From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Liberia, is Geneva accord final hur'
Date: 12 Apr 92 21:35:01 GMT

/* Written  1:55 pm  Apr 12, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "LIBERIA: IS GENEVA ACCORD FINAL HUR" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Europe, eastern
Title: LIBERIA: IS GENEVA ACCORD FINAL HURDLE TO ELECTIONS?


an inter press service feature

by peter da costa

banjul, apr 9 (ips) -- fresh prospects for a lasting settlement
in liberia's civil war-turned-stalemate are again on the
drawing board following a two-day ''mini-summit'' this week in
geneva, switzerland, between the key players in the conflict.

four of the five west african peacebrokers -- burkina faso,
cote d'ivoire, nigeria and senegal (sierra leone did not attend)
-- announced tuesday after the summit that a delayed blueprint
designed to lead to free and fair elections in liberia was back
on track.

this follows an agreement between rebel leader charles taylor
and amos sawyer, president of the interim government of national
unity (ignu), which administers the capital, monrovia.

the agreement is the latest in a series of summits called by
a committee of five countries under the umbrella of ecowas, the
16-member economic community of west african states.

its purpose was to find out why taylor, the former civil
servant whose december 1989 rebel incursion had catalysed a
popular uprising against the 10-year samuel doe military
dictatorship, had balked at implementing an accord signed in
october at yamoussoukro, cote d'ivoire.

west african leaders were alarmed that while liberia's two
other signatories to the 1990 cease-fire were ready to disarm
and encamp, taylor's national patriotic front of liberia (npfl)
had deliberately created semantic and administrative barriers in
the way of the peace plan.

since being driven from monrovia in october 1990 by the
11,000-strong peacekeeping force (ecomog), the npfl has
controlled the lion's share of liberia.

the yamoussoukro accord stipulated disarmament and encampment
by jan. 15 and all liberia's territory placed under the ecomog
as a precondition for refugee repatriation, voter registration
and an eventual election, which would be the first in the
republic's 145-year history.

but the deadline passed with little progress, except for
preliminary reconnaissance by the peacekeepers and the partial
removal of rebel-manned checkpoints on roads leading from
monrovia to the interi  regular npfl/ecomog technical commission meeave been
on impasse amid continuing security concerns expressed by
taylor. (more/ips)


liberia: is geneva (2)

npfl aides argue that ecomog is misinterpreting the
yamoussoukro mandate to supervise disarmament and encampment as
meaning the ecomog has authority to collect weapons physically.
taylor's version is that his men would deposit their own weapons
in armouries ''under ecomog supervision''.

taylor also insists he has no choice but to delay the
demobilisation of his 10,000-member rebel army while ulimo
(united liberation movement) -- an anti-npfl coalition of doe
loyalists -- was launching raids across the border from sierra
leone.

according to high-level sources at the geneva meeting, west
african leaders believe taylor's concerns have been sufficiently
addressed. the understanding is that ecomog will supervise the
disarmament process in a two-month timetable beginning apr. 30.

the real breakthrough at geneva lies in the recognition of
west african leaders that the npfl leader, whose often brutal
military campaigns had earned him enemies from many quarters,
was paranoid about his personal safety.

a communique issued after the meeting allows taylor to
''maintain a personal security (guard) of company strength,
armed only with small arms but not rocket-propelled grenades''.

taylor's unwillingness to cede complete control to a
nigeria-led ecomog he mistrusts also occupied the minds of the
commitee of five at geneva.

the npfl leader who runs an administration from his capital,
gbarnga, 200 kms north of monrovia, can now argue he retains
territorial supremacy with ''an unarmed, administrative presence
at points of entry through police, customs and immigration
(officials) in the areas under npfl control''.

in theory ecowas's prescription for peace is a beautiful
document, providing a logical timetable toward an election to be
organised with major international inputs.

in practice, however, west african leaders have always
resigned themselves to, at best, dragging taylor kicking and
screaming to the ballot box and, at worst, resorting to imposing
peace by way of military offensive that would have marred
ecowas's conflict resolution first.

should the geneva accord hold, it will be a major fillip to
ecowas shortly before its annual summit in june, where crucial
issues of regional economic integration are likely to resume
their place at centre stage. (end/ips/pdc/apc/ar/92)