Blah returns home as signing of peace agreement is postponed

Liberian President Moses Blah returned home from the Ghanaian capital, Accra, late Saturday after the signing of Liberia's comprehensive peace agreement was postponed due to "serious disagreements" over power-sharing roles in the proposed two-year transitional government. He made no comments to the media. The West African regional body, ECOWAS, who has been facilitating the two-month old peace talks, announced that it would not be able to clinch a final peace settlement on Saturday as was earlier stated. "Today's signing ceremony is out of the question," a source from ECOWAS, [Economic Community of West African States] told IRIN in the Ghanaian capital. "Both the Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement For Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) rebel groups have asked for more time to review the draft agreement," he said. "Perhaps, we might sign on Monday," the source added. The rebels were still insisting on getting the top posts, including the Vice Presidency and Speaker. "A section of LURD rebels reiterated this demand on Friday despite their leader, Sekou Damate Konneh, having softened the group's stand on this subject," a diplomatic source told IRIN. "This group got the backing of MODEL rebels," the source said, noting however that "this had brought back everything to square one." Heads of ECOWAS countries maintained that none of the warring parties should take the top positions such as the Vice Presidency and Speaker in the interim government. On Tuesday, a representative each of the government, LURD and MODEL had met to discuss the power-sharing arrangement. The meeting agreed that the belligerents would be given 15 cabinet portfolios while 6 other cabinet portfolios would go to the political parties and civil societies. "But some key rebel personalities kicked against this arrangement and are currently demanding the vice-chairmanship, Speaker of the legislative assembly and certain sensitive portfolios such Defence, Foreign Affairs and the Bureau of Maritime Affairs in the transitional government," the ECOWAS source added. The key players in the Liberian conflict, President Moses Blah, LURD chairman Sekou Konneh and MODEL chairman Thomas Nimely Yaya were in Accra to witness the signing of the agreement, which would effectively bring to an end nearly 14 years of civil war in Liberia. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein, arrived in Accra on Saturday also in connection with the peace talks. In a related development, ECOWAS officials on Saturday began circulating the new draft comprehensive peace agreement amongst the various stakeholders attending the peace conference. "Once, we get all parties to sign the agreement, the election of the chairman of the transitional government will follow immediately," an ECOWAS source told IRIN. President Moses Blah is scheduled to handover power to the two-year transitional government by October 14. Meanwhile in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, some 110 Nigerian troops arrived on Saturday to reinforce an earlier contingent of fewer than 800 Nigerian soldiers that had come from Sierra Leone. The Nigerian peacekeepers are part of a vanguard of a West African peacekeeping force called ECOMIL which will eventually number 3,250. The Nigerians are backed up by 200 US marines from a naval task force offshore.