Liberia Factions Name Nation’s Interim Leader
Delegates from Liberia’s warring factions said today that they had picked Gyude Bryant as the leader of a two-year transition government at peace talks here.
Bryant is a businessman in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, and is widely seen as the most politically neutral of three final candidates.
He is to take over in October from President Moses Blah, who has been acting as a caretaker leader since Charles Taylor went into exile in Nigeria last week under heavy international pressure.
The aim of the interim government is to put an end to nearly 14 years of civil war and then organize elections in 2005.
Taylor’s departure paved the way for rebels to cede control of parts of Monrovia to a regional peacekeeping force backed by U.S. troops and aircraft.
Under the new government, political parties, the departing administration and the two rebel groups who control more than two-thirds of Liberia will share power.
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