28/05/2004

Liberia inching towards peace

Rome - Liberian transitional government officials and rebels promised Friday to stick to a peace pact signed in August that halted 14 years of bloodshed and power struggles in the West African nation.

President of the transitional parliament George Dweh signed a declaration of commitment to peace with leaders of two rebel factions - Sekou Conneh of the Liberian United Reconciliation and Democracy and Benjamin Taylor of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia. The agreement came after a two-day meeting organized by the Catholic Sant' Egidio organisation.

The meeting follows recent tensions in Liberia over the disarmament process, which sparked riots in the capital Monrovia involving fighters loyal to ex-president Charles Taylor.

"We can be assured that the disarmament process will continue," Conneh said on Friday.

The declaration states the need to implement last year's peace agreement "without delays or reservations, in order to attain the social and economic reconstruction of our country."

A national-unity government arranged under the peace pact is to lead Liberia until late-2005 elections, supported by the United Nations' largest peacekeeping mission, now nearing its targeted 15 000 strength.

Taylor launched Liberia into crisis with his 1989-1996 insurgency before winning elections in 1997. Rebels who took up arms against him in 1999 besieged Monrovia in June, helping drive him into exile in early August.

Tisha Steyn