- Title: LIBERIA: WEST AFRICAN PEACEKEEPERS EXTEND THEIR CONTROL IN MONROVIA.
- Date: 17th August 2003
- Summary: (W5) MONROVIA, LIBERIA (AUGUST 17, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. GV/MV: VICE COMMANDER OF ECOMIL, THEOPHILUS TAWIAH, AND US EMBASSY MILITARY AFFAIRS ATTACHE, COLONEL SUE ANN SONDUNSKY, WALKING OUT OF LURD ADMINISTRATION OFFICE (2 SHOTS) 0.17 2. CU/GV: VICE COMMANDER OF ECOMIL, THEOPHILUS TAWIAH, AND US EMBASSY MILITARY AFFAIRS ATTACHE, COLONEL SUE ANN SONDUNS
- Embargoed: 1st September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MONROVIA, LIBERIA
- Country: Liberia
- Reuters ID: LVAC7WJ2WOF6SAHDC7L7MYVJI98A
- Story Text: West African peacekeepers extend their control in
Monrovia, although peace talks seem deadlocked.
West African peacekeepers tightened their grip on
Liberia's capital Monrovia on Sunday (August 17, 2003).
The Nigerian-led West African peacekeepers extended
their control in Monrovia, hoping their presence will bring
to an end 14 years of destruction in the country the U.N.'s
top representative describes as a "collapsed" state.
The ECOMIL vice commander, Theophilus Tawiah, and the
US embassy military affairs attache, Colonel Sue Ann
Sondunsky, toured the ECOMIL deployment on Bushrod Island.
Colonel Theophilus Tawiah, a Ghanaian officer, told
reporters Liberia was getting quieter every day.
He wasn't sure whether the force would deploy all the
way to the Po river -- the demarcation line agreed with
rebels who began leaving the area they controlled around
the port on Thursday (August 14) as the peace force fanned
out across the city.
Most rebels have gone, with the senior officers and
others heading for the town of Tubmanburg, though a few
remain.
At the Iron Gate checkpoint a LURD rebel commander
known as "Bulldozer" stood guard surrounded by about a
dozen fighters, guns slung over their shoulders. Some were
child fighters, others wore flowery scarves and others
played chequers.
"I received orders from the (rebel) chief of staff. And
... he said I should be here and I shouldn't allow any arms
... to get in the city," Bulldozer said.
"I will be controlling the area until he give me
another order ... If he will bring the order saying I will
withdraw to Po river, I will withdraw," he told Reuters.
However, talks in nearby Ghana seemed deadlocked as
warring factions haggled over jobs in an interim
government.
West African countries, supported by the United
Nations, have told the warring factions they can have none
of the top four posts in an interim administration and
peace talks in Ghana will end on Sunday with or without a
deal.
The main rebel group Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) is demanding top posts
in a transition government under discussion at the peace
talks in Ghana.
LURD delegates say fighters will refuse to lay down
their guns without a top job, ideally vice-chairman, the
equivalent of deputy president in the proposed
administration.
Top LURD negotiator Kabina Ja'neh told Reuters that the
other positions on offer in the government and new assembly
were "merely symbolic".
Mediators said both the government and another rebel
faction known as Model appeared to be happy with the
proposed deal.
At a news conference in Monrovia on Sunday, Liberian
information minister Reginald Goodridge told reporters, "If
it had been left up to this government and to president
Blah, an agreement would have been signed yesterday."
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