Draft comprehensive peace accord presented

West African mediators at the Liberian peace talks in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Friday released a draft comprehensive peace agreement in line with the requirements contained in a cease-fire agreement signed on June 17. "This is what we consider to be the framework for the comprehensive peace agreement in Liberia. For the past 51 days, we have listened to all delegates to the peace talks. We have collected and tried to iron out their differences," talks moderator and former Nigerian head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, told reporters in Accra on Thursday night. "By giving them the draft on Friday to peruse, we hope there will be the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement by Tuesday [22 July]," Abubakar added. While the details of the draft document were not made public, it is expected to spell out the fine points of the transitional government that will rule Liberia after the exit of President Charles Taylor. Taylor is to be excluded from the new government in accordance with the ceasefire agreement. He has agreed to go to exile in Nigeria, but says he is awaiting the arrival of peacekeepers before he leaves. On Friday West African states began initial steps to deploy a peacekeeping force in a week or two. George Dweh, Leader of main Liberian United for Reconciliation Democracy (LURD) rebel delegation told IRIN: "It is possible to sign the comprehensive peace agreement by Tuesday but we have to go through the document first. We want progress. We believe we should give peace to all Liberians. LURD will never be an obstacle to the peace process." A diplomatic source told IRIN on Friday that whether or not mediators clinch a final deal on Tuesday depends on how well the document forges one political agreement from the diverse views collated from a myriad of stakeholders. "Within the next 72 hours, we all have to work hard to make sure that we settle our differences so that this deadline does not slip us by”, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a possible interim presidential candidate on the ticket of the Unity Party told IRIN on Friday. "Our people are becoming frustrated. Already the ceasefire agreement is being violated again," Johnson-Sirleaf, whose name has been floated as a possible replacement for Taylor, said. While the government delegation is pushing for Taylor's Vice-President Moses Blah to take over the transitional government, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) rebel group has completely rejected that option. MODEL has instead proposed that the interim president be selected from the ranks of political parties and civil society groups that did not take part in the conflict while LURD and MODEL are given two vice-presidential positions. This also conflicts with the proposal of the international community, who say the leadership of both rebel groups should not be part of the interim administration. "If ECOWAS does not accept our proposal, which we believe is the only way we can solve the Liberian problem, they will have to give us something that will be acceptable to all of us," Tiah Slanger, MODEL Chairman told IRIN. Meanwhile Alhaji Kromah, a former warlord, who fought Taylor in the earlier Liberian civil war and now represents the All Liberian Coalition Party told IRIN on Friday that he had approached the rebel groups, political parties and some government delegates to consider running for interim presidency. "I have given my word to LURD chairman Sekou Coneh to support him. If ECOWAS and the international community reject his nomination, then I probably have to consider running. I was looking at the regular elections, but if it becomes necessary to be in the interim administration to ensure peace and the complete demobilization of all the fighters, I will put myself forward," Koromah told IRIN. Initially up to 42 names had been floated as possible replacements for Taylor. But diplomats at the talks said the number had narrowed down to less than 10. They include Theresa Leigh-Sherman, leader of the Mano River Women Network for Peace; Togba Nah Tipoteh of the Liberian Peoples' Party and Ruth Perry.