Accra, July 17: A US-backed peace proposal for Liberia calls for creating an interim government in August that would exclude Liberian President Charles Taylor and the two rebel leaders seeking to oust him, negotiators have said in Ghana. Senior Liberian government negotiator Lewis Brown on Wednesday said that the proposal - one of several under discussion at the peace talks - was written by US government officials. David Queen, a US Embassy spokesman for Ghana, confirmed an American proposal. He said several US officials attended the talks and were playing a facilitating role.
Negotiators from the Liberian government and the two main rebel groups, along with opposition parties and civic groups, are holding peace talks aimed at ending 14 years of intermittent fighting in Liberia that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Negotiators are hoping to clinch a deal within days, ahead of the promised arrival of peacekeeping troops. The talks in Ghana are being brokered by Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Nigerian military ruler.
US President George W Bush, who is considering a limited deployment of American troops in Liberia, has said that sending troops would depend on Taylor stepping down and leaving the country.

A three-page, unsigned draft peace proposal calls for an interim government to be inaugurated on August 2 and for new elections to be held by October 2004. The election would be open to all parties and a new government was expected by early 2005, the document said.
Bureau Report