Efforts to end Liberia's war gather pace

2.00pm

MONROVIA - West African leaders approved a peacekeeping mission to Liberia and called for troops to enter the war-weary West African country by Monday, clearing the way for President Charles Taylor to go into exile.

West African ministers were due in Liberia on Friday to smooth Taylor's exit as Liberians celebrated the news that peacekeepers were poised to deploy and end two weeks of slaughter in the capital Monrovia.

After a regional summit in Ghana, Nigerian troops were finally given the green light on Thursday to head to Monrovia, a city besieged by rebels for two weeks and starved of food and water.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed by mortar bombs and stray bullets as rebels battled Taylor's troops.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is providing the peacekeepers with logistical support from the United Nations and United States, said Taylor should honour his pledge to leave Liberia and go after troops deploy.

US officials said US warships were expected to arrive off Liberia by Saturday, but no decision has been made on whether to put any of the 2300 Marines aboard on the ground.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States already has "put up US$10 million($17.41 million) that will go in the form of a contract for logistics support."

"Thank God there is some semblance of peace," said one Monrovia resident living behind rebel lines after news filtered through of the ECOWAS call for troops to deploy by Monday.

"Most of us are tired of war. We want a reunion with our people. Every Liberian wants to interact with his family. Even the soldiers are very happy and some have been jubilating," said the resident, who did not want to be named.

The rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) are hell-bent on booting out Taylor, a former foe in a brutal civil war which left 200,000 civilians dead in the 1990s.

LURD and another rebel faction called Model have been tightening the noose around Taylor, shelling the very heart of the capital and stretching government defences by advancing into the two biggest cities outside Monrovia.

"We will not give an inch in Monrovia. We will remain here until the peacekeepers can come," said one LURD commander reached by telephone.

There was some fighting on all fronts on Thursday and it was unclear whether the rebels had gained control of the strategic port city Buchanan and the central town of Gbarnga.

Three West African foreign ministers and the region's top diplomat are due to meet Taylor to discuss arrangements with the embattled former warlord for a departure to Nigeria, after the so-called Ecomil peacekeeping force arrives.

Checking out sites for barracking soldiers on Thursday, the Ecomil advance team returned swiftly to base after news came that politicians had issued a timetable for deployment.

An ECOWAS official with the team said they wanted to deploy as soon as possible, but they had been waiting for the word. The team was due to leave Monrovia on Friday to prepare the mission.

Later at a downtown hotel, the US military attache in Monrovia met the head of the planned Ecomil force, Nigerian Brigadier-General Festus Okonkwo, to discuss the next stage.

The United States, a long-time critic of Taylor, reiterated on Thursday that he must go and said it would support Ecomil. Liberia's leader has been indicted for war crimes by a UN-backed court for his role in Sierra Leone's civil war.

Although Liberia was the brainchild of an American colonisation society seeking to repatriate freed slaves, the superpower has so far stopped short of committing troops.

- REUTERS