Militia leader Charles Taylor, who launched Liberia's civil war in 1989, arrived in Accra Saturday evening for talks on ending five years of bloodshed and anarchy in Africa's oldest independent republic.
Ghana, which has peacekeepers in various world troublespots and is taking the lead in this latest attempt to bring Liberia's warring factions together, delayed the opening session of the talks Saturday when Taylor failed to show."The opening session is going to get under way immediately and we expect to work very much through the night to cover some ground," a senior Ghanaian foreign ministry source said after Taylor turned up.
Anarchy and war have killed an estimated 150,000 people in Liberia, which was set up by freed American slaves in 1847.
Hundreds of thousands of Liberians are refugees from the war or are homeless.
The talks bring together Taylor and his main militia rivals, some of whom were showing signs of impatience having been in the Ghanaian capital since Tuesday.
The talks bring together Taylor and his main militia rivals.