Liberia: Rivals sign aid pact
2003-08-17 19:18
Monrovia - The Liberian government and rebels on Sunday signed a pact allowing humanitarian workers free access across the war-ravaged country as aid agencies distributed food for a second day in the nation's starved capital.
Hours later, wavering peace talks in Ghana received a shot in the arm when Liberia's main rebel group dropped its claim to a key government post, after mediators threatened to call off the talks rather than bow to their demand.
The agreement on aid distribution, signed in Ghana by the government and two rebel groups, pledged to "immediately ensure free and unimpeded access to all territories under our control to enable the delivery of humanitarian aid."
It promised to "guarantee the security and safety of all members and equipment of international and non-governmental organisations operating in territory under our control."
Meanwhile in Monrovia, aid agencies continued to distribute emergency rations for a second day amid calls for greater security in the coastal city.
Aya Shneerson, a World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson said some 60 tonnes of food were being distributed at three points in the city, which had been besieged by rebels for more than two months leaving some 450 000 people living on the edge.
"We are distributing our limited stocks of cornmeal, but so far, we have experienced no problems," Shneerson said.
"We are targeting some 8 000 people," she added.
Gaps in process
But senior humanitarian officials admitted there were gaps in the process.
Dominique Liengme, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) mission in Liberia, said: "You need a minimum of security when you start distributing food to a hungry city after a long time."
She said security was essential to ensure not only "that the foodstocks are not looted but also to see that the distribution is carried out in an orderly manner."
Concerns have been raised that the roughly 900 west African Ecomil peacekeepers are not enough to guarantee that food handouts are carried out peacefully.
The ICRC has helped the WFP with trucks to distribute rations as several of the UN food agency's trucks were looted on Thursday, before the main rebel group handed over Monrovia's port to peacekeepers.
Rebels and civilians also pillaged food from the warehouses at the port before it changed hands.
The port is a gateway for food and humanitarian supplies to the war-ravaged coastal capital.
Rebels of the Liberian United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) had held the city's crucial northern zone - which includes the deep water harbour - since July 19.
On Thursday, immediately after the rebel handover of the port, two UN ships sailed in carrying food and other supplies while a plane transporting aid donated by Washington landed in Monrovia.
Nigerian troops
Nigerian troops from the Ecomil peacekeeping force meanwhile staged their first patrol into the erstwhile rebel-territory on Sunday.
A dozen Nigerian soldiers undertook a reconnaissance mission to the Po River, north of Monrovia, which demarcates the line to which rebel forces were supposed to withdraw after handing over the port.
However the first rebel checkpoint is at the Iron Gate, a few kilometres closer to the city.
"Initially when we deployed, we were not that many troops on the ground but the second batallion of troops has just come in," a senior Nigerian Ecomil commander said referring to Saturday's arrival of 110 additional soldiers.
"The Lurd rebels are very receptive and they welcome us here, we are going to work with them," Colonel Mack Nyoko told reporters.
Peace talks in Ghana, which had been deadlocked over Lurd claims to two key government posts, appeared to have been salvaged on Sunday after the rebel group agreed to strike a compromise.
The Lurd delegation renounced its claim to the vice-presidency in a new Liberian government, due to take over from the caretaker administration of President Moses Blah in October.
"Ok fine, we leave it," Kabineh Ja'neh, who is representing the Lurd at the peace parleys, said, although he said the parliament speaker's post, which Lurd had earlier claimed, should be kept opened to all players.
"The mediators are saying it will not be open to the warring factions but only to political parties," he said. "We want it to be opened to everybody who can then vie for the position."
Nevertheless, a source from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) which is brokering the parleys, said the "talks have now been saved".
The departure into exile last week of former president Taylor, at the centre of two brutal wars that raged almost continuously for 14 years, has been hailed as a sign that Liberia's cycle of bloodletting could finally be at an end.