From: wsargeant@IGC.APC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:ECOWAS, summit to consider new mand'
Date: 30 Jul 92 17:33:26 GMT

/* Written 12:07 am  Jul 30, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "ECOWAS: SUMMIT TO CONSIDER NEW MAND" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ECOWAS: SUMMIT TO CONSIDER NEW MANDATE FOR ECOMOG IN LIBERIA


dakar, jul 27 (ips/peter da costa) -- the heads of state of the
economic community of west african states (ecowas) are to
consider a new mandate for its peacekeeping force (ecomog) in
liberia to catalyse the peace process in the beleagured country.

however, a west african blueprint to bring democracy to
war-devastated liberia will still be valid despite the
persistent refusal of the conflict's main rebel group to disarm
and encamp, according to senior ecowas official.

ecomog has fallen behind in its plans to deploy throughout
liberia due to rebel leader charles taylor's refusal to allow
ecomog free movement in the 90 percent of the country controlled
by his national patriotic front (npfl).

in an interview with ips before the ecowas summit opened here
late monday, executive secretary abass bundu said the ecomog's
mandate would remain the same only ''if the (warring) parties
are prepared to cooperate''.

''(ecomog) is a peacekeeper, and i only hope all the parties
will accept (its) neutrality and agree to repose in it the trust
and confidence which is absolutely necessary if ecomog is to
succeed in discharging its duties and responsibilities in
liberia'', bundu said.

bundu said, however, the ecowas peace plan would undergo a
thorough analysis and review ''to see what further can be done
in order to achieve a final settlement''.

the plan stipulates disarmament and encampment of liberia's
former combatants as a prerequisite for repatriation, voter
registration, elections and post-war reconstruction.

following a series of ecowas-convened meetings in cote
d'ivoire, taylor signed an agreement in october pledging to
disarm and encamp his 10,000-strong army under ecomog
supervision and allow peacekeepers to control security in the
country.

although he reaffirmed his pledge in april in geneva,
switzerland, taylor has consistently reneged on his promises,
frustrating ecomog's efforts to meet its mid-june deadline to
get the peace process underway.

in may, the force's senegalese contingent was withdrawn from
its task of setting up a demilitarised zone between liberia and
sierra leone after a skirmish in the north-western town of vahun
which resulted in the capture, torture and execution of six
senegalese by the npfl. (more/ips)


ecowas: summit (2)

observers now believe the 16-member ecowas may give the green
light to ecomog commander, nigerian maj gen ishaya bakut, to go
on the offensive and impose the conditions stipulated by the
peace plan.

this would involve military action in npfl-controlled
territory, which consists of most of liberia outside the
capital, monrovia, where ecomog is based.

another option leaders may consider during their three-day
summit here is a blockade of ports under npfl control.

before his arrival here sunday liberia's monrovia-based
interim president, amos sawyer, who is recognised by ecowas,
told journalists he would call for a sub-regional consensus on
''global sanctions'' against taylor.

according to sawyer, the rebel leader is ''conducting a
bargain basement sale of liberia's natural resources''.

taylor, who began the civil war with a december 1989
incursion into northern liberia aimed to topple dictator samuel
doe, is expected here wednesday, according to reliable official
sources.

the sources say if taylor takes up the invitation to meet an
ad hoc ecowas committee of five on liberia, chaired by cote
d'ivoire's president felix houphouet-boigny, he is likely to
face senegalese public indignation for the death of the six
soldiers at vahun.

bundu dismissed suggestions ecowas, formed in may 1975 to
promote sub-regional economic cooperation, was heading for
collapse.

''ecowas has survived 17 years and nothing will or can happen
to indicate the possible demise of the organisation'', he said.

bundu, however, conceded the community's ultimate objective
of economic integration would continue to be hampered by a flaw
in its treaty binding only the authority's institutions and not
member states to decisions made by the organisation.

bundu said proposals for a supra-national ecowas parliament
whose decisions would be binding on signatories were long-term
rather than immediate. when it came to members relinquishing a
degree of sovereignty ''one has to respect the need for
gradualism in this area''.

he rejected the argument that west africa was doomed unless
it formed a political federation of states and predicted,
instead, the organisation would take ''a quantum leap from
cooperation into the field of integration''.
(end/ips/pdac/tvh/apc/92)