Taylor Rejects Transition Government Within 30 Days

http://allafrica.com/stories/200306200537.html

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS
June 20, 2003
Posted to the web June 20, 2003
Monrovia

Liberian President Charles Taylor rejected on Friday the proposed formation
of a transitional government within 30 days that would exclude him.

Taylor said he would only step down at the end of his term in January 2004,
and even then, he might stand for re-election.

"There can be no such thing as an interim government within thirty-days,"
Taylor said in a radio broadcast. "The vast majority of our Liberian people
[and] traditional chiefs do not want me step aside."

The president's back-tracking from a pledge given two weeks ago that he
would stand down if that would help bring peace to the war-torn country, is
likely to complicate peace talks between his government and two rebel
movements in Ghana.

On Tuesday, the government signed a ceasefire agreement with the two
groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the
Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). This stipulated that a
transition government that excluded Taylor would be appointed within 30
days.

The truce was designed to pave way for talks on a lasting political
settlement to end 14 years of almost continuous civil war in Liberia.

At the start of the peace talks on 4 June, Taylor said he was prepared step
aside if this would bring peace to the country.

But on Friday, the president contradicted himself: "I intend to complete my
tenure as president and turn over to the vice-president. I reserve the
right, my constitutional right, following the transition, to run for
general elections if I decided to do so."

"I still enjoy the confidence and popularity of Liberians," Taylor added.

His vice-president is Moses Zeh Blah. Taylor sacked him and placed him
under house arrest on charges of plotting a coup the day after peace talks
began. But he released Blah a few days later and re-instated him.

In Friday's radio broadcast, Taylor tried to minimise the importance of the
current discussions in Accra, saying they were "not a sovereign conference
but peace talks". He said the forum could not postpone elections as
proposed by eight opposition parties.

"All controversial matters will be decided by the Supreme Court," he added.

Before the talks began,Taylor had announced legislative and presidential
elections on 14 October. But other parties at the peace conference
suggested that a transitional administration should rule Liberia for two
years before fresh elections are held.

The first indications that Taylor would resist strong international
pressure to quit emerged last week. Taylor told reporters then that he
would not consider stepping down before January 2004, unless an indictment
against him for war crimes were rescinded and immunity from prosecutionn
was granted to him.

But David Hecht, Special Court spokesman told IRIN afterwards: "Under
international law there is no such thing as immunity for those accused of
crimes against humanity."

The indictment was announced by the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone
as Taylor flew to Accra for the opening of the peace talks. It arose from
Taylor's alleged support to the Revolutionary United Front rebels of Sierra
Leone, who amputated, raped and murdered thousands of Sierra Leoneans
during the country's 1991-2001 civil war.

On Thursday, Information Minister, Reginald Goodridge said an unceremonial
departure for Taylor could lead to a "bloodbath" in Liberia. "What is
important to this government is that Taylor should be part of the
disarmament and demobilization process and the transition from war to
Peace," Goodridge said.

Meanwhile, international relief agencies took advantage of the guns falling
silent to renew their efforts to bring food and medical aid to Liberia's
beleaguered 2.7 million population.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it flew 15 tonnes of medical and
logistical supplies into Monrovia on Friday to help people displace by the
conflict. The consignment included medicines, supplementary and therapeutic
feeding kits, emergency water and sanitation supplies and enough supplies
to keep a 30-bed hospital going for three months.

World Vision meanwhile started distributing food to 9,524 displaced people
at the D. Tweh high school in Monrovia.

World Vision said a many of the displaced who fled to the city centre to
seek refuge after a rebel attack on the capital two weeks ago had started
returning to their camps on the outskirts of the city. These housed over
100,000 people before the LURD attack on Monrovia led to five days of heavy
fighting in the city's western suburbs.

Thousands of foreign nationals have left Monrovia since the rebel assault
on the city. The Nigerian government evacuated over 3,000 Nigerians in two
chartered planes which operated an air shuttle to Lagos that ended on
Thursday, according to sources at the Nigerian embassy.

Hundreds of Liberians and Ghanaians were still camped at the port of
Monrovia on Friday in the hope of leaving by sea. A Ghanaian naval vessel
was due to take out 300 to 400 more Ghanaian nationals at the weekend.




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