Liberia’s leading rebel group dropped its demand for a top post in an interim power-sharing government yesterday, a condition which had threatened to scuttle the deal to end the country’s three-year war.
Leaders of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy said they would no longer insist on the vice-chairmanship of the transitional government due to lead Liberia for two years.
”We are doing this to show our commitment to the early resolution of the Liberian crisis,” said George Dweh, a leader of the rebel delegation. ”We want to prove to the entire world that this whole thing is not about Lurd wanting power.”
West African mediators had given rebels until midnight on Saturday to drop the demand, otherwise they would suspend peace talks for a month. While rebels missed that deadline, talks yesterday eventually secured their agreement.
Liberia’s two main rebel groups and government had agreed not to seek the top positions in the interim government.
The interim government is due to assume control in October, taking over from President Moses Blah, the former vice-president. He was sworn in on August 11 after Charles Taylor quit under pressure from the United States, west African leaders and the rebels.
The former president’s farewell ceremony was attended by the Mozambican president, Joaquim Chissano, South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, who has granted Taylor asylum in Nigeria even though he is wanted for alleged war crimes.
Delegates said the power-sharing accord could now be signed as soon as today.
Rebels and government leaders have been meeting since June 4 in Accra, Ghana’s capital. All sides broke a June 17 ceasefire and negotiations were sidelined by what has been nearly three months of the rebels’ siege of the capital. – Guardian Unlimited Â