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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
LIBERIA: Deploy peacekeepers in our territories, rebels tell UNMIL
MONROVIA, 7 October 2003 (IRIN) - The main Liberian rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), on Tuesday asked the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers in territories under its control after the country's transitional government takes office on 14 October.
LURD officials who held a closed-door meeting with the Commander of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Liberia (UNMIL), General Daniel Opande and diplomats from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, however called for a review of an 18 August Liberian Peace Agreement.
LURD chairman Sekou Damate Conneh said another round of peace talks ahead of the inauguration of the power-sharing government next week, was necessary to "clarify" slots allocated to the parties to the Liberian conflict under the peace agreement.
General Opande drove to meet the rebels in their strong-hold of Tubmanburg, 60 km west of the capital, Monrovia, in a 9-vehicle convoy under heavy guard by UN peacekeepers.
A LURD official who attended the meeting said it centered on the rebel desire that UNMIL deploy in Bomi county, and on confidence-building between the force and the rebels.
"We all agree that the force to be deployed in Tubmanburg after the installation of the power-sharing transitional government. LURD welcomes the UN peacekeepers in its controlled ground," he said.
General Opande told IRIN: "I intend to move into other rebel-held areas very soon to build confidence and in preparation of UNMIL deployment in those areas."
UNMIL currently has 3,500 troops in Liberia, inherited from the West African peace keeping mission (UNMIL) on 1 October. However the UN Secretary General's Special Representative to Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein however said recently that the force is expected to reach its full strength of 15,000 troops within three months.
At the moment, the UN peacekeepers are deployed in Monrovia and only upto the Po-River Bridge, 17 km west of Monrovia. Others are deployed along the main route from Monrovia to Totota, a town in central Liberia some 109 km north of the capital and on the highway leading to the port city of Buchanan, 120 km southeast.
Tuesday's meeting between UNMIL and the LURD was held a day after a Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting was held between the force, the government, the LURD and the second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).
UNMIL told the meeting it would make Monrovia a weapons-free area in 72 hours. The JMC called on the parties to the Liberian conflict to control their combatants and adhere to a ceasefire.
However despite the LURD welcoming UNMIL deployment in its areas, Conneh told IRIN on Tuesday at Tubmanburg: "Certain things on the distribution of jobs in the transitional government need to be clarified before the government can be seated."
"These are the issues of deputy and assistant ministerial positions that are not clear in the Accra agreement," the rebel chief said.
"The war is over and we are anxious that the transition government takes over, but allocation of those positions must be resolved for all parties to better understand what jobs belong to them," he added.
The 42-year old rebel's demand followed remarks made in September by Harry Greaves, a spokesman for incoming transitional government chairman Gyude Bryant on a radio talk show that: "Warring factions will not be given assistant ministerial positions. That will be the duty of Chairman Bryant to do."
"Factions are only entitled to a minister and two deputy ministerial slots in all of the ministries," Greaves said. "Even all deputy managing directors of public corporations will be chosen by Chairman Bryant and not by the factions."
The peace agreement signed in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, states: "Allocation of ministerial positions, deputy and assistant ministerial positions, headship of autonomous agencies, commissions, public corporations and state-owned enterprises shall be made to the parties to this agreement through a process of negotiation."
It provided for the creation of 21 ministries in the transitional government and gave five to each of the warring parties. The remaining six ministries were allocated to unarmed political parties.
The faction controlling each ministry was also given the right to appoint two deputy ministers, but the peace agreement did not say on what basis assistant ministers would be appointed. It allocated the leadership of 22 public corporations to specific groups, but omitted to say who would appoint their deputies.
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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