ECOWAS hails reconciliation conference

Mohammed Ibn Chambas, executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African Countries, ECOWAS, on Monday hailed efforts by Liberians to seek national reconciliation. Chambas met President Charles Taylor to discuss a proposed peace meeting for Liberia that ECOWAS plans to hold in Dakar, Senegal. ECOWAS, along with other regional and international organisations such as the African Union and the United Nations have been invited by Liberia's government to attend the opening of a national reconciliation conference on Saturday. Hundreds of Liberians, including prominent opposition figures and various NGOS have been also been invited. Ibn Chambas urged Liberians to seek a peaceful resolution of the country's conflict. He said stability in Liberia would lead to regional stability while continuing instability created problems for other countries as well. Organisers of Saturday's conference told journalists in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Monday that at least 500 people were expected to attend the meeting at the refurbished Unity Conference Center in Virginia, just outside Monrovia. Also visiting Liberia this week was a delegation of government ministers and parliamentarians from Guinea and Sierra Leone. On Monday, they met various Liberian government officials, including Taylor, opposition leaders and civil society to assess the security situation and to discuss prospects for peace in the war-torn country. The delegation, led by Sierra Leone's Alex Koroma, has been seeking ways to encourage the three Mano River Union countries - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - to build peace ahead of the proposed ECOWAS meeting in Dakar.