a quick reaction force and could be called up by the Nigerian commander there. The situation as far as we know is stable enough where they decided they could go back offshore. Now the total number of West African peacekeepers is expected to rise to about 3200 over the next couple of weeks. But in the meantime, those 2300 Marines will stay close enough to shore where they can come in and strike if they're called upon. If the situation deteriorates to the point where the Marines are called up, they can still come in very quickly and bring a lot of fire power to bear -- Andrea?</s>KOPPEL: Your sense as to just how long the Pentagon intends to keep the warships off the coast?</s>PLANTE: There are no specific plans. There's no timeline at this point. The Marines are on tap just to be available, should they be called on if the situation should deteriorate. It could be weeks. We're expecting that sometime in the fall the United Nations will take over this mission, but the U.S. has a lot invested in this West African peacekeeping force. And the hope is that they'll be able to stabilize the situation on their own -- Andrea?</s>KOPPEL: That's right. As you said, the U.S. Marines only on the ground there for 11 days, a very quick mission so far. Chris Plante at the Pentagon, thank you. USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com