Liberian foes choose leader


Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf missed out on the Liberian
leadership
Government and rebel delegates have selected a
businessman, Gyude Bryant, to head Liberia's interim
post-war administration.
His appointment was formally announced on Thursday in
Ghana, where peace talks have been taking place for
more than two months.

"I see myself as a healer," said Mr Bryant after being
chosen ahead of two other candidates.

Interim President Moses Blah is due to stand down in
October in favour of the new administration, which is
supposed to organise elections in 2005.

Mr Bryant, chairman of the Liberia Action Party, is a
leading figure in the Episcopal Church, one of
Liberia's main religious denominations, and is not
seen as a political heavyweight.

The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in the capital,
Monrovia, says that Liberians are surprised by his
appointment. His deputy, Wesley Johnson, is an
accounting lecturer.

 LIBERIA'S NEW LEADER
Businessman
Church leader
Political newcomer
Ethnic Grebo from south


Full profile
Under the power-sharing agreement, neither Liberia's
new leader nor the vice-chairman could come from
either of the armed factions.

The signing of the agreement on Monday, has raised
hopes that Liberia's bitter 14-year war may finally be
over.

As the talks closed, chief mediator, retired Nigerian
general, Abdulsalami Abubakar, sent the Liberian
delegates home with a plea.

"The first step of unifying the people starts from
today... Do not let your people down."

Frontline fears


A contingent of Ghanaian troops is due to leave for
Liberia later on Thursday to join some 900 Nigerian
peacekeepers already deployed.

The Nigerian and Ghanaian soldiers are to be joined by
troops from Senegal and Mali later in the week.
Eventually the West African force will number more
than 3,000 troops.

However, there has been fighting in Bong County, 100
kilometres (62 miles) north-east of Monrovia, despite
the ceasefire agreement.

Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warns that
the frontline is now just 45km (28 miles) from camps
where some 60,000 people have sought refuge.




Liberia: Nation starving
Aid worker's diary
People in the camps are surviving on wild cassava and
many children are severely malnourished.

"If the fighting gets closer, we fear a mass
displacement of civilians," said MSF head of mission
in Liberia Pierre Mendiharat.

The peace deal came a week after Charles Taylor stood
down as president and went into exile in Nigeria.

"We thank God for the peace agreement because we as
Liberians, we think that we can move freely in this
country. No more gun shooting, no more running around.
We thank God for that," one resident told the BBC.

"I'm sure it means peace because we can see the
international community are here and we see things
going on smoothly."





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  WATCH AND LISTEN
The BBC's Alastair Leithead
"He'll be taking up his position in October"




LIBERIA IN CRISIS


MONROVIA SIEGE


Starving nation
Aid worker's diary
In pictures: Monrovia reunited
Fighting fashions

Monrovia from the air


HANDOVER

Taylor's rise and fall

Profile: Moses Blah


BACKGROUND


Peace deal key points
Q&A: Liberia's conflict
Peacekeeping perils
Balance of forces
Liberia's historical US ties
War weary Liberians

Country profile


HAVE YOUR SAY
Can peace take hold in Liberia?




RELATED BBCi LINKS:
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Focus on Africa


RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
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United Nations
ICRC
Medecins Sans Frontieres
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TOP AFRICA STORIES NOW
Liberian foes choose leader

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Troops maintain calm in Niger Delta

New DR Congo military command




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