Start of peace talks delayed, venue shifted

The start of peace talks between the Liberian government and rebels has been delayed by two days and the venue has been shifted from the Ghanaian capital Accra to Akosombo, a town 96 km to the northeast, Ghana's ambassador to Liberia said on Thursday. The talks, initially scheduled to start on 2 June, would now begin two days later on 4 June, Kwame Amoah-Awuo, who co-chairs a local International Contact Group on Liberia, told reporters in the capital, Monrovia. He said the venue had been shifted to Akosombo because one party to the talks, which he declined to identify, had voiced concerns about security in Accra. The rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), which controls large parts of northern and central Liberia, had earlier objected to Accra on security grounds. LURD had wanted the talks shifted to the Senegalese capital Dakar, but diplomats said it had eventually agreed to go to Ghana. The Ghanaian ambassador said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had identified some countries which were willing to contribute troops to a proposed peace-keeping force in Liberia, but he added: "This depends upon funding." Five member states of ECOWAS have deployed a 1,300-strong peacekeeping force in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire. This is mainly paid for by France, which has 4,000 of its own troops stationed in the country to enforce a ceasefire bewtweeen the army and rebels who control the north of the country. The United States helped to pay for the deployment of the ECOWAS force there. The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Liberia, Abou Moussa, said the UN has provided seed funding of US $150,000 to support the peace talks in Ghana. The European Union, had also pledged to provide financial and technical support for the process, he added. The ECOWAS-brokered talks in Ghana will be mediated by former Nigerian leader Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. President Charles Taylor, has said he would attend. But another recently formed rebel group which controls large areas of southeastern Liberia, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), has yet to indicate whether it will go to Ghana. MODEL emerged early this year. Diplomats say MODEL is supported by Cote d'Ivoire, whereas LURD, which launched an insurrection against Taylor in 1999, is backed by Guinea, Liberia's neighbour to the north. The head of the Liberia Refugee, Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC), Sam Brown, said 981 people arrived in Monrovia, fleeing fighting in the southeastern key timber port of Harper, which fell to MODEL at the weekend. Relief officials said earlier that more than 1,500 people fleeing from Harper had sailed in a hijacked freighter to Monrovia, while about 2,000 had fled in a second vessel to the government-held port of Buchanan.. Harper, 400 km southeast of Monrovia, is the headquarters of Maryland county and a key timber export port. It was captured by rebels of MODEL last Sunday. Fleeing government fighters commandeered two ships and forced the crew to carry 3,500 displaced people to Monrovia and to Buchanan.