LURD warns against deployment of ECOWAS troops

The main Liberian rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), has warned against the planned deployment of 1,500 ECOWAS peacekeepers in the war-torn country prior to the departure of President Charles Taylor into exile. "We have made it clear that we want Taylor to leave unconditionally," George Dweh, leader of the LURD delegation to the Accra Peace Talks, told IRIN on Friday. "This was agreed in the Accra 17 June ceasefire. Now Taylor says he wants the peacekeepers to be deployed before he leaves." He said: "That is wrong and we are warning that he should not use anything as a springboard to spearhead his departure. He has said he will go and we want him to go now without any pre-conditions," Dweh added. A statement from the group's secretariat in northern Liberia earlier stated that though the group hopes for the best, "we are braced for the worst; therefore any troops deployed before the departure of Taylor must be prepared for a firefight". Dweh said that his group would not fight the proposed intervention force if it enters Liberia after Taylor's departure. "We are committed to the Accra Peace process. We are just echoing the dangers that might erupt if ECOWAS deploys troops before Taylor leaves. We have called for the deployment of an International Intervention Force and we are just making our point clear," he added. Despite LURD's declared commitments to the peace process mediated by the West African regional body, ECOWAS, the rebel group appears to have developed a strong mistrust for West African leaders, who they allege seem to be backing Taylor. "Our fear is that we don't trust Taylor neither do we trust ECOWAS leaders. We believe many of them are working for Taylor. Some of their pronouncements have proved it. They still consider him as president. Look at the way they are dealing with the indictment issue. They are describing it as a political problem and they are trying to find a way around it to Taylor's favor," Dweh said. He said no one should assume that Taylor's immediate exit would cause a power vacuum in Liberia. "The 17 June ceasefire agreement states the formation of a transitional government within 30 days. The 30-day deadline ends on the 17th of July and we are earnestly working on that. Come next week, we should have an interim government in place," Dweh added. In a related development, more than 2,000 Liberian government fighters under the banner of the War Veteran Association of Liberia, on Friday afternoon staged a peaceful protest in Monrovia's diplomatic enclave of Mamba Point where they presented a statement to the US embassy calling on the international community to seek their welfare after President Taylor leaves for exile. The government fighters claimed that they were former fighters of the defunct warring factions during the Liberian civil war of 1990-1997 including the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), Independent National patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), the Liberia Peace Council (LPC), United Liberation Movement for Democracy (ULIMO) and the Lofa Defense Force (LDF). Most of them were amputees. They appealed that their security be fully guaranteed under the ongoing Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-backed peace plan for Liberia. They added that the US government as an integral part of the ICGL (International Contact Group on Liberia) should ensure that priority was given to their education, health, shelter and reintegration as a way of disengaging the over 65,000 members of their organisation from destructive ventures in the perceived post Taylor era. The protestors said their demands were part of a "comprehensive peace package for our country" and appealed to the international community "to take the relevant remedial action to stop, advert, avoid and prevent greater chaos by stopping the on going wave of harassment, intimidation, threats and violence against ourselves and families or else...." They also called for the dropping of the indictment against president Taylor to ensure a lasting peace. Meanwhile, internally displaced persons (IDPs) sheltering in camps in Brewersville, about 7 km west of the capital Monrovia, have complained of lack of food, medicine, insecurity and persistent harassment by government militias who roam the camps. The IDPs told IRIN on Friday at various camps that because of the absence of aid agencies, they had not received food assistance since the two separate attacks on the western suburbs of the capital by LURD rebels and they depend on leaves, sugar cane and unripe mangoes to sustain themselves. Edwin Taylor, who is said to be one of the block leaders at the Wilson Corner displaced persons camp said: "The eating of leaves from the bush is causing diarrhoea among the IDPs because we are not used to eating such." He estimates that there were presently 8,333 persons at the Wilson camp alone. "We do not have medicine in this camp and ill persons find it very difficult to recover. God being on our side, we use herbs to cure the patients," Taylor said. Additionally an elderly displaced man, Tonia Fahnbulleh, who witnessed the two rebel attacks last month, said the wave of harassment and intimidation by government-armed personnel was very high especially at night. "They just fire guns any time they want and no body is controlling them. They just see you walking and call you a dissident collaborator. If you are lucky, they will take all that you have and if not, they will just beat you", Fahnbulleh said. He said that the government militias often extorted money from them and at times forcibly entered IDP shelter brandishing their weapons to carry out search for those they perceived as LURD supporters. Fahnbulleh's claims were confirmed by other IDPs to IRIN at the Jah Tondo, Seigbeh, Perry town, Plumkor, Blamasee and Wilson Corner displaced centers on Friday. Only few persons were seen in those camps that hosted more than 30,000 IDPs. The security atmosphere around the camps was fearful with the huge presence of government militias most of who are child soldiers, guarding makeshift checkpoints near those camps. A group of 11 child soldiers smoking marijuana were seen on Friday at the VOA Junction Checkpoint, 7 km west of Monrovia, on the road which links the main highway from the capital to the camps and the Western Liberia towards the LURD controlled areas in Kley, Bomi county about 38 km west of the capital. Gregory Blamo, the Officer In Charge of the World Food Programme-Liberia, told IRIN that WFP had not been able to access the camps to deliver food due to security concerns. In a related development, humanitarian workers have reported that malaria, cholera, acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases continue to be the main medical concern in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Monrovia. In a humanitarian situation report on Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said there were also reports of malnutrition. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was planning a rapid nutritional screening to get better details of the deteriorating food situation. It noted, however, that looting had affected health service delivery with many non-governmental organisations having lost substantial quantities of drugs, but the National Drug Service had enough drugs for the time being. The World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Red Cross and MSF also had some drugs. UNICEF had increased water supply by providing collapsible tanks to nine IDP settlements out of more than 80 irregular shelters, the report said, adding that OXFAM, MSF (France) and other NGOs had also stepped up water supply.