Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509050050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MONROVIA, LIBERIA LENGTH: Medium
The stubborn conflict that erupted Christmas Eve 1989 came to an end in an auditorium festooned with flags and filled with foreign dignitaries and African leaders in bright robes.
Outside, hundreds of thousands of Liberians lined the streets, listening to the ceremony on portable radios and straining for glimpses of the men who wrecked their country but now promised to repair it.
``I ask you to forgive what may appear to be unforgivable,'' Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings said in a tough speech that contained several references to the war's atrocities and seemed to be telling the warlords they had little to be proud of.
An agreement signed Aug. 19 declared a cease-fire and called for a six-man Council of State to run Liberia until elections next August.
For the first time, Rawlings and other west African mediators managed to persuade the three main rebel leaders to sign onto the deal by promising them seats on the new council.
The three rebel chiefs will share power with three civilian council representatives. Smaller factions, who in the past objected to being overshadowed by their bigger rivals, agreed to support the plan in exchange for positions in the new government.
The success after a dozen failed accords was due to fatigue on the part of the warlords and their fighters and to pressure from west Africa's two most powerful leaders - Rawlings and Nigeria's Gen. Sani Abacha - who made clear they did not want to continue their peacekeeping operations in Liberia.
In addition, the United Nations had threatened to end its observer mission here.
by CNB