Military

DATE=8/20/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=LIBERIA/PEACE (S)

NUMBER=2-306665

BYLINE=SARAH SIMPSON

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Liberian government and rebel representatives are expected shortly to name members of a transitional government from talks in Ghana. Meanwhile in Liberia, thousands are reported starving as the food relief operation slowly gathers momentum. Sarah Simpson reports from V-O-A's west Africa bureau in Abidjan.

TEXT: After rebels at the ongoing peace talks in Ghana backed down on their demands for key positions of power, the way now seems clear for the selection of candidates to posts in the new government.

The transitional government is to oversee Liberia's return to peace and stage national elections in 2006.

Meanwhile, for hungry Liberians the return to peace appears hollow with the continuing shortage of food.

Government and rebel leaders have promised to give aid workers unhindered access to all areas to enable the distribution of food supplies. But the situation remains insecure.

Aid workers have not been able to distribute food beyond the area patrolled by the west African peacekeepers in the capital, Monrovia. Government militias and rebels still dominate the countryside, and there are reports of continued fighting near former president Charles Taylor's old stronghold of Gbarnga, in the north of the country. (SIGNED)

NEB/SS/ALW/RAE