Gabriel Baccus Matthews
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Gabriel Baccus Matthews (born 1948) is a Liberian politician. He is a former leader of the Progressive Alliance of Liberia and the United People's Party and served as foreign minister of Liberia twice.
As a young man, Matthews joined the dissident movement against President William R. Tolbert. After the 1980 coup in which Tolbert was overthrown and Samuel K. Doe came to power, Matthews became foreign minister for the first time. Matthews was foreign minister until 1981. He later fell out of favor with Doe, who became increasingly dictatorial. In 1990, Matthews became foreign minister, as the country was left without a stable government. Matthews was instrumental in bring the ECOMOG Peacekeeing force to Liberia. He remained foreign minister until 1993 when he was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle. In 1997 at the end of the civil war, Matthews ran for president for the United People's Party and lost. In 2005 Matthews announced his support for George Weah in the presidential elections.