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Liberian inter-faith body promotes peace deal to end civil war
2003-048-4
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
Liberia's Inter-Religious Council, an inter-faith group, is trying to broker a peace deal for the war-torn country by promoting dialogue between Liberian rebels and parliamentarians from West Africa. The council helped organize a meeting in Sierra Leone in early February between representatives of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and members of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
'LURD has agreed to commit itself to a peaceful resolution of the crisis within this year--2003,' said ECOWAS, whose secretariat is in Abuja, in a statement after the meeting.
The LURD rebels in the West African state are fighting to oust the Liberian president, Charles Taylor, whose government is currently the target of United Nations sanctions for its perceived support of former rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone. The statement by the West African parliamentary group said that LURD had agreed to a dialogue with the government of Liberia at a place and time to be arranged and facilitated by the inter-religious council, the ECOWAS parliament, and other agencies.
It noted that the rebels, the Liberian government, and the ECOWAS legislative body had agreed that negotiations on the peace process should continue in Liberia and Guinea. ECOWAS officials in Abuja told ENI that Taylor had agreed to meet with the rebels.
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