Week of August 27, 2003

ROME (CNS) — Relief swept through the ranks of a Rome-based Catholic organization as representatives of Liberia's government and two rebel groups signed a peace agreement Aug. 18, giving rise to hope that 14 years of civil strife in the West African nation would be over.

The accord, following on the heels of a cease-fire, sets the stage for a civilian transitional government, which would be in place for two years as the country prepares for democratic elections.

"It is a big step forward," said Mario Giro, a member of the Sant'Egidio Community who has been the group's point man for contacts with the rebels for more than a year.

Whether the agreement signed in Accra, Ghana, will bring peace and stability "remains to be seen," said Giro in a telephone interview from Cameroon. "These things are always delicate."

The accord appeared to be in trouble Aug. 17 when representatives of the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, commonly known as LURD, reneged on a previous promise and insisted on holding the vice presidency of the transitional government.

Liberian Archbishop Michael Francis condemned the rebel position in his homily during Mass Aug. 17 in Monrovia's cathedral.

"Those who came to kill us want to rule us," The New York Times quoted the archbishop saying. "They have destroyed a whole country, and now they say they love us."

Fabio Riccardi, another Sant'Egidio member involved in the negotiations, said the archbishop, who was an outspoken critic of ousted President Charles Taylor, was right to criticize the rebels.

"He has lived through the fighting, remaining alongside his people. He saw how horrifying the battles were," Riccardi said.

Riccardi said Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy's last-minute demand for the vice presidency was mainly a sign that agreement was near.

"These things happen in negotiations. Things get difficult and someone tries to raise the stakes," he said.

LURD and the other rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, agreed to disarm once a sufficient number of West African peacekeepers were in place. About 1,000 Nigerian peacekeepers were in the country by Aug. 19 and troops from Ghana, Senegal and Mali were scheduled to be deployed Aug. 22.

When the most recent round of rebel offenses started in 1999, Sant'Egidio began making contacts with the Liberian government and members of both rebel groups, but particularly with Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, said Riccardi.

In early June, when LURD forces reached the capital, rebel leaders sent representatives to the peace talks in Accra "without giving them any real power to negotiate," he said.

Sant'Egidio invited the LURD leadership to Rome for several days of discussions about how they saw the future of Liberia.

"Little by little, we were able to help them see that the solution would have to be political, not military," Riccardi said.

Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy leaders were back at the Sant'Egidio headquarters in Rome in early August, promising they would begin withdrawing their troops from Monrovia when West African peacekeepers arrived and Taylor went into exile.

They also agreed to the plans outlined in Accra for the transitional government, which would give them a voice in choosing a civilian president and vice president and direct representation in Parliament.

Riccardi said Sant'Egidio members tried to convince the rebels that if they truly were a "liberating force," as they always had claimed, not demanding political power would help their public image.

The Sant'Egidio Community, a lay organization, is involved in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and dozens of social service projects. In the early 1990s it mediated peace talks in Mozambique.