http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/international/stories/liberia.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
MONROVIA, Liberia (Reuter) - Chief warlord Charles Taylor and other key militia leaders were installed in a new ruling council Friday to steer Liberia from civil strife to democratic rule.
``Today in Liberia, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for peace. It is time for the ballot and not for the bullet,'' Ghana's President Jerry Rawlings declared at the public ceremony in Monrovia.
``Leaders of Liberia, it is time to rise above yourselves and put your nation first, your ethnic alliances second, and yourselves last,'' said Rawlings, who helped broker the latest Liberia peace accord.
Chaired by academic and writer Wilton Sankawulo, the council of State groups Taylor, his main rival Alhaji Kromah, George Boley of the Liberia Peace Council militia, civilian politician Oscar Quiah and traditional Chief Tamba Tailor.
The council, sworn in by Chief Justice James Bull in Monrovia's Centennial Memorial Pavillion, was set up under the terms of a peace accord signed in Nigeria Aug. 20.
Taylor, who wore a white suit for Friday's ceremony, entered the capital Thursday, cheered by thousands of supporters.
The leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia had not been to Monrovia since before the war. His forces twice reached the edge of the city but were driven back by the Nigerian-dominated ECOMOG regional intervention force.
His fans say he is Liberia's natural leader, while his critics say if he is in the capital he will have to face up to his responsibilities and keep to the peace accord.
Taylor said Thursday he would resign from the council after nine months to start campaigning for the presidency.
U.N. Special Representative Anthony Nyakyi said at the ceremony elections were provisionally set for Aug. 0, 1996.
A dozen previous accords have failed to bring peace to Liberia, Africa's oldest republic founded in 1847 by African-Americans. The involvement of all the main players this time is seen as a hopeful sign.
A joint committee to monitor the cease-fire and oversee disengagement of the warring factions would hold its first meeting Monday.
The war launched by Taylor's invasion in 1989 has killed more than 150,000 people and the war was prolonged by the intervention of the Nigerian-led ECOMOG force since 1990.