Focusing on reconciliation

Clashes in northwest Liberia between rebels and government troops and speculation on the possible involvement of former faction leaders in the fighting have drawn attention in Monrovia to the issue of national reconciliation. President Charles Taylor said at a meeting with opinion leaders on 16 August, just under a week after the fighting broke out in Lofa County, that the government "has done everything possible to reconcile with former warring factions". Taylor was reacting to a suggestion that he should intensify efforts to bring former faction leaders back to Liberia. "Do you think that those who took up arms along with you [the other faction leaders] are comfortable sitting where they are after having tasted the power of government administration?" a prominent criminal lawyer, Marcus Jones, asked Taylor at the meeting. He was referring to the participation of all faction leaders in a 1995-1997 transitional government. But questions have been raised about whether former rebel chiefs and opposition leaders would be safe if they returned to Liberia. [See separate item titled 'IRIN special report on reconciliation']