Liberian Businessman Chosen to Head Interim Gov't

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 21, 2003

Liberian Businessman Chosen to Head Interim Gov't

Jyude Bryant, a Liberian businessman, has been chosen to head the country's next interim government which will take power in October, said reports reaching Lagos.

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Gyude Bryant, a Liberian businessman,has been chosen to head the country's next interim government which is to take power in October, according to reports from the Ghanaian capital Accra.

Wesley Johnson, leader of the United People's Party, has been named as his deputy, the reports said.

Bryant, a member of the Liberia Action Party, was picked from a list of three candidates proposed by 18 political parties and other civil groups attending the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-brokered peace talks in Ghana.

The other two candidates for the top post were Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a veteran opposition figure and a former United Nations official, and Rudolph Sherman from the True Whig Party which ruled Liberia from 1871 to 1980.

The Liberian government on Monday signed a peace accord with the country's main rebel groups in Accra to form a transitional government, paving the way for the end of 14 years of civil war.

According to the agreement, a transitional government is due to take power in October and continue in office until January 2006, replacing that of President Moses Blah, who took over power from former president Charles Taylor last Monday. Taylor stepped down and went into exile in Nigeria.

Sekou Damate Conneh, leader of the major rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), Thomas Nimely, chairman of the second rebel group Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) and Liberian Foreign Minister Lewis Brown signed the document.

Under the deal, all three parties waive any claim to the top posts in the interim government, instead allowing non-combatants in the country's civil war to take the posts.

Last Tuesday, the rebels agreed to withdraw troops from a two-month siege of Monrovia and promised to pull back completely, allowing aid and food to flow again to hundreds of thousands of starving people.

Talks on the new peace pact between the caretaker government of Blah and the two rebel groups began last Thursday but were nearly derailed at the weekend.

LURD had threatened to resume fighting if it did not get the number two position in the new government, which the rebels claimed they had been promised along with the post of parliamentary speaker.

However, Kabineh Ja'neh, who is leading LURD rebel group at peace parleys in Ghana, said after pressure from mediators that they had decided not to stake claim for the vice presidency.

The president and vice president, to be called the chairman andvice chairman, would be drawn from political parties and civic groups, not the rebels or Blah's government, said ECOWAS spokesmanSunny Ugoh, explaining that "the posts have been renamed as it is an interim administration."

The new government will have 76 members: 12 each from Blah's government and the two rebel groups; 18 from political parties; seven from civil society and special interest groups; and one fromeach of Liberia's 15 counties.

The Liberian civil war, which lasted more than 14 years and claimed at least 200,000 lives, flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by LURD in northern Liberia.

Civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world and the latest unrest since 1998 hasforced some 300,000 Liberians to flee to neighboring countries andleft thousands more dead.

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