Annan welcomes ceasefire agreement

The UN Secretary General has welcomed the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the Liberian government and the country's two main rebel groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy and Elections in Liberia (MODEL). Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that the ceasefire was "an important step forward in efforts to bring the conflict in Liberia to a negotiated end". But he urged all parties to the conflict to build on the momentum created by the cessation of hostilities to "create favourable security conditions throughout the country that will permit the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to desperate civilians." News of the ceasefire was greeted with joy in Monrovia by civilians and soldiers alike. One military pick-up truck drove round the city centre with cheering soldiers who had tied white cloths to the barrels of their guns. The truce followed two weeks of on-and-off peace talks in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. It paved the way for talks on a comprehensive peace plan and the creation of a transitional government which would exclude President Charles Taylor. The Liberian leader said at the start of peace talks on 4 June that he was ready to step down at the end of his present term in January 2004. "The Secretary-General commends the Liberian parties for their sense of compromise in the national interest of peace in their country and urges them to scrupulously adhere to the terms of the agreement," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Annan, he added, paid tribute to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other international parties whose "untiring support" had led to the ceasefire being signed. The UN Secretary General appealed to the international community to "respond generously to the request of emergency relief assistance for Liberia." He reiterated the UN's commitment to work with the government and people of the country "in the quest for sustainable peace and progress."