Businessman takes control of Liberia

Businessman Gyude Bryant took office today as leader of Liberia’s interim post-war government, taking up a two-year term meant to guide the devastated country into peace after 14 years of bloodletting by ousted warlord Charles Taylor.

Bryant, 54, took an oath as chairman – not president – of the transitional power-share government, pledging to take Liberia from a “state of despair.”