A draft accord for a cease-fire in Liberia calls for President Charles Taylor to cede power in 30 days, and stay out of the interim government that would replace him, Liberia’s defence minister confirmed on Tuesday.
Taylor had made it clear at the start of Liberian peace talks on June 4 that he would surrender power in the interests of peace, and never changed his mind, Defence Minister Daniel Chea said.
The agreement was ”in conformity with President Taylor’s June 4 proclamation”, Chea said on Tuesday.
Talks in Liberia’s escalating three year rebellion are being held in the fellow west African nation of Ghana.
Taylor had declared in an emotional speech at the opening of the talks that he would yield power at some unspecified point, and stay out of the interim government being discussed to succeed him.
”If President Taylor is seen as a problem, then I will remove myself. I’m doing this because I’m tired of the people dying. I can no longer see this genocide in Liberia,” the Liberian leader said then.
The draft accord calls for Taylor’s resignation within 30 days of the signing. Signing would be followed eventually by a West African-led ”stabilisation force” of more than 2 000 troops, according to west African mediators.
US. officials say the United States is considering unspecified support for such a force.
Rebels, government and mediators said they expected to sign the accord on Tuesday. However, participants in the month long talks in Ghana have declared the signing of a cease-fire imminent before.
Taylor, likewise, has signed accords before in 14 years of conflicts in Liberia, only to repeatedly break them, and return to fighting.
Taylor made his June 4 pledge hours after a United Nation’s.-backed court announced his war-crimes indictment, and asked authorities in Ghana to arrest him.
Taylor returned safely to Liberia after the arrest, and has not repeated the pledge since. – Sapa-AP