LIBERIA-PEACE: WARLORDS NEAR AGREEMENT

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

EDWARD AMEYIBOR

ACCRA, Nov 23 1994 (IPS) - LIBERIAN WARLORDS, IN THE THIRD DAY OF THEIR MEETING HERE, WEDNESDAY APPEARED CLOSE TO AN AGREEMENT WHICH COULD END THE FIVE-YEAR CIVIL WAR IN THE WEST AFRICAN COUNTRY.

SOURCES CLOSE TO THE LIBERIANS SAID THERE IS GENERAL AGREEMENT ON ALL ISSUES EXCEPT REPRESENTATION FOR THE ARMED FORCES OF LIBERIA (AFL) ON AN INTERIM GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY.

PROPOSALS PUT FORWARD SAYTHE AFL SHOULD BE REPRESENTED ON THE COUNCIL TOGETHER WITH FIVE SMALLER ALLIED GROUPS, WHICH HOWEVER PREFER TO BE ON THE COUNCIL IN THEIR OWN RIGHT.

THE SOURCES SAID THE WARLORDS, REPRESENTING EIGHT WARRING FACTIONS, HOPE TO OVERCOME THIS HURDLE AND SIGN A FINAL ACCORD BY THURSDAY.

THE PROPOSALS DISCUSSED BY THE WARLORDS AND A ‘COMMITTEE OF NINE’ COUNTRIES SET UP BY ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) TO DEAL WITH THE LIBERIAN ISSUE INCLUDE PLANS TO EXPAND THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE WARRING FACTIONS IN A NEW LIBERIA ARMY, POLICE AND IMMIGRATION SERVICE.

THE COMMITTEE IS MADE UP OF WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH TROOPS IN LIBERIA OR COUNTRIES CO-OPTED FOR THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE FACTIONS. NIGERIA, TOGO, MALI, GAMBIA, SENEGAL, GHANA AND COTE D’IVOIRE ARE REPRESENTED AT THE MEETING.

CONFERENCE SOURCES SAID OTHER DETAILS ARE RESTRUCTURING OF THE TRANSITIONAL EXECUTIVE BODY AND THE SELECTION OF NINE TOWNS AS “SAFE HAVENS” FROM WHICH THE WARRING FACTIONS WOULD WITHDRAW THEIR FORCES FOR DISARMAMENT.

IF THE PROPOSALS ARE ADOPTED, A CEASEFIRE, TO BE MONITORED BY ECOWAS MONITORING GROUP (ECOMOG) AND OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES LIKE TANZANIA AND UGANDA WHICH HAVE TROOPS IN THE WAR-TORN COUNTRY, WILL BE ANNOUNCED.

THE WARLORDS HAVE BEEN IN AND OUT OF GHANA THREE TIMES SINCE SEP. 12 WHEN THREE OF THEM INITIALLED WHAT WAS CALLED THE AKOSOMBO ACCORD.

THE ACCORD, WHICH SPELT OUT A NEW TIMETABLE FOR ELECTIONS AND DISARMAMENT AMONG OTHER THINGS, WAS SHORT-LIVED FOLLOWING CRITICISM FROM LIBERIAN CIVILIANS WHO CALLED IT A BLUEPRINT FOR A MILITARY DICTATORSHIP.

LIBERIA-PEACE: WARLORDS NEAR AGREEMENT

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

EDWARD AMEYIBOR

ACCRA, Nov 23 1994 (IPS) - LIBERIAN WARLORDS, IN THE THIRD DAY OF THEIR MEETING HERE, WEDNESDAY APPEARED CLOSE TO AN AGREEMENT WHICH COULD END THE FIVE-YEAR CIVIL WAR IN THE WEST AFRICAN COUNTRY.
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