ECOWAS sends team to Liberia

A military team from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Wednesday met Liberian President Charles Taylor to discuss plans for peace talks to stop the ongoing civil war, a diplomatic source told IRIN. Taylor however reportedly told the team, led by Nigerian Colonel James Oladipo, that his government was at the moment interested in the Rabat initiative brokered in February by King Mohammed VI of Morocco. The initiative involved the presidents of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, news agencies reported. The Rabat meeting is due to be reviewed by the presidents on 20 June, the source said. The first meeting called for deployment of troops along the common borders to prevent cross-border incursions. Continuing fighting between Liberian forces and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) was reported in Bong and Tubmanburg counties this week. The LURD on Tuesday issued a statement claiming to have captured Suehn, 35 km north of the capital, Monrovia. They also claimed to have blocked forces opposed to them in the dense forest of Kailahun District in Sierra Leone. But the diplomatic source could not confirm the claims. The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in the past has said the present security situation in Liberia could pose a serious security threat to the peace and stability in Sierra Leone. It could also worsen displacement of people in all the Mano River countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. UNAMSIL forces patrol the Sierra Leone border with Liberia to monitor possible incursions. The ECOWAS mission, news agencies reported, was a follow-up of a decision taken by the regional heads of state meeting in Cote d'Ivoire's capital, Yamoussoukro, on 17 May. The meeting decided to seek peaceful means to end the conflict in Liberia. It visited various parts of Liberia before meeting Taylor, the agencies said. During the May meeting, ECOWAS Chairman President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal called for an immediate ceasefire in Liberia and said West African countries were considering creating a peacekeeping force to intervene in Liberia should negotiations between the government and rebels fail. "We do not rule out the possibility of sending a peacekeeping force in Liberia, but we first call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire. Then, we shall consider whether there is a need to organise a round table with all the Liberian political parties. We hope that President Charles Taylor will accept to participate," Wade said.