Cindy Shiner in Accra
NINE West African heads of state met in the Ghanaian capital Accra this week for an emergency summit to try to end the renewed civil war in Liberia. Hopes of success are slim.
Officials are trying to rehabilitate an eight- month-old agreement that was supposed to lead to the disarmament of tens of thousands of fighters and to elections in August.
“People know what needs to be done but I don’t think the will is there to do it,” the United Nations’ special envoy, James Jonah, said.
He was referring to diplomatic attempts to bolster the regional peacekeeping force sent to Liberia in 1990. The 8 500 peacekeepers, led by Nigeria, have twice repelled attacks on the capital Monrovia by forces loyal to Charles Taylor, but have been unable to contain the recent fighting.
Regional countries say they no longer have the resources to support the West African army, but international donors want proof that the peacekeepers can work effectively before they release funds.
The talks have been organised by the Economic Community of West African States, which formed the peacekeeping force. The recent fighting in Monrovia was sparked off on April 6 by an attempt to arrest rebel leader Roosevelt Johnson, who is now seeking diplomatic leverage in Accra.
“This government has failed,” Johnson said. “There has been no government on the ground for one month. We have chaos.”
This week, gunmen from Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia displayed the severed head of a Krahn fighter in central Monrovia.
They said the head belonged to a member of the Butt-Naked Brigade captured in fighting the previous day. The brigade gets its name from its fighters’ preference for wearing few or no clothes while fighting.
Since April, street battles have left more than 100 dead and forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Many are are trying to board unsafe boats to leave the country.