Taylor misses Guinea visit

Liberian President Charles Taylor on Tuesday failed to travel to the Guinean capital, Conakry, where he had been invited by President Lansana Conte for a meeting that would have eased tension between them, a diplomatic source in the capital, Monrovia said.

An advance party led by the Foreign Minister, Monie Captan, that had traveled to Conakry over the weekend to prepare for Taylor's visit returned to Monrovia on Tuesday, the source told IRIN. "It is not clear why Taylor skipped the visit," the source said.

Liberia accuses Guinea of supporting the rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) who have been fighting to topple Taylor since 1999. In August, the Liberian army pushed back the LURD and reports said the rebels had crossed into Guinea.

Taylor had been expected to propose a new Mano River Union summit, news agencies quoted officials as saying.
The leaders of the Union, which comprises Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, last met in Rabat, Morocco in February to discuss ways of restoring peace and stability in the sub-region. Liberian officials say they see the Rabat strategy as the best option for bringing peace back to the sub-region.

Parallel initiatives have also been started by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which has proposed a summit between the three Presidents in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss continuing instability which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the region.