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	{{Infobox_President
			\| image = \|
	\| image = <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see ] --> \|
	\| name = Moses Blah		\| name = Moses Blah
	\| ~~order~~ = ~~23rd~~ ]		\| order1 = ]
			\| office1 = President of Liberia
⚫	\| ~~term_start~~ = 11 August 2003
	\| ~~term_end~~ = 14 ~~October~~ 2003		\| term_start1 = 11 August 2003
			\| term_end1 = 14 October 2003
⚫	\| ~~predecessor~~ = ]
			\| predecessor1 = ]
	\| ~~successor~~ = ]		\| successor1 = ]
			\| order2 = ]
			\| office2 = Vice President of Liberia
			\| term_start2 = 24 July 2000
		⚫	\| term_end2 = 11 August 2003
			\| predecessor2 = ]
			\| successor2 = ]
		⚫	\| president2 = ]
	\| birth_date = {{Birth date and age\|df=yes\|1947\|4\|18}}		\| birth_date = {{Birth date and age\|df=yes\|1947\|4\|18}}
	\| birth_place = ]		\| birth_place = ]
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Revision as of 08:13, 2 November 2011

Moses Blah

23rd President of Liberia
In office 11 August 2003 – 14 October 2003
Preceded by	Charles Taylor
Succeeded by	Gyude Bryant
28th Vice President of Liberia
In office 24 July 2000 – 11 August 2003
President	Charles Taylor
Preceded by	Enoch Dogolea
Succeeded by	Wesley Momo Johnson

Personal details
Born	(1947-04-18) 18 April 1947 (age 77) Toweh Town, Liberia
Political party	National Patriotic

Moses Zeh Blah (born 18 April 1947) is a Liberian political figure. He served as Vice President under President Charles Taylor and became the 23rd President of Liberia on 11 August 2003, following Taylor's resignation. He served as President for two months, until 14 October 2003, when a United Nations-backed transitional government, headed by Gyude Bryant, was sworn in.

Blah was born in Toweh Town, Liberia, a Gio-speaking hamlet in north-eastern Nimba County, close to the border with the Ivory Coast. He joined with Taylor because of a shared hatred of the current president, Samuel Doe, who had killed Blah's wife along with hundreds of others in an ethnic-related massacre. He trained with Taylor in a Libyan guerrilla camp and served with him as a general during Liberia's civil war in the 1990s. He held the post of ambassador to Libya and Tunisia after Taylor was elected in 1997. In July 2000 Blah was appointed as Vice President after the death of Enoch Dogolea who was rumoured to have been poisoned.

Blah was known as a quiet and unassuming man, driving his own jeep around town rather than using a motorcade and driver, and wearing flowing African robes instead of the normal olive green military uniform. He was constantly annoyed about the bodyguards who followed him around.

In June 2003, Taylor had left the country for peace talks in Ghana, and while there he was indicted by the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. Blah was urged by the United States to take power from Taylor during his absence, but Blah made no such attempt. After Taylor's return, Blah was held under house arrest for ten days, but was subsequently absolved and reinstated as Vice President.

When Taylor resigned in August of that year, Blah briefly succeeded him as president. He was condemned by Liberian rebel groups for his close ties to Taylor; they charged that he would simply continue Taylor's practices. Blah responded by calling the rebels "brothers" and saying "Let bygones be bygones. If there is power, we can share it." He invited the rebels to negotiate in his own house.

On 7 April 2008, Blah said that he had been sent a subpoena to testify at Taylor's trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague. He said that he would testify and "speak the truth", and he testified on 14 May 2008, describing child soldiers and the relationship between Taylor and Foday Sankoh.

Originally trained as a mechanic, Blah is fluent in German, French and Arabic. He has many children by his wife Nettie, and many grandchildren.

References

"Former Liberian vice-president says he will testify in Taylor trial", AFP, 7 April 2008.
"Charles Taylor's former deputy testifies", Reuters (Mail & Guardian Online), 14 May 2008.

External links

BBC News: Moses Blah Profile
Moses Blah Background, Emily Robinson, Lehrer NewsHour Online Backgrounder

Political offices
Preceded byEnoch Dogolea	Vice President of Liberia 2000–2003	Succeeded byWesley Momo Johnson
Preceded byCharles Taylor	President of Liberia 2003	Succeeded byGyude Bryant

v t e Vice presidents of Liberia
Brander Williams Benson Yates D. Warner Priest Gibson Smith Sr. Gardiner C. Harmon Russell Thompson Coleman J. Ross Summerville Dossen S. Harmon S. Ross Wesley Yancy Smith Jr. Simpson Tolbert Greene B. Warner Moniba Dogolea Blah Bokai Taylor Koung

v t e Presidents of Liberia
Roberts Benson Warner Payne Roye Smith Roberts Payne Gardiner Russell Johnson Cheeseman Coleman Gibson A. Barclay Howard King E. Barclay Tubman Tolbert Doe Sawyer Kpormakpor Sankawulo Perry Taylor Blah Bryant Sirleaf Weah Boakai
indicates non-presidential heads of state.

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