Liberian foes clinch peace deal

Liberia's civilians are hoping for peace at long last

Liberia's interim government and rebel groups have signed a peace agreement to end the 14-year civil war that has cost thousands of lives.

The deal, signed in Ghana, provides for a power-sharing administration, due to take charge in October and pave the way for democratic elections held no later than 2005.

The factions could begin naming members of the transitional administration as soon as Tuesday, according to negotiators at the talks in Ghana.

In the Liberian capital Monrovia, there is cautious optimism about the agreement - and hope that it will bring sporadic fighting to an end, the BBC's Alastair Leithead reports.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said the deal provided Liberians with "an unprecedented opportunity to begin the process of healing and reconciliation toward a peaceful, stable and prosperous Liberia".

The deal became possible after President Charles Taylor went into exile in Nigeria under international pressure.

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Senior West Africa mediator Mohamed Ibn Chambas said: "I believe this definitely buries the war. Charles Taylor has departed: the major reason why these groups have been fighting has been removed."

Under the agreement, his successor, Moses Blah, is to step down by 14 October. The new transitional government will then take over and run the country until January 2006.

Neither of the two top positions - those of chairman and vice-chairman - will go to the current government or the two rebel groups, Lurd and Model.

In the coming days a chairman and vice-chairman will be chosen by consensus from shortlists submitted by political parties and civil society groups.

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The transitional cabinet and parliament will be divided between representatives of the current government, the rebels, political parties and civil society.

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The regional grouping that brokered the deal, Ecowas, is to establish a force designed to monitor the ceasefire, and then become part of an international stabilisation force.

Our correspondent says it is perhaps the best chance Liberia has had for peace, after 14 years of war.

The West African Ecomil peacekeeping force has now been on the ground in the country for almost two weeks.

On Sunday, more Nigerian troops started arriving and Ecomil expanded the area under its control around Monrovia.

'Rebel attacks'

The US has sent 200 soldiers to Liberia - with another 2,000 on board US ships off the coast.

However, President George W Bush has said US troops will be replaced by United Nations troops by October.

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"We've got UN blue-helmeted troops ready to replace our limited number of troops," he said in a televised interview.

However, with Model still in control of Liberia's second city, Buchanan, and the West African peacekeepers thin on the ground, the deal is being welcomed with caution, our correspondent says.

Harison Karnpea, the manager of a rubber plantation in the eastern Nimba County, told the BBC's Network Africa programme that both rebel groups were continuing to attack government positions and civilians in the area, which was Mr Taylor's heartland.

Humanitarian aid is still desperately needed in Monrovia and across the country, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled the fighting.