Peace talks slow down as fighting heats up

Liberian rebels said on Tuesday they would suspend their active participation in peace talks with representatives of President Charles Taylor because of repeated government attacks on their positions in contravention of a week-old ceasefire. Sources at the peace conference in the Ghanaian capital Accra said the chief mediator, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar of Nigeria, had called a two-day recess on Monday night. Talks would resume on Thursday, they added. Nevertheless, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is brokering the talks, said in a statement that the Liberian peace process was "progressing well". By the first week of July, the mediator should have worked out the political framework for a comprehensive peace agreement, it added. Both rebel movements said they remain dedicated to the peace process despite serious violations of their 17 June ceasefire agreement with Taylor's government and the continuation of heavy fighting on several fronts. "We are still committed to the Accra peace talks. However, we will not be as active as we were due to repeated attacks on our positions by Taylor's forces," Kabineh Jan'eh, the spokesman for Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), told IRIN on Tuesday. Tiah Slanger, the spokesman for the other rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), was rather more upbeat. "We will make sure we come up to an understanding on the peace talks before we leave Accra," he said. Over the weekend, LURD resumed fighting government forces near Monrovia, retaking Kley junction, 35 km west of the capital, and pushing on Monday towards the Po river, which is only 17 km from the beleaguered city of one million people. LURD military advisor General Joe Wylie said in Accra: "Even though a ceasefire agreement has been signed, we have issued out commands to our fighters to fight back any government attacks. Anywhere they strike us, we have every right to take back those positions and of course, we are hitting them." The renewed fighting sparked off an exodus of thousands of people from the western suburbs of Monrovia towards the city centre. The fleeing residents said sounds of heavy bombardment could be heard in the western suburbs of Duala, Brewersville and Caldwell. Liberian government military sources also reported fighting with the MODEL at Tapeta in northern Liberia and at Ganta, a key crossroads town 60 km away on the Guinean border. Slanger told IRIN that his movement was only involved defensive actions. "We are not on the offensive now. We are not attacking government troops. We are on the defensive and our forces will make sure that they drive away anybody that comes within our territory to wherever they came from," he said. Another MODEL leader said the rebel movement had captured General William Toe, a former Assistant Minister of Defence in Taylor's government, with 30 of his men and a huge cache of arms in Grand Kru County in southeastern Liberia. "Taylor sent Toe into the Sinoe County to retake positions before the JVT [Joint Verification Team] enters Liberia. He is in our custody and we will hand him over to the International Community soon. We are not interested in killing anybody," MODEL military commander, General Bleaujoi Boi, said. The JVT, that should have traveled to Monrovia last Saturday, is to chart the agreed ceasefire positions of the warring parties. It is due to include two representatives each from the warring factions, the UN, the African Union and the International Contact Group on Liberia. MODEL has named Lt. Col. Towah A. Towah and Ben Russleh as its own representatives on the JVT and they have already arrived in Accra. LURD said its representatives would arrive on Wednesday. There was no word about who would represent the Liberian government on the JVT. Conference sources said the main government delegates had flown back to Monrovia for consultations with Taylor. They were expected back on Thursday. ECOWAS said the JVT, which should have flown to Liberia on Saturday, could not start work yet due to the "non-receipt of information from some of the warring parties on their military disposition and where their nominees could be picked up for the verification exercise in Liberia." On Monday, the rebels threatened to withdraw completely from the peace talks due to what they described as conflicting statements made by ECOWAS Executive Secretary, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, on the possible resignation of Taylor. Slanger told IRIN that the ceasefire agreement called for a transitional government to be set up within 30 days and for Taylor's departure within that time. "To suggest otherwise or say that Taylor's leaving is open to negotiations is unfortunate and not part of our understanding," he said.