President & Vice Out Of The Country

....President Kufuor leaves for Liberia
.... Vice President In London
Accra, Oct.14, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra on Tuesday for Liberia to participate in the inauguration of Mr. Charles Gyude Bryant as Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia. Accompanying the President were Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, Presidential Spokes person and Mr. Daniel Osei, Secretary to the President.

At the airport to see him off were, Lt. Gen. Seth Obeng, Chief of Defence Staff, The Inspector General of Police Nana Owusu Nsiah and some Ministers of State. The President is expected to return today.

Swearing-in ceremony begins for Liberia's new leader

MONROVIA : A ceremony began in Monrovia to swear in Liberia's new transitional leader Gyude Bryant, who is to steer the war-torn west African country to elections in 2005.

Interim President Moses Blah, who has served since his predecessor Charles Taylor went into exile in Nigeria on August 11, is to hand over power to Bryant, who was unanimously selected by the signatories to a peace accord on August 18.

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The Ghanaian and Nigerian presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and John Kufuor were on hand for the swearing-in, as well as Alpha Oumar Konare, head of the African Union Commission.

Kufuor is the current president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which brokered the peace accord.

Key dates in the conflict that have rocked Liberia almost continuously since 1989.

December 24, 1989: The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) launches a rebellion led by warlord Charles Taylor. The uprising leads to one of Africa's most brutal civil wars, involving at least seven rival factions and claiming some 250,000 lives.

--1990--

June: Month-long siege of the capital Monrovia.

August: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sends peacekeeping force which secures Monrovia in October.

September: Doe is assassinated by an offshoot of the NPFL.

-- 1992 --

November: Interim unity government is set up.

--1995--

August: Peace agreement signed.

--1996--

April: Fighting resumes in Monrovia.

August: New peace timetable established for Liberia by ECOWAS.

--1997--

July: Taylor wins elections and is sworn in as president on August 2.

--1998--

September 18-19: Fighting erupts in Monrovia between government forces and partisans of former warlord Roosevelt Johnson.

--1999--

August-September: Fighting rages between government troops and forces in the north. A state of emergency is declared. Guinea, Liberia's northeastern neighbour, denies Taylor's accusations of staging attacks in the north.

--2001--

January: The United Nations accuses Taylor of fueling the civil war in Sierra Leone and profiting from commerce in "blood diamonds" and arms traffic, and slaps sanctions on Liberia.

--2002--

February 8: Taylor declares state of emergency as rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) make their way towards Monrovia, displacing thousands.

May 12: Liberia's second city, Gbarnga, falls to LURD before being recaptured by government soldiers.

September 14: Taylor lifts state of emergency.

September 17: A UN-backed International Contact Group on Liberia, comprising two permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States and Britain -- is created with the aim of ending the war.

--2003--

March: A new rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerges.

May 6: UN sanctions on Liberia are extended for another year.

May 19: Taylor rules out sharing power with rebels. MODEL seizes the southeastern ports of Harper and Pleebo.

June 4: A UN-mandated court in Freetown announces it has indicted Taylor for war crimes relating to Sierra Leone's civil war as peace talks are officially opened in Accra.

June 5: LURD launches siege on Monrovia, refuses to dialogue with Taylor.

July 4: ECOWAS agrees to send a 3,000-strong force to Liberia.

July 17: LURD rebels launch new offensive, reaching far into Monrovia.

July 28: MODEL seizes Liberia's second largest port Buchanan.

Aug 4: The first soldiers of the west African peacekeeping force arrive in Monrovia.

Aug 11: Taylor hands power to his deputy Moses Blah and heads for exile in Nigeria.

Aug 14: Amid widespread looting, west African peacekeepers take control of Monrovia's port from rebels. Blah holds peace talks in Accra with rebel leaders.

Aug 18: The warring sides sign a peace agreement in Accra setting up a 76-member interim government due to take over from Blah's caretaker government in October.

Aug 21: Gyude Bryant named head of the interim government.

Aug 24: A batallion of Nigerian soldiers arrives in Monrovia to bolster the ranks of west African peacekeepers.

Witnesses report around 1,000 villagers killed in a massacre in Nimba County, northeast of Monrovia.

Sept 12: The chief UN envoy for Liberia, Jacques Klein, accuses Taylor of continuing to interfere in Liberian politics from exile in Nigeria.

Sept 19: The UN Security Council approves sending 15,000 peacekeepers to Liberia.

Oct 1: West African peacekeepers are integrated into a UN force as it takes over policing Liberia's ceasefire, as at least seven people are killed in a clash in Monrovia between LURD and government supporters, which prevents a meeting going ahead between Blah and rebel leader Sekou Damate Conneh.

Oct 14: Interim government due to be sworn in.