Mediators try to separate Taylor's status from ceasefire issue

Peace talks between the Liberian government and two rebel movements remained deadlocked on Monday for the fourth day running over rebel demands that President Charles Taylor step down as part of any ceasefire agreement. Conference sources said West African mediators, led by former Nigerian head of state Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, were trying hard to persuade all sides to agree to an immediate ceasefire that would be monitored by a UN-led peacekeeping force, with all political issues being left to a second phase of negotiations. "We are still hopeful," one source close to the mediators said, adding that a ceasefire agreement might be signed during the course of Monday night. For the past two weeks, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been trying to broker a ceasefire between the warring Liberian factions in talks at the Ghanaian lakeside town of Akosombo, 100 km north of the capital, Accra. The discussions were moved to a hotel in Accra on Monday amid vague reports of renewed fighting in the Liberian interior. A senior military advisor to the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group, General Joe Wylie, told IRIN that recent attacks by Liberian government soldiers on LURD positions in the interior did not augur well for the Accra peace talks. "These attacks are meant to undermine the peace process. Anyone here who is trying to broker peace must prevail on Taylor to stop all hostilities. Anything that will derail the peace talks must be condemned," Wylie said. Monrovia, the capital has remained tense but quiet since rebel fighters withdrew last Tuesday after a four-day push into the city's western suburbs. The peace talks resumed in earnest last Thursday after a week-long break caused by the LURD attack on Monrovia and Taylor's indictment for war crimes by a court in Sierra Leone. But conference sources said they had become deadlocked over rebel demands that Taylor resign within 10 days of a ceasefire agreement being signed. LURD representative Charles Bennie told reporters on Monday: "If ECOWAS wants to please Taylor, then we can not sign a ceasefire agreement. We do not have anything against ECOWAS. But we want them to be fair and balanced in this issue. We want a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire to be put in place," Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea, who is leading the government delegation to the peace talks, described the recent fighting in the interior as "skirmishes" resulting from the absence of a formal cease-fire. "As long as there is no cease-fire, chances are great that these skirmishes will occur. We should strengthen the resolve for the ceasefire agreement to be effected immediately that will commit every party to stop these attacks. The earlier we sign a ceasefire, the better it will be for all the warring factions," he told IRIN. A second rebel group battling Taylor in southeastern Liberia, the Movement of Democracy For Liberia (MODEL), also reported attacks on its positions by government soldiers. "We are not attacking anybody. For Taylor to be out there attacking our positions and making sidestepping statements outside the peace conference is wrong and this should be condemned by the Chairman of the peace talks," MODEL Spokesperson Eugene Wilson said. Despite the failure to agree on a ceasefire so far, MODEL, which arrived late at the peace talks in Ghana, said the exercise had been useful. Wylie noted that they had brought the rebel movements into formal contact with Liberia's political parties and civil society organisations for the first time to deliberate on the way forward. "Issues pertaining to Liberia do not only have to involve the three warring factions," he said. "If the three factions can not reach an amicable resolution, there are other groups here who can make an impact and we have met all of them today to present our case," Wilson said.