IPNEWS: Barely seven months to Liberia’s Legislative and Presidential elections, United States President, Joe Biden has named a new Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia, Christopher Toner.
According to a White House press statement, Mark Christopher Toner, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, currently serves as the Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France. Previously, Toner was a Senior Advisor at the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and a Senior Faculty Advisor at the National Defense University.
Earlier, Toner held positions as the State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson, Acting Spokesperson, and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European Affairs. He has also served as the Director of Press Operations in the Bureau of Public Affairs and Director of Press and Public Affairs in the Bureau of European Affairs.
Toner was also a Spokesperson at the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium. Prior to joining the State Department, Toner served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. He earned his Bachelor’s from the University of Notre Dame and his Master’s from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. He speaks French and Polish.
The nomination of Ambassador Mark Christopher Toner now sees the end of Michael McCarthy’s tenure who has served in the capacity since January 22, 2021.
During the stay of Amb. McCarthy to Liberia, five senior Liberia government officials were slapped with U.S. sanctions under the Magnitsky Act.
It is not clear what triggered the change but recently president George Weah, was guest of the Central Intelligence Agency-CIA, and is expected home today according to government sources.
However, last week, the Commander of the United States Africa Command, Gen. Michael Langley, appeared before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and disclosed that the Africa Command is exploring areas in West Africa for a Command Center, but could not disclose the possible countries during the public hearing. However, what is clear is that America is pushing beyond all odds to take a giant step ahead of China in solidifying its military presence in the Sub-Saharan region.
During the March 16 hearing, Ranking Member Roger Wicker directly asked Gen. Langley where he thinks China could be making its strongest efforts on where they could be establishing a military base in West Africa. He also questioned the Africa Command Chief on how the establishment of a military base by the Chinese could affect the security of Americans.
In response, Gen. Langley said, “It will change the whole calculus of the strategic global campaign plans of protecting the homeland. If they [the Chinese] build any capacity on the West Coast, geo-strategically, it will put them at an advantage. Right now, we can’t let them have a base on the West Coast because we’re changing the dynamics.”
In his statement to the Committee, Gen. Langley stated that the need for US Africa Command in West Africa is acute. He expressed concerns over the Chinese attempt to establish a base in Djibouti, noting that any future basing project by the Chinese poses a marginal threat to the U.S. interest on the continent.
“In the event of armed conflict, however, the PRC may leverage its expanded military footprint to project power against the United States, our allies, or global commerce. They already leverage their economic power in Africa to influence UN policy and protect their access to natural resources like minerals and fisheries,” Gen. Langley stated.
In addition to the Chinese influence on the continent, especially the West African region, the U.S. Africa Command, according to Gen. Langley, is concerned about associates of al-Qaeda’s second-largest and fastest-growing branch in Africa—Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam walMuslimin (JNIM). The group has been meting terror on American citizens in the West African region, especially in Burkina Faso and Mali.
The Command Center
A little over a week after this hearing, President Weah, upon invitation, made a one-of-a-kind visit to the headquarters of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Virginia. The meeting aroused a lot of speculation back home, especially among members of the opposition bloc, that the Liberian President was being interrogated.
President Weah’s visit was unusual for many reasons, including the fact that it flouted diplomatic norms when the President was not scheduled to meet any significant high-level Biden Administration official.
While Gen. Langley could not disclose during the public hearing the details of the Africa Command’s exploration in West Africa and that of the Chinese activities, what remains firm in the minds of diplomats is that the meeting at the headquarters of the American spy agency could be a reignition of Liberia’s role during the Cold War when it served as the communication and spy center for the Americans in Africa.
It may be recorded Amb. McCarthy while addressing the media on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 in Monrovia at a Roundtable that focused on the visit of US State Department’s Global Anti-Corruption Coordinator Richard Nephew and USAID’s Anti-Corruption Task Force Executive Director Shannon Green, US Ambassador to Liberia Michael McCarthy expressed shame that “most irresponsible controversies to emerge in Liberia’s media over the past month have originated from the United States.”
According to Ambassador McCarthy, under the U.S.-funded media training and its messaging to the press program, the United States government spend a lot of time emphasizing responsible journalism; that with freedom of expression comes an obligation to verify facts, and to not inflame passions without first doing due diligence.”
“Today, I am ashamed to tell you that the most irresponsible controversies to emerge in Liberia’s media over the past month have originated from the United States. While responsible critical observations from the Liberian diaspora can be healthy, some cowardly media personalities and political personalities have intentionally disseminated rumors or misinformation into Liberia’s political environment from the safety of their studios and offices in the U.S.”
The US diplomat went to further state that “These people are motivated by disruption and a desire to break down trust in Liberian institutions – they don’t care what damage they cause, and when questioned by law enforcement, they do not have evidence to back up their claims. Unfortunately, they take advantage of America’s first amendment rights to spread rumors and stir up trouble in your country, which is despicable behavior.”
Though Ambassador McCarthy did not name any media and political personalities who are engaged in the spread of misinformation in Liberia, quite recently, the Government of Liberia took issues with Spoon Network for using its Spoon Talk Online Platform to spew what it called disinformation against the government.
The Government’s Information Ministry through Minister Ledgerhood Rennie, sent a communication to the outgoing leadership of the Press Union of Liberia headed by Charles Coffey, complaining ‘Spoon Network Inc.’ of a sustained pattern of ethical transgression.
In his communication dated February 8, 2023, Information Minister Rennie, himself a veteran journalist, on behalf of the Ministry said the Spoon Network has allowed its platform (online and radio) to be used by individuals he referred to as ‘rabble-rousers’ residing outside Liberia to spew lies, disinformation and misinformation with the sole intent to fuel chaos in the society through a campaign of fake news and deliberate false information.
But some political pundits did react to the Ministry’s statement, stating, “unfortunately, the Information Ministry’s communication reflects biases and insincerity since it did not also point to the sustained unethical transgression and hate messages also being spewed out on Freedom FM Radio Station, a pro-government radio station owned by the Deputy Director for Operations of the National Security Agency, Sam Siryon.”
The pundits wondered “where was the Information Ministry when a talk show host sitting on Freedom FM Radio called on the Government to declare United States Ambassador, Michael McCarthy, a persona non-grata because the US Treasury Department had imposed sanctions on some officials of the Government for corrupt activities in Government?”
“Where was the Information Ministry when a talk show host sat on Freedom FM Radio and almost plunged this Country into another round of chaos when he deliberately announced conflicting results of the 2020 mid-term senatorial elections at the behest of the powers that be, contrary to the official results that were being released by the National Elections Commission,” the political pundits further asked.
Commenting further the pundits said the Information Ministry also remained mute two talk show hosts sat on the same Freedom Radio Station, disrespected and made lots of disparaging comments against the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Musa Dean. “Minister Dean’s only crime was because he expressed sympathy and regretted the recent gruesome attack on the home of former Chief Justice Gloria Scott, resulting in the death of one of her daughters,” the pundits averred.
