Accra — Liberian political leaders and activists are arriving here in the Ghanaian capital to take part in what could be the country's most important peace effort since the outbreak of war in the country in 1989.
General Abdul Salami Abubakar, a former head of state of Nigeria, will co-chair the meeting along with Ghana's President John A. Kufuor, the current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). The presidents of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa are also expected to take part in the opening ceremony later today.
According to Ecowas officials, participants in the talks include the government of President Charles Taylor, the country's 18 political parties and the anti-government armed factions, known as Model and Lurd. Other participants are said to include the Inter-Religious Committee in Liberia and the Mano River Union Women Peace Network.
The opening session is scheduled for Accra, after which the venue will shift to Akosombo, about 100 km (60 miles) to the east, for an extended and as-yet unspecified duration. The Ecowas authorities and the Ghanaian hosts have been tight lipped about any agenda for the meeting, as well as about any expected timeframe.
A Liberian refugee headed for Akosombo - one of hundreds here wearing "PEACE NOW" T-shirts - said that she hopes the organizers will keep the Liberians "behind close doors until they reach a solution." The country has been ravaged by conflict throughout most of the past decade, and currently is facing another resumption of intensified fighting that has uprooted large sections of the population of some three million people.
The talks are to be held in two separate stages. The first brings together the government and the warring factions and will focus on negotiating a cease-fire agreement, disarmament of anti-government forces and transformation of the military and security units, to be accompanied by deployment of a stabilization force throughout the country.
In a second set of meetings to follow, government representatives and political parties are expected to deliberate issues revolving around an expected postponement of the election constitutionally scheduled for October 2003. They are also slated to discuss the possible formation of a transitional administration to run the country until elections can be held.
Much focus of the talks will be on the future role of Charles Taylor, who launched the 1989 rebellion that eventually resulted in the ouster and death of then-President Samuel K. Doe, a former army sergeant who seized power in a 1980 coup. A decade later, Taylor occupies centre stage, and the Liberian conflict has become a major source of destabilization for the sub-region and a concern for the international community as a whole.
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The Taylor government has been slapped with United Nation sanctions, which include travel restrictions, a ban on export of diamonds and an embargo on timber sales that takes effect next month. The Special International Criminal Court in Sierra Leone has indicted former Taylor associates, including Foday Sankoh, Johnny Paul Kromah and Sam Bockarie, who died under mysterious conditions in Liberia after the Court requested that Liberia hand him over. Taylor faces possible indictment himself for allegedly supporting the rebel movement in Sierra Leone that has been charged with criminal acts.
"Mr. Taylor could save all of us further bloodshed and hardship by taking an honourable exit," said an Ivorian delegate to the talks, "but knowing him, he will try to cling to power." If the busloads of Taylor partisans who are flocking to Akosombo are any indication, that is exactly what the Liberian president is bent on doing - buying himself another six-year lease at the Executive mansion in Monrovia.
