Ceasefire brokered, ECOWAS military chiefs to meet

West African mediators negotiated a fresh ceasefire in the Liberian civil war on Friday and hinted that a special African summit would be called to give a fresh impetus to negotiations on a lasting peace settlement. Shortly after the truce was agreed by representatives of President Charles Taylor and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement in the Ghanaian capital Accra, fighting subsided in the Liberian capital Monrovia. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the official facilitator of the Accra peace talks, told reporters: "Both the Government of Liberia and LURD have agreed to initiate an immediate ceasefire by Friday afternoon and I hope the two parties stick to their guarantee." A fresh LURD assault on Monrovia this week and Taylor's rejection of rebel calls for him to step down had threatened to blow apart the Liberian peace process, which is aimed at ending 14 years of near constant civil war. Abubakar, a former Nigerian head of state, said he was adjourning the peace talks for a week so that the original 17 June ceasefire agreement between the government, LURD and a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) could be resurrected. Abubakar was appointed to find a negotiated solution to the Liberian conflict, which is threatening to destabilise neighbouring countries, by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A diplomatic source at the Accra peace talks said the ECOWAS Defense and Security Committee would probably meet next Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria, to "look into creating a military buffer zone" between the government and the rebels. The committee is made up of the chiefs of defence staff of member states. "It will discuss growing calls for an intervention in Liberia and recommend to the heads of state whether ECOWAS should send such a force," the source said. "A meeting of the heads of state may take place thereafter to endorse the recommendations." LURD, which has been fighting to oust Taylor since 1999, reaffirmed its commitment to the new ceasefire. The rebel movement said in a statement: "Our commitment to obeying the rules of the new ceasefire is driven mainly by our concern about the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Liberia." Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea was quoted by international news agencies as welcoming the truce, which leaves LURD in control of the western suburbs of Monrovia. He told Reuters that government forces would respect the ceasefire. An uneasy calm fell over Monrovia on Friday afternoon following sporadic gunfire in the morning, but there were conflicting reports as to who controlled the city's vital deep-water port on Bushrod Island. Liberian government military sources told IRIN that Taylor's forces had retaken the Freeport on Friday morning. An IRIN correspondent in the tattered city of one million people saw two pickup trucks carrying jubilating soldiers who claimed to have come from the Freeport, driving through the empty streets. However, LURD also claimed to be in control of the port as the guns fell silent. LURD political advisor Tarky Teh told reporters in Accra that his movement still controlled the Freeport and would make it available to the international community to deliver relief supplies and deploy a proposed peacekeeping force in Liberia. He said LURD, which withdrew from Monrovia before last week's ceasefire, would continue to occupy its newly conquered positions in the city. "We will remain in our current positions in Monrovia and in other parts of Liberia while we observe this ceasefire," Teh said. "However, our forces have been instructed to attack and deal decisively with any threats from the other side," Teh added. Abubakar said that although talks on a political settlement for Liberia would remain on ice over the coming week, discussions on conflict prevention and resolution would continue. Diplomatic sources said these would cover sensitive issues such as the Liberian government's demand that LURD move back to the positions it held before the 17 June ceasefire agreement. "Hopefully by next weekend, the ECOWAS-led Joint Verification Team (JVT) will leave for Liberia to ascertain the positions of the various combatants," Abubakar said. "This will pave the way for an international intervention force to move in and serve as a buffer zone," It remained unclear, however, who would provide the troops for such a force. Many Western and African governments would like the United States, which has traditionally enjoyed close ties with Liberia, to take the lead. However, Washington has so far shown no sign of being willing to do so. President George Bush urged Taylor to step down on Thursday, to avoid further bloodshed, but he did not spell out what the United States would do to help resolve the conflict. Diplomatic sources said Bush's statement had created something of a problem for the mediators at the peace talks since his demand for Taylor to resign contravened the African Union declaration on the removal and appointment of elected African presidents. The 17 June ceasefire document called for agreement to be reached within 30 days on a transitional government that would exclude Taylor. The rebels have interpreted this to mean that the president should step down by July 18, but Taylor himself has pledged to stay on until he completes his term in January 2004. "Everybody in a way wants to be helpful in ending the crisis in Liberia," Abubakar told IRIN on Friday. "However, in their attempts, they are being stumbling blocks to the peace process. We now have to take over and do the damage control." Although LURD, which controls most of northern Liberia, has been more prominent than MODEL in the latest fighting, the rebel movement said it would not demand the leadership of an interim government as a condition for peace. "The issue of who forms the interim government is to be decided by the Liberian People and not LURD. Even if we take over Liberia completely, we will not draw a government. This conference in Accra consisting of all Liberians has the capacity to do so," LURD co-Chairman, George Dweh told IRIN.