Rebels balk at giving up arms

2003-10-26 09:21

Tubmanburg, Liberia - Machine guns. Rocket launchers. Mortars by the crate. An hour's drive from the country's newly peaceful capital, Liberia's rebels remain locked, loaded and battle-ready at their headquarters in the bush.

In an early, and crucial, challenge to UN-sponsored disarmament here, insurgents have tacked a few more demands - more power, more money - onto their August 18 peace deal. And they insist they'll keep their bargaining chips, their weapons, until the new conditions are met.

"Jungle mortar - yeahhh," crooned one young rebel, fishing a round out of the back of a pickup truck painted with skull-and-crossbones as a friend rolled a cigar-size joint of marijuana.

With a UN convoy rolling through town a few kilometres away, rebels at their base in northwest Liberia showed off their arsenal. To give it up, rebel leader Sekou Conneh now says, he wants a bigger share of power in Liberia's new transitional government than agreed to so far.

When he gets that, "I'm going to pack up my guns in our place, so you can come take them," said Conneh, whose assault on Monrovia helped chase warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor into exile in August.

First, though, Rebels are awaiting the approval of five rebel officials to Cabinet posts as part of the deal for a transitional government, created to guide Liberia until 2005 elections.

And in a demand that's nowhere in the peace accord, Conneh also wants top positions for rebels in every department of government - including police, immigration, and port management.

"As soon as we are fully represented in the government, then we have no reason to keep arms," the rebel chief said.

Disarmament, due to start in December, stands as the most important next step toward ending 14 years of gun-running and bloodletting here.

In setting new demands, it's unclear whether rebels are simply angling for any extras before complying with the peace deal - or imposing new conditions that will prove the deal-breaker.

A used-car salesman, Conneh is practiced in driving bargains.

His likeness - in a suit and tie - is painted on billboards all over Tubmanburg, the rebel stronghold 80km north of the capital, Monrovia. "The Liberator," the headline over his image declares.

In his office and throughout his concrete house, his face looks down from clocks and calendars.

Outside, uniformed men sat in the shade as boys in ratty T-shirts and plastic flip-flops stood guard.

"When the big, big people get their offices, I'll give up my gun," said 16-year-old Isaac Johnson, assault rifle hanging from his shoulder.

Down the hill, a rebel who called himself Woman Jacket - "I love women," he explained - guarded a checkpoint with boys in black "Death Squad" T-shirts, all armed.

"I still have my gun, so I can't say the war is over," Woman Jacket said.

At rebel offices on Monrovia's outskirts, another snag emerges: Officials insist that to disarm, the United Nations must purchase weapons from fighters.

"When you bring in your arm, you should receive money," said Mohamed Sherif, a rebel spokesman. "We suggested US$200 for each gun."

The United Nations rejected the rebel gun-buying proposal, said Souren Seraydarian, the UN deputy special representative in Liberia.

Instead, UN officials are prepared to offer drug- and psychological counseling as well as job training and schooling to still-armed fighters in Liberia, who number up to 45 000.

Those who turn in their weapon and can prove they were part of a fighting force will receive US$300 for taking part in nine months of rehabilitation.

"There cannot be peace and security here without disarmament and demobilization," said Seraydarian.

But even in Monrovia, already declared an arms-free zone by the United Nations, people are skeptical that disarmament - and with it, lasting peace - is coming soon.

Taylor's forces melted away in August, as Taylor left and U.N. forces moved in. Many of his loyalists are thought to have simply gone home with their guns.

"The guns are still here - they're hidden," said Morris Smith, a 30-year-old economics student at the University of Liberia. "I saw guns just last night - a big pickup truck full of guns covered by a tarpaulin."

"All they know is guns," he said. "People are keeping them because of the rumour about cash for guns. They want the money."

- AP