A ceasefire took hold in Liberia yesterday after an agreement that has raised hopes of an end to a bloody conflict that has spilled chaos into impoverished West Africa.
The ceasefire signed by President Charles Taylor's forces and two rebel factions in Ghana on Tuesday took effect at 1am local time.
There were no immediate reports of violations, but diplomats cautioned that it could take time for orders to reach fighters in remote corners -- or for news of trouble to arrive from across a country ruined by nearly 14 years of violence.
"There were skirmishes in some areas yesterday. We expected this to happen," said one military source in Monrovia. "Since the ceasefire there has been nothing."
Also in line with the agreement, rebels, officials and politicians in Ghana prepared to start negotiations on a final peace agreement and a transition government without Taylor.They have 30 days to reach a comprehensive deal.
Optimism has been tempered by doubt over when or if Taylor would really go. Tuesday's agreement did not say if he was supposed to step down before the end of his mandate in January as two rebel factions demand.
Taylor has also ruled out any chance of a return to peace unless a UN-backed court drops an indictment against him for war crimes in Sierra Leone's savage conflict -- something it does not appear ready to do.
Liberia has long been accused of fuelling the region's conflicts and regional mediators are desperate to halt its role as a breeding ground for strife.
West African nations intend to send a 15-member mission immediately to start overseeing a cease-fire, said Sony Ugoh, an official with the West African regional bloc that oversaw the talks.
That would be followed by a West African-led "stabilization force," that could include Americans, Ugoh said.
"The stabilization force is not necessarily exclusively West African. US and other Western troops could be part of the force," Mohamed ibn Chambas, the top official of the ECOWAS regional bloc, told Reuters in Ghana.
Eyes in Liberia naturally turn towards the US because of that country's historic links with a country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century.
It took more than a dozen peace deals to end a civil war that left 200,000 dead in the 1990s. Despite the election of former warlord Taylor in 1997, the killing never really stopped and before long his old foes had started a new war.
Up to 1 million people have been displaced in the capital Monrovia and are living without adequate food, water or shelter.
A US assault ship arrived off Monrovia on Tuesday with a force of 3,000 Marines and sailors, but US diplomats said that there were no plans for anything more than a possible evacuation of Americans still in Liberia.
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