Panafrican News Agency

September 30, 1999
by Peter Kahler

Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - Liberian President Charles
Taylor Thursday
continued mediation talks with two Sierra Leone rebel
leaders aimed at
resolving differences between them.
The talks, which began late Wednesday, are being held
separately with Foday
Sankoh of the Revolutionary United Front and ex-junta
leader Johnny Paul
Koroma of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.
There has been no word on the issues of contention
between the two groups
which formed an alliance when the latter was ousted
from power in 1998 by
the west African intervention force, ECOMOG, to
restore the government of
President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah nine months after he was
deposed.
Koroma is contending his group was marginalised in the
peace deal brokered
July in Lome which was signed by the Sankoh and the
Kabbah government.
Since the signing of the accord, Sierra Leoneans and
the international
community have been awaiting the arrival in Freetown
of Sankoh and Koroma
for the implementation of disarmament, a crucial stage
in the peace process.
Taylort told this week that he had contacted ECOWAS,
OAU and UN to ensure
that all parties of the conflict are included in the
Sierra Leonean government.
He also said Sankoh and Koroma and their delegations
"will be accompanied
home (this) Friday," but fell short of saying who
would accompany them back
to the country where they wreaked havoc for eight
years.
Taylor, however, said he has contacted Togolese
President Eyadema
Gnassimgbe, the current ECOWAS chairman, to "finalise
the arrangement" for
the return home of the two rebel leaders.

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