From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: LIBERIA: PEACEMAKERS LOOK TO U.N. AS MEDIATION
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:52:31 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: United Nations
Title: LIBERIA: PEACEMAKERS LOOK TO U.N. AS MEDIATION RUNS OUT OF STEAM


an inter press service feature

by peter da costa

banjul, september 23 (ips) -- west african foreign ministers in new
york for the current u.n. general assembly session are looking
he to world body to avert renewed bloodshed in civil war-ravaged
liberia.

the ministers will request urgent logistical support for
ecomog, a seven-nation peace monitoring force created by
sub-regional leaders two years ago to stop factional fighting
that has cost an estimated 100,000 lives.

ecowas -- the 16-member economic community of west african
states -- will also use the u.n. forum to mobilise global
sanctions against rebel leader charles taylor, the pricipal fly
in the ointment of a peace settlement whose forces control the
lion's share of liberian territory.

taylor's national patriotic front of liberia (npfl)
precipitated the removal of former dictator samuel doe with a
december 1989 incursion.

but his campaign for the presidency degenerated into an
ethno-religious bloodbath as rival factions vied for control of
the capital monrovia and close to half liberia's 2.4 million
citizens sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

ecomog successfully intervened to halt the killings and
implement an october 1990 ceasefire. plans to stage free and
fair elections in november have however been kept on the drawing
board by taylor's refusal to disarm his 10,000-strong rebel army
despite signing a series of ecowas-brokered peace accords.

the new york round comes amid signs that ulimo - a guerilla
composite of former doe loyalists which argues military pressure
is the only way taylor will honour the ecowas peace plan - is
provoking the npfl into a full-scale fight.

in the space of two months ulimo has wrested control from
taylor loyalists of much of western liberia and now occupies two
of the country's 13 counties. the npfl still holds much of the
rest outside the ecomog stronghold of monrovia.

intelligence reports acquired by ips warn of an npfl arms
build-up and a looming counter-offensive which may affect
monrovia -- the overcrowded safe haven administered by an
interim government where relief agencies and foreign missions
are based. (more/ips)


liberia: peacemakers (2)

sources say taylor has taken delivery in the past month of
tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery.
unconfirmed reports say three french-built second-hand mirage
jet fighters have been delivered to an airfield near the npfl
capital gbarnga, 120 kms north of monrovia.

last week ecomog commander maj gen ishaya bakut ordered an
advance party of ecomog troops out of npfl-held areas after
rebel forces stripped the peacekeepers of their uniforms and
seized weapons, vehicles, rations and money.

taylor accused ecomog of helping ulimo -- a claim bakut has
repeatedly denied.

speaking to journalists in cote d'ivoire bakut hinted he
would use force against the npfl, if ordered to do so by ecowas
heads.

taylor, whose forces shelled ecomog on its august 1990
landing in monrovia, has long insisted the nigeria-led
peacekeepers -- officially said to number 8,000 -- are not
neutral. he wants international monitors to step in and ecomog
to reduce its presence.

now ecowas, exasperated by its failure to woo taylor to the
ballot box despite backing down on much of its original peace
plan, is hoping u.n. input will inject new credibility into its
mediation efforts.

former u.s. president jimmy carter, through his international
negotiation network (inn), has lobbied u.n secretary general
boutros boutros-ghali to send in an unarmed observer group of
20-25 men to police ecomog and breathe new life into the
collapsed peace process.

in 1990, then u.n. chief javier perez de cuellar approved
ecowas's intervention in liberia as a welcome precedent for
conflict resolution and said the action did not need security
council approval.

cash-strapped west africans now argue is it time the u.n.
played a more active peacekeeping role in liberia.

''ecowas has been doing the work of the security council for
the past two years'', said one diplomat. ''asking them to give
logistical support to ecomog is nothing more than requesting
them to do their job''.

the west african diplomat, who asked not to be named, added:
''if taylor can be persuaded to disarm and encamp by a small
u.n. presence then we welcome it. but we want to see concrete
assistance for ecomog, not an eleventh-hour hijacking of a peace
process we have managed at great sacrifice''. (more/ips)


liberia: peacemakers (3)

ecowas is putting its proposals to the u.n. through the
51-member organisation of african unity, which represents the
africa group in new york. but divisions within ecowas may blunt
a consensus reached in july over global sanctions and u.n.
involvement.

ecowas's new chair, benin, together with cote d'ivoire and
burkina faso, is against sanctions while sierra leone, guinea,
senegal, nigeria and ghana -- all contributors to ecomog -- say
an economic and military blockade is the only way to stop taylor
profiting from the stalemate.

benin's new president nicephore soglo has called for a
suspension of the embargo due on august 29 and plans to convene
a summit of ecowas's mediation committee of five to develop a
''new approach'' to the liberia conundrum.

soglo is viewed by many observers as a novice unfamiliar with
the situation. ''he's never even been to liberia to see things
at first hand'', complained a monrovia government minister. ''he
is more concerned with making a big splash as a statesman than
with the lives of liberians''.

observers say some west african leaders angered by
npfl-sponsored attempts to destabilise their countries and
fearing potentially crippling new influxes of refugees are
seriously considering military action against taylor -- held in
check only by cote d'ivoire and burkina faso, traditional npfl
sympathisers.

carter's prescription for u.n. observers may go some way
towards heading off more hardline ecowas action. but his call
for the npfl to be treated as a government rather than simply
''a bunch of rebels'' has been greeted with contempt by
monrovians and sub-regional diplomats alike. they say it would
effectively legitimise the reality of two liberias.

''carter is trying to deal with taylor as a leader of a
government, not as a rebel as (everyone) insists he is'', inn
liberia representative paul mcdermott told ips. ''it's not
helpful to the peace process to brand him a rebel... but people
in monrovia are not willing to listen any more''.

the frustration was articulated by nigeria's liberia
ambassador ayorinde ajakaiye who, responding to reports of npfl
kidnapping of nigerian ecomog soldiers, said ecowas was ready to
''crush'' the taylor-led rebellion ''at all costs''. referring
to the npfl/ulimo clashes ajakaiye warned: ''we are inexorably
moving towards another bloodbath...''.

this scenario is one the u.n., in light of boutros-ghali's
new proposals for peacemaking, will be keen to pre-empt.
(end/ips/pdac/oa/92)