ECOWAS pledges 3,000 troops for Liberia force

Military chiefs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) pledged on Friday to raise 3,000 troops from member countries for an intervention force to restore peace in Liberia. They said after a two-day meeting in the Ghanaian capital Accra that it would cost US $104 million to deploy such a force for a period of six months and appealed to the United States, which is considering sending its own troops to Liberia, to help. The conference of ECOWAS Military Chiefs of Defence Staff recommended a total force strength 5,000 men, but did not say where the other 2,000 would come from. Last week, President John Kufuor of Ghana, the current chairman of ECOWAS, said the 15-nation body was ready to send a 5,000 strong intervention force to police a fragile cease-fire in Liberia. ECOWAS has since appealed to the United States to lead the force, but has also sought troops from South Africa and Morocco. Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is battling against two rebel movements, said on Friday he was ready to quit power and leave the country. Nigerian government officials said he would probably go to Nigeria in the first instance before moving to another country of permanent exile. Announcing the recommendations of the Accra military meeting, Ghana's Lieutenant-General Seth Obeng, Chairman of the ECOWAS Defence and Security Commission, said the ability of West African countries to send enough troops to Liberia was plagued by financial and logistical constraints. "ECOWAS and the African Union should intensify their initiatives to get an advanced country, possibly the United States, to spearhead peace efforts in Liberia, just as Britain and France did for Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire," he suggested. The recommendations of the Defence and Security Commission will be forwarded to the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council, consisting of 10 Foreign Ministers of member countries, for ratification. This body is expected to meet in the coming days. The proposed intervention force would enforce a shaky ceasefire between Taylor's government and two rebel movements, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement of Democracy For Liberia (MODEL) rebel groups, which was agreed on 17 June. It would also ensure the free movement of civilians in Liberia, where rebel forces control about two thirds of the country, and would facilitate the work of relief agencies. The United Nations has warned of a potentially catastrophic humanitarian situation developing in the capital Monrovia, whose one million inhabitants were the main victims of two LURD attacks on the city in June. Little is known about conditions in the densely forested interior of Liberia, where relief agencies have been unable to operate for several weeks as a result of heavy fighting as the rebels advanced.