Interim President vows to hand over office on 14 October

Moses Blah, Liberia's interim president, vowed on Thursday to hand over power in October to new leaders elected at peace talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra, after serving as head of state for just two months. “We have no ambition to extend our government beyond 14 October. Liberians have suffered too long. We are not here to play with their future,” Blah said. Gyude Bryant, a 54-year old businessman, was elected head of a two-year National Transitional Government by delegates to the Accra peace talks on 20 August. Assuming the title of Chairman, he will replace Blah who became acting head of state when former president Charles Taylor stepped down on 11 August and flew into exile in Nigeria. Wesley Johnson, a 58-year-old economist and university lecturer was elected Vice-Chairman of the broad-based transitional government. Its ministers will include representatives of Blah's administration, Liberia's two rebel movements and the unarmed civilian opposition. “ I congratulate the new Chairman and Vice Chairman and welcome the new team," Blah said in his first address to the nation. "I wish to assure Liberians of our support, as we plan for the transition period.” “ I cherish the image of a former President who can freely walk the streets and villages of Liberia,” the former mechanic and bush fighter added. Blah apologised for the deaths thousands of Liberians during the country’s 14 years of civil war. He proposed three days of national mourning and the erection of a monument in Monrovia to symbolise a decent burial for Liberia’s dead. “Let us forget the past and work for a brighter tomorrow. As President, I am sorry for the loved ones that Liberians lost. I am asking the Council of Churches to plan three days of national mourning,” Blah said. He described as “madness” recent skirmishes between government fighters and rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) in the heavily forested interior. “I am saddened that these attacks occurred despite the peace agreement. They only make Liberians more destitute. I have talked to the United Nations, the United States government, the European Union and ECOWAS(West African Economic Community) about this madness,” the president said. Daniel Chea, the defence minister and General Benjamin Yeaten, the army commander, told IRIN shortly before Blah gave his speech that the situation in several areas where skirmishes were reported had calmed down. “I have talked to the West African peacekeepers in Monrovia and they have pressured LURD and MODEL leaders to stop the fighting,” Chea said. Yeaten said: “ Our men have stopped fighting in accordance with the peace agreement. It is now upon the rebel commanders to pass orders down to their men to stop fighting” Relief workers reported that the situation in north central Liberia, where LURD fighters have been advancing against government forces, had calmed down. The town of Totota, 109 km north of Monrovia, to which thousands of displaced people had fled earlier this week, appeared to be quieter on Thursday, they added. Convoys of relief workers drove to Salala, a town about 20 km short of Totota, the MODEL-held port city of Buchanan, 120 km southeast of the capital and Bo Waterside in LURD territory on the Sierra Leonean border. Blah vowed to clamp down on rampant corruption, a difficult task since most civil servants have been unpaid for months and his administration has little or no cash with which to pay wages. “We will ensure transparency and openness in government. There will be no free for all corruption while are here,” he said. “I have instructed the Minister of Finance to submit a full report on government's financial position," he added. Blah told Liberians that he had met ECOWAS officials and paramount chiefs to discuss stopping “the reckless discharge of arms in Liberia”. Blah said that during a recent tour of neighbouring states he had agreed with President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire, who is believed to support MODEL, to re-open the border. The head of state said he had agreed with Guinean President Lansana Conteh, who has traditionally backed LURD, to “open a new page to encourage the Liberian peace process”. Blah said he had also met Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to thank Nigeria for sending peacekeepers to Liberia, and President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone to discuss re-opening the border.