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afrol News, 30 May - The Liberian rebel forces fighting to remove Charles Taylor's regime have issued a statement saying they will "halt military activities" as a response to peace calls from the international community. The rebels however still "insist on Taylor's exit" to lay down their weapons permanently. afrol News today received a letter from the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) - issued by their Office of the National Spokesman & Coordinator, based in Voinjama, Lofa County, Liberia - saying the armed group "wants peace but insist on Taylor's exit." The statement says that, "in view of genuine appeals and repeated calls from the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, the Inter-Religious Council of Liberia, international institutions, and the Liberian populace in general, ... LURD have elected to reduce and/or halt our military activities in the country with immediate effect." The statement comes after a serious escalation of the civil war in Liberia, where the LURD rebels were close to take the country's two main cities, Monrovia and Gbarnga, earlier this month. Although the international community is in general hostile to President Taylor - his regime is under hurtful UN sanctions - international leaders have been concerned over the large humanitarian crisis caused by the insurrection. The Presidents of Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana have insinuated that West African troops could intervene in support of Taylor. The rebels state the decision to halt the offensive was done "with the view of providing the international community, particularly the UN, OAU, EU, the inter-Religious Council of Liberia, and other international groupings the opportunity to derive a reliable solution to the Liberian situation and its prevailing consequences. However, our forces will vehemently defend areas under our full control and, retaliate should they come under any form of attack from Taylor's NPFL /NPP Monrovia regime rebel ATU soldiers." - We in LURD stand for peace and want security for our country and the Mano River Union basin which has been grossly criminalized by Taylor and his Libyan allies for the past decade, the statement goes on. "In furtherance of our sobriety and quest for peace and economic development for our country and people, we call on the international community to seize this vital opportunity in prioritising the Liberian question by paving the way for the departure of Taylor. We are prepared to dialogue with any individual or group of Liberians, except Charles Taylor who is the sole problem for the region." The LURD communiqué also distances itself from attacks on civilians, increasingly reported from Liberia. "We wish to state clearly that the civilians who were massacred near the Sierra Leonean borders in Cape Mount County, Liberia were killed by the Monrovia regime's ruthless ATU rebel soldiers on the orders of Taylor," the LURD spokesmen say. "We strongly condemn this ugly act and call on the international community to prevail on the Taylor regime to respect the civilian dimension relative to protection in armed conflict." - We want the world to know that looting, massacres and extra judicial killings are trademarks of Charles Taylor and his followers, LURD states. "Taylor and his evil forces have been doing this for the last decade. So news report that LURD's forces bother civilians is absolutely misleading. This is an inaccurate and unsuccessful projection of Taylor's action and tendencies on our Movement. These Monrovia gangs do these evil acts with the view of making us (LURD) look bad in the eyes of the international community and Liberians in general." At the moment LURD's forces claim to have under control Lofa, Gbarpolu, and Bomi Counties, and key areas in central Liberia. "Suehn, B.F Goodrich Rubber Plantation and surroundings close to Bong Mines are also under full control of our forces. These latter areas are battle front-lines which are within striking distances of the capital, Monrovia," the rebels inform. Finally, LURD strongly denies the recent rumours of a split within the rebel movement. "There is increased unity and progress in LURD. Rumours and misguided lies carried out by Taylor's stooges that there is a rift in our midst are false and very cheap. Our leadership is together and we are focused on cooperating with other Liberian groupings in sorting out a post Taylor political and economic formula through which our country can have genuine democracy, peace, freedom and economic development." While the LURD rebels earlier had seemed a local problem confined to northern Lofa County at the Guinean border, this year's assaults have demonstrated that LURD indeed is equal in strength compared to Taylor's government troops. While the Liberian government is internationally isolated - UN sanctions prohibits it from buying arms - LURD has a massive support from outside; especially from exiled Liberians and assumedly at least from the government of Guinea. LURD also seems to have broad support among the "African Liberians" as opposed to the Liberians descending from Afro-American slaves, which mostly support Taylor's regime. Sources: Based on LURD and afrol archives
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