[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 28 (Monday, July 21, 2008)]
[Pages 1001-1002]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Continuation of the National Emergency With 
Respect to the Former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor

July 16, 2008

To the Congress of the United States:

    Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) 
provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, 
prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President 
publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice 
stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the 
anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent the 
enclosed notice to the Federal Register for publication, stating that 
the national emergency and related measures dealing with the former 
Liberian regime of Charles Taylor are to continue in effect beyond July 
22, 2008.

[[Page 1002]]

    Today, Liberia continues its peaceful transition to a democratic 
order under the administration of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The 
Government of Liberia has implemented reforms that have allowed for the 
removal of international sanctions on Liberian timber and diamonds, and 
Liberia is participating in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme 
and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to ensure that its 
natural resources are used to benefit the people and country of Liberia, 
rather than to fuel conflict. Charles Taylor is standing trial in The 
Hague by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. However, stability in 
Liberia is still fragile.
    The regulations implementing Executive Order 13348 clarify that the 
subject of this national emergency has been and remains limited to the 
former Liberian regime of Charles Taylor and specified other persons and 
not the country, citizens, Government, or Central Bank of Liberia.
    The actions and policies of former Liberian President Charles Taylor 
and other persons--in particular their unlawful depletion of Liberian 
resources, their trafficking in illegal arms, and their formation of 
irregular militia--continue to undermine Liberia's transition to 
democracy and the orderly development of its political, administrative, 
and economic institutions and resources. These actions and policies pose 
an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United 
States, and for these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to 
continue the national emergency with respect to the former Liberian 
regime of Charles Taylor.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 July 16, 2008.