ECOWAS C'TTEE TO DECIDE ON LIBERIAN POLLS

The President, Flt.-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, said on Friday that the decision on whether to go ahead with the elections in Liberia as scheduled would be made in Abuja this week at a summit of the ECOWAS Committee of Nine on Liberia.

"We are not unaware of complains by some of the candidates (to postpone the polls)," he said when he granted audience to the United States President's Special Representative on Liberia, Mr. Howard Jetter.

Most of the candidates contesting the elections scheduled for May 30 are calling for a postponement, saying that the "playing field is not level enough to ensure free and fair elections". President Rawlings said in much as those complaints were noted, "it must also be recognized that we have been in Liberia long enough".

He said, "Staying there longer can create problems for us and that is why we are eager to get out."

The ECOWAS monitoring group, ECOMOG, moved into Liberia in August 1990 following the outbreak of a civil war.

The eight-year-old war has killed more than 150,000 people and driven into exile almost half of the country's pre-war population of 2.5 million.

President Rawlings said West African countries recognized the need for free and fair elections in Liberia and the decision they would take in Nigeria would take cognizance of that. He called for a recognition of Nigeria's role in Liberia, saying that Abuja had done so much in terms of manpower and logistics. "It is therefore fair that we give Nigeria due credit," he said, referring to Nigeria's virtual isolation due to her human rights record and repeated postponement of a return to constitutional rule.

Mr. Jetter said the peace process in Liberia had reached a critical stage and that "peace is in the horizon. We can get there".

He said it was important to ensure free and fair elections in the country. Mr. Victor Gbeho, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, was among those present.